Managed to squeeze 5 hours in before the rain set in. On arrival there was sunshine and birdsong to greet us, but bird activity dropped right down when the clouds came over and the wind freshened. Captured 17 birds of a good spread of species, just under half were retraps including a Whitethroat ringed as an adult in 2022 and a Chiffchaff from the same year ringed as a 3J. There were some other Chiffs hatched and ringed in 2023, plus our first new Blackcap, Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat for this site in 2024. 5M Whitethroat Lesser Whitethroat, age 4 Total: 9 (8)  Blackcap ..read more

 This morning we took advantage of a brief window of opportunity, between the showers and wind gusts, to monitor migrants and resident species, using a small copse at the farm as the breeding season commences. Despite the chilly temperatures, and this date being within  the second  half of April when the weather might be expected to settle a little, we captured 28 birds with half of these being migrant warblers. Some of the 7 Chiffs and 6 Blackcaps were already showing signs of preparation for breeding. We were particularly pleased with a Lesser Whitethroat. The absence of White ..read more

 A first session at this site produced a total of 19 birds, including 6 retraps of which two were Chiffchaffs returning for a second year. Leading species was Chiffchaff with 6 new and the two recaptures, followed by 4 Blackcaps. Chiffchaff Total: 13 (6) Blackbird - 1 Blackcap - 4 Chiffchaff - 6 (2) Dunnock - 1 Long-tailed Tit - 0 (2) Wren - 1 (2 ..read more

 A first session for the year hoping for a few early migrants. We only had 13 captures, three being Chiffchaff and the Blackcaps heard about the site keep well away from the nets. The others birds were resident and included three obvious pairs captured together. A pair of retrapped Goldcrest has been ringed here as juveniles last year female with BP1, a pair of Long-tailed Tits included a Marsh Barn Carr bird neither in breeding condition yet and the Goldfinch pair male was starting to develop a CP. There was also  female Dunnock with a clear BP2.  Totals: 8 (5) Dunnock - 1 (1 ..read more

 A monitoring afternoon at the scrape for birds marked for our colour ringing projects. This was the second try for Lapwings ringed as chicks that may have returned to their natal site to breed. The North Norfolk Lapwing project started in 2022 when 4 chicks were found at this site, and marked with a red project marker and blue individually coded rings. Typically birds with attempt to breed in the second season after hatching and the current survival rate for Lapwings in their first year is believed to be around 0.595 (known from data previously collected across the UK via ringing studies ..read more

 Costa Rica is a wonderful place to see the natural world and we're now back with 3000+ images to sort through. Mervyn Cruz was our guide for the 14 day trip, using Ebird to record observations and show the target birds when mixed flocks were involved. We didn't provide a wish list, just a brief to see a good spread of species types without being in the field all hours of the day. We visited the Caribbean and Pacific sides and the cloud forest in between ending on 385 bird species including one day when we saw 50+ species before breakfast. A typical day started at 5.45am for birding befor ..read more

 A windier day than expected and only 17 birds caught. We switched to an adjacent hedgerow but as we might have expected, the flock then simply located to where we would normally site nets. Observations were of greater interest than the birds captured with female Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier, 2 Red Kite, 6 Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and 4 Grey Partridge seen, also our first Brimstone butterfly of the year. 5F Reed Bunting Totals: 13 (4) Chaffinch - 2 Dunnock - 5 Goldfinch - 1 Great Tit - 1 Long-tailed Tit - 1 (2) Reed Bunting - 1 Robin - 1 (1) Wren - 0 (1) Yellowhammer - 1 There was quite a lot ..read more

 A morning spent with PWL & EGB at this very good farmland winter site. There are still lots of birds on site but the behaviour is changing and small flocks of finches and buntings are now moving between bird crop areas rather than there being some birds in all areas at any one time. The hedges were trimmed in January and topping of the bird crop has now started leaving any nets much more obvious with less vegetation to disguise their presence. We managed to catch 19 birds altogether. Ten were new, and half of these Dunnocks, including a female already with BP2. Amongst the retrap bir ..read more

 This morning we visited the pond having gained permission from the land owner to try to catch and mark some of the Marsh Tits there for our new colour ringing project. Woodland birds are habituated to being feed at an area close to the pond so we set just two nets in the woodland and put on tape lures. The Mute Swan family are still there with the three remaining cygnets, although one of the youngsters seems to be spending a lot of time away from the group. He (we believe) did swim out to the centre of the pond at one point and there seemed to be no animosity between him  and the ad ..read more

 During our five week expedition to Gambia to start initial training with some of the West African Bird Study Association only seven Nightingales were ringed. One of these birds was recaptured at Aberton Reservoir on 14/05/2023. FC28402 was controlled 4555km from the ringing location at Tanji Reserve, Gambia. The bird had been ringed by Fagimba Camara. https://safring.birdmap.africa/ring_info.php?ring=FC28402 See link for details and map. This is the second control from the birds ringed over a five week period ..read more