Long-tails get a head start . . . .

Long-tailed Tits are one of the earliest nest builders as it can take up to a month to fully build their intricate nests. They are also on of the easiest nests to locate as the pair are very vocal whilst nest building and can be easily tracked back to the nest site. Below are a couple of this years Long-tailed Tit nests Phil has found in Suffolk so far . . . .

Wicken Eggsitement . . . .14th March.

On the 14th March Phil gave a talk on 'nest finding' at Wicken Fen NNR alongside BTO Carl Barimore's talk on the Nest Record Scheme & Peter Bircham's discussion on bird surveying at Wicken. This was a successful event followed by an interesting search and methodology discussion 'out in the field' as can be seen in the images below. Phil has already found several Long-tailed Tit and Blackbird nests at Wicken which were still being built as of the 14th March. After the talks, Phil, Carl, Peter (the qualified tree climber!) and myself visited the Wicken Fen Heronry site to check how many pairs were nesting this year. We found 3 active nests and one with 2 big pale blue eggs! Last year, Phil monitored the breeding success of Herons at Wicken for the first time in Wicken history. After confirming breeding on the Fen, the outcome at the end of the long breeding season was  5 active nests and 10 fledged young. 3 nests were accessible, allowing us to catch and ring 6 of the chicks - another first for the Wicken Fen Ringing Group, taking the species ringed at the fen to 100!

Chiffchaff Sings in the Spring . . . .

On the 15th March we caught our first warbler of the year - a Chiffchaff  at our coastal Suffolk ringing site. Several others were heard singing the same day and there are now at least 6 present.