tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86589218517340957372024-03-14T04:47:14.091+00:00Kane's Bird RingingKane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.comBlogger307125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-58924902575778115742013-07-29T17:35:00.001+01:002013-07-29T18:08:48.468+01:00Long time….no….blog!<p>I’ve been abandoning the old blog of late, not because I’ve stopped ringing – mainly due to not having the time to update it due to work, travel, keeping up with the family and doing lots of ringing! So here’s a look back over the last few weeks....</p> <p>At the back end of June, Gillian & I travelled over to the Isle of Man for our annual trip to visit Sean & Kev. Getting up to all sorts but once again kayaks were deployed & off we went to a local gravel pits in search of Cormorants to colour ring, along with cr-ringing several large gull chicks & adding to a new cr-ringing project on Common gull. </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TLzoAHp9dm0/UfaZhGV5kPI/AAAAAAAADBM/4isJbAhYWOY/s1600-h/P1060300%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="P1060300" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="P1060300" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Jg_7NydbRc0/UfaZiRvzLxI/AAAAAAAADBU/SeetBGL1MRc/P1060300_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>A bonnie brood of Sparrowhawk were also ringed and we were also treated to visiting the nest of a Hen harrier pair and ringing a single chick. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-4Ew1NhvkZQI/UfaZjFncMfI/AAAAAAAADBc/COa_RImKZXk/s1600-h/photo%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="photo" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="photo" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-iDzchx19QNw/UfaZkJu3X0I/AAAAAAAADBk/pSvAQaxksy0/photo_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>The guys have been doing some fantastic ringing work with terns in the north of the island – ringing good numbers of Arctic & Little tern, and controlling several adults of the latter species! Good stuff! </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3fsnczhNEGE/UfaZlJfvCNI/AAAAAAAADBs/V1fath-Kkjg/s1600-h/LITER%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="LITER" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="LITER" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-oBZatJsiRpc/UfaZlyvS3-I/AAAAAAAADB0/xjAUAywCIc0/LITER_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Back at Sean’s house, the whoosh net was set & ready (as always!) resulting in several Herring gulls being captured. A fantastic weekend all round, as always – spending some quality time with great friends! Cheers to Sean, Niki and Kev for having us along!</p> <p>We flew back home were the day after I travelled up to Lake Windermere to assist the RSPCA in catching moulting Canada geese. This being the start of a new (RSPCA) project, looking at the movements of the geese to & from the lake in relation to their moult migrations. The catches (three in total) were a huge success, resulting in 211 Canada geese & 40 Greylag geese being ringed. Interestingly I’ve ringed quite a number of Canada geese at Windermere over the years & not a single one of these birds were captured in the moult round-ups. We did control two birds from Northumberland and Mid Wales, which gives some initial idea of where these birds are coming from. </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/993910_10151556925068090_888929702_n.jpg" width="400" height="300" /></p> <p>All the Canada geese carrying colour rings, were marked with red darvic type rings – white lettering with 4 characters starting AAAA. Any sightings of these can be reported via <a href="http://www.ring.ac">www.ring.ac</a></p> <p>A really enjoyable few days in the Lakes working with the RSPCA teams & good to put faces to names in meeting Kev Leighton & others from the RSPCA ringing group. </p> <p>The end of June early July can be busy with moult roundups of flightless geese and swans. It was a pleasure to go down to Chew Valley Lake to help with the groups round up of flightless Canada geese. Around 70-80 birds captured in total, with the majority of the catch consisting of new birds.</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1016940_10151569311998090_257330109_n.jpg" width="400" height="300" /></p> <p>A day trip over to West Yorkshire were I finally met Andy Jowett! Spent a day ringing Long eared owl & Red kite chicks with him, along with checking Barn owl boxes! A tip top day – cheers Andy! See you soon ;-)</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/431889_10151511239153090_325526367_n.jpg" width="300" height="400" /></p> <p>06th July was an early start – going from Manchester to Beaumaris to meet up with the SCAN ringing group for one of their visits to Puffin Island to ring seabirds & gulls. A very enjoyable (but hot!) day spent ringing Cormorants, Shag, Puffin, Guillemots, Razorbills and Herring, Lesser & Greater Black Backed Gull chicks. Lovely!</p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/999818_10151563894303090_1790205538_n.jpg" width="300" height="400" /></p> <p>The day after we travelled up to North Lancashire to spend a very nice evening ringing Sand martins on the River Lune with Richard Du Feu and Dave Bickerton. This forming part of their very neat work on a Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) project on the species. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-oEtbdPSe_FM/UfaZm2ApjlI/AAAAAAAADB8/4rI4iTMY7xs/s1600-h/P1010354%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img title="P1010354" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="P1010354" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-fPOdAwHsmR8/UfaZn05D6KI/AAAAAAAADCE/o3IYFUGDhOI/P1010354_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>A few days later we travelled further north, to Scotland just north of Inverness to meet up with Bob Swann after an invite (back in Bulgaria in February!) to go ringing Osprey chicks with him. Not needing to be asked twice, I jumped to this opportunity & took Bob up on his offer! Well I’ve always wanted to work closely with Ospreys & getting the opportunity to help Bob survey & ring some chicks was like my birthday / Christmas day all rolled into one! I’m still reeling after this day & by far, it has to be said, my favourite day of the year so far! </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dohLLxfwrlE/UfaZpLXNh6I/AAAAAAAADCM/3pg5aZk36Gk/s1600-h/P1100182%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="P1100182" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="P1100182" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-U3dEYMa08U0/UfaZpynFkpI/AAAAAAAADCU/IyzmWC6HyPk/P1100182_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-x-Uq3X4s-kQ/UfaZqwLbItI/AAAAAAAADCc/3_lsUowyCns/s1600-h/P1100178%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img title="P1100178" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="P1100178" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-pIj_lz9HWXs/UfaZsKiSI0I/AAAAAAAADCk/CFhyPkOmzM4/P1100178_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a></p> <p>We checked several nest sites & ringed several bonnie chicks. Twas’ a huge privilege to be up close to one of my all time favourite birds and a species of conservation success! </p> <p><img style="float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; margin-right: auto" alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/255026_10151572358168090_188470233_n.jpg" width="300" height="400" /></p> <p>Huge thanks to Bob, Dora & Rob for having us along!</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p>This year being an Abbotsbury round up year (they happen every two years!) and since I’ve not attended the last two (due to being away!) I thought it was about time to roll up my sleeves and join some of my colleagues & other ringing groups for some hard work on the south coast at Abbotsbury Swannery. Of course Mute swans were the subject of the day and together with a large kayak team a nice catch, of exactly 600 Mute swans were caught!</p> <p><img alt="" src="https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc3/988633_10151588910163090_1438379678_n.jpg" width="400" height="300" /></p> <p>and finally the weekend just gone was spent on the <a href="http://farnephoto.blogspot.co.uk/">Farne Islands</a> catching up with my best matey Ciaran and of course carrying out quite a bit of ringing! It was great to be out ringing with Ciaran again and this time on his turf! Many Puffins (adults & chicks) were brought up from down their burrows to be ringed, measured and weighed before being returned. Kittiwake & Arctic tern chicks were also ringed, as were quite a number of Shags, both adults and chicks which were colour marked as part of <a href="http://www.ceh.ac.uk/sci_programmes/isleofmaylong-termstudy.html">CEH’s ongoing monitoring work.</a></p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-SCKXwq2REr0/UfaZtYbLSKI/AAAAAAAADCs/ifZA5rvpOSM/s1600-h/photo%25255B12%25255D.jpg"><img title="photo" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px" border="0" alt="photo" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YTRJRkYVEQU/UfaZuGS0UDI/AAAAAAAADC0/99jMCQkA-5s/photo_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>It was a huge pleasure and very enjoyable to get to spend the night on the Farne Islands which was quite an experience, going to sleep with thousands of Arctic Terns & Puffins just outside the window! Amazing! Good to hear that the Puffins are having such a good breeding season out there which is a credit to the dedicated team of National Trust rangers that inhabit the islands. </p> <p>If you’ve never been to the Farnes I’d thoroughly recommended a visit! Although to see some seabirds before they head off to their wintering grounds – you’ll need to visit soon!!</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-IwzH_xol4xg/UfaZuwiZjZI/AAAAAAAADC8/_606mqTjcEM/s1600-h/photo%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img title="photo" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="photo" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dNUHYgjY3gc/UfaZ0-RSwFI/AAAAAAAADDE/YvNtkEEKvt4/photo_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Many thanks to Ciaran, Andrew ‘big lad’ Denton, Graeme & Jonathan for having us on the island and to Bex & Will for swiftly getting us back to the mainland in the RIB yesterday evening when the weather had calmed down! Being stranded & working from the Farne Islands on a Monday morning could have been interesting! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2uTJ_6lnSnw/UfaZ1xlw4HI/AAAAAAAADDM/xe2HHE9FuzM/s1600-h/photo%25255B16%25255D.jpg"><img title="photo" style="border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; float: none; margin-left: auto; display: block; border-top-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" border="0" alt="photo" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-_7FKX9Yl92c/UfaZ2pQ2jAI/AAAAAAAADDU/wqPemS_vrDI/photo_thumb%25255B8%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> ‘If you’ve a Puffin in your hands, then you’ve gotta have a selfie!’</p> <p>I’ve got a busy few days in the office now, before flying out to Iceland on Saturday for annual Whooper swan ringing & productivity monitoring. </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-89336683212676964302013-03-12T20:24:00.001+00:002013-03-12T20:27:02.666+00:00Two survivors.<p>The 2010/2011 winter saw the UK gripped by sub-zero temperatures that brought heavy snowfalls, record low temperatures, travel chaos and school disruption to the British Isle. It included the UK's coldest December since Met Office records began in 1910, with a mean temperature of -1°C, breaking the previous record of 0.1°C in December 1981! </p> <p>As previously reported on this blog we managed to catch several hundred Coot at Southport Marine Lake during this cold snap. On casting an eye over the subsequent re-sightings of birds ringed during this period it is all too easy to think that some birds didn’t make it out of the cold snap, especially for any birds that appeared not to have been re-sighted soon after or in subsequent years. