INTRODUCTION

This is foreseen to be an occasional blog relating to bird ringing at Abbotsbury Swannery. The site has operated as a BTO Constant Effort Site since 1995 and has taken part in the BTO Swallow Roost Project. In recent years we have concentrated in the autumn with both Yellow and Pied/White Wagtails. In 2009 we joined the Woodcock Network.

Friday 6 September 2013

Four hundred and counting.....

We are now at 400 Yellow Wagtails this autumn.  Hopefully the weather next week will be kind and the birds will still be hanging about and we might reach 500.  It is not a numbers game but we are keen to get as many darvics on the birds as possible this season. Interestingly towards the end of last season we started picking up the most challenging birds at this time of the year.  These are the ones which we are after.

Already this year we have identified several 'flavas'- below is a picture of one taken by Luke earlier last week.

'flava' wag taken by Luke last week.

Adult birds are a bonus and often take some sorting as the feather fringes are not always that clear cut.

 Male Yellow Wagtail  'flavissima'
 

You can never have enough Yellow Wagtails!









They are a challenging group but by having the chance of such a large roost here hopefully we can make some sense of it or at least throw open some ideas.  

There is nowhere on earth quite like the Fleet- well we like to think that- and the sunsets there are fantastic












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