After a while of positive negotiations, Gareth spent a few hours this morning at a new site. In fact this disused sand quarry was one of our sites when it was active, and it had an active Sand Martin colony. Once the quarry was de-commissioned, plans have been put in place to convert to site into a nature reserve--and Gareth is in at the start to see how this develops.
With any new site it takes time to find out the best places for birds--and of course these will change as the vegetation develops. So this morning's modest but varied catch was encouraging. This Chiffchaff was one of the birds he caught:-
The cool damp conditions were conducive to hirundines ( Swallows and Martins) flying low, and he caught a couple of House Martins and this Sand Martin:-
ID features of Sand Martins are the brown and white, with a brown breast band which shows well in this picture. What doesn't show is the fact that the bird was already ringed--and when the ring was checked we found it was one we ringed at the same site as a recently hatched bird at the colony there 5 years ago!
We all wish Gareth good luck at the site and look forward to reports from the site in future.
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