Monday 1 February 2010

Collins Bird Guide, 2nd edition.

There has been very little to report at Thornton for the last ten days. However, to relieve the tedium I have treated myself to the new Collins guide. It is amazing how our growing knowledge demands that bird guides are constantly having to keep up to date. The very useful page of Caspian Gull images is a case in point. Others include American Herring Gull, Brown and Taiga Flycatcher and soemmerringii Jackdaw to name but afew. It is all so useful as a reference and so informative. Meanwhile at the res. I have only added one site year tick, a Tawny Owl. Other species have included Kingfisher, Teal and now 7 dodgy Snow x greylag with the Barnacle goose. Three Snipe were at Browns Wood and a large tit flock in Thornton wood included over 15 Long Tailed tits, two Treecreepers and the more common tit species ,but no sign of the hoped for Marsh or Willow. I have recently added up my ringing totals for Thornton for 2009. I managed to ring 490 new birds of 31 species. This is only just short of my best year, 2005 when I did 531. It gives me a target for this year. I have also been busy putting up three Barn Owl boxes and one Tawny box, both at Thornton and at Charnwood lodge. My next project is to make some Little Owl boxes , using the new design from the latest edition of BTO News.

1 comment:

  1. Keep checking those tit flocks old boy. With a Firecrest at Bardon over the weekend it's only a matter of time..................

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