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZBVrD-HicvE/UT-O1H__TpI/AAAAAAAAC-s/G-jU7Lbe_0o/s1600-h/P1080599%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1080599" border="0" alt="P1080599" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-vSHV--TqgEI/UT-O2X5l5qI/AAAAAAAAC-0/j58uAU7ENoE/P1080599_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>However now and again we do get occasional re-sightings of what we’ll call ‘the cold weather birds’ and it’s somewhat relieving to know that they did after all make it out alive! One of these sightings came in yesterday from Keith Avery who had photographed a colour ringed Coot at his local park pond. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-q06p3IYKL6U/UT-O4OsRRhI/AAAAAAAAC-8/LhRja94VbP4/s1600-h/Kirkcaldy%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Kirkcaldy" border="0" alt="Kirkcaldy" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-upa8LsycEnY/UT-O5T7pSQI/AAAAAAAAC_E/zxopiZYjlU0/Kirkcaldy_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>After a little research, delving into IPMR and confirming the colour rings with photos taken - it appeared that this bird was hot on the heels of the ‘Flying Scootsman’ and is now the 2nd colour ringed Coot, out of 1,700 marked to be re-sighted in Scotland! </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-zSSrHZFBdRs/UT-O64RmBBI/AAAAAAAAC_M/Gq_QpBdXOA8/s1600-h/Fife%252520coot.%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Fife coot." border="0" alt="Fife coot." src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-g_T3IJ1MLLg/UT-O8SVa_tI/AAAAAAAAC_U/GKXoyaB5Qtk/Fife%252520coot._thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>Since ringing this bird has not been seen elsewhere until Keith photographed it at Beveridge Park in Kirkcaldy in Fife! A movement of 272km north in 2 years and 89 days! </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-bJAc41RZZ1g/UT-O-zoGPoI/AAAAAAAAC_c/Vz9WwNLq-yM/s1600-h/Kirkcaldy%252520movement%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Kirkcaldy movement" border="0" alt="Kirkcaldy movement" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-BAkBK6ViZVk/UT-PAv4L32I/AAAAAAAAC_k/gIFIEBeMw2A/Kirkcaldy%252520movement_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="352" /></a> </p> <p>Thanks to Keith for reporting this colour ringed Coot and for the photos! </p> <p>The second ‘survivor’ of the 2010/11 cold snap comes in the form of a Gadwall that we ringed on the same day as the above Coot at Southport Marine Lake. It’s quite unusual to be able to feed and catch, by hand a Gadwall at close range so I guess this goes to show the unusual tameness birds become when in need of food. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-7S3vT8cQOT8/UT-PBw1skJI/AAAAAAAAC_s/YP_Vn8ANWHg/s1600-h/P1080628%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1080628" border="0" alt="P1080628" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nvT1x8ZqnF0/UT-PDJ3KFBI/AAAAAAAAC_0/Jrc-x762gjk/P1080628_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>However this Gadwall also survived the dark cold days/nights of December 2010 and lived for a further 2 years and 54 days before sadly it was shot dead just 5km away further down the coastline from Southport. </p> <p>Birds are hardy things it amazes me how they survive such harsh conditions…… </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-5276861516781282462013-02-23T10:41:00.001+00:002013-02-23T17:52:03.790+00:00The Flying Scootsman Returns North!<p>Just a few weeks ago we blogged about catching a cr-ringed Coot that was ringed in Greater Manchester, which became the first bird from the project to be re-sighted in Scotland. It returned back to it’s wintering (& ringing site) at Crompton Lodges near Farnworth in December 2012 and we managed to catch it in January 2013 were we replaced it’s rings. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-TjLKREsFzQA/USicwVIf00I/AAAAAAAAC9E/hHpX-E7k_2g/s1600-h/Big%252520Coot.%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="Big Coot." border="0" alt="Big Coot." src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-7s3-EXWxX2c/USicxEFzthI/AAAAAAAAC9M/WB1jah1dwc8/Big%252520Coot._thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>This week I got a call from Andrew Bramhall in the Scottish Borders to say he’d seen a colour ringed Coot on the River Tweed at Tweedbank and it soon became apparent that this was the newly re-ringed ASC returning back north! </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-m0582Dd5_lo/USkBwIBZo9I/AAAAAAAAC-I/K4JX2_OSY50/s1600-h/Coot%252520ASC%252520showing%252520darvic%252520TB%25252023rd%252520Few%2525202013%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Coot ASC showing darvic TB 23rd Few 2013" border="0" alt="Coot ASC showing darvic TB 23rd Few 2013" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-_yMITsfCMRI/USkBwvMrj4I/AAAAAAAAC-Q/RwitMVxP5eo/Coot%252520ASC%252520showing%252520darvic%252520TB%25252023rd%252520Few%2525202013_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="324" /></a> </p> <p align="center">ASC tucking into some Scottish bread! Photo: Andrew Bramhall..</p> <p>Andrew thought his initial sighting of ASC would be the last, however ASC soon departed the River Tweed and presumably during the night relocated to Gunknowe Loch, Tweedbank where apparently a territorial pair were seeing off ASC! So I guess he will not be sticking around there for too long! I wonder where it’ll be sighted next!? Gillian Dinsmore will have to go on the look for him and confirm whether he’s breeding up there!! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-pVkrTApWoo8/USicy2xJpUI/AAAAAAAAC9k/XXBLEPa1i_8/s1600-h/ASC%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="ASC" border="0" alt="ASC" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rveOu6Qdu2E/USicz1Ph4gI/AAAAAAAAC9s/f2r7XoyPdSE/ASC_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="372" /></a> <em>Red pin </em>– Ringing location ~ Farnworth, Grt Manchester 23/12/2010.</p> <p align="center"><em>Yellow pin</em> – Straiton, Midlothian sighted on 02/02/2012 – 264km N</p> <p align="center"><em>Red pin</em> – re-sighted back in Farnworth on 28/12/2012 </p> <p align="center"><em>Purple pin</em> – re-sighted in Tweedbank – 20/02/13 & 22/02/13. 229km N</p> <p></p> <p>Many thanks to Andrew and others who have reported this bird……….</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-59118709867703106102013-02-08T16:28:00.001+00:002013-02-21T22:15:14.757+00:00The Wild Goose Chase is OVER!<p>I’ve now been in Bulgaria for nearly two weeks and over this period we’ve been out working 15+ hour days monitoring, counting & weighing up catching locations and also trying to catch Red-breasted geese! As soon as darkness fell we’d be out in the field working into the night setting cannon nets, often setting up to 4 nets a night!</p> <p>Over the last two weeks we seen many a Red-breasted goose approach the catching area only to be flushed off by a White tailed sea eagle, Goshawk, Peregrine or a Long legged buzzard! There have been times when we’ve worked late into the night setting nets and the birds just didn’t turn up the day after!</p> <p>Today was our last day of catching! It was now or never! After carefully watching the birds all day yesterday, we kept birds off the ‘green patches of wheat’ in the fields & set 4 cannon nets in likely places last night. Exhausted we returned back to our hotel & were up well before dawn. Within half an hour of me & Bob being in the tent (our firing point!) we had successfully made a catch of Red-breasted geese & White-fronted geese! Oh WOW!</p> <p>Here’s some photos!!</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-cD07QrqHPhU/URUnDAH2rKI/AAAAAAAAC6M/5_nkwH8tP34/s1600-h/FIRE%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="FIRE" border="0" alt="FIRE" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-FLji8czFvqo/URUnFRDJpPI/AAAAAAAAC6U/-hun5QEG9Zg/FIRE_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>I have never been so scared & nervous in all my life - as today when I pressed this red button & fired the cannon nets, on Bob's call - the net flew out & caught 91 Red-breasted geese & 28 White-fronted geese! So HAPPY -  Making all those long days in the field over the last 2 weeks worthwhile!</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Ezn-DY8NvPU/URUnGys_HrI/AAAAAAAAC6c/OQfnYR6olzY/s1600-h/DSCN2769%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="DSCN2769" border="0" alt="DSCN2769" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-xjlvuBepuKk/URUnJK25XdI/AAAAAAAAC6k/ff6stE-BstE/DSCN2769_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p align="center">The world’s most stunning goose species!?</p> <p align="center"> </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-4wMll8G0jFk/URUnNEGtywI/AAAAAAAAC6s/s87VWqh2Zfw/s1600-h/DSCN2783%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2783" border="0" alt="DSCN2783" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-GxECowwfhKg/URUnPYIYJYI/AAAAAAAAC6w/LuNkjh1Kqn8/DSCN2783_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Peter Cranswick – WWT’s Head of Species Recovery – fitting satellite transmitters. </p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-uOzhvI7oHDg/URUnSO3GXbI/AAAAAAAAC64/fqRSh8gHDsg/s1600-h/DSCN2864%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2864" border="0" alt="DSCN2864" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9-vS5BAtdd0/URUnUVOHXbI/AAAAAAAAC7A/dQK4p1xNYas/DSCN2864_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Two very happy WWT Conservation staff holding the world’s most endangered goose species! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/--uiVsvwGaR4/URUnX_WcfUI/AAAAAAAAC7I/k_VlsIBwIU4/s1600-h/DSCN2806%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2806" border="0" alt="DSCN2806" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UVZ0IAJVoaM/URUnaQTHG4I/AAAAAAAAC7Q/PuOB8w-ur3A/DSCN2806_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">A Red-breasted goose in a special ‘goose jacket’ designed to keep the birds still in order for us to x-ray them. We were x-raying birds to see see whether any were carrying gun shot in their tissue. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/--2U1GRJGllU/URUnclKcBaI/AAAAAAAAC7Y/1f5QkdzqTU8/s1600-h/DSCN2870%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2870" border="0" alt="DSCN2870" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KSS4720P4P8/URUneX-6IzI/AAAAAAAAC7g/mgrK91TcSdY/DSCN2870_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">One of eleven male RBGs that we fitted with tags to help us answer many questions, in order to help conserve the species. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-kW9luDwbD40/URUngH62KRI/AAAAAAAAC7o/mLkF1E98kpM/s1600-h/DSCN2842%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2842" border="0" alt="DSCN2842" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-H3FIzJfh5cQ/URUnjAVKeyI/AAAAAAAAC7w/qD4YNMcriI0/DSCN2842_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Bob Swann – lead cannon netter keeping us all in check and directing the setting of cannon nets! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Z4wfW-RC4xA/URUnlQZx_jI/AAAAAAAAC74/innyLlLUxZw/s1600-h/DSCN2851%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2851" border="0" alt="DSCN2851" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-vyxeMeL6Lkk/URUnnqV1LyI/AAAAAAAAC8A/MtZLZO08VQM/DSCN2851_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Go, go, go – go and help us collect data to help us answer those questions! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-mvZDppQXwMQ/URUnpR_0zHI/AAAAAAAAC8I/dGOQBwGIDKs/s1600-h/DSCN2766%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2766" border="0" alt="DSCN2766" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-hiAc62zYpx0/URUnrfZHqbI/AAAAAAAAC8Q/P2SVfPygV4U/DSCN2766_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">One of 28 White-fronted geese that we caught. All carrying neck collars.