The weekend just gone saw us wrap up the first phase of the Willow Tit Project at WWT Washington. For the past nine weeks we've been ringing at a couple of different sites around the property at feeding stations set up by the lovely staff. The idea was to cover as much of the grounds as possible to maximise the chances of catching as many Willow Tits as possible. We knew we weren't looking at a big total as the staff estimate there are only around 3 breeding pairs on site, so by the end of yesterday it was no real surprise that we'd only caught 3 Willows. But, if the staffs estimates are right that's actually half of the population caught in the first phase, so it's been a really good start. The next stage is to try to monitor the birds in the breeding season. The guys have been busy knocking up a load of Willow Tit-friendly boxes and put them out in favourable habitats around the grounds, and if any show signs of being used they'll put up cameras to record the action. It's all very exciting. Aside from Willow Tits, there were obviously other birds caught and ringed. All were the usual suspects, although the Treecreeper was a particularly nice catch. The full list of birds ringed is as follows ;
142 Blue Tit
100 Great Tit
031 Bullfinch
017 Long Tailed Tit
016 Goldfinch
015 Coal Tit
013 Robin
009 Chaffinch
006 Dunnock
003 WILLOW TIT
002 Greenfinch
001 Blackbird
001 Nuthatch
001 Siskin
001 Treecreeper
358 birds, 15 species. Not too shabby at all!
WORKPLACE WILDLIFE CHALLENGE
So I hit another little milestone this past week as I reached 100 different species for my wildlife challenge. I really wish I could say the lucky individual was exciting, or beautiful to look at, but the truth is, well, it really really wasn't. It was, in fact, a slug! I mean, as slugs go it's probably quite pretty, but I can't imagine many people will have a poster of it on their wall. But hey, every single species counts and a slug is as good as anything else. Birds are still the main things I'm seeing as they are the most obvious things when you're out and about, but I've started to pick up a few more creepy crawlies which is great. I love insects but I am in no way whatsoever an expert and identifying them can be quite a challenge, as well as very time consuming, but it's a challenge I really enjoy. I'm still finding the challenge very slow going as more important Ranger duties take precedent, so finding time to go looking for stuff is really hard at the moment. Also, the fact that it's still winter means numbers aren't going to be huge anyway but just picking things up as I go along can be a bit frustrating. But it is what it is and with spring very much on the way I'm certain things will start to pick up and the total will quickly rise!
SPECIES LIST
085 Yellowhammer - Emberiza citrinella
086 Mallard - Anas platyrhynchos
087 Dipper - Cinclus cinclus
088 Goldcrest - Regulus regulus
089 Tawny Owl - Strix aluco
090 Razorbill - Alca torda
091 Grey Partridge - Perdix perdix
092 Linnet - Carduelis cannabina
093 Common Shiny Woodlouse - Oniscus asellus
094 Pill Millipede - Glomeris marginata
095 White Legged Snake Millipede - Tachypodoiulus niger
096 7 Spot Ladybird - Coccinella septempunctata
097 Rove beetle sp - Ocypus aeneocephalus
098 Spider sp - Scotophaeus blackwalli
099 Tree Slug - Lehmannia marginata
100 Great Grey Slug - Limax maximus
101 Indian Meal moth - Plodia interpunctella
Rove Beetle
