07/09/12 - Slow start

Well we were on abit of a roll with good numbers and good birds being caught during the last few days of August, but the first few days of September were on the quiet side with no birds caught until Tuesday (5th). With the water back to a better level for attracting waders we opened the nets in the early hours of Tuesday, with slight disappointment of a Woodpigeon in return for the early start! However as the morning went on we did eventually catch one Snipe! This went down a treat with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust volunteers who were busy working on Wheldrake Ings, taking apart the recently vandalised bridge to Pool Hide.

It was really nice to be able to share it with them, and they marvelled at the distance this bird might have travelled - it's thought to have headed here from more northerly and north easterly locations - Iceland, Scandinavia and across into Russia. Some birds might winter here but many probably continue west and south - but hopefully re-sightings from colour-rings will tell us more.

Jean also came in today with a few of her birds, some of which were ready to go, a Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Barn Owl and Tawny Owl. The Tawny Owl and Sparrowhawk were both ready to be released, the Tawny was left until the evening to be released back into the wild but the Sparrowhawk went off from Bank Island - at speed!

After reading several blogs lately about Barn Owls doing well with second broods, we decided to check a few of ours that had failed earlier in the season. Several boxes later and we hadn't been successful in our finds, however we did catch a new pair that were roosting together.