A Very Cold Day

The moon was still to set as the bird ringers met at a very cold frosty Foxglove at 0830.  This is the latest time of arrival and after the 21st December those lie ins get less! 

It was bitterly cold and ice had formed over part of the lake.

A few weeks ago the lichen cups were filled with droplets of water, today the droplets had turned to ice.

Water droplets on the grass had also frozen and then the frost covered them.

Some young visitors from Plymouth enjoyed their time in the ringing room and released several birds.  The last bird they released was a very reluctant Blackbird who seemed more than happy to remain in a warm hand! 

Many of the birds processed today were retraps but there were several new Blackbirds and Siskins included in the total of 165 birds caught. A brief look at the ringing records during the day for 2011, and there are many more yet to be entered, shows that 10,500 birds have been processed this year so far with 7,500 of them new birds.

The day ended as it had begun, very cold and frosty, but it was an all male team today…..so we struggled!