We met at the very civilised time of 8am for the last session of 2025. The session was nearly cancelled due to the dodgy weather forecast, but luckily we managed to remain dry, although it was rather too windy. We set 6 nets in the feeder area, the reed bed & next to the Reed Base classroom where we set up our ringing station for the morning. It was a good turn out, with 8 members attending.
We only caught 17 birds, although we had a nice variety including our 11th Kingfisher & 3rd Treecreeper of the year. Ten of the birds were re-traps, mostly from earlier this year, and with just one Blue Tit & a Blackbird from last year.
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| Part of the Team working in the Reed Base |
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| Female Kingfisher, as indicated by the amount of red on the lower mandible |
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| Treecreeper |
We also caught a Coal Tit, only the 2nd this year, and the 22nd in the last decade. The bird was aged as a 3, ie hatched this year. It had replaced its inner Greater Coverts, which had a blacker centre & greyish-blue edge when compared with the 4 old Greater Coverts (OGCs) which had slightly browner centres & a a paler greenish fringe. The colour of the OGCs was the same as that of the un-moulted old Primary Coverts & Alula.
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| Coal Tit |
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| Coal Tit wing |
We found some Otter paw prints near to one of the nets set beside a small stream, the size of them suggests that it was a male.
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| Otter prints |
After the ringing, we indulged in some festive nibbles & a bird ID/ringing quiz, set by Adrian in memory of local ringer Geoff Pearce, who sadly died this year. Geoff specialised in pulli (nestlings), particularly Barn & Tawny Owls, which he'd been ringing for decades, kindly giving several Group members the opportunity to join him & gain valuable experience.
Ringed | Retrapped | |
Blackbird | 1 | |
Blue Tit | 1 | 2 |
Chiffchaff | 1 | |
Coal Tit | 1 | |
Goldcrest | 2 | 4 |
Great Tit | 1 | 1 |
Kingfisher | 1 | |
Treecreeper | 1 | |
Wren | 1 | |
7 | 10 |
