Sunday at Granby

So, after being ill for the first few weeks of the year, it was a delight to finally be able to get out ringing again this weekend. I joined Jim, Duncan, Emma and Dave at Granby for a chilly (well it wouldn’t be Granby if it wasn’t freezing) morning’s ringing at one of SNRG’s winter feeding sites.

 

It sounded pretty quiet as we were putting the nets up so we were not expecting a big catch. The first round provided about twenty birds which was a bonus. Subsequent rounds were steady, but provided fewer birds and we finished on seventy-four birds including a treecreeper, a brambling, a redwing, yellowhammers, great tits, blue tits, dunnocks, blackbirds, robins, chaffinches and a wren.

 

Oh and not forgetting my personal favourite, a very feisty, female green woodpecker. We had heard her laughing at us a few times during the morning from a little way off but hadn't seen her. Then all of sudden, Dave was up and running... He had seen a large bird flying into the net and thought it was a sparrowhawk, but when he got closer, it turned out to be this little beauty! This was a new species for me and I was lucky enough to be able to ring her. Her wing showed two different ages of feathers indicating that she had been born last year. It certainly made my morning!

 

Beautiful female green woodpecker

Green woodpecker wing showing two ages of feather

Thanks all for a great morning (and great to meet you Dave - thanks for running so quickly!).
 

Ruth