Elder Statesman defines the meaning of Commitment !!

 Pete established the group years ago and has been ringing since colour tellys were still a novelty! But he is still so enthusiastic--providing a great role model for our trainees. During the summer months he was as usual a stalwart of the post breeding ringing sessions twice every week with unholy time starts--but not content with this he's made a habit over recent years of leading the way on ringing Redwings. Before we had the current sound lure for Redwings, we call the Latvian Love Song; Pete, I and others would venture forth in the midst of winter to one of the coldest places on earth ( Sandon Estate). We would put up 7-10 nets in the cold, wait for dusk when the birds came in to roost and catch maybe 10 Redwing if we were lucky; then come home frozen but well pleased with our efforts. Fast forward then to the operation nowadays. Pete has two or three nets set up ready to unfurl in his walled garden site. He rises at a leisurely 05.30 (!!!???) EVERY morning since mid October, turns on the Love Song and the Redwings keep on coming.

Around this time of year for some reason they seem to lose interest so this week Pete has called time on his exploits for this year. His commitment has been tremendous, ably supported by Paul, Sam and other trainees, and his total number of Redwings ringed over the past couple of months is.....948 !!! This is one of his highest totals ever, and but for some site issues at the start of the season and some terrible weather over recent weeks he would probably have ringed well over 1000 birds. Hats off to his efforts as a sign of his continued enthusiasm. Well done Pete!

On other fronts, Kev has been ploughing his own isolation furrow at his sites and also helping with others to offer our trainees quite a bit of experience over the last week, with sessions involving feeding stations, Jack Snipe, Starling and farm roosts. We have ringed over 200 new birds including 83 Redwing, 30, Goldfinch, 22 Skylarks, 14 Jack Snipe, 12 Starlings, 7 Reed Buntings, 7 Fieldfare, 2 Woodcock, and one each of Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker and Yellowhammer. It's great to see our trainees taking up as many of these opportunities as they can--work, family and other commitments allowing of course.