</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-4OPY1ZuJRjw/URUntFzQ_xI/AAAAAAAAC8Y/xybpuXa7XWA/s1600-h/DSCN2857%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN2857" border="0" alt="DSCN2857" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-iWj49RMAuWQ/URUnulHMJkI/AAAAAAAAC8g/4M5hfkf4EoI/DSCN2857_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Packing up the cannon net that held over 100 birds! Non got out! Whoooh! </p> <p align="center">Staff back at Caerlaverock & Slimbridge have already been in touch with us to let us know that the first fixes from the transmitters have been received – phew! </p> <p align="left">What a trip! It has had it’s low points and it’s high points! I’m now looking forward to celebrating with the team tonight, going looking for Eagle owls tomorrow and then flying home on Sunday – looking forward to a nice break!! Massive thanks to the team out here from WWT Anne & Peter. The Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds. Thanks to Bob Swann for assisting us on this trip and for teaching me so much! Being cooped up in a tiny tent with Bob for large periods of times allowed me to pick his brain on everything cannon netting! Thanks also to my Line Managers for sending me on such an awesome WWT trip!</p> <p align="left">More photos here - <a title="http://goo.gl/L3I4g" href="http://goo.gl/L3I4g">http://goo.gl/L3I4g</a></p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-1561103578692256682013-01-29T19:47:00.001+00:002013-01-29T19:48:56.512+00:00Long eared owl roost!<p>I’m currently out in Bulgaria with WWT colleagues, Scottish cannon netter – Bob Swann and colleagues from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of birds trying to catch Red-breasted geese to fit with satellite transmitters. More on the collaborative work being carried out on the Red-breasted goose can be found <a href="http://www.wwt.org.uk/conservation/saving-wildlife/science-and-action/globally-threatened-species/redbreasted-goose/">here</a> and hopefully later to come if we’re successful in catching some geese. </p> <p>Although this post is totally unrelated to bird ringing! Whilst at the BSPB office today Bob decided to go for a walk to try and find some Long eared owls in the local town! 5 minutes later, Bob came back to announce to the group that he’d found some – however it became apparent that there were more than several, probably more likely to be around 40-50 individuals within a small conifer plantation….</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-EmmY7lnn8f0/UQgnK4pvdfI/AAAAAAAAC48/4GVJdw-n3us/s1600-h/DSCN2399%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="DSCN2399" border="0" alt="DSCN2399" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-TEh6nTc3Ja0/UQgnMp2R7nI/AAAAAAAAC5E/rg-P-1M29b8/DSCN2399_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>I’m just having the best time ever here in Bulgaria, despite it being really cold & lots of snow on the ground – but hey I do like snow, so not complaining at all – we’re having some cracking birding experiences in amongst weighing up opportunities to cannon net geese.</p> <p>Here are a few photos…….   </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kVZCOfM6rVQ/UQgnNvKoEgI/AAAAAAAAC5I/6e492v2l2RY/s1600-h/DSCN2418%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="DSCN2418" border="0" alt="DSCN2418" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-62d0o5db_VA/UQgnPY15vyI/AAAAAAAAC5U/o7BMcjtKzyw/DSCN2418_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="537" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-5lXx6fSswV8/UQgnQyFIRuI/AAAAAAAAC5c/TN1RSCaoF84/s1600-h/DSCN2417%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="DSCN2417" border="0" alt="DSCN2417" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-WWV7y24o_4w/UQgnStujw1I/AAAAAAAAC5k/4JIiFt1UUps/DSCN2417_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="537" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DagC93wG5LU/UQgnT3HpPtI/AAAAAAAAC5s/ldUK0Dh_PNc/s1600-h/DSCN2427%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="DSCN2427" border="0" alt="DSCN2427" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-31tq8ZAnFXQ/UQgnV85sInI/AAAAAAAAC50/lQs44GMchdE/DSCN2427_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="537" /></a></p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-57806130947534860452013-01-20T19:28:00.001+00:002013-01-20T19:28:12.408+00:00Quick update on the NW BH gull study.<p>This weekend we’ve been pretty busy catching Black-headed gulls to colour mark for our NW Black-headed gull project – catching by hand and colour marking thirty individuals.  </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MokKjRdAR50/UPxFRKxob8I/AAAAAAAAC4c/ZS9lgNg1TkE/s1600-h/photo123%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="photo123" border="0" alt="photo123" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-vP-1ZVglnQQ/UPxFSfPpGQI/AAAAAAAAC4k/xT-eOajSRJs/photo123_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Throughout this winter we’ve caught and colour ringed 109 adults, with 30 pulli cr-ringed at the Killington Reservoir colony in June 2012. This now brings the total to 271 birds now colour marked. </p> <p>As much as we’ve been out and about busy catching these birds, we’ve also been busy on the admin side of things as these colour marked birds are keeping us on toes with lots of re-sightings! Some very interesting movements of both resident and wintering migrants have been received. We’re keen for any sightings – so please keep them coming and thanks to all who have reported birds so far!</p> <p>Thanks</p> <p>Kane & Ciaran……</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-90125301416237597692013-01-19T14:20:00.001+00:002013-01-19T14:32:25.769+00:00The Flying Scootsman returns….<p>Colour ringed Coot GR25480 will always go down in the history of the NW Coot project for being the first and only (up to now) bird to be sighted in Scotland. This bird was ringed at Crompton Lodges in Greater Manchester in December 2010 as an adult male, where he also wintered in 2011, however in February 12 this bird was photographed by Robert Mackay at Straiton in Mid Lothian (260kmN). In December 2012 we re-sighted this bird back at it’s original ringing location of Crompton Lodges and today we managed to catch him to confirm it was GR25480!</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-8g94ka-Rads/UPqrgFr5bYI/AAAAAAAAC3c/sB6G_8y1DXU/s1600-h/001%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="001" border="0" alt="001" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZARZhszG7z4/UPqriecT4iI/AAAAAAAAC3k/jPiZaDhQN10/001_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="344" /></a> ‘GR25480 photographed in Scotland during February 2012’</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-EldzaM6yR10/UPqrjuJgJbI/AAAAAAAAC3s/X0ycl8NGDX4/s1600-h/Scootsman%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="Scootsman" border="0" alt="Scootsman" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-dBd_npfLnXY/UPqrmGptMhI/AAAAAAAAC30/fLUl22WlATE/Scootsman_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> ‘GR25480 today at Crompton Lodges’ </p> <p></p> <p>Does make you wonder where this bird has been in time between being seen in Scotland and returning to Greater Manchester! Norway? Iceland? Sweden? Finland? or Scotland!?</p> <p>So today Ciaran & I have been out catching (just like the good old days!) and we were rewarded with 10 Coot, 20 Black-headed gulls and a single Tufted duck all hand caught and colour ringed (except the Tufted duck!) </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MHS-Pn4Jbj4/UPqrn5WkTvI/AAAAAAAAC38/CuLwuUfv0_s/s1600-h/bhg%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="bhg" border="0" alt="bhg" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-vJXVzrKm3Gg/UPqrrhL78II/AAAAAAAAC4E/z11L6ksvXWs/bhg_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-36643265245954566282012-12-24T11:47:00.001+00:002012-12-24T11:47:46.344+00:00NRC 1000 Challenge ‘Brides, Bridge & Dinsmore’<p>You may remember back in May that we blogged about us forming as a recording team for the BTO’s Nest Record Scheme and out of that came the Brides, Bridge & Dinsmore nest recording partnership. </p> <p>This year we set out to do a challenge and that challenge was to try and record 1,000 nest record cards during 2012. We have purposely kept quiet about the end result of the challenge, as we were invited by Andy Clements the Director of the BTO to present our adventures, findings and end totals at the BTO’s recent annual conference. </p> <p>After such a successful season for us (it may well not have been for the birds) it was very rewarding for us to present the whole year to over 400 delegates attending the conference. We addressed the conference with the reasons for us getting together as a nest recording partnership, advantages we found as to working as a partnership, I touched upon inspirational people – who have inspired me to carry out my own monitoring projects, we told the conference the various methods we used to help us achieve our goal, Gillian gave a very impressive overview of her work on Reed warblers & Chris summarised his Pied flycatcher work in North Wales. </p> <p>As we proudly announced to the conference our end total of <strong><u>1131 Nest Record Cards</u></strong> submitted, the whole room came alive with the sound of cheers & clapping – certainly making all those very early mornings & very late nights much worthwhile!</p> <p>With 1131 NRCs whipped off to the BTO in September, we calculated that we’d spent 186 days in the field! We submitted NRCs for 80 species and of those 406 cards were submitted of 37 BTO ‘priority’ species. 744 cards where submitted from England, 357 was Wales and 32 from Scotland. 28% of records came from nest boxes with 72% of the records coming from open nesting species. </p> <p>Here’s a few slides from our presentation. </p> <p>Two people who I’m in awe of and totally inspired by are:</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-8RIjI95IlcU/UNhAjVys4cI/AAAAAAAAC1Y/A77gChVPEg4/s1600-h/image4.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-PWhleNWJVW0/UNhAlJgmjzI/AAAAAAAAC1g/cTMyXdzqCnM/image_thumb2.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="268" /></a> </p> <p>(Photo – Ben Howard) Malcolm Calvert of South Manchester Ringing Group who has devoted a life times work to study the Reed warbler at Rostherne Mere in Cheshire.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-tQiuWZBjFcI/UNhAmZZggBI/AAAAAAAAC1o/PdohjCTCUAA/s1600-h/image8%25255B1%25255D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-2WyuX_QfmXs/UNhAniFxqoI/AAAAAAAAC1w/06VR28DgRzQ/image_thumb4.png?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Dr Ævar Petersen of the Icelandic Institute of Natural History who I’ve been fortunate enough to work alongside during trips to Iceland and certainly someone who I look up to in the field of ornithology. Ævar, next year will be spending his 40th year in the field of nest recording and ringing Black guillemot chicks.</p> <p>How & what methods did we use?!</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-0MP2_U1R82M/UNhAr005O4I/AAAAAAAAC14/MNg4Jhn2E2E/s1600-h/image14.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-fI0J9g-7i2c/UNhAtQRW58I/AAAAAAAAC2E/J_eBTdLWCQA/image_thumb8.png?imgmax=800" width="437" height="248" /></a> </p> <p>……. lots of tree climbing and using poles mounted with cameras and mirrors. </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Its9veQG0M4/UNhAu8_GZcI/AAAAAAAAC2M/xV9qy50xc1I/s1600-h/image18.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-j8Ht9TJMwP8/UNhAv86A3aI/AAAAAAAAC2Q/mjywDVuWKBs/image_thumb10.png?imgmax=800" width="437" height="248" /></a> </p> <p>……..many hours spent in waders wandering through reedbeds and kayaking helped to get those tricky nests on the reed bed edges!</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-UWHHW6c8QrE/UNhAxBkyjiI/AAAAAAAAC2c/ECtS3TCiR38/s1600-h/image22.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-s1hCew7gQ7Q/UNhAyFAGR5I/AAAAAAAAC2g/38JiANL9Pic/image_thumb12.png?imgmax=800" width="437" height="248" /></a> </p> <p>…….and by using our phones to take photos & videos inside the nests of Great spotted woodpecker, Green woodpecker and Starling.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Am0buGh9B3E/UNhAzotBSiI/AAAAAAAAC2s/BSm9AqA-tjs/s1600-h/image11.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-wv1_aBIEuiA/UNhA1FZPsLI/AAAAAAAAC20/YnaK2AFbl8k/image_thumb4%25255B1%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="437" height="248" /></a> </p> <p>Gillian brought an update on her dissertation work studying Reed warblers……</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-A1xmakynta4/UNhA2j6wO_I/AAAAAAAAC28/rPgwGFz3JMM/s1600-h/image15%25255B1%25255D.png"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-AVPEuaY6s4U/UNhA35aVClI/AAAAAAAAC3E/e3BwoYCaw30/image_thumb6.png?imgmax=800" width="437" height="248" /></a> </p> <p>& Chris spoke about how he has taken over the monitoring of two colonies of Pied flycatcher in N Wales. </p> <p><strong>What other people had to say.