We held a second ringing demo at the NTU Brackenhurst campus for Ecology and Wildlife
Conservation students. Despite good ringing conditions early on, it was extremely quiet around
the feeders and we were only taking 1-2 birds out of the net each round, not leaving us much to
demonstrate!
However, the Yellowhammers turned up eventually and it was good to be able to show the
difference in plumage between the sexes and the level of feather wear in the ages.
We caught our eighth Jay for the site, and our first Reed Bunting for 3 years! Although we've
caught c100 Reed Buntings at this site previously, they have been rather absent recently.
The oldest bird was a Great Tit from 2022. We processed a total of 19 birds (new/retrap): Dunnock 0/2, Great Tit 0/4, Yellowhammer 9/2, Reed Bunting 1/0, Jay 1/0.
The weather was cool and still early on, giving way to warm sun and a strong breeze.
Holly
