Christmas ringing at Thornton.

During the cold weather I have managed to ring about 80 birds at Thornton. Highlights include 8 Goldfinch, 2 Reed buntings, Starlings and House sparrows.

Woodcock & Brambling at the Lodge

Over the years we have caught a few Woodcock at Charnwood Lodge and today we found this stunning adult in one of the mist nets. Everyone knows about their incredible eyes. These two upper images show very well how large and high set they are (top) ideally suited to their nocturnal habits and how they protrude to allow wide field near 360 degree vision (middle). We also caught a nice male Brambling (bottom).

This weeks roost at the Lodge

Last Saturday Chris and I were up at the Lodge in the afternoon. After a slow start things started to pick up as dusk fell. In the end we captured 25 birds including; 13 new Chaffinches and 3 new Redwings as well as a handful of the usual, Dunnocks, Wrens, Tits and Blackbirds. Interestingly two of the retrap Blackbirds had put on a considerable amount of weight since first capture. One had gained 10g since July 2009 and the other the same amount since it was first captured only a few weeks ago. This weight gain represents about 10% of the body weight.