Team Thursday and a Stonechat

The Thursday gang once again found themselves working in the coppice block.

We made good progress and started pollarding the net rides that are found at the edge of this block as well as coppicing the last few willow stools.

During the morning a Stonechat was seen foraging in the soft ground for worms, sometimes only a few feet away from us. At one stage it was sitting on the handle of the fork being used to turn in the fire.  This is the first sighting of the species on the reserve since 2004. Stonechats get their name from their call which sounds like two stones being tapped together.

After lunch a mist net was erected near to where the volunteers were working. It was not long before the Stonechat landed in one of the shelves and became the first of the species to be ringed on the reserve.  The volunteers enjoyed seeing and learning about the process of bird ringing and seeing the Stonechat so close up.  It was a male bird born last year.

Thank you to everyone who has helped out today and to Terry for letting us use his fantastic photo.