Tuesday 24 November 2015

Purple patch...

My good run of catching continued last night. Despite a near full moon, light drizzle tempted me out to see if anything new had come in during the last few bright nights. Birds seemed to be everywhere, and although I wasn't really expecting to catch much I still managed to catch a 'dazzler's hat trick' (Woodcock, Snipe and Jack Snipe) so a good choice to venture out.

While checking the fields I did notice a very small wader tucked away. I could see it wasn't one of the local species and when I got a little closer I could see that it was a Purple Sandpiper!! There was some very nervous steps that followed, but amazingly it stayed put and I managed to drop the net on it.

Although the number of these birds getting ringed in the UK is increasing, I would be very surprised if one has been dazzled in a sheep field before, especially in Mid Wales!!


Just goes to show, anything can be out there!!

1 comment:

  1. Well done mate, nice find, nice catch! So much easier to dazzle them without the bright lights of Aberystwyth over your shoulder!

    ReplyDelete

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