Return to ringing and Patch tick!

As you might have noticed I haven't managed to get out ringing since the 3rd March, mainly as a result of the awful, snowy weather we've been having this month. Thankfully, we managed to get out this morning and a 4 hour session at Linacre ended with 21 birds, including a patch tick!

Throughout the morning we caught a steady stream of birds (Blackbirds, Blue and Great Tits, Robins and Dunnocks) but it was the last bird of the morning that was the biggest surprise when a male Reed Bunting turned up in the nets!! Not only was this the first Reed Bunting ringed at Linacre, but it was also the first record here since we began recording in 2006. Presumably it was a bird that was passing through as there isn't any potential breeding habitat on site.

Reed Bunting

Other birds recorded around the ringing site today were: Canada Goose (2 flying over), Common Buzzard (1 bird over the ringing site), Cormorant (5 flying up the valley - the highest count this year), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 over the ringing site). As well as the birds we also spotted 4 Brown Hares in the nearby fields.

Another interesting sighting this morning was my first flower on the ringing site, when we spotted a few Coltsfoot flowers popping up through the ground. I intend to keep a proper list this year, so you might have a few more "intersting" photos over the next few months.

Coltsfoot