Ballachurry Reserve, Rushen, IOM.: Ballachurry Reserve, Friday, 1st December 2023. Bird Ringing

a frosty start to December

On Thursday afternoon, 30th November, an invitation came in to everyone associated in some way with Ballachurry Reserve to join licensed bird ringer, Rob Fisher, the following morning from 8 a.m. to see a ringing session. It was 9.30 before I joined the assembled group and the temperature was still only 0 degrees C! The Reserve looked beautiful under the frost and Rob was just setting off to collect more birds from the mist nets he had set up at 7 a.m. He was checking them very frequently so that the birds did not get cold.

Those better at rising early than I am had been rewarded by the sight of a well camouflaged Snipe near the pond, located by a thermal imaging camera whilst dark. I went to look for it but it had unfortunately gone, so I rejoined Rob who was carefully removing a row of tiny birds from the netting and putting them into fabric bags where they remained quiet, warm and safe. His patience and gentle handling of the birds was impressive.

Starting with the smallest bird first, in this case a Tree Creeper, Rob took wing and weight measurements as well as adding the ring. All was meticulously written down in a note book. In some cases it was possible to determine the sex of the bird and even its age by checking the wing coverts. The birds sat comfortably and trustingly in his hand which allowed a photograph or two before they were released back into the reserve. When I left (or rather tore myself away!) at 11 o'clock only about a dozen birds had been recorded but the tally rose to 33 during the morning.

I am very grateful to Rob for this invitation and for sending me the full list of his morning's work as follows:

33 birds were caught:

Goldcrest x 2 New

Tree creeper x 1 New

Long-tailed Tit x 5 New & 1 Retrap

Coal Tit x 3 New

Blue Tit x 3 New & 1 Retrap

Great Tit x 4 New, 2 Retrap & 1 Calf bird (2023)

Robin x 2 New & 1 Retrap

Chaffinch x 1 New & 1 Calf bird (2023)

Goldfinch x 3 New

Redwing x 1 New

Blackbird x 1 New

All retrap birds were ringed at Ballachurry and one of the Great Tits and a Robin were ringed Nov/Dec 2021.

A thermal imaging camera before it was light also showed 3 Teal, 6 Mallard, 4 Snipe and 2 Jack Snipe on the dub. During the day a Snipe and a Moorhen were seen on the dub. Two Water Rail were also heard counter calling.

Here are the photos I took while I was there