A Sunny Day

This Chiffchaff serenaded the bird ringers as they raised the nets. 

During the day another one of 'our' Chiffchaffs arrived in the ringing room.  It had been ringed as an adult in April 2011, making it at least three years old.  Amazing to think that these tiny birds fly such long distances.  We have ringed almost 1400 of them on the site.

Robins are singing from high perches and as the trees are only just starting to leaf they are easily spotted.  A ring can be seen on this bird.

During the year the data entered into IPMR (the data handling programme) changes with the seasons.  April sees mainly male birds being handled whilst the females are on their nests.  Summer migrants return overlapping the winter ones moving north.  There are still Brambling feeding in Foxglove and eight new birds were ringed, some with the highest fat reserves ever recorded at Foxglove.  Lesser Redpolls continue to come into the reserve and today 30 new birds were processed.  A single Blackbird brought the all time total for this species to 1900.

As the temperature rose so the butterflies appeared.  Male Orange Tips were feeding amongst the spring flowers along Risedale Beck.

Peacock Butterflies were also seen enjoying the warmth.

Visitors enjoyed the spring sunshine too and were able to have their picnics outside. 

Many thanks to everyone who helped during the day.