Today saw our first survey of wintering Jack Snipe at our special site. We saw 11 Common Snipe and 3 Jack Snipe--these latter are, we hope, the first push of these delightful little waders into the UK from their breeding grounds much further north and east.
We managed to catch one.......
This turned out to be an adult bird AND it was carrying a ring that we had put on in March 2020. This is a little more evidence of both the value of this site; and the consistency with which the same birds can use such sites year after year. We hope to carry more reports of this species as the winter moves in.
Yesterday I talked about the hard work that Kev was putting in for average rewards up in Shetland. It looks like the arrival of son Gareth has changed fortunes a bit. They had a great day birding yesterday seeing some special birds--and today the nets provided yet another superb species.
This fabulous ball of white fluff is an Arctic Redpoll. Lots of white, with slightly pink cheeks and a small beak that looks like its been 'pushed in'. There's quite a bit of debate about whether there is just one species of Redpoll with different races--or whether there are several species. DNA analysis seems to favour the former--but current ringing/recording rules suggest using the latter--confusing or what? So I'm pretty sure this will be recorded as an Arctic Redpoll and the scientists can fight out their differences....
Well done boys--hope there are more special birds in the coming days.
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