There’s no ringing again. It’s too windy until maybe Tuesday next. Here’s something that may interest readers into all things wild and wonderful, especially those who eat the occasional meze, escargot or snail egg caviar on their holidays to the C…
Start time 0645. I was on my own on Sunday and planned to ring Linnets again, Linnets caught in the seed plot only. I knew there would be good numbers because on Saturday when Sue was busy on the phone to her sister in Torquay, I snuck out for an hour …
Monday morning I devote to the school run, transporting two of the grandkids to their school a mile or two away while their mum heads off to work and a 0830 start. That’s not to say there’s no birding or ringing for me because I later caught up with An…
“Don’t count the days. Make the days count” – a quote from the greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali. On that basis I rose at the unearthly hour of 0530 on Friday to meet up with Andy out Pilling way to once again set up mist nets in the half-li…
This last two or three weeks was possibly the worst cycle of rain & wind weather systems I have experienced in my years of being a birder, bird ringer and weather watcher. Every day became a “no go” until a brief respite on Tuesday took me to …
That’s me stymied for a few more days, unless I can summon up a blog post for regular readers. “Warnings highlighting the risk of potential impacts from heavy, persistent rain are in place across parts of southern Scotland and North West England. …
As predicted, rained off for the whole of this week. And it’s looking like no birding, ringing or photos until next Wednesday. Luckily I found this entertaining but cautionary tale in the blog archives from December 2017, a true story with as much rele…
Friday evening became another of those “Yes” or “No” occasions when every weather forecast was different to the next. Saturday morning might be too wet & windy for ringing but the timings of any wind or rain couldn’t agree. Weather charts for the …
We escaped the rain until 1000 this morning and even managed to catch a few birds. I’d met up with Andy at 0730 where in view of the poor forecast of both wind and rain we planned to a little maintenance work on a net ride by clearing overgrow so as to…
There was a 6° and cold but clear start to the latest ringing session at Cockerham. I’d met Andy on site at 0730 and within minutes we had a few nets up. Linnets began to arrive but in less numbers than recent weeks. Our best Linnet count today wa…