Jim, Kev, Mick & I spent a nice evening ringing herons at the recently established heronry at Attenborough Nature Reserve yesterday. It was a bit of a learning curve for all of us! The herons have never been ringed at the reserve since the heronry was established in 2007, therefore we were not too sure how easy it would be to access the nests or even the islands.
Besides completing the heronries census back in March (with a count of 41 nests) we had no idea what to expect other than the nest locations. However, thanks to the tree-climbing skill of Mick, we still managed to ring seven chicks from three nests - and formulate a plan for a second visit to ring chicks that were too small.
It was a new experience for me as I have not had the opportunity to ring herons before, and it was a new experience for my wife - who had never cleaned so much faeces off my clothes before (even with a newborn at home).
All being well, the Attenborough heronry may make an interesting study site for years to come - especially in light of the collapse of a great number of historic heronries within Nottinghamshire.
Tim
Where were the parents when you were banding the chicks?
ReplyDeleteThey are out fishing most of the time and our nest visits are very brief so that feeding times are not disrupted!
ReplyDelete