Thanks and Sorry!

Marsh Tit box at WCP.

Male Cetti,s.

Possible adult Chiffchaff(6)

My first ringing session at WCP since the end of January produced only 10 birds and 4 were retraps. However , the new ones included 3 Chiffchaffs and a male Cetti,s. I will now be the most hated member of CRG as both Chris and Neil are keen to ring the latter species. Oh, and Neil, it was in the new ride you had cut for me!!! One of the Chiffs was perhaps a 6, as it had less worn primaries. (see photo) Thanks to LROS and Russ and Jim we now have some smart Marsh/Willow tit boxes in the woodland at WCP. We will monitor these and hope they are successful.

More Mandarins.

Here are some more photos of the 10 Mandarin we caught. Baker is the I.D. guide that we use to age non passerines, but it does not include Mandarin. Anyone out there with ageing criteria we would like to hear from you. The females seemed to show a difference in colour, some being greyer and others more brown. Some individuals had more of a crest on the nape, which we thought might be adults.

Mandarin x 10.... more to follow

Andy will be posting a full account of this remarkable event but we ringed TEN Mandarin today at a site in the north west of the county.

Based on the latest totals we have, that's about a third of all the Mandarin ringed in the whole of the UK in a year.