Things are starting to get busy now as more & more nests are holding chicks that are big enough to take rings. Over the last two weeks, I’ve been out most days looking for nests and have now got around 80 nest records on the go.
From these nests I’ve ringed several broods of Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch (below) and Wood Pigeon, with many nest still holding eggs & others waiting to be ‘laid up’.
Last week I headed over to Botany Bay Woods with Steve to help him census the heronry & to ring a few chicks. The heronry has declined in number over the last few years from 110 nests in 2005 to 65 active nests this year. However other Greater Manchester heronries have increased in number & are doing well…
Nest box checking in Atherton Woods show that Great Tits are well underway with incubation, with Blue Tits still laying and awaiting to complete their clutches.
And the three Tawny Owl eggs have hatched…
Another job I’ve been doing is travelling to as many ponds, lakes & gardens to look for breeding Coot & especially their colour rings! Which has resulted in great success for both finding ringed birds & filling out more Coot nest record cards this year…
Now back to inputting data in IPMR :-)
Nice pics, would say that is a bird lowing owl, is it a yellow-necked Mouse (Apodemus flavicollis) Laying there in the bottom right corner?
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