Habitat work

Our thoughts are now turning to late Autumn and Winter ringing activities. One such is studying numbers of Jack Snipe at a local nature reserve. I'll post more details about these fabulous little birds in due course--but for now we needed to improve the habitat for them.
The area they love to roost in is slowly but surely changing as willow and birch saplings become established--so these need to be halted as soon as possible.
A small but beautifully put together team started an assault on these saplings on a lovely Sunday morning. We were very ably helped by our friends from Cannock Sea Scouts who really enjoy getting stuck in to bird related conservation projects.

The trolley was very useful in transporting the cuttings off-site

Henry had a full time job as our trolley dolly.

 

A pretty impressive result--you can just make out the third pile of cuttings. Time will tell how useful this work has been but I'm confident it will make a big difference and we are already planning a second attack in the Spring.

I hope I will have some pictures and information about Jack Snipe soon. In the meantime Pete will be trying very hard for Redwings and I will be out in the Algarve trying to catch some of the 700+ Blackcaps we ringed at Belvide this Summer!!