Mipitting Again!

The nets were put up against the backdrop of a beautiful dawn as members of AOS joined ringers from Foxglove.

The promise of a lovely day.

Unfortunately the clouds covered the sun and the wind increased from the north, causing everyone to add to the layers they were wearing!  Even the landrover was brought in to act as a shelter belt, which was very much appreciated! 

This is, according to some 'proper ringing'.  Outside in all acceptable ringing weather, small scales, birds hanging on a fishing rod holder, no computer, so all data recorded on paper (to be entered later into IPMR  - over 1200 birds so far, just from the Crater!).  But if you look closely towards the bottom of the photograph, some things do not change and the stickies are available for anyone who feels peckish!

Net rounds brought many birds back to the ringing station, mainly Mipits, but one Greenfinch, one Reed Bunting and five juvenile Goldfinches.

The Reed Bunting was a juvenile male as could be seen from the white ring around its neck.

For once it was not a certain person saying we could not go home until we had caught a specific number of birds, someone else has been well trained!  So two ring strings of 100 rings were used plus 11 more, a grand total of 211 birds this morning.

It has been a busy weekend for the bird ringers with 398 birds caught.  A huge thank you to everyone involved.