Half an acre of land has been rented from a local farmer and sown with untreated Barley as a standing crop, this area is now called The Big Bird Table. We have successfully whoosh netted Rook, Jackdaw, Magpie and most excitingly Corn Bunting. We have a good number of Corn Bunting across the reserves with sightings recorded daily and we are now looking into the possiblity of colour ringing individuals to gather more information on this declining species.

Elsewhere on the reserves pulli ringing is well under way, mainly Great and Blue tit but also House Sparrow and Starling. The blip in the weather saw two tit boxes fail, this is thought to be due to the chicks newly hatching during the cold, wet weather and parents not able to feed and brood at the same time, of course it could have been inexperienced breeding birds but it seems odd that we lost a few boxes last year when the weather turned bad. A full report of the Nest Boxes will be available later on in the year.

Our first species of the year included Swallow, House Martin, Turtle Dove and Garden Warbler. The 27th proved to be an expensive day for one A-ringer who although has been ringing for many years only just managed to catch himself a Rook - £5 for the ringing kitty!