29/04/14 - A good haul

Following on from our post a couple of weeks ago regarding the local heronry we returned last week to ring the chicks, knowing that they should be the right size by now – and before they become too big. We were successful with 29 chicks ringed from 10 nests with young – many others nests still had eggs. The broods varied in number (from two to five, with three being the average) and in size – with the biggest and smallest photographed below. Each chick was fitted with one of our yellow darvics with two black numbers. Once the chicks fledge they tend to appear on Wheldrake with it being the nearest water body, before leaving the area and heading north, and hopefully with 29 newly darvic'd birds soon to be out there we've a good chance of getting a return back. For more information on our herons, and where they go and what we've found out so far see last weeks post here.

Many thanks to the tree climbers at Lewis Trees for their once again excellent service with scaling the trees quickly and safely and in their safe handling of the birds.