Open House

This morning members of the public were invited to come to GFU to see bird ringing demonstrations, look around the garden and to meet the staff. We had a great turn out with around 90 people (including about 30 children) arriving between 07:00 and 12:00.

Despite the great weather the turn out for birds was not so good, just 20 individuals ringed, but this was still enough for us to be able to show the guests how birds are caught and ringed. Also, early this morning before everyone arrived we caught two new species for the year; a Thrush Nightingale (Nattergal) and a Reed Warbler (Rørsanger).

Joe & Lucy

Reed Warbler - Lucy Dadour

Thrush Nightingale - Lucy Dadour

Open House at GFU - Lucy Dadour

Hans demonstrating bird ringing - Lucy Dadour

Gulbugen er her

We had a new migrant in the nets today; two Icterine Warblers (Gulbug) both with rings. The first was ringed by Jesper in July 2010 and the second by Hans in July 2009 (aged 2k+). We also had a few more Common Whitethroats with old rings, the oldest ringed by Rune in July 2010.

Very few new birds again as the poor weather continues; just 14 today including the fourth Pied flycatcher (Broget Fluesnapper) for the year and our 2nd, 3rd and 4th Garden Warblers (Havesanger).


Joe, Lucy & Luis

Icterine Warbler ringed in July 2009 - Joe Krawiec

Unlucky 13

Another painfully slow day, this time without the excitement of an extreme rarity. Just 13 new birds ringed and three controls. Interestingly though all three re-trapped birds were Common Whitethroats (Tornsanger) ringed in July of last year.

Joe, Lucy & Luis

Priol!!!

What a week we're having! This morning we caught the forth Golden Oriole (Priol) ringed at GFU!  It was caught in the net just behind the house, Luis only just caught it as it was about to get out of the net.

Aside from the Oriole not a very productive day, just 18 new birds including the second Spotted Flycatcher (Grå Fluesnapper) ringed for the year.

Joe, Lucy & Luis

Golden Oriole - Joe Krawiec

Oriolus oriolus - Joe Krawiec

Priol - Joe Krawiec

Slow day again...

Very few birds again today, just 21 caught and 17 ringed.

Another female Whinchat did turn up in the nets, the third for the year. Other than that nothing out of the ordinary.

Cloudy again tonight and high winds from the south tomorrow, doesn't look promising!

Joe, Lucy & Luis

Skylark

Well the new nets paid off, this morning we managed to catch the fourth Skylark (Sanglærke) ringed at GFU and the first to be caught in the spring.

It's just as well that we did because the rest of the nets weren't catching, 12 hours worth of netting only resulted in 15 new birds!

We also saw a rather large Polecat (Mustela putorius) bounding it's way into the front garden early this morning.

Joe & Lucy

Skylark number 4 for GFU - Joe Krawiec

Alauda arvensis - Joe Krawiec