This was our second ringing demonstration at the Hawk and Owl trust. We were blessed with excellent weather for late October, and with the assistance of JLS we captured and processed 75 birds. There were plenty of visitors, mainly families with children, who were there for the Halloween Discovery Day. They came for the half-term activities such as pond-dipping and bird-spotting and for Halloween, toasted marshmallows on the fire, made witches' potions and carved pumpkins. Seeing birds up close was a special surprise and many children, and their adults, even got to release birds after processing.
Our star bird was a Jay, that became part of a University of East Anglia study, receiving darvic I4 in addition to the usual metal ring. This provided an opportunity to tell our audience of the benefit of projects using colour rings identifiable in the field allowing collection of information (e.g., movements, longevity) without the need to recapture the bird.
So, all in all we were quite busy on this most enjoyable day. Many thanks to JLS for his support and to the trust for inviting us to participate on the day, and to the staff and volunteers for dropping by and also helping us prepare for the demonstration.
Total: 62 (13)
Jay - 1
Robin - 1
Dunnock - 8 (1)
Long-tailed Tit - 1 (1)
Coal Tit - 0 (1)
Marsh Tit - 1 (2)
Blue Tit - 35 (7)
Great Tit - 7 (1)
Nuthatch - 1
Bullfinch - 5
Greenfinch - 2
We were too busy to join the other activities, but in true Blue Peter fashion, as I have tried carving pumpkins before and my design is quite appropriate for the Hawk and Owl trust, here's one I made earlier!
