This close encounter was a thrill
I OFTEN say that going for a walk in the countryside is the best way to experience the wonders of nature.
While you are out walking you may come across wonderful things – as I did this week when I met some bird ringers at our Mere Sands Wood nature reserve in West Lancashire.
Brian and Dave from the British Trust for Ornithology and our own Mike had caught a selection of birds in a soft net. They had blue tits, great tits and a greenfinch in this particular batch.
They were checking the birds to see if they had already been ringed and ringing the ones that hadn’t. Ringing consists of attaching a tiny and light metal identification tag around the bird’s leg. It is so light that the bird can just carry on with its life without the tag bothering it at all.
So the ringer stretches out the delicate leg of the bird and carefully attaches the ring with specialised pliers. At the same time the ringer will check the bird’s age by looking at its wing feathers and its health.
The main reasons for ringing will be health and wellbeing of the birds, checking their average age and how far they have travelled. There were a couple of birds in the batch we looked at which had not come from the immediate area.
When you hear of birds travelling thousands of miles in spring and autumn, this has been worked out by ringers or other techy methods. In this way, we find out how our wildlife moves around and then bodies like The Wildlife Trusts can ensure their movements are safe and easy.
Another thing is that there is an absolute thrill in meeting our wild birds close up. Coming face-toface with some of our smallest birds was an absolute pleasure. And then we were treated to looking at their beautiful feathers as their wings were carefully extended.
Looking at the blues, greeny blues and yellows of the blue tit was spellbinding. We got a real close up of their white cheeks and black eyestripe.
Mike explained how to hold a blue tit using two fingers and a thumb and then handed the bird to me. I was beside myself! Very nervous that I wasn’t hurting the little fellow, although he was biting my finger throughout the whole experience in a display of temper.
You have to hold the bird in your left hand so your right hand is free to ring the bird. When the ringing is done, and you need to be quite quick. Slip your right hand underneath the bird so it has a launch pad.
My little friend sat on my hand for a second, it had probably been quite warm and maybe wanted to hang around a little while. It then dashed off into the trees, back to its mates.
We are only midway through January at the moment but, I have to say, this will be one of the high points of my year.
To become a member of The Wildlife Trust go to the website at www.lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129. For more information about Cheshire Wildlife Trust call 01948 820728 or go to cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk.