Wednesday 27 July 2011

Its a big 'un

Leach (left), Storm (right) what a pair (Will Scott)



Wing of a Leach's (Will Scott)







Wednesday 27th July comments: The Farnes never appear to amaze me, even after all these years. Following an unprecedented influx of Storm Petrels – birds were still passing today, so it was decide to try overnight tape luring to ring individuals and try piece together the movements of these small oceanic wanderers.

So as darkness fell on Inner Farne, the nets were erected, the tape lure set up and soon after we were enjoying the delights of the first capture – a ringed bird from another part of the UK. Suddenly a second bird bounced into the net, another ringed individual. It was a great start. The night went on to produce a total of eleven of these amazing birds but the night was not complete.

As we passed 03:15, we decided it was time to call it a night and pack up for some well deserved sleep. However this was shattered as we discovered to our amazement a ‘Big Un’ in the nets. A Leach’s Petrel, the larger relative of the Storm Petrel had been caught the first ever trapped Leach’s in Farnes history.

What bird, what a night. The bird was ringed and processed and eventually released but not before the entire warden team had enjoyed the sight of this monster. It capped a great few days on the Farnes and only knows what the next few months may bring…

1 comment:

Christina said...

Fantastic! It might be a big 'un, but it still looks cute to me :-D