Sunday 5 February 2012

Back in action.

First of all a belated Happy new year to all, I really don't get much time to sit and blog so apologies for that.

After returning from Sweden it's been a bit of a wait to get going catching birds again. Trips to see people and lots of catching up was done so really ringing was put to the side.

In late december however a flurry of activity, I managed to catch a few half decent birds. Coot, 3 Herring Gull, 8 Black-Headed gull and some Mallard all added to the numbers and finally the Fylde ringing totals for 2011 stood at 4470 New birds. This is thanks to a big effort from the other guys.

Starting 2012 was a bit slow, a trip to Ireland put me out of action for some time and along with applying for jobs and catching up ringing was again put on the side. A lot of time and thought has been put into trying to catch Turnstone around the Fleetwood area and as of today 50 New birds have been ringed this winter; also a nice control of an Icelandic bird.


The group ended January on 317 new birds for the month and with Phil and myself our of action for a few weeks and the weather not really aiding netting this is a respectable number. Highlights of the month included a hand caught Tufted Duck at Stanley Park and a Collared dove which was tempted into the trap.





February saw an increased effort and a few Starlings, Herring Gulls, Black-Headed Gull, Coot, Turnstone and a new species for the ringing group - Pink-footed goose were caught at various locations.





There has been some debate about the origin of this Pink-foot after there being an injured individual there for some years, however this is not the same bird and having seen it fly in and out of the park on a number of occassions it provides a nice species "tick" for the group.

for the year total's so far see http://www.fleetwoodbirder.blogspot.com/

1 comment:

S Gray said...

well done on turnstones will have to get a site sorted for them over here