Century's up!

Just over a year after gaining my permit to trap birds in my garden using conventional traps I have managed to reach the 100 mark. Bird 100 was a rather handsome male House Sparrow caught in my potter trap.

The birds have all been caught in a mixture of spring, chardonneret, potter and walk-in traps and it has been an interesting learning experience researching, making and using these. I would highly recommend Hans Bub’s Bird Trapping and Bird Banding: a handbook for trapping methods all over the world, the BTO’s Trapping Methods for Ringers by Peter G. Davis and articles found in the Ringers' Bulletin for anyone interested in making and using their own traps.

The totals caught to date are as follows:

Wood Pigeon - 2
Blackbird - 12
House Sparrow - 5
Robin - 2
Starling – 79

So far there have been no recoveries, but I can hope! It has been a great experience and given me a very different perspective on common garden birds and I now look forward to learning even more as I head towards my full C-Permit.

Alex

Bird #100: a male House Sparrow (A. Phillips)