Tawny Owl!!

Instead of meeting up with Steve and Rachel for a mist-netting session at Arthur's in Caernarfon on Sunday morning, I opted to say my farewells to Craig. The reason for this is from the end of April until October; Craig will be out in Sweden at Kvismare Bird Observatory to help aid census work until June and then to run a ringing base until October..

This weekend was going to be the last chance to see him before he departs on his travels..although we are intending to visit him over in Sweden at the end of August!

On Friday afternoon I travelled home to spend a few hours with the mother as I wouldn't be there on Mother's day and then hopped on a train to Atherton where I met up with Kane.. Early on Saturday morning we met up with Craig and headed for the Lake District to see what we could catch. Unfortunately, our original plan was to mist-net over the usual river, but it was a bit too high and we weren't that well equipped as I had forgotten my waders. The day ended with no birds caught but good to catch up with Craig before he departs..

Late afternoon on the Saturday, myself and Kane went to his local woods to do some nest box monitoring and managed to catch this female Tawny Owl which was a lovely surprise. This bird was already ringed - GR05861 was ringed by Craig in May 2010, so it was good to see that she had survivied the harsh winter! Having never handled a Tawny Owl before, it was a superb bird in the hand and consequently has won itself the new position of my blog image..

Travelling back to Bangor on the Monday morning, just 1 week left at university before I finish for the easter holidays and before I head south - more on this in due course..