</strong></p> <p>Ieuan Evans – Your talk was awesome, you guys rocked! Thank-you!</p> <p>BTO – Fantastically engaging talk, your impressive project should certainly inspire the next generation!</p> <p>Paul Seligman – We all enjoyed your nest recording presentation! Well done!!</p> <p>Mark Holling (British Birds) - <a href="Seeing their enthusiasm and inventiveness to reach their target was an inspiration to us all.">Seeing their enthusiasm and inventiveness to reach their target was an inspiration to us all.</a></p> <p>So that’s our 2012 Nest Recording Year! I’d just like to thank both Gillian & Chris for coming on board any helping me out with my already existing monitoring projects, for whom without, these projects would not be receiving the same amount of attention as they have done over the last several years!</p> <p>It’s been hard work, but very much worth it! If you’d have asked me back in June as to whether I thought we were going to make our target of 1,000 – I would have probably turned around to you and gave you a blank expression & shouted NO! How wrong was I!? Here’s to 2013…………..and hopefully some better weather!! Have a lovely Christmas everyone!!</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-14619177333730557562012-11-28T09:14:00.001+00:002012-11-28T09:50:30.601+00:00Kenya 2012.<p>Myself and Chris has just returned from a wonderful ringing trip in Tsavo National Park, Kenya. There we joined an international team of ringers on the 44th annual trip to Ngulia Lodge to ring western palearctic migrants and afrotropical birds. </p> <p>The ringing carried out at Ngluia is very unique in that most of the ringing is carried our during the hours of darkness. Each night teams would take it in turns to check on the weather conditions and as soon as any mist appears, then the whole ringing team in awoken. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-ydz2aQ0FxBI/ULXVp3I8f7I/AAAAAAAACyo/gJFDat7Brfc/s1600-h/DSCN04704.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0470" border="0" alt="DSCN0470" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-IyTqtm_mpGM/ULXVrAmZyJI/AAAAAAAACys/zyQCXJuxy1U/DSCN0470_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Perfect misty conditions to captured grounded migrants.</p> <p>Two 60 foot nets are placed in front of the lodge’s floodlights and it’s these floodlights that attract any migrating passerines from above, finding it hard to navigate in such conditions the migrants head for these lights & sit it out until the mist passes. However some birds end up in the mist nets and at times over the period we captured up to 1,500 birds! </p> <p>A very efficient ringing team is then on hand to extract any captured birds & these are then taken to the ringing teams who work busily throughout the night, to ring any captured birds before first light appears. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-D0COJ604cvs/ULXVr7rmm6I/AAAAAAAACy0/xG1QmEEF9c0/s1600-h/DSCN04724.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0472" border="0" alt="DSCN0472" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YQ1FLjzjDZI/ULXVtI_1H6I/AAAAAAAACzA/U1Xqb8CwuLc/DSCN0472_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>The majority of the catch is made up of Marsh warblers and Thrush nightingale, however the odd Nightjar (European, Plain and Donaldson’s smiths) were also captured. During our stay one controlled bird was captured, this being a Thrush nightingale which was carrying a Georgian ring. A first for the ringing expedition! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-XGM1BYvUXeM/ULXVuSkwS2I/AAAAAAAACzI/qhGk8AicPHI/s1600-h/DSCN04764.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="DSCN0476" border="0" alt="DSCN0476" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-O9nKN-981lY/ULXVu90TXeI/AAAAAAAACzM/ybNzsi7dAh8/DSCN0476_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> Plain nightjar</p> <p align="left">Extracting birds at around 3am whilst you have Thrush nightingales sitting on your shoulders and Nightjars whizzing around your head is quite an experience! Also knowing that just hours before we got to work, sometimes up to three Leopards & at times Elephants were feeding in this vicinity – is quite a daunting thought!  </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-MOwnBQjkJZY/ULXVwZaS0KI/AAAAAAAACzY/W9r1B49nF6g/s1600-h/DSCN03004.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0300" border="0" alt="DSCN0300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-2h0doqw-SeQ/ULXVxritRXI/AAAAAAAACzc/TpEX_gYr_iA/DSCN0300_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>By the time daybreak had arrived most of the nights (or should that be early mornings!) catch has been released, allowing them to continue with their migration. At first light 20 mist nets were opened which allowed us to catch a variety of birds including quite a number of afrotrop species!</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-joYrsbDCj0A/ULXVypojRvI/AAAAAAAACzk/TUGLZhunsDA/s1600-h/DSCN04304.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="DSCN0430" border="0" alt="DSCN0430" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-VA1qlid9KhM/ULXVzsq6JsI/AAAAAAAACzw/Sat_SVQQq8Y/DSCN0430_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> African Green pigeon.</p> <p>Dawn ringing then continued till around 10:30 when it was then too hot to have the mist nets open & the bird activity in the area had quietened down. After breakfast several single panel nets were placed up to catch Barn swallows, often with some big catches had. These birds were taken away to be ringed in the cool shade before being released. </p> <p>Afternoons were either spent Swallow ringing, catching up on sleep – although who wants to sleep when there is so much to see & do!? or going on Safari – which is what we did! We had the most wonderful time out on safari & bird watching in Tsavo – seeing all but one (Lion!) of the big 5 and having some quite memorable if not scary experiences with the Tsavo’s temperamental Elephants!  </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Wpop5j8JQ5E/ULXV02ki-OI/AAAAAAAACz4/RkYZRZYFbWg/s1600-h/DSCN03354.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0335" border="0" alt="DSCN0335" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-Tyhnop4CtvE/ULXV24pTWAI/AAAAAAAAC0A/WrCO9PfooSg/DSCN0335_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>We both had the best time ever on this trip and we would both like to thank Dr David Murdoch, Dr Colin Jackson & Dr Graham Backhurst for inviting us along on this trip & for teaching us so much! We would also like to thank Malcolm Wilson, Baz Williams and Richard Charles for their company on the trip & to all the others and staff at Ngulia Lodge who looked after us so very well. </p> <p>We returned back to the UK via Dubai, after flying into Manchester on the world’s biggest passenger plane – the A380 – which was an quite experience in itself! </p> <p>For now we’ll leave you with some photos from the trip below, however more can be viewed <a href="http://goo.gl/8Sh3o">here</a> (for general trip photos) and <a href="http://goo.gl/MxMw2">here</a> (for bird photos) </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-dhB731bYncI/ULXV4HEj4LI/AAAAAAAAC0I/kH1uGi4xe30/s1600-h/DSCN04814.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0481" border="0" alt="DSCN0481" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/--858JG5Jn8w/ULXV5aDgA9I/AAAAAAAAC0Q/iNh31xLj88Q/DSCN0481_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p align="center">Grey headed kingfisher. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-BgidJ8f9Hmo/ULXV7P5T5jI/AAAAAAAAC0Y/plKCdWiQ2vc/s1600-h/DSCN05174.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0517" border="0" alt="DSCN0517" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tHytQ08Rfqc/ULXV8pnT6MI/AAAAAAAAC0c/X_hgS3Iwqos/DSCN0517_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Asian lesser cuckoo.</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-9bTPXe70W9Y/ULXV91whklI/AAAAAAAAC0o/mNFql30SM2E/s1600-h/DSCN03163.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0316" border="0" alt="DSCN0316" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-BkA9herMkFU/ULXV-2u_DxI/AAAAAAAAC0w/y_5F5qHoeAI/DSCN0316_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Little sparrowhawk.</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-bKWBEwla2lA/ULXWADAoe9I/AAAAAAAAC00/EcmNOLaW8KA/s1600-h/DSCN04354.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="DSCN0435" border="0" alt="DSCN0435" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-jov8hwhJ_9U/ULXWA_2HfFI/AAAAAAAAC1A/hDspEQjDSzg/DSCN0435_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Pygmy batis. </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-17494071095584241932012-08-10T22:37:00.001+01:002012-08-10T22:38:49.297+01:00100,000!!<p>No it’s not the total number of Coot that have now been colour marked, but the total number of visits to this blog has topped 100,000 since the first post in 2009! </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-KDNqA1jZ1p8/UCV-_CGiLKI/AAAAAAAACyM/nv4iJ7IYfb0/s1600-h/100000%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="100000" border="0" alt="100000" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-HdgR-7Qah8E/UCV_AE4_yOI/AAAAAAAACyU/kTeE1LNKopo/100000_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="404" height="211" /></a> </p> <p>Since the first post on 03/02/2009 a total of 304 posts have been blogged on this site. Blogger has a clever little statistics tool, which allows us to keep tabs on the total number of visits, where people are reading from and what sites they’ve been directed from!</p> <p>So I thought we’d have a little look to see what’s been happening!</p> <p>The most popular posts, in terms of the number of hits have been - <a href="http://www.birdringing.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/brides-bridge-dinsmore-partnership.html">The Brides, Bridge and Dinsmore Partnership</a> (857 views), <a href="http://birdringing.blogspot.co.uk/2009/10/how-do-you-catch-your-coot.html">‘‘How do you catch your Coot?’’</a> (708), <a href="http://birdringing.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/flatey-experiance.html">The Flatey Experience</a> (624) <a href="http://birdringing.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/busy-week.html">and Busy Week</a> (401).</p> <p>Not surprising Google was the most popular ‘referring site’ with 13,705 views being directed from Google. Then people also found their way onto the blog via <a href="http://www.btoringing.blogspot.co.uk/">BTO Demog Blog</a> (9,748), <a href="http://oaring.blogspot.co.uk/">Oaring</a> (857), <a href="http://training-to-ring-birds.blogspot.com/">Sean Gray’s blog</a> (817) and <a href="http://ascouseringer.blogspot.co.uk/">Peter Fearon’s blog</a> (644). </p> <p>The stats tool also allows us to see what folk have typed into search engines to find the blog. Some too rude to mention on here! But – ‘Kane Coot’ has been typed into search engines 802 times and is by far the most popular search! Followed by ‘Kane WWT’ (608) and ‘Puffin chick’ (203).</p> <p>When we look at the audience and where they’ve visited from, the top ten are – UK (55,070), USA (10,919), Denmark (3,916), Norway (3,156), Spain (1,627), the Netherlands (1,364), Germany (907), France (829) and Russia (808). </p> <p>We’ve posted from or blogged on ringing trips from Iceland (4 trips), France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Croatia, Romania and Russia! </p> <p>So thank-you for reading the blog & to all those who have invited me out ringing with them or have joined me out in the field! It’s been quite an experience! :)</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-40649210233659025862012-08-03T16:08:00.001+01:002012-08-03T16:08:51.015+01:00Recent Recoveries……<p>Steve recently sent round to the group our latest batch of recoveries, which came in from the BTO earlier this week. </p> <p>There were several local movements of finches, Coot and Mute swans ringed in the North West, but two notable recoveries are listed below. </p> <p>A Tufted duck ringed in Sefton Park, Liverpool (no doubt a lunch time ringing trip of Steve’s!) on 12/01/2010 as a 5M was caught/drowned in fishing nets at Pelym, Ivdelsky in RUSSIA – 3977km ENE in 847 days. Just goes to show that not all bread eating ducks sit on the same pond all their lives! </p> <p>A Common gull caught at Nimmo’s Pier in Galway, Ireland on 03/01/2011 was recaptured by ringers on 22/06/2012 at Breiavatnet, Stavanger in Norway, 1113km ENE in 536 days. The ringers also colour ringed the bird – white J5VP. </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-53423041115217970162012-07-08T11:49:00.001+01:002012-07-08T11:51:28.407+01:00Big Brother coming to a nest near you!