46 Ringed...

...today and they were all pulli. Ian and I checked our boxes in the Hodder Valley and on Rawcliffe Moss. It is probably worth mentioning first of all that we have another pair of Pied Flycatchers in. So within the space of 7 days they have built their nest and laid a clutch of 6 eggs and started incubation!

Pied Flycatcher nest

Of the 46 pulli ringed the breakdown was 25 Blue Tits (including 8 from the box in my garden), 9 Great Tits, 6 Nuthatches 6 Tree Sparrows. Of course, the Tree Sparrows were ringed from boxes on Rawcliffe Moss.

Blue Tit chick

Great Tit chicks

Nuthatch chick

The boxes we have in the Hodder Valley are situated at the Wild Boar Park and walking through the woodland we had singing Goldcrest, Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler, Blackcap and a Kingfisher flying along the river. We also found Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Swallow and Wren nests and will keep our eye on them over the coming weeks.

Ian and I couldn't resist having a look at the Meerkat enclosure at the Boar Park whilst we were looking for nests and I have included a few pictures below because they are such characters!



Back at home I checked my moth trap and I had 3 Garden Carpets, Hebrew Character, 3 Heart and Darts, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Grey Dagger, 2 Common Quakers and Small Magpie Moth. The Small Magpie Moth was quite early as they aren't usually on the wing until June.

Small Magpie Moth