No corny jokes please!

A roost catch produced 29 birds this evening and included this beauty (a female on size):

Above & Below: A Corn Bunting.

Only one was caught (catching this species is notorioiusly difficult) but I learnt several things from this experiment (the net rides were not new but I'd not used them at dusk before). Thanks go to Mike for helping out on short notice.


This species is depicted on the Ivel Ringing Group logo so it's about time we started catching them again.

Recent Highlights

The weather is still interfering with operations and as the rain stopped play today, I've taken the chance to update my records and go through photographs.



Above: A male Siskin, one of 3 caught this autumn at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR). The rest of the flock (50 +) is proving as ellusive as always!

Above: A male Lesser Redpoll ringed at SSNR.

This autumn, I have more than doubled the number Lesser Redpoll ringed at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (11 previous + 19 new = 30) AND at Priory Country Park (10 previous + 18 new = 28). One of the Lesser Redpoll's caught at Priory already had a ring on it from elsewhere (I won't find out where for a while yet).

Above: A Goldcrest, a new species for the ringing list at SSNR. Why this species hasn't been ringed here before is a puzzle. Perhaps it's just down to luck.



Above: An October sunset at SSNR from where I park my ringing station!

So far this year (last year in brackets), of 896 (1411) handlings at Priory Country Park, 711 (1016) have been new for the year and of those 585 (868) have been new birds. Effort this year so far = 30 sessions (26 last year).

So far this year (last year in brackets), of 710 (999) handlings at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve, 462 (738) have been new for year and of those 386 (693) have been new birds. Effort this year so far = 32 sessions (36 last year).

I'm not going to worry last years totals, but there's still a good few weekends left between now and the new year (though having my bird feeders at Priory stolen isn't going to help the birds or my totals).