Fluffy-face

I wasn't sure what to blip today. My day started (again) with some moth trapping, and a beautiful sunrise. Next I went to Beeston for the monthly bird ringing demo. I mentioned last month that I was sure there'd be more ringing blips, so here's another.

We had a really interesting morning and caught some migrating warblers - Blackcaps, Garden Warblers, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Lesser Whitethroat. All bar the Blackcaps (which are bound for Iberia or north Africa) will be attempting to cross the Sahara in the near future. They have a lot of feeding-up to do before that.

The star of today's blip is a Long-tailed Tit. In all likelihood, it won't be migrating anywhere and will probably never leave Beeston. They really don't go far and often remain in their extended family groups for much of the year. They're really nice birds to catch (no nasty pecking like you get from Blue Tits!). We're trained to hold the birds gently but securely so that they aren't injured.

You often catch more than one Long-tailed Tit at once, and one of the pleasures of handling them is to release them all together, in a flurry of trilling calls and blurring wings.