Blowing in the wind...

..but wishing it was calm.

These are the mist nets we use to catch birds for monitoring purposes. When they fly into the net they decelerate and drop down into the 'pocket'.
It take many years of training to undertake this without supervision and I've just recently started this journey. Extracting the birds requires patience, great skill and an utmost respect for the welfare of the bird. It is also fully licensed.

It was a bit too windy when this photo was taken and some of the net was visible to the birds due to the bright sun. It did however calm down and the amount of birds caught increased.
This site in the past and since I started this year has been very productive however today was a bit slower. This though to my benefit as it meant the 5 of us weren't inundated with birds and allowed me to extract birds and process them.
It really is great fun and such an honour to be able to see birds up close. Photos really don't do birds justice with intricate plumages and minute differences between sexes and ages becoming apparent when in the hand.

The site in question is part of a few Constant Effort Sites to monitor the short range movement of finches. Information on this and ringing in general can be found at the BTO webpage.

I woke up at 04:25 feeling ok this morning but half way to the site pain set in my neck along with a sickness feeling. Thankfully this cleared up after being on site for half an hour but came back when traveling back. Cue a dizzy spell or two later and a walk home to get plenty of fresh air I've spent much of the day in bed. Pain in my neck is still there but a good feed tonight shall sort it out.

Cairistiona is cooking up a paella right this moment. Mmm can't wait.

While setting up there were some strange flashes in the sky which continues for a good few minutes out towards Dunbar way (I think) It could have been a strong Aurora or wild fire. I couldn't say as it was through the clouds but very strange none the less.

I shan't list the birds ringed today as tea is ready but plenty of Great Tit, Chaffinch, Yellow Hammer were netted along with Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Dunock, Blackbird and a nice Brambling too. Thats actually almost the list...
We had some lovely views of a Barn Owl by the road and plenty of buzzards were displaying on the way home.

I hope you've all had a good weekend.