A Day Full of Variety

Monday, February 25th 2013

An early morning walk through the Scrapes, head down looking for footprints to see who had been around during the night and of course not forgetting to check the ponds for frogs, a look up to ensure no tripping over steps and a flash of red was noticed, a Fox!  A very long distance photo shows that he was fully aware of our presence and possibly a little annoyed that he had been disturbed, hunting the pair of Mallard that flew up from the ponds near where he was standing.

The Foxglove Bodgers were in today and worked on a variety of tasks in the workshop.

Otley and York Dales Branch of the Dry Stone Walling Association were given a guided walk through parts of the reserve and were told about the history, flora and fauna of Foxglove.   The varied work of the volunteers was also mentioned.

A warm cup of tea awaited their return to the Field Centre.  They visited the ringing room and were told about the process and the importance of the data.  Goldfinches, Greenfinches and many Coal Tits along with Siskin and Lesser Redpoll were able to be seen close up.  This photograph shows a male Lesser Redpoll coming into its breeding plumage.

There have been several Brambling feeding in the back garden amongst the Chaffinches and this beautiful male was caught later in the afternoon.  They will soon be returning to their breeding grounds further north.

All the birds that come through the ringing room are special, but sometimes one arrives that has a wow factor and so it was with the Kingfisher.  Adam's (I'Anson) name was drawn from the hat.  This bird had been ringed for the first time last year.  As it flew off the brilliant blue of its feathers were seen.

By the end of the day 134 birds had been processed from just three nets which included 68 new birds.  Thank you to everyone who helped in the variety of activities today.

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