30 Days Wild - Day 20

 30 Days Wild - Day 20 ~ 20th June 2015 ~

I had a great day today as I spent pretty much all day (bar a 20-25minute power nap) doing bird ringing.

This morning I attended the 5th CES (Constant Effort Site) session of the year at Wraysbury GP. It was really nice to be back as I haven't been to Wraysbury since (I think) August last year so it was really good to catch up with those of the group who were there; great company and a good laugh as always! We also caught some lovely birds, with 4 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Reed Buntings, 2 Sedge Warblers and a young Goldcrest being my personal highlights. In total we ringed 44 new birds and processed 12 recaptures.

Here are some photos from Wraysbury:

Juvenile (3JJ) Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

The track down to our ringing base

Some Woodlice

Adult (4) Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

Labyrinth spider's funnel shaped-web

Dog-rose (Rosa canina)

This afternoon I went out with some nesters and ringers to do some pulli ringing. The two guys I went out with are both really knowledgable about nest finding and I'm very lucky to live in an area where there are some really, really cool species to ring as well.

Today we colour ringed two more broods of Woodlark (4 and 3 young in the two broods) as well as metal ringing a brood of 5 Stonechat, a brood of 4 Tree Pipits and much to my excitement I also got to ring 2 broods of Nightjar (each brood had 2 nestlings)!!

Although it is a real privilege to handle and ring all species of bird, I was particularly excited about the prospect of ringing Nightjar chicks because not only are they an extremely secretive species, but they are also my favourite UK species of bird!!

It was an awesome afternoon/evening and feel extremely lucky to have had this opportunity so if you're reading this, thank you very much guys for continuing to invite me and allow me to gain this incredible experience, it is very much appreciated!!!

All ringing was done under the appropriate licenses and carried out in accordance with BTO guidelines.

Here are some photos of the Nightjars (adult and pulli):

Adult Nightjar keeping watch while we ringed the chicks.

Adult Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)

Juvenile Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus)

Juvenile Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) close up

So well camouflaged!!

Adult male Nightjar sat on two nestlings - you can just
about see a young one's head beneath the adult

Juvenile Nightjars (Caprimulgus europaeus)

I don't like having pictures taken of myself, but I couldn't
stop grinning after ringing the Nightjars!