Monday 23 July 2012

Back to Mumbling


It's been a long time since I was ringing last, and it felt great to be up at 4.30 on Saturday morning to get back into the swing of things..... Although the strong cup of coffee and beautiful sunrise helped perk me up!
At this time of year, we expect many juveniles to be around, and this was certainly the case. Juvenile Blackcap, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, Reed Warbler, Robin, Blackbird and a rare-for-the-site Coal Tit were all rung. However, my personal highlight was my first Sedge Warblers in the hand, in the form of two pristine juveniles. I get the pleasure of seeing these little birds performing their song flight at work almost every day, but it's very rare that you get a prolonged view of one, and I had never before appreciated just how beautiful they are. Remarkable to think that this little bird can only have been alive for anything up to 2 months and it will soon be faced with a 7000km journey to its wintering grounds in sub-Saharan Africa! Hopefully this litte bird will pass through The Mumbles agian next year, or even decide to breed in the reedbed!

Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus

1 comment:

  1. Nice pic .. oh to have such a fine little bird in the hand .. great stuff !

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