Moorhen we bargained for!

You only get out what you put in! Sometimes the bird ringers have to put in a lot of effort for little return. The duck trap was repaired on a nearby site on Sunday by a few of the ringing team members in fairly miserable weather conditions.  It was then placed in a new position where it was much more accessible to the birds.

Waders are necessary for this kind of work and are not especially insulating in cold, winter weather conditions!

Usually in a single winter season only a handful of birds are caught in the trap - largely dependant on the amount of feeding that is done and time available. Last night however, a single Moorhen was caught and ringed before being released back into the wild. Tonight the team received a phone call to say that there were more birds in the trap.

As it turned out there were eight Moorhen! One was a retrap from a year ago and the other seven were all new. Roger and Jennifer learned how to measure the biometrics of these beautiful water birds and were extremely lucky to experience a rare wildlife opportunity. 

The hard work has paid off already as the team have ringed more Moorhen in two nights than they did throughout the whole of last winter!  There were several duck seen feeding on the ouside of the trap today - watch this space!!