Chough ringing isn't for the faint-hearted. Myself and Adrienne Stratford have been collaborating on a long-term colour-ringing project since 1991 and between us we have managed to individually colour-ring over 4,000 choughs, about half of the total young fledged in Wales, and all of those fledged in England, for the past 20 odd years. Accessing some of the nests is impossible and extreme measures are needed at some of the others in order to ring these chicks. The photos below were taken by me as I gallantly stood back and let Adrienne do all the work! Well to be honest, never mind the bum, I'd never have got as far as the belly!
It's OK - we did do a risk assessment, honest!
