Quantock Hills Blog
Who are you looking at?
- If you go down to the woods today . . .
Posted by Andy Harris on 28 May 2010
Something I really look forward to towards the end of May and into June is bird ringing. With both my AONB and FC hat on I work closely with Doug Miller (British Trust for Ornithology Bird Ringer) as we visit nearly 150 nest boxes over the coming weeks to see what is inside and to ring the young before they fledge.
In most years the majority of the birds we ring are Blue and Great Tits but other species such as Nuthatch, Wren, Redstart, Marsh Tit and Grey Wagtail have all used our boxes or been found when we’ve been out and about. One species we’re particularly keen to follow the success of is the Pied Flycatcher, a small migratory bird that travels to our woodlands from below the Sahara Desert. The male is black and white whilst the female is more brown with a white patch on the wing. A typical brood would be around seven young and, over the next few weeks, as they become old enough we shall place a small ring over one leg. The rings we use in no way harms or affects the birds but allows scientists and us to follow their movement should they ever be re-caught.
For instance a Pied Flycatcher we rung here as a chick in Hodder’s Combe on 11th June 2008 was re-trapped on the 21st June 2009 in a wood in Hereford proving that they don’t return to the same woods each year.
However sometimes you are rewarded with a real unexpected surprise and this year, for the first time since they were put up a few years ago, a Tawny Owl nested in a box located in Forestry Commission woodland. Officially I’ve just started my training as a ringer and this was the first bird I put a ring on, not a bad start!
I’ll keep you posted on how things develop as we have found other interesting things whilst going about the nest boxes but that’s for another blog – cheers for now.
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