A good grabbing day!

Today we started our monthly ringing trips up to Lake Windermere in the Lake District. So Myself, Craig, Ciaran and new trainee ringer John Wright had an early start, as we started at first light trying to catch Meadow Pipits. We climbed up to the highest point of Windermere and were treated with cracking views of the Lake & a very smart sunrise! We also were treated with a handfull of Meadow Pipits - 6.

After packing up we decided to call into the river at Ambleside and managed to trap a new Dipper.

After dinner we decided it was time to call into Bowness on Windermere to try our luck with wildfowl and luck we were in!! The first bird to be caught and processed was another (hand caught, coming to bread!) female Goosander.

Which made John & a crowed of around 50 members of the public.....very happy.

Then onto catching Tufted Ducks - that were also coming to bread!!! Four caught...

Along with two Coot

One retrap + 1 control Black Headed gull.

10 Canada Geese & 1 Mute Swan also ringed.

Update.

18/05/2009 - 26/05/2009.

Just back from ringing in the Lake District so thought I would provide an update for the ringing that has been carried out over the last week or so.

19th May saw us checking our boxes in Atherton Woods and ringing most of the pulli - 132 Blue Tits (2 recaps adults), 36 Great Tits and 8 Nuthatch were ringed.

Then early morning on the 20th we did a bit of mist netting at one of our reed bed sites, catching 7 Reed Bunting (1 control), 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Starling, 3 Song Thrush and 1 Mallard. A male Cuckoo was mingling very close to our nets, but unfortunately not close enough!

21st & 22nd ringing in my Atherton garden, yielded 14 birds - 1 Robin, 9 Starling, 1 Wren, 2 Goldfinch and 1 Blackbird.

On the 23rd a team of us headed up to the Lake District to carry out ringing, nest recording and atlas work around the Windermere area.

On the 23rd we set up to catch at a river in Ambleside and after a short while we were rewarded with - 3 Dippers and 2 Goosander.

The 24th produced - 2 Grey Wagtail, 3 Dipper, 1 Dunnock and 1 Mallard.

The morning on the 25th was spent catching Mute Swans at Bowness on Windermere. 19 new Mute Swans ringed along with 1 Whooper Swan and 1 Canada Goose. A brood of 5 Blackbird also ringed.

2 Swallow ringed on the evening of 25th.


Thanks to all ringers involved over the last week and also thanks to the Landowners for permission to accessing their land.

Full totals.

Blue Tit - 132 + (2 retrap)

Great Tit - 36

Nuthatch - 8

Reed Bunting - 6 + (1 control)

Sedge Warbler - 3

Goldfinch - 2

Wren - 1

Dunnock - 2

Robin - 1

Blackbird - 11

Song Thrush - 3

Starling - 11

Wood Pigeon - 1

Mallard - 2

Swallow - 2

Grey Wagtail - 2

Dipper - 7

Goosander - 2

Canada Goose - 1

Mute Swan - 19

Whooper Swan - 1 = 253.

Windermere.

21/01/2009

Myself, Craig Brookes, Ciaran Hatsell and Chris Bridge all made our way up to Lake Windermere, for our monthly ringing session. En route on the M6 it was looking somewhat a miserable, grey day but none of us expected that a certain bird would soon brighten it up!



And that bird was the first one to be caught and processed.......a stunning female Goosander!

The day progressed fairly slowly, but in total we managed to catch 19 birds including - Goosander, Jackdaw, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Mallard and Black Headed Gull.

Thanks to Chris Bridge for the photo.