Please follow the monthly links to view my diary of bird ringing at Chew Valley or scroll down this page to view the entire diary.

29th July to 31st July 2005

This was my first visit to the Chew Valley Ringing Station as a trainee on the 'famous' Chew Valley Ringing Course. It was a splendid weekend with just shy of 600 birds processed, which was enough to keep the six trainees very busy. I processed 74 birds in total and although I was on a steep learning curve, felt I improved rapidly throughout the weekend. I did not get the opportunity to photograph as many birds as I would have liked but I did manage to capture 3 fabulous kingfishers caught by one of the pools.  Kingfishers are aged by the colour of their feet, which turn from predominately brown to completely orange when they mature. They can also be sexed after a certain age by the extent of orange on the lower mandible. It is also possible to sex them by the colour of their heads, lower back and rump but when the book states to check for blue to blue-green or green to green-blue it is quite tricky to know what to look for. I suppose having both male and female birds to compare would make life a lot easier! I had five new species altogether including sand martin, swallow, dunnock, starling and of course kingfisher.

Thanks to all the trainers and helpers, especially Stella for their continuous encouragement, tutoring and above all patience. Look forward to seeing you all again soon.