3rd amazing day in a row - 10th June 2011

We woke up nice and early to head to Pickmere, Cheshire to head round the reed bed ringing the Reed Warbler Pulli. We checked 43 nests and managed to ring 30 birds. It's amazing to be able to see the intricacy of the nests in person.
There we various stages of nests with both eggs, young chicks, chicks that are ready to fledge as well as empty nests and nests being rebuilt.
After a lovely pub lunch to have a quick ready after finishing the warbler pulli, we headed to Shakerley where Kane caught a stunning Lapwing chick which was a joy to ring! By the time we finished this, it was getting close to 5pm which is when a local open coal mine was finishing for the day, which meant we were allowed to enter to ring a Kestrel brood that were ready for ringing

I have only ringed Tawny Owl chicks before, so this was only my second bird of prey in the hand. There was a brood of 5, all of which Kane and Chris allowed me to ring. Another species that were a joy to ring, even if they do make a bit of a racket!
We ended to day netting at Shakerley where we caught 2 Grasshopper Warbler. We caught a juvenile which was a retrap aswell as a new adult male and 2 Common Whitethroat which were all new birds for me and very interesting to see in the hand, particularly Whitethroat as they are surprisingly big. Grasshopper Warbler is one of my favourite warbler species and one I have never really been able to get great views of. To be able to see 2 birds in the hand was a real treat!

juvenile Grasshopper Warbler
adult male Grasshopper Warbler

2cy male Common Whitethroat

adult female Common Whitethroat

Ending the 3 days with 2 wonderful species of warbler was the perfect way to end 3 awesome days with two of my best mates. Lets hope my ringing training can provide many more 'breaks' like this one. Cheers guys!
I have finished my first year of Uni now, so will be back to see the family tomorrow and be back birding in Lancashire!