Well it’s been a pretty frustrating time due to the cold weather we’ve been experiencing again lately, everywhere has been frozen apart from the river at Duffield for the majority of the week.
After seeing several hundred birds on the river at Duffield a suitable area was baited and in 24 hours all the grain had gone, so on Wednesday (18th) a new whoosh net was set up. Craig & Mike returned on Thursday at dawn with high hopes...however by Thursday the weather had become a lot milder and so the several hundred Wigeon that were on the river only came up onto the banks to graze the grass and totally ignored the grain! That has pretty much been the situation since with birds on the river and on the banks but none that were catchable.
The position at Bank Island has been somewhat different, much of the water was frozen at the beginning of the week and the birds were more inclined to feed on the grain. Mike & Craig took a catch of 2 Teal and 5 Mallard on Wednesday morning (18th), and then on Thursday Craig had a catch of 20 Teal, most pleasing!
So all in all a frustrating week but we’re edging towards 90 non-passerines for the month so far! :)
Hi Guys,
ReplyDeleteI guess these are two of your Mute Swans I read the rings of this morning at Wheldrake, red darvics 195 and 351?
Pictures of them here http://timsbirding.blogspot.com/2012/01/weekend.html
Cheers
Tim
Tim,
ReplyDeleteYes - both birds were rung in the valley as part of our research programme and long running Mute Swan project - 195 rung as a locally bred cygnet at Melbourne in Aug 1995 (so 16 years old) and 351 rung as an adult male in July 1999 (so also atleast 16 years old). Both have remained in the valley since and have bred most years, usually on Wheldrake.
Nice to have the report so thanks - we are always keen that people don't assume we know about the colour-ringed birds and they are not always from us. We've had Mutes from Scotland, Northumberland, Surrey and Sussex to name a few of the more distant ones.