It's been too long...

Far too long.

The whole month of May has passed since I last updated my blog and whilst I'd like to tell you its because I've been enjoying the late spring to the max.... It's not. Instead I've been sat inside my room writing coursework and revising for exams for the entire month. Unfortunately the blog took the brunt of the my sacrifice.
But I'm back and about to deliver a trilogy of ornithological updates.

University is over for another year (apart from which I've just come back from) and after coming home I've instantly gone about satisfying my nature cravings starting off with a morning of ringing.

Home of the Cave Dweller...

We were trying at a new site two weeks ago but a place I know well from visiting many times. We were at Creswell Crags, a site renowned for its archaeological significance for Ice Age man. The various caves around the lake and visitor centre were once inhabited by lions, hyenas and Ice Age man and boasts the worlds most northerly evidence of cave art.
Nowadays its a great place for wildlife. Jackdaws and Kestrels nest in the cliff faces whilst a Mute Swan usually nests on the lake. Its a top place, one that I've posted about before in my "Snow Joke" post, and it made a perfect back drop for a spot of Sunday morning ringing... Especially when the centre only opens at 7 so it meant a lay in!

We caught about 15 birds including Great Tits, Blue Tits, Robin's a couple of Marsh Tit's and a nice female Nuthatch. We finally managed to add a "net over a river" to our arsenal of ringing locations and hope in the winter that we might be lucky enough to catch a Kingfisher.

Wren's nest

We were ringing in front of 3 caves that once were the home to hyena packs, evidenced by the bones found within. However in recent years its been home to a family of creatures a lot less ferocious than a pack of hyenas... Wrens.This year was no different and it didn't take long before a Wren burst from the cave and I soon located it's nest. The Wren's latin name is Troglodytes troglodytes, meaning; "cave dweller", and it's nice to see it living up to its name!

This nest was coincidentally found just minutes after I'd been talking to Dean (another trainee and a top guy) about signing up to be a nest recorder for the BTO. He's been one for a couple of years whilst Eleanor (my trainer) records all the nest boxes in the local wood and I'll soon be joining in after having sent off for a registration form the same day.

Speaking of nests... after a quiet, but still rather successful, morning basking in the glorious weather at the Crags, we decided to head over to the wood to ring a couple of nest boxes. They're all a lot later this year due to the spring but the hope is they'll still be successful with a run of good weather. Conditions last year meant that not many young were hatched successful and added to that was the senseless destruction of nest boxes containing eggs and chicks by people coming into the wood. Luckily there has so far been no repeat and early signs are good. On the way to the first nest box we stopped by one that had been partly chewed by a squirrel earlier in the year and so had one corner opened up. In the box was a nest made earlier in the year that contained two eggs that none of us were able to identify. If anyone has any ideas then I'd love to know!

6 eggs!

8 Nuthatch chicks!

After that eggcellant mystery (don't pretend like you haven't missed my high brow puns), we moved onto a nest box that had been used by a female Nuthatch for a few years and always had a big brood. However even we were surprised when we opened the top of the box to reveal 8 baby Nuthatches! Ringing these were my first pulli (baby birds) of the year and it was nice to get back into the swing of things. On the way out of the wood we stopped off to check out a Blackbird nest we'd been told about that was about a foot off the floor and contained 6 eggs. Sure enough after a bit of searching we found it, all 6 eggs included! It's incredibly vulnerable though and I don't hold out much hope for a successful fledging I'm afraid.

But before I get too comfy I'm off to the Yorkshire Nature Reserve Malham Tarn for a University field trip and I've got a feeling I'm in for a top week...