On Tuesday Adrienne Stratford, Kelvin Jones, Rob Sandham, Hamza and I headed into a heronry near Bangor to colour-ring Little Egrets. We have been colour-ringing at the site for the past four years and with the 37 ringed on the day have now marked nearly 200 chicks in total. Sightings have been received from far and wide including Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and even one to Tenerife in the Canary Islands!
Last year the productivity was pretty poor with many nests predated by a pair of Ravens. The colony has split this year with the majority of nests in a new location and the number of young present seemed good, although not as good as in 2010 when the trees were alive with little Little Egrets. Several nests still contained eggs though so another visit is on the cards for the end of June.
Spot on the optimum age for ringing. Much bigger and its like trying to ring monkeys!
The aforementioned monkey! Playing chase with an incredibly agile Egret in the top of a 50ft Christmas tree has to be done extremely carefully and loud outbursts of frustration are not unusual!
I'll have a P please Rob!
Grrrrrr!!
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