ringing afternoon

After a nice restful morning, I ventured down to the New Passage, by the Severn Estuary to do some bird ringing. I met with Paul who helps me out and set up the nets in record time. Sedge warblers were singing everywhere!! Despite having them cornered we didn't catch a single one. Instead we caught two blackbirds (which we think were migrants rather than local), four reed warblers (males and females) and three dunnocks, including one which I ringed as a young bird last August. Swallows and house martin flew overhead, a lesser whitethroat sang out from nearby brambles and baby coots could be heard from the nearby pool. A lovely afternoon indeed and we packed up as the temperature dropped and the wind speed increased. Meanwhile, the view from my flat is glorious - all the trees are in leaf and everywhere is looking vividly green.

ringing baby ringed plovers

This warm weather has been great for our spring migrants. Now the prevailing wind has gone from north to south, many of our spring migrants should have an extra boost as they make their one into the UK.
After a wonderful bird ID walk I was leading on the Downs yesterday I had a lovely walk with a friend down at Chew Valley Lake. Reed warblers were singing away, busily setting up new territories - my first ones this year.

I then zipped back to Bristol to help Lyndon Roberts ring a family of one day ringed plover chicks - there were four eggs, but two disappeared, and the remaining two hatched!! They were incredibly difficult to see - their cryptic colours hide them very well indeed!

I then went off to try and ring some raven chicks in a quarry - sadly the nest was empty. We think the young may have been predated and saw the parents nearby but they weren't showing any interest. Got some good views of a peregrine though in lovely evening sunlight.

Adders and ravens

For my 30th birthday earlier in the week I took a trip with friend Jo to the Forest of Dean, hoping for some spring migrants. I wasn't disappointed and caught up with a most stunning male pied flycatcher singing and checking out a nest site at the RSPB's Nagshead reserve, http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/n/nagshead/index.aspx. Nearby a male wood warbler was singing while the muddy signs of wild boar were evident!! A family of 20 piglets (or are they called boarlets!) had apparently been in the muddy pool a little early. You could see where mum had rubbed her muddy body against an oak tree. We tried to follow their track but to no avail!

We then popped over to New Fancy View and spotted 7 or 8 female fallow deer and found a basking adder! My second ever and this time I didn't try to pick it up!!

Later in the week I organised two climbers from the British Mountaineering Council www.thebmc.co.uk
to visit a raven's nest in the Avon Gorge with thanks to the National Trust, www.nationaltrust.org.uk. There were two chicks in the nest, around three and a half weeks old. They had unique ID metal rings put on their right legs and were then safely put back into their nest. They should leave the nest in two or three weeks time.

This morning I've just got back from leading a birdsong identification walk for Mandy Leivers and the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife Project, http://www.avongorge.org.uk. Last night I was showing images and playing birdsong as preparation for then going out today and putting it all into practice. Blackbirds, songthrushes, robins, blackcaps, dunnocks and chiffchaffs were all singing away. Highlights included a treecreeper and a male roe deer sprinting across the Downs!!