<p>Over the last few weeks Gillian & I started our nest camera trapping work on our Reed warbler colony. We’re placing cameras at the nests of Reed warblers in the hope of identifying the adults by their colour rings. This is a video of the first nest that we filmed at, containing small chicks. We’re rather pleased that we’re able to identify the female as BTO Pink, Pink Dark Blue. She was ringed at the site as a 3J in 2010, she was recaptured in 2011 and again in 2012. Hopefully with the colour ringing & the cameras we'll be able to follow her nesting attempts over the coming years. </p> <p>As you can see from the video the male is unringed, but hopefully more trapping over the coming weeks will see him colour ringed! We’re rather excited at being able to film our nests as we never get to see the ‘private’ lives of the Reed warblers and what goes on after we’ve left the nest! With well over 70 nests at the site – we’ve had our work cut out!</p> <p>This short video is slow to start off with, but you can see some cool/interesting stuff further on….</p> <p></p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:76994993-5ab3-498d-b6bc-ec330270a5c9" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="9fb976a3-d47b-4900-b31e-2085d7a05c48" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh5nMP3GtBc&feature=youtube_gdata_player" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-td_HA1XS330/T_llqAJ0G8I/AAAAAAAACyE/1ilvpDMVjFU/video15121ef0620b%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('9fb976a3-d47b-4900-b31e-2085d7a05c48'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/qh5nMP3GtBc&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/qh5nMP3GtBc&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p></p> <p>The above work is being carried out by Gillian for her dissertation.</p> <p>Excuse the sounds of the planes in this clip! The site sits under the flight path of the UK’s third busiest airport!!!</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-83093682629308776102012-07-07T11:30:00.000+01:002012-07-08T11:30:23.249+01:00CANGO & GREGO Catches.<p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-GofjlO2snEo/T_lgtvzIDSI/AAAAAAAACxo/dtnLHCrJJq0/s1600-h/CANGO%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="CANGO" border="0" alt="CANGO" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-9BVcZEebQ3I/T_lguZX1DmI/AAAAAAAACxw/aNF3uxQNm5w/CANGO_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>Over the past two weeks I’ve been involved in several round-ups targeting moulting geese. These catches taking place at the BTO’s Nunnery Reserve in Thetford and in the Cotswolds Water Park. Good fun as always & very successful – but it was all hands on deck & I didn’t manage to take any photos. All of these round-ups were for separate projects & the <a href="http://cotswoldwaterpark.wordpress.com/2012/07/06/canada-geese-research-project/">Cotswolds Water Park blog</a>, details more information on the round-ups taken place there, this week……</p> <p>It was good to work with staff from the BTO – my first visit to the Nunnery, which I very much enjoyed! Thanks to Daria for the tour round! & also good to work with FERA & Exeter University teams on the CWP catches…</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-20609213409837929612012-06-17T11:32:00.001+01:002012-06-17T11:32:10.926+01:00The Highlight of My Day!<p>Checking on one of my Barn owl boxes in Greater Manchester, that I’ve had up for three years now & finding out that a pair have taken to it and raised a brood! </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-4uako_5H9wQ/T92yIT31mhI/AAAAAAAACxE/LiC1aNK-BCw/s1600-h/P1060443%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060443" border="0" alt="P1060443" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-QJbL9_ce1JI/T92yIy8AH9I/AAAAAAAACxM/BzhyX-28MtY/P1060443_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>We seem to be having a good Barn owl year with three broods already ringed & two more to ring in a few weeks time.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DXvrk8eYRAQ/T92yJep2_EI/AAAAAAAACxU/IeCV4wGNr0k/s1600-h/P1060432%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060432" border="0" alt="P1060432" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-YDKxMRx-cX0/T92yKUnjn7I/AAAAAAAACxc/8sIy_KfVoeg/P1060432_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-16737010793975426242012-06-16T21:59:00.001+01:002012-06-16T22:08:58.539+01:00Island Hopping.<p>On Thursday we flew out from Manchester & hopped across the water to the Isle of Man to see Mr Gray & Mr Scott for our annual 'ringing jollies'! </p> <p>Meeting the pair at the airport they whisked us off to the local gravel pits, calling off at Sean's home to collect the kayaks first, before launching them to gain access to an island. This held several pairs of breeding Greater blacked backed & Herring gulls along with a nice small Cormorant colony. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-h25SlfSfxHg/T9zzXwc3soI/AAAAAAAACuQ/R6pIMPt0SNM/s1600-h/P1060319%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060319" border="0" alt="P1060319" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-pHYXPyiE5Bo/T9zzY9ine5I/AAAAAAAACuY/MiJK8B-v_98/P1060319_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>After a small battle with the wind all four of us safely made it onto the island and we got to work ringing several GBB & Herring gull chicks. The Cormorant nests were at various stages ranging from eggs to medium sized chicks - so a handful of chicks were marked with darvic rings. </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-daduc9E8ncw/T9zzZg1BnqI/AAAAAAAACug/UTDXEVhdy30/s1600-h/P1060292%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060292" border="0" alt="P1060292" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-8tjp3xv49Bw/T9zzaa2JI1I/AAAAAAAACuo/wo-whiteVOo/P1060292_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-DzfvGs9yzVg/T9zzbIZaovI/AAAAAAAACuw/IajFLkhNDTc/s1600-h/P1060300%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060300" border="0" alt="P1060300" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-m4dzKu1Ajwo/T9zzb1-81-I/AAAAAAAACu4/1kSTp-8GA7Y/P1060300_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a></p> <p>After completing our little expedition we then went into a nearby breeding colony that held Herring & Lesser blacked backed gulls. Here we colour marked several chicks of both species.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-xwSphNB_i5w/T9zzcevBdhI/AAAAAAAACvA/69wtIhXR4kQ/s1600-h/P1060330%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060330" border="0" alt="P1060330" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-5wFGCoFXA8Y/T9zzc7W373I/AAAAAAAACvI/_p3vejAb0s8/P1060330_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>We then took a walk along the beaches to see if we could muster up any wader pulli for ringing resulting in an Oystercatcher chick being caught & after a small run around a Curlew chick being found in the nearby sand dunes.</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-OJ7ZLNmFPeE/T9zzfc5ix9I/AAAAAAAACvQ/dm0Vtp9blDQ/s1600-h/P1060344%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060344" border="0" alt="P1060344" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hp4b7PZ7mYc/T9zzgBeWegI/AAAAAAAACvY/y0FevwkOlno/P1060344_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a></p> <p>At a nearby Little tern colony two newly hatched chicks were ringed, along with the capture of a controlled adult bird.</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/--kRrNwuqUAc/T9zzgkLUnVI/AAAAAAAACvg/BOKdXRMAJRQ/s1600-h/P1060348%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060348" border="0" alt="P1060348" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-H-SVgCo6fqQ/T9zzhu-Ps4I/AAAAAAAACvo/ZIAyXScu86Y/P1060348_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3vWVNyzLy2M/T9zziFJp7uI/AAAAAAAACvw/8VPenetL5Ko/s1600-h/P1060363%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060363" border="0" alt="P1060363" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xCnW4t5CVF8/T9zzjKuwNxI/AAAAAAAACv4/LHd1Rzz6Br8/P1060363_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>By this time it was time to call it a day so we headed off back to Sean's to clean up & to fill our faces! However knowing from my previous visits to Sean's, I knew we hadn't quite finished ringing for the day! There were gulls to be whooshed netted in the garden! </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1YwmPUfdKgY/T9zzj7YMm8I/AAAAAAAACwA/ja5XWLC_18c/s1600-h/photo123%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="photo123" border="0" alt="photo123" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-CSdBFIzoOfM/T9zzkVUQoRI/AAAAAAAACwI/zvTYwoEcTk0/photo123_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Friday we met back up with Kev in Peel Harbour where we spent the majority of the day spring trapping Herring gulls & catching Black guillemots. The Herring gulls obviously had only one thing on their minds, in finding food for their chicks - which allowed us to capture 18 birds for colour ringing! Three Black guillemots were caught - 2 new & 1 recapture from 2005!</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-mEfqeDUc1to/T9zzk4pBmtI/AAAAAAAACwQ/K4hRf7mcYKg/s1600-h/P1060408%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060408" border="0" alt="P1060408" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-kfvEQcSHsoA/T9zzmUsb7YI/AAAAAAAACwY/zGTGrfZ3dvQ/P1060408_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>As always I've enjoyed my trip over to the IOM, it's a stunning place and has some cracking bird life! Sat in Sean & Niki's kitchen watching Gannets diving into the sea at the bottom of their garden, with a cheeky G&T to hand was truly memorable! </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-2hns8MZzTh0/T9zznOu2LII/AAAAAAAACwg/f_Ffr1xnOnY/s1600-h/P1060398%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060398" border="0" alt="P1060398" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-CH4C9WRpo4w/T9zznxlXuwI/AAAAAAAACwo/uuKFLc0jZic/P1060398_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>A massive thanks to Sean, Kev & Niki for having us along! Some quality bird ringing carried out with three quality friends! Thank-you muchly! until next time chin-chin! </p> <p>A video made by Sean -</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:b68f01a2-b0a0-42ff-b4a5-880cf57aa3a4" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="ab1ee29e-38a8-48b6-9cdd-62433b40b9f4" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhH-ALe8qbI&list=UUHUfmsbYW7e3hiiKq11MV_A&index=1&feature=plcp" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-WdDtj2QoP7o/T9z16LgN0HI/AAAAAAAACw4/UvPzf5R4CB0/video6a9bf7d8669a%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('ab1ee29e-38a8-48b6-9cdd-62433b40b9f4'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/NhH-ALe8qbI&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/NhH-ALe8qbI&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-69834673513455974402012-06-11T18:33:00.001+01:002012-06-11T18:36:41.017+01:00Mini Eggs….<p>We decided to take advantage of Sundays fine weather to check up on a few nests that had pulli ready for ringing, but first on the list was to check the status of a Goldcrest nest that we found during nest box monitoring in Atherton woods.