Party on !

Last night I had another attempt at catching the Broom GP Bearded Tits and just before dusk the flock entered the reedbed containing my net, after a little bit of chivvying with the help of Martin Stevens we had nine of them in the net (three more were calling nearby), very fitting as Martin had found them in the first place. It was too dark to ring them so they were safely roosted overnight and then ringed and retuned to the reedbed first thing this morning. The nine comprised four males and five females and interestingly we did not retrap the male from last weekend. Great to catch this flock and I really hope we get a recovery. The day was rounded off brilliantly with a fly over Lapland Bunting at Fullers Hill, Gamlingay at 1035hrs, the bird was directly overhead and very vocal. I have always thought the big open fields at this site would get a Lap but I had to wait 13 years for it!

Remember

A ton of laps

Apologies for the really naff images, just trying to illustrate that the Buckton Lapland Bunting flock has now reached 100 individuals. These birds are frequenting an area of weedy rough grassland on the cliff top, 300m east of the trig point. I am going to try to attract them to feed over the next few weeks in an attempt to catch and ring them, any advice anyone?

Broom Reedling !

After seven hours I finally managed to catch a Bearded Tit at Broom GP with a little help from Steve Blain. These superb birds were found by Martin Stevens last weekend when at least nine individuals were present. I have learnt a lot about Bearded Tits in the last two days, mainly that they certainly take some catching despite being very confiding. . These birds are part of a large dispersive arrival in the region with birds at several other Bedfordshire locations. I will try to catch further birds over the next few weeks in the hope that one may already be ringed, giving us a clue to their origin. I suspect this male may be the first ever to be ringed in Bedfordshire. One thing for sure, they are very smart and charismatic little birds.