A quiet few days since our last blog as the weather has not been that great.

 

Despite this we have had several walks in the woods and found three Siberian Jay. Tomorrow we are going to see if they are still in the same area and if so will try and catch them with Åke, who fits them with colour-rings to monitor population levels etc. He did not know of birds in the area where we found them, so fingers crossed.

 

Yesterday, with rain when none was forecast, we ran the CES for Pelle and caught 16 new birds, including a pair of Icterine Warblers, a female Whinchat and a recently fledged Redwing - not something you see every day!! the site is next to a lake where a pair of Whooper Swan and a pair of Black-throated Diver were present.

 

Today, in heavy rain while Chris worked on a film project, Kay went for a walk and was rewarded with the rear view of an Elk - remarkably the first either of us has seen this trip. Perhaps now the duck has been broken we will see more?

 

This afternoon, having picked Monica up at 1330, we picked up Åke and headed off to the first of three Rough-legged Buzzard nests. The species is a bit hit and miss in this region, some years there are no nests, so we struck lucky this year. Åke is 73 and is a remarkable man, climbing trees like they were no effort. So up the first tree and down came two well grown chicks in a canvas bag, ready for Kay and I to gain another real quality ringing tick. Ringed, photographed and 'oood' over, up they went, back into the nest, down comes Åke and off to another nest, holding two more young, less well grown but large enough to ring.

 

The final nest produced four young, a good sized brood, which were duly ringed. At the base of the tree was a hole in the rocks which Åke felt was a rest up lair for Bear, not something you think of really!!

 

So, eight chicks, three nests, three trees climbed and back in the car on the way home, all within three hours - he really is a fantastic tree-climber!!! Thanks to Åke and Monica for making this such a special afternoon. It is just a shame that Pelle had to work as without his efforts we would be doing none of this stuff!!