Spring Ringing

I have recently set up a new ringing site for the Spring and Summer.  Hopefully if it works out well I am planning to register it as a Constant Effort Site (CES) with the British Trust for Ornithology.
It is through CES that populations can be monitored but more importantly breeding success can be understood.
Anyway, enough of the science....heres some pictures from my first visit to the site.....

It was nice to see this Little Owl.  I trapped one at my winter site not too far from this new site.  Typical orchard birds, two were heard calling.

All the way from Africa....probably.  Blackcaps do over winter in this country and I am sure many must remain in Europe.  Most are still long distance migrators....first up is the female with a brown cap...

....and the male....with the black cap....

Whilst at the site I heard a Cuckoo.  A truly iconic bird that everyone knows without knowing and many people look forward to hearing (though they are gradually disappearing from many sites)....many Cuckoos will be looking for this bird, Dunnock, one of their birds of choice to parasitize.

Another bird that is capable of over wintering here in the UK in increasing numbers, Chiffchaff, below.  Most will arrive from Africa from around mid-March onward and commence singing for the next 6 months.  Many will stay in to October before leaving, meaning they spend a majority of their lives here in the UK.

Goldcrest.  The smallest bird by weight in this country.  Their numbers are boosted in winter by many birds coming to this country from Scandinavia....a direct flight across the North Sea.  We should be amazed at this, it is remarkable.  There are some Hummingbirds that migrate from South to North America and back again, some as far as Canada, these birds cross the Gulf of Mexico, 500 miles.
This bird is a male, confirmed by the presence of the orange coloured feathers in the crown.  Females have only yellow.

A pair of Bullfinches.  For a larger finch it is one of the quietest birds...but one of the most handsome...
First....a female...

...and a male...