Today we spent more time on the project to confirm foraging areas for the Dersingham Bog Nightjars. This work is being undertaken as most feeding happens away from the breeding area and a project to increase areas of reedbed along the North Norfolk coast may affect the areas that Nightjars rely on.
Birds are processed as normal then have the tracker fitted.
We managed to retrieve a fourth tracker and deploy a fifth. Trackers are fitted using a feather mount and must be retrieved about a week after fitting, or will fall off a couple of weeks later, should the bird not be recaptured. Retrieval is required in order to download the information. Routes taken on each night are shown separately and the retrieved tags are already informing on areas used, extending all the way to the coast and will help protect areas important for the Nightjars when the planning for extension of reedbeds is finalised.
All necessary endorsements to conduct this GPS tag fitting work held.