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-nY--O78WPkk/T9Yr5aROhBI/AAAAAAAACtc/omImp8B4tLE/s1600-h/P1060095%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="P1060095" border="0" alt="P1060095" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-1O3dqvbK05A/T9Yr5xWlBvI/AAAAAAAACtk/epPQ7BdLpd4/P1060095_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Two weeks ago we observed one of the adult birds collecting nesting material & after a small search we eventually found the nest safely tucked away on the end of a branch of a Yew tree. On our 2nd visit to the nest it contained four tiny eggs & as none of us have ever found a Goldcrest nest before, we are rather looking forward to watching this nest progress! </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-RIBed6xkLQw/T9Yr7OvNdEI/AAAAAAAACts/5t512c7Z3ZI/s1600-h/P1060088%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060088" border="0" alt="P1060088" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZlDFhWf9-QY/T9Yr7sZa0jI/AAAAAAAACt0/HPcUsbbQzv4/P1060088_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p align="center">Very hard to photograph!</p> <p>A quick visit to our reed bed site in Worsley found us three new nests with pulli that were able to be ringed. First up a Willow warbler nest (6 chicks), Greenfinch (4 chicks) and Reed bunting (2 chicks) all being ringed.  </p> <p>Finally we finished our day by ringing a brood of Barn owls that have taken up residence in a box at a new location within Greater Manchester. Brilliant! </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-oiu4CqNbfdQ/T9Yr8MEjWhI/AAAAAAAACt8/GCNy4ARchtA/s1600-h/P1060099%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="P1060099" border="0" alt="P1060099" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Jao5ia6R3sc/T9Yr8p4dyCI/AAAAAAAACuE/3N4WDc_E0ws/P1060099_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>Then we went to watch Coldplay at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium – which was AWESOME! </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-1337053461614743272012-06-09T20:27:00.001+01:002012-06-09T21:56:07.514+01:00Swiftly Does It!<p>Gillian & I visited my local cemetery this afternoon to check on a few nests, but as a mini downpour had just passed over not long ago – several Swifts were coming down low to feed. A quick dash home to fetch some poles & a mist net, soon saw several Swifts in our grasp.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-UeRiDJ-gmKs/T9OjihX0GwI/AAAAAAAACs4/93fMNMTuwT4/s1600-h/SWIFT%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="SWIFT" border="0" alt="SWIFT" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-i-KDunPORnQ/T9OjjjFrz5I/AAAAAAAACtA/a1598MWxC20/SWIFT_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>I’ve handled several Swift in the past, so Gillian ringed & processed today’s catch – leaving my hands unscathed & my hair flat fly free!</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-6B1mFcJAiKs/T9OjlqOSvLI/AAAAAAAACtI/mQopJRXkS34/s1600-h/P1060054%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1060054" border="0" alt="P1060054" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-YLWXUcFGE0o/T9OjmcwZfPI/AAAAAAAACtQ/ZqkYxFaCXQ0/P1060054_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p></p> <p align="center">Smart birds!</p> <p align="left">Thanks to one of the cemetery keepers for his help today…….</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-51006559636642288102012-06-08T20:28:00.000+01:002012-06-09T20:28:13.209+01:00The Brides, Bridge & Dinsmore Partnership!<p>Everything is happening at once at the moment, which is keeping us very busy! The Reed warbler season has kicked off to a good start - we're currently monitoring nests at three sites, totalling 62 nests found. Our main reed bed site in Cheshire is holding 41 nests (that we know of!) and we've already ringed our first broods & recorded our first fledged young! </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-kqA5IFSUeek/T9L5kfNT0WI/AAAAAAAACrw/bM2dqQW3hds/s1600-h/P1050826%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1050826" border="0" alt="P1050826" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-KAGd1X12VcM/T9L5nbBrj5I/AAAAAAAACr4/XEJZyrtWCK8/P1050826_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>We've also been very busy over at WWT Martin Mere monitoring the Tree sparrow boxes. Out of 109 boxes checked 71 contained nests of Tree sparrow. Most chicks being ringed from these boxes & nest record cards filled out for all attempts. Most of the first broods have now left and second clutches are now well under way!</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-rGppfc3dgz4/T9L5qH1JgWI/AAAAAAAACsA/6Yrsx6acFDY/s1600-h/P1050791%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1050791" border="0" alt="P1050791" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZI-woWizj-E/T9L5rrJyZTI/AAAAAAAACsI/lF0siUTHfcY/P1050791_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>I'm expecting both our 2012 Reed warbler & Tree sparrow nest record totals to be well over 100 cards for both species! </p> <p>I usually fly solo when nest recording, however this year I've teamed up with Gillian & Chris and out of this has come the Brides, Bridge & Dinsmore (BBD) nest recording partnership.</p> <p>Although we're spread across the country myself at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, Gillian in Stirling & Chris in Bangor, N Wales - we are not only nest recording at sites near our homes, but we meet up 'in the middle' (or near enough!) in Manchester every weekend. This is so that we can continue to run several monitoring projects such as the Reed warbler & Tree sparrow recording, that I've been running for several years now.</p> <p>At the moment a lot of our time is being spent out in the field, however during a recent group meeting we sat down & worked out that we've something around 700-750 nest record cards on the go at the moment, between us. 300+ of these now complete, sitting in IPMR and awaiting submission to BTO HQ.</p> <p>I think ringing & nest recording should go together in the same way that Ant & Dec does, Gin with Tonic & Morecambe and Wise - In that one can work without the other, but it just wouldn’t be right to just have the one! So much information can be gleaned from ringing & nest recording if both are put together.</p> <p>Anyhow back to the ringing side of things. Today whilst working from WWT Martin Mere, during lunch I joined my colleagues from the Reserve Team & we headed out onto the reserve to check on the Barn owls. I'm happy to report that the owls this year seem to be having a better year than previous years, as we found one brood of three healthy chicks, along with a female sitting on 6 eggs. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DuB2NCDSE1M/T9L5twgvArI/AAAAAAAACsQ/thv3o0OxMV4/s1600-h/P1060043%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1060043" border="0" alt="P1060043" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-sTRs4pXXpMA/T9L5wI1T3dI/AAAAAAAACsY/FemTABM_CXQ/P1060043_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="300" /></a> </p> <p>Two nice Kestrel broods were also added to the days findings, both containing newly hatched chicks & one of the adult females we managed to trap on the nest, which was duly ringed before she bid a feisty retreat back into her box! Blood pouring from my hand......! (from me not the bird!)</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-6VTt8zZ9GZA/T9L5yu0V9NI/AAAAAAAACsg/Ws8YyOBUUgo/s1600-h/P1060044%25255B6%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1060044" border="0" alt="P1060044" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-ekdpEDajx9M/T9L50qAb6yI/AAAAAAAACso/VMSMaBcPPTw/P1060044_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>So I hope the above goes to show for the lack of blog post recently! We're spending a lot of time out in the field, still ringing lots of birds - but struggling to keep up with the admin work! We need an admin team! </p> <p>I've got some exciting ringing events & trips coming up over the coming weeks - so check back soon!! </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-55479933958247029422012-05-07T11:05:00.001+01:002012-05-07T12:11:59.626+01:00Busy Bank……..Holiday!?!<p>The bank holiday weekend started with a nice voicemail on my phone from my friend, Andrew. He was ringing to tell me that he could hear 'hissing' coming from one of my Barn owl boxes that I've had on his farm now for around 8 years. Andrew was asking whether it would be possible to call in to check on this. So armed with a schedule 1 licence - we ventured up to the farm to see whether our box had gained lodgers after all these years!</p> <p>This become quite clear as we approached the box to 4 small but rather loud mouthed 'hissy' chicks! And the feisty female who remained inside the box. Two of the chicks were big enough to hold rings, with the other two being ready in the next 2-3 weeks. We also managed to lift the female out of the box for ringing too. </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-8h286eh0p0k/T6eeRe6AMTI/AAAAAAAACqk/DAtqkHT8Hqc/s1600-h/P10502933.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1050293" border="0" alt="P1050293" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-PmOOMbEpEW0/T6eeSVNI-JI/AAAAAAAACqs/bojCRuBotMc/P1050293_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Saturday we spent the full day at WWT Martin Mere for the 2nd instalment of Tree sparrow monitoring. Out of 109 boxes, 70 were occupied by Tree sparrows at various stages – most containing eggs/chicks – with others containing lined nests which are ready to be laid in. 30 chicks ringed during the day, with lots more ready for ringing next week. </p> <p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="photo (3)" border="0" alt="photo (3)" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-w93JD4Q5nJs/T6eeTUO-O4I/AAAAAAAACq0/U8E0IhPi3zs/photo3_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></p> <p>We also monitor other species at WWT Martin Mere both for ringing & Nest Recording. These including Barn owl, Kestrel, Lapwing, Avocet & Stock Dove. </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-beTIC2Yy8FY/T6eeUoVU40I/AAAAAAAACq8/Kqd_H2mlPRo/s1600-h/P10502584.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1050258" border="0" alt="P1050258" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Y4vLUfPctZI/T6eeVlHlxiI/AAAAAAAACrE/c01hH2huViI/P1050258_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a></p> <p>Female Stock Dove lifted off the nest whilst brooding small chicks. </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Rwt5G7KeAgs/T6eeXLlZNDI/AAAAAAAACrM/xxDyN9eSOqw/s1600-h/P10502763.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1050276" border="0" alt="P1050276" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-NlX-pS2Ocgk/T6eeYHe_NQI/AAAAAAAACrU/Uk5O1T8pfL0/P1050276_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p>& several Lapwing broods gave us the run around with 10 chicks ringed over the weekend & several nests found (below). </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-FNExnMGaT08/T6eeZPFIBOI/AAAAAAAACrc/LiqFRxXbKrs/s1600-h/542036_10150737723630668_568450667_9805403_737771687_n%25255B1%25255D%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="542036_10150737723630668_568450667_9805403_737771687_n[1]" border="0" alt="542036_10150737723630668_568450667_9805403_737771687_n[1]" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hzWVc5sEqt8/T6eeaGV3fmI/AAAAAAAACrk/O-XEdn4JA2M/542036_10150737723630668_568450667_9805403_737771687_n%25255B1%25255D_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="321" /></a> </p> <p>The rest of the weekend has been spent nest recording, we’re having somewhat quite a record year – with almost 400 nest records on the go at the moment. Nesting highlights this weekend include finding Bullfinch, Whitethroat, Green Woodpecker and Starling nests (the latter two being monitored by placing our mobile phones in the nest holes to record/photograph the contents!) </p> <p>All in all a very busy, fun & rewarding weekend! The highlight definitely being - finding out that our Barn owl box is now being used, in a new location for them in Greater Manchester in the NW of the county. Today the weather isn’t too great – so this will allow us time to catch up on IPMR work! </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-3795395964957714892012-04-29T14:15:00.001+01:002012-04-29T14:15:27.634+01:00Colourful Nesters.<p>Yesterday Zac, Gillian & myself decided to take advantage of the break in the recent bad weather & head to Atherton Woods for a nest box check. We tried to do this last week, but the weather stopped us. This visit was mainly to see what stage the Tits were at in the breeding season & to ring a brood of Tawny Owls that we found in a natural hole. <br />Me & Gillian checked 60 boxes of which 47 were occupied. 