On 11th December, a group of volunteers certified by the British Trust for Ornithology returned to Millennium Wood to carry out mist netting. Mist netting is an important tool for monitoring species diversity, relative abundance and population size and is harmless to birds when carried out by trained professionals.

They put up five nets, moving one half way through the session nearer to some Redwings which had made an appearance. Redwings are thrushes which come from Northern European countries (such as Latvia, Finland and Iceland) to overwinter with us and eat our berries and fallen fruit. They also used speakers to play a Redwing call hoping they would come to investigate the sound; luckily, it worked.

The group processed twenty birds in total, meeting two Blue Tits they had previously ringed on 27th October – one is pictured below. Two Dunnocks also made an appearance; sometimes they’re overlooked, but they have a very pretty song.

Two female Great Spotted Woodpeckers were ringed (males have a red neck collar while the females have a completely black head). It was lovely to see these birds, both hatched this year. According to the group, there is a good chance they were raised locally. 

The group hope to return in the new year to continue their work.

• 

• 

• 

• 

•