A quick look back to the last year in Shetland

While living in Shetland I was able to do quite a bit of ringing and nest recording. Here's a quick glance back at the birds I ringed there in the last 12 months:

Golden Plover nest with 4 eggs on Ronas Hill

Golden Plover chick

A brood of 4 Golden Plover chicks

Redshank chick

Ringed Plover nest with 2 eggs

Totals are listed in the order Full Grown. Pulli (chicks). Recoveries

Fulmar 2.0.0
Shag 0.0.1
Oystercatcher 0.9.0
Ringed Plover 0.3.0
Golden Plover 0.4.0
Lapwing 0.6.0
Bar-tailed Godwit 1.0.0
Curlew 0.10.1
Redshank 0.1.1
Great Skua 0.4.0
Black-headed Gull 1.0.0
Common Gull 0.47.0
Herring Gull 0.1.0
Great Black-backed Gull 0.2.0
Arctic Tern 0.100.2
Rock Dove 1.0.0
Swallow 4.0.0
Meadow Pipit 1.5.0
Wren 5.0.0
Robin 2.0.1
Blackbird 10.0.8
Blackcap 4.0.0
Yellow-browed Warbler 1.0.0
Goldcrest 1.0.0
Raven 0.7.0
Starling 43.0.3
House Sparrow 113.0.103
Chaffinch 1.0.0
Brambling 1.0.0
Siskin 2.0.3
Lesser Redpoll 2.0.0
Common Crossbill 1.0.0

Curlew chick just hatched

Curlew chick

Common Crossbill

Siskin

Raven nest with four chicks

Back to the tits

I know this probably sounds strange, but having lived on remote Scottish islands for the last two years, there are a lot of common garden birds that I haven't seen, let along ringed, in all that time.

So, today I opened a net in my garden in Wales for the first time since we got here a month ago. Nice to remind myself how much Blue Tits nip, and to get down to some simple ageing and sexing of common birds.

Nothing fancy caught and ringed, just the following:

Blue Tit (10)
Great Tit (3)
Coal Tit (1) - lovely birds!
Starling (1)

Now I've got that off my chest I'll be targeting more sensible species, such as the Fieldfare flock that is hanging around here, and the huge Starling roost too.

Watch this space...

Ruffled Feathers

Very pleased that I've managed to sort out a new bird ringing trainer. Simon Evans in Suffolk was a star to keep me on as his C permit ringer when I moved to Scotland, but now I'm in the land of more trainers (Scotland has a definite dearth) I am now with Tony Cross.

Tony is, of course, well known among ringers for his wader dazzling exploits, and I met him the other night for a chat and a quick Woodcock session. 5 birds caught (Tony bagged the first 3, to show me how dazzling works), which was great.

Tony's also well known for his ringing blog Ruffled Feathers http://midwalesringers.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks to Tony, and of course to my trainers in the past - Ian Dillon and Simon Evans.

Pied Flycatcher

Now in Wales

Well, our little sojourn in Shetland is over and we've arrived back in the woodlands and mountains of the south.

We're now living in the wilds of Powys, in the old county of Montgomeryshire with amazing views from our front windows across the Banwy valley to the Dyfnant Forest and the mountains the Berwyn, Hirnant and Aran ranges beyond.

Just made contact with the local bird ringers, so will be posting on here stuff about my ringing in Wales.

The Aran range in cloud