Nice surprises

Today at a public demonstration few birds were caught but two nice surprises for those who waited until later in the morning. After the usual local species a Kestrel and Kingfisher were caught which completed the morning's nice close-ups.

Adult male Kestrel (Photo Richard Austin)

That's an unusual fish! (Photo Richard Austin)

Erecting mist nets at dawn (Photo Richard Austin)

Dark evening wader catch

Our first after dark wader catch this year was a reasonable success with nine birds. One Black-tailed Godwit and eight Curlew.

Setting the nets in sticky gooey mud! (Photograph Adrian Bayley)

Careful extraction of a Black-tailed Godwit with carrying box at the ready
(Photograph Adrian Bayley)

Note the longer bill of the female Curlew (Photograph Mike Tyler)

More nice catches

An early morning session yesterday, before the rains came resulted in a few birds caught, including the two interesting species for the Axe Estuary Wetlands photographed below.

Lesser Whitethroat (Copyright Adrian Bayley)

Juvenile male Sparrowhawk (Copyright Adrian Bayley)