Thrybergh Country Park - 10th March 2012

To say that today's ringing session was slow would be an understatement. We arrived at 7am and by the time we packed up at 10.45am we'd had just 11 birds! Apparently this time of the year can become quite quiet as the birds concentrate on other things!

I managed to process 3 birds: 1 new Blackbird ( 5F, a female born last year), a new male Greenfinch (5M, also born last year) and a retrap Dunnock, which turned out to be a 3 year old bird that had been rung by the group at Thrybergh in 2009. This bird had been recaptured once before last year, so appears to be a resident of the area.

Other birds processed today by the David, Alan and Brian were: 1 new Tree Sparrow, 1 female Reed Bunting, another Blackbird, another Dunnock, 1 Robin and 3 Chaffinches. 1 of the Chaffinches was a lovely male bird which was very bright and was showing black "lips" which they develop when in breeding plumage! You learn something new everyday!

Chaffinch with "black lips"

Out on the water things were also pretty quiet with the number of Black-headed Gulls dropping off. The male Scaup was still present, along with Tufted Duck, Mallard, Mute Swan, Canada and Greylag Geese, Cormorants, Coot and Moorhen. Skylark were singing over the nearby fields as was a Song Thrush and a pair of Lapwing were calling and displaying.

On the way back to the cars we noticed a pair of Long tailed Tits nest building in a hedgerow. Can you spot the half built nest in this picture?

Long-tailed Tit nest