31 by Blue Tits, 14 by Great Tit & 2 holding Nuthatch nests.</p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-eEbXnbhsXaM/T50-tQ5roYI/AAAAAAAACow/Aic83bHxYEE/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525282%252529%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="photo (2)" border="0" alt="photo (2)" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-SufHk2amOMA/T50-uWqXpFI/AAAAAAAACo0/EmvBDk1qh1o/photo%252520%2525282%252529_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> <br />Zac is carrying out his university dissertation project in the woods this year, looking at whether Blue Tits overlap in territory whilst collecting nesting materials. So we left Zac to monitor his ten boxes. I won't go into great detail on this (I'll leave this for Zac) but he's using different colours of wool to help him answer this. So as you'll see from the below photos lots of the boxes we opened were rather colourful!</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-H4Tb7jYh8qA/T50-veX0J5I/AAAAAAAACo8/mcNGHDrtPOk/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525281%252529%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="photo (1)" border="0" alt="photo (1)" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-8OLESTUf3vU/T50-wTS1SkI/AAAAAAAACpE/qD6oqh6-igw/photo%252520%2525281%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DeqxpmwEZ5o/T50-xLSHaSI/AAAAAAAACpQ/Ekr5B811btQ/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525282%252529%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="photo (2)" border="0" alt="photo (2)" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-gFQea_F5zv0/T50-yH7CtyI/AAAAAAAACpY/BwLDOGa7haE/photo%252520%2525282%252529_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="244" /></a> <a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-Nd9dfGU7dd0/T50-y5GNqGI/AAAAAAAACpg/_gLcP9k_EvM/s1600-h/photo%25255B2%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="photo" border="0" alt="photo" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-XRAtXn5LRz8/T50-zojtAPI/AAAAAAAACpo/7TcD_-NH9x8/photo_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" width="184" height="244" /></a> <br />The brood of Tawny Owl were duly ringed before leaving the woods.</p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-okOKpJMi4OA/T50-0qEtloI/AAAAAAAACpw/Ld3G-OsZiUs/s1600-h/Tawny%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="Tawny" border="0" alt="Tawny" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-O3GcWxVN51w/T50-3cZA0BI/AAAAAAAACp4/NbB74SBBx8U/Tawny_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="271" /></a> <br />After dropping Zac off at the train station to head back to Bangor, I went to visit my parents at Pickmere in Cheshire. Again making the most of the better weather, a spot of Nest Recording was on the cards. A rather successful search gave us 8 Blackbird, 2 Dunnock, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Greenfinch & 1 Blackcap nest to monitor for the scheme. <br />However find of the day has to go to Gillian for finding this nest -</p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-CBQTx3B8jyw/T50-4OfAPQI/AAAAAAAACqA/Qr6kogggIMw/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525282%252529%25255B11%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="photo (2)" border="0" alt="photo (2)" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BuZjtJEi5FE/T50-5DiR6vI/AAAAAAAACqI/PpVd1MO09_o/photo%252520%2525282%252529_thumb%25255B5%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p>Taaddaaa……. Clutch of 6 Robin eggs….</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-zPu9KOqfAZk/T50-6WskVvI/AAAAAAAACqQ/qoJ9EexQ5pc/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525281%252529%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; border-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; border-right: 0px" title="photo (1)" border="0" alt="photo (1)" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-3PFDJ6vqa3U/T50-7eWx4UI/AAAAAAAACqY/hFT8TOOr1fU/photo%252520%2525281%252529_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-13128825104266120502012-04-27T00:53:00.001+01:002012-04-27T01:03:40.605+01:00I Love Working For WWT!<p>It’s now over 6 months ago since I started my new position at the <a href="http://wwt.org.uk">Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust</a> HQ, Slimbridge (feels longer, for all the right reasons!) and I can honestly say that I’ve loved every single minute of it! I count myself very lucky in that I rock up for work every morning and I don’t get that ‘urgh I have to work’ feeling, plus that I get to work alongside some awesome colleagues in the Species Conservation Department & the Trust as a whole. </p> <p>No two days are ever alike! And today was just like that as our Head of Species Conservation – Baz Hughes - came to my office door with a nice surprise in the form of a Great-crested Grebe that needed ringing! This bird being captured by our Reserve Warden – James Lees. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-LVz4qfGSnqk/T5nf9LFlaUI/AAAAAAAACnw/x-dzz7NLQZ8/s1600-h/GCGRB%25255B8%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="GCGRB" border="0" alt="GCGRB" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-RCEyTFO59js/T5nf-If1KFI/AAAAAAAACn0/SQEQd9mxC6E/GCGRB_thumb%25255B6%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="362" height="393" /></a> Photo by Paul Rose. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-WtjXWEPQ4Xs/T5nf_Ar2kdI/AAAAAAAACn8/3OAHjgfCl50/s1600-h/548316_10150717135558090_614928089_9552076_2078658405_n%25255B1%25255D%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="548316_10150717135558090_614928089_9552076_2078658405_n[1]" border="0" alt="548316_10150717135558090_614928089_9552076_2078658405_n[1]" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-rb_Zyfz0QX0/T5ngAJubLVI/AAAAAAAACoE/Amc9WD2FlP8/548316_10150717135558090_614928089_9552076_2078658405_n%25255B1%25255D_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> James Lees</p> <p></p> <p>Only around 411 Great-crested Grebes have been ringed in the UK since the start of the ringing scheme (<a href="http://blx1.bto.org/ringta/ringing-totals.jsp">BTO Online</a>) – I feel privileged in getting the opportunity to handle & ring this very elegant and very understudied species. </p> <p>Thanks to Baz for coming to get me & to James for capturing the bird!</p> <p>All in a days work…….</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-70259894956174363812012-04-26T00:53:00.000+01:002012-04-27T00:53:50.878+01:00Not Enough Hours in the Day!<p>Sorry for the lack of postings over the last couple of weeks, I have been very busy & although I’ve been doing lots of ringing – I’m afraid I haven’t found the time to update my blog! This mainly due to several things including work, family & travelling. </p> <p>Things are starting to kick off on the pullus front now & we (Chris, Gillian & I) have got well over 200 Nest Record Cards on the go now. We’ve already ringed our first pulli of the year in the form of broods of Robin, Blackbird, Stock Dove and Collared Dove – with many more to follow over the coming weeks. </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-uLlCtV8jvj4/T5naxoq2KFI/AAAAAAAACms/lqlMMdZp8TI/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525281%252529%25255B7%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="photo (1)" border="0" alt="photo (1)" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-QJsudUkpnsY/T5na0YuzjxI/AAAAAAAACm0/x1d400ia8mU/photo%252520%2525281%252529_thumb%25255B3%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Several trips to & from Scotland has allowed us to catch several Black-headed Gulls at Killington Reservoir (a nice way to break up a road journey!) and over the past few weeks we’ve caught & darvic ringed 20 gulls. This also providing a great opportunity to re-sight BHGs already carrying our colour rings within the vicinity of Killington. This would make a great RAS project on the species, seeing that we get many re-sightings from people passing by the service station – if only we had more time on our hands!? </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-YV3ghHl1ICg/T5na2qxfNBI/AAAAAAAACm8/uN3ENsAL_84/s1600-h/photo%252520%2525281%252529%25255B3%25255D.jpg"><u><font color="#88bb22"></font></u><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="photo (1)" border="0" alt="photo (1)" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-2l9wX2QaISk/T5na4pECJHI/AAAAAAAACnE/YJu53ftr_xI/photo%252520%2525281%252529_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>Chris & I have recently returned back from Norway where we spent my Birthday weekend in & around Oslo City. There we met up with <a href="http://oaring.blogspot.co.uk/">Carsten & John Martin</a> who kindly gave us a guided tour of Oslo, plus their ringing sites, as well as catching several birds in the famous Frognerparken! Both myself & Chris enjoyed ourselves and it was finally great to meet both Carsten & John Martin. Many thanks!!</p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3L4-y673ZwE/T5na6hfjehI/AAAAAAAACnM/aZbO4cBvesg/s1600-h/P1050074%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1050074" border="0" alt="P1050074" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-V4LnrD-HooQ/T5na896xlQI/AAAAAAAACnU/YOMmcMZ5rfo/P1050074_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p>We were hoping to see 2A00 whilst in Oslo, this being a BHG that we colour marked at Lake Windermere back in 2011. Although 2A00 arrived in Oslo a few days before we arrived! Sadly this bird was found with an injured wing and was put to sleep by local vets, several days before our visit!</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-fGP4H7KBu-Y/T5na-n3MyQI/AAAAAAAACnc/WdtfdbsV-lg/s1600-h/2A00%25255B4%25255D.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="2A00" border="0" alt="2A00" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-hfL1A7OysoE/T5nbAJ19y5I/AAAAAAAACnk/Eldrg19Nv9Q/2A00_thumb%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="289" /></a> </p> <p>So that’s it for now! Always hoping that we could bring in a 36 hour day or someone creates a pill that allows you to work on 3 hours sleep! But I guess I should carry on dreaming………….!</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-72517827403595817842012-03-24T23:37:00.001+00:002012-03-24T23:39:00.671+00:00Thanks!<p> This is probably the easiest way to get this message out! </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-UQK8uQanohk/T25aoW0FK8I/AAAAAAAACmk/ZQd_i6c1lu0/s1600-h/THANKS%252521%25255B4%25255D.png"><img style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; display: inline; border-top: 0px; border-right: 0px" title="THANKS!" border="0" alt="THANKS!" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-ZpAI4GATsCY/T25aqHD8-EI/AAAAAAAACmo/t88W-2ip2Bc/THANKS%252521_thumb%25255B2%25255D.png?imgmax=800" width="392" height="263" /></a></p> <p>Thanks to all those ringers who dug deep into their pockets at the NW Ringers' Conference to buy raffle tickets! & to the <a href="http://northlancsringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/">North Lancs</a> ringing group for choosing the NW Coot project to donate the proceeds to – it is very much appreciated and this generous donation will be a huge help in buying darvics for the future ringing of Coot! </p> <p>Special thanks to Richard du Feu & Alan Draper in particular…</p> <p>Kane & Steve. </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-88482452255768987092012-02-23T14:17:00.001+00:002012-02-23T16:39:52.811+00:00Meeting ‘Mr Black-headed Gull!’<p>So from Croatia we flew to Holland after being invited by <a href="http://frankmajoor.nl/index1-uk.shtml">Frank Majoor</a> to stay with him in Arnhem. Frank is probably best known for his work on Black-headed Gulls and for his dedicated work on monitoring the survival of species through RAS projects. </p> <p>We arrived in Hilversum after a pleasant flight to Schiphol & no sooner had we met Frank he got us to work as we helped him to read hundreds of rings (both metal & cr-rings)! A very large percentage of gulls in the flocks we saw carried rings (now knowing why they call Frank ‘Mr Black-headed Gull’!), reading rings kept us very busy for hours on end! Quoting Ciaran ‘‘I’ll go to bed tonight with the sound of BHG ringing in my ears & numbers flying all over my head!’’