It all started on Friday when I spent
the day checking tawny owl boxes with Jim in the south of Nottingham. I arrived
at Jim’s in the morning full of high hopes that this season would prove to be a
better season than last for this charismatic species. With ladders loaded, we
set off in the Landrover to the first of the 24 boxes we were planning on
visiting.
As the day progressed, we found
box after box occupied. Unfortunately, they weren’t occupied by tawny owls! The
last box before lunch contained an adult female tawny on small chicks and this
turned out to be the only owl we handled all day (the chicks were too young to
ring), but she was a pretty special bird all the same. She was first ringed by
Jim in front of Central TV cameras in 2007 and was aged as an adult back then (aged as an 8 for the ringers reading this).
She has only been caught once since then, in 2011. So, this lovely bird is at
least ten years old and still going strong.
Beautiful tawny owl - if you look really closely, you might be able to make out Jim reflected in her eye! |
We found one other owl sitting
tight (presumably on eggs) so we left her alone, and one other cold, abandoned
egg (egg dump?). The remaining boxes were filled with stock doves, jackdaws or
squirrels. Only four boxes were empty so, although not housing the target
species, at least they are being put to good use. There are plenty of other
boxes still to be checked so it is a little early to say that it isn’t a good
year, but two out of 24 boxes wasn’t a great start. Here’s hoping the birds to
the north of the Trent are doing a little better!
After lunch on Saturday with my
family, I got back behind the wheel and trundled over to Norfolk to join a
small group of WWRG members for an evening mist netting waders. Due to being a
crock (bad back / hip) I helped to cook tea whilst the other members of the team
set nets on both of the pools that we normally catch on at Terrington Marsh. It
is not often that the tide times offer mist netting opportunities in April so
we awaited dusk with keen anticipation.
It was chillier than expected
once the sun bade us farewell for the evening (we had been spoiled by the
recent mild weather) so it was back to the usual multiple layers usually
associated with a Wash trip. The clear skies meant we had to wait longer than
expected for it to be dark enough to head out onto the marsh to set the sound
lures. Aron took his team out to the ‘E’ pool first and Nigel’s team (of which
I was a part) twiddled their thumbs for a while before deciding it was just
about dark enough to head out to the white barn nets. In truth, it was still light enough to easily see where we
were going (which was a treat) so we tucked ourselves up against the inner sea
wall for a few more minutes.
When Nigel returned from setting
the sound lures, he was holding bird bags – it wasn’t going to be a blank
evening at least! It didn’t turn out to be heaving with birds, but then we
didn’t expect it to be. Instead, the birds trickled slowly into the nets which
gave the new and inexperienced members of the Group chance to have a go at
extracting in the dark – especially good fun when the nets are billowing in the
stiff breeze. Sadly, despite the clear skies, the leonid meteor shower was not
very evident but I did spot a good few satellites going over and the skyscape
was mesmerising anyway.
At just past high tide we took
the nets down and took the birds back to base to process. I joined the
processing team where I took bill length and total head and bill length measurements
for all of the birds. The catch comprised 35 dunlin and two of last year’s
redshank. Interestingly, nine of the dunlin were of the schinzii race which is
unusual to see at this time of year.
As the plan was to have a lazy
Sunday morning (rain was forecast) I took the opportunity to set a moth trap up
in the garden. I was pleasantly surprised to find three Hebrew characters, one
muslin moth and one early grey in the trap when I checked it on Sunday morning.
Unfortunately, the early grey flew away before I could capture a photograph of
it but the other two species were more obliging. Despite the blustery
conditions, I was able to get a couple of shots that I was quite pleased with.
Male muslin moth in all its glory |
The very cute face of the male muslin moth |
Hebrew character moth - check out that eye! |
As the weather was forecast to be
wet and very windy on Sunday evening, we decided not to mist net at Gedney on
Sunday night. So, by just before 11am, we were all on our way back to our
respective homes (most unlike a Wash trip). So, it may have been short and
sweet but it was a nice, relaxing weekend (by Wash trip standards).
The unsettled weather cleared up
on Monday in time for the second visit to the heronry at Besthorpe Nature
Reserve near Newark. The previously planned visit had been cancelled due to the
weather so it was a relief that this weekend we were able to return to check
the nests that had been occupied during the first visit.
On this occasion, the row over to
the island was a much easier affair thanks to having two oars in the boat! The
team was a smaller one than last time, so when all the people and equipment had
been safely ferried across to the island, we set off as one group to the first
tree. Now, some of you may know that I don’t have a particularly good head for
heights so I am always extremely grateful that there are people out there that seem
to enjoy climbing dead looking trees for us. This week, we had Andy and Richard
to do the climbing and thanks to their valiant efforts, 26 chicks were
collected, ringed and safely returned to their nests.
Andy in a tree - rather him than me! |
Heron chick |
Heron chick being ringed |
Ringing in progress |
By mid-afternoon the weather
started to turn and the climbers started to tire so we called it a day. There were
still more chicks to ring but the welfare of the birds takes priority and we
had to let the adult birds return to their nests to feed their chicks and to prevent the
remaining eggs from getting cold. The chicks that are still small enough to
ring without risk of them jumping from their nests will be ringed on the next
visit in May.
Surprisingly, there is also a tawny
owl nest on the island so whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to
check this too. In contrast to what Jim and I found on Friday, this box
contained four healthy chicks that were duly ringed. When we had finished and
packed up all the heron ringing equipment Jim and I nipped down to Girton to
check yet another tawny owl box. We were delighted to find that this one was
also occupied by a tawny owl on small chicks. A return visit in a week or so
should see the chicks adorned with some uniquely marked metal work!
So, all in all, it was a
fantastic weekend of ringing spent in great company. I was a little bit tired at the end of it though!