Garden ringing...

Hello

The advantage of being a qualified bird ringer and having a garden is that you can sometimes ring wild birds from the comfort of your own house or abode! Chris Payne has been doing exactly that today and among the more common birds caught, he particularly enjoyed a male Starling and a male Siskin, both in their respective stunning plumage.

Helen Franklin also completed some ringing in her Priors Marston garden and was treated to a Goldcrest (the third individual in so many days) and a fine Nuthatch.

News has come through of another ringing recovery, this time a female Reed Bunting that was first caught and ringed at Stortons Gravel Pits on the outskirts of Northampton on 22nd February 2015. This bird was again caught four days ago by ringers operating at the Kings Dyke Nature Reserve in Cambridgeshire, a distance of 64km in a ENE direction with 714 days elapsing between the two captures.

Twenty-four Waxwings were at Sywell village today, commuting between the trees near to the Sywell Airport entrance...

Regards

Neil M

Male Starling. The blue
base to the lower mandible,
relatively dark eye without
a pale iris and range of broad
'droplet' markings all assist
in establishing the gender...

Another Siskin!

All images courtesy of Chris Payne.