</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:3c5cf1fc-848a-4cd0-b0ff-3131ffddf401" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="abd83b1e-f8e4-49c3-ab6f-7e5e662dc3b8" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcXXYGAOiSk&list=UUo87ZPOwrUSwbafAGR4xWAw&index=1&feature=plcp" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-J58zNfw17hE/T0Zr0n9RhFI/AAAAAAAACmI/Qa_2O0NiLZU/video5baf516a7e88%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('abd83b1e-f8e4-49c3-ab6f-7e5e662dc3b8'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/KcXXYGAOiSk&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/KcXXYGAOiSk&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>and if you want a Black-headed Gull’s eye view of two ring readers….</p> <div style="padding-bottom: 0px; margin: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; display: inline; float: none; padding-top: 0px" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:ea63146f-cffc-4cca-9264-87b00cbfbbe3" class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent"><div id="88933837-a0ce-4f6e-8cba-cd8e74cdc89e" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGlP3oLcCII&feature=plcp&context=C35a39d5UDOEgsToPDskLvh-QmqRYPANvJph9PEC_c" target="_new"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-qD5y3zl6-Mw/T0ZI7pLVNwI/AAAAAAAACmQ/EXnYGidUrL8/video245adf9f3da4%25255B2%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-style: none" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('88933837-a0ce-4f6e-8cba-cd8e74cdc89e'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/PGlP3oLcCII&hl=en\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/PGlP3oLcCII&hl=en\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"425\" height=\"355\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" alt=""></a></div></div></div> <p>But of course we also visited Frank to learn of his trapping methods. Frank & Jeroen catch gulls mainly by using nooses which allows them to ‘select’ birds that are of particular interest to them. For example any metal ring only birds that we sighted, where the metal ring came from a different country – then this bird would be ‘targeted’ to add a colour ring to the bird. We were rather impressed to have the birds in our hands within minutes of Frank sighting the birds! During our last day Frank had captured 4 Swedish metal rings only – therefore adding a colour ring to the bird for easier identification within the field. </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-tWkt2qGvGCI/T0ZI8XdvvpI/AAAAAAAACjQ/BGK9KGLxx9k/s1600-h/Finni9.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="Finni" border="0" alt="Finni" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-tEJgwuvD-8Y/T0ZI9YOF97I/AAAAAAAACjU/gMx2EE99vgE/Finni_thumb5.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="171" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-fYZfiUOt_t0/T0ZI-DA3eGI/AAAAAAAACjg/Ogj4Km_FOMM/s1600-h/P10408924.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040892" border="0" alt="P1040892" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-3HIrljUPdlc/T0ZI_bSW-FI/AAAAAAAACjo/Quu1sg27QXk/P1040892_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="384" /></a> </p> <p align="center">A Finnish ringed gull, now complete with colour ring!</p> <p>During our last day in Holland we set off rather early to the North to see both American Herring Gull & a Glaucous Gull (Nice to catch up with my friend Otto de Vries here!) before travelling to Amsterdam for the day. The plan for the day was to tour around several parks in Amsterdam to ring read & to carry out some catching. So keeping in with true Dutch fashion with hired bicycles for the day! Pleased to report that we both left the Netherlands unscathed, but we did have one or two close encounters with nearly crashing into the locals! </p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-P2TTO_Z9FrM/T0ZJARK4KtI/AAAAAAAACjw/JrWluok3ysA/s1600-h/P10409693.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040969" border="0" alt="P1040969" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-xhdENimzkD0/T0ZJBgziNxI/AAAAAAAACj0/dLA41QE4HoM/P1040969_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p>Throughout the day we caught 53 new Coot, several Black-headed & Common Gull, Moorhen & a Grey Heron!!</p> <p align="center"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040870" border="0" alt="P1040870" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-1AFyPI3jbHE/T0ZJCZcMz7I/AAAAAAAACkA/ub53wPJL8go/P1040870_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /> </p> <p align="center">Good to see & colour ring a few Coot!</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-_wJNzn1bcsM/T0ZJEENtG9I/AAAAAAAACkI/Y0YiFgz3y_0/s1600-h/P10409393.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040939" border="0" alt="P1040939" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-e_3nFF0oRVI/T0ZJE5ZgywI/AAAAAAAACkM/INC8mRq7qeY/P1040939_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a>  </p> <p><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040965" border="0" alt="P1040965" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-DHXwi6Jj0m8/T0ZJF5UIJDI/AAAAAAAACkU/QyLkm6_RTZA/P1040965_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p></p> <p align="center">Ciaran with the Grey Heron (most impressed with this capture we were!) note him keeping the birds head well held, for obvious reasons!</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KfyawVSuSKI/T0ZJGr0g6ZI/AAAAAAAACkc/4JCUA_RWb5w/s1600-h/P10409613.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040961" border="0" alt="P1040961" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-5JeTbYub0uc/T0ZJHaoZRmI/AAAAAAAACko/T9gxvUhQAgE/P1040961_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">A number of Common Gull also colour-ringed. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-KH9dDqb4f_A/T0ZJImM0l9I/AAAAAAAACkw/z2dcPoC1l5Y/s1600-h/P10409483.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040948" border="0" alt="P1040948" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Zqw0FTiOAVU/T0ZJJdt3uQI/AAAAAAAACk0/JgUbpuBESEM/P1040948_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">& colour ringed Egyptian geese as part of one of Frank’s many RAS projects! </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-J1deygxG5yc/T0ZKcHfoXJI/AAAAAAAAClQ/65SdqAj2ueI/s1600-h/P10409194.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040919" border="0" alt="P1040919" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-A2zeZ8i91g4/T0ZKc-PU4oI/AAAAAAAAClY/s4wFNxXwF6U/P1040919_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">A white Black-headed Gull – colour ringed of course!!</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-R2tN7dKY4gs/T0ZKeap1iwI/AAAAAAAAClc/6qnTc5pwhTE/s1600-h/P10409854.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040985" border="0" alt="P1040985" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-DS0t9CEufNM/T0ZKffJ5hwI/AAAAAAAAClo/70JoeQXPevc/P1040985_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">& perhaps ‘bird of the day’ goes to this Caspian Gull! Which is now sporting a colour ring!</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-8tSf8m7FWEg/T0ZKhOZ7m7I/AAAAAAAAClw/d1ue0UWamqE/s1600-h/P10408214.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040821" border="0" alt="P1040821" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-8BXZYafVMWE/T0ZKiqgixlI/AAAAAAAACl0/_RpiQmHlqwE/P1040821_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Frank & Ciaran reading rings on the ice! Ice is very useful!!</p> <p align="left">Both Ciaran & I left the Netherlands learning so much from Frank & Jeroen. We’d like to thank them both for having us along, we enjoyed our stay very much – being in the company of Frank & receiving first class hospitality by ‘Mr Black-headed Gull’!</p> <p align="center">THANK-YOU! </p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8658921851734095737.post-74911746463882660452012-02-23T14:10:00.001+00:002012-02-23T14:10:08.633+00:00IGM Croatia.<p>Last week Ciaran & I travelled from Manchester to Croatia, to attend the 11th International Gull Meeting being held in Zagreb. The meeting included lots of fine talks on a wide range of topics from identifying gulls, aging and a number of talks gave the results of certain ringing projects both on large & small gulls. The meeting also held a field trip to Zagreb’s fine & smelly rubbish dump (where better to look for gulls!?), treated to an amazing traditional Croatian meal & finally a cannon netting session on the rubbish dump! </p> <p align="center">A few photos - </p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-JzRw4D9g0sA/T0ZIg8VG18I/AAAAAAAAChY/q9JUO4-jwvw/s1600-h/P10407524.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040752" border="0" alt="P1040752" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-GdGwYYrEI7c/T0ZIiNYL_UI/AAAAAAAAChc/TJa1aNyD1-E/P1040752_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-3stw1tMBLHs/T0ZIjTCpnPI/AAAAAAAAChk/CqRWcl-eaNo/s1600-h/P10408204.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040820" border="0" alt="P1040820" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-HSestac36Po/T0ZIkNqXNsI/AAAAAAAAChw/VQ5LD7Ph0Q0/P1040820_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" width="404" height="304" /></a> </p> <p><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-yzc63pTu2n0/T0ZImZuPkpI/AAAAAAAACh4/KBE1kgOqwEo/s1600-h/P10407623.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040762" border="0" alt="P1040762" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-IndErqBgtRg/T0ZInEB233I/AAAAAAAACiA/zj4YbBY65hw/P1040762_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p align="center"><a href="http://cro-ringing.blogspot.com/">Luka Jurinovic</a></p> <p align="center"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040779" border="0" alt="P1040779" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-agzburBavGY/T0ZIpm3oLCI/AAAAAAAACiI/Im_J2E_aL8I/P1040779_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></p> <p align="center">Yellow legged Gull. </p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-U6vjaoouHcY/T0ZIrHAh9CI/AAAAAAAACiQ/XckKsUy5wPk/s1600-h/P10407823.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040782" border="0" alt="P1040782" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xlHWNbExzU0/T0ZIr1RXOlI/AAAAAAAACiU/nTNodE5dZXA/P1040782_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Viola Ross Smith holding Yellow legged Gull…</p> <p align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-bGUkKSNadQw/T0ZIszMK1VI/AAAAAAAACic/-_VBXC-_RTY/s1600-h/P10407963.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: inline; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px" title="P1040796" border="0" alt="P1040796" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-3jKPSGR0Z4s/T0ZItg0-IwI/AAAAAAAACik/j-HI5ioFCeU/P1040796_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a> </p> <p align="center">Caspian Gull (cachinnans)</p> <p><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-aNsm8crkCeg/T0ZIus9jj5I/AAAAAAAACiw/rqZlLW5qlgs/s1600-h/P10408163.jpg"><img style="border-right-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; border-top-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; border-left-width: 0px; margin-right: auto" title="P1040816" border="0" alt="P1040816" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-Swl9agpGhuQ/T0ZIvrHgfBI/AAAAAAAACi4/dxJOATIygZ0/P1040816_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" width="304" height="404" /></a></p> <p>During the cannon netting session we captured a number of Yellow legged gulls, Caspian, Black-headed and Common Gull. The team went on for another catch – catching lots more including the first Lesser Blacked Backed Gull to be caught & ringed in Croatia! More can be read on <a href="http://cro-ringing.blogspot.com/">Luka’s</a> blog. </p> <p>Many thanks to Luka & Vedran for organising and hosting a fantastic meeting! We really enjoyed our time in Croatia & meeting so many people! We’ll certainly be back in Croatia in the future!</p> Kane Brideshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03058889173055883179noreply@blogger.com0