First Hat-trick of 2013

Last night I ventured up into the hills around Clun Forest again hoping to colour-ring a few more Golden Plovers. I managed to catch five but could only colour-ring four of them as the other had its tarsal bone protruding from its right leg! No gory photos I'm afraid. Amazingly it was an old injury and the bird appeared to walk normally but just shows how resilient they can be. As it was an old injury and the bird was otherwise in good condition I did put a BTO ring on its left leg!

I also managed the first "hat-trick" of the year - this is our term for a night when you manage to catch at least one each of Snipe, Jack Snipe and Woodcock (as it turns out it was just one of each but hey, who's complaining!).