Chuffed to bits!

Today was red letter day for me in that we managed to catch two Choughs on the beach with the whoosh net. This entails sitting for hours in the hide we built on Solfach waiting for some of the c30 Chough that feed on the beach every day to feed in the catching area of the whoosh net. Though they have their favoured areas on the beach where they pick and probe for insects and grubs, they are very wary of man made contraptions. Most of the Chough are colour ringed and can be identified in the field, but capturing them allows biometrics to be taken which can be used to sex them as well as unringed birds to be colour ringed. The colour ringing of the Chough is part of a long-term study in to their lives & social behaviour. The two birds we caught today were already ringed, but both metal rings were so worn that they needed replacing. Once their origins are found out I’ll post the details on the blog.

Jim