Ness Gardens ringing demo

A few weeks ago we were asked to do another ringing demo at Ness Gardens. Unfortunately the decision was taken to cancel the official event but with a number of people still expected it was decided the ringing would go ahead. It's lovely meeting adults and children and explaining what we are doing and seeing their joy at seeing even common birds close up. We didn't catch much but had some interesting species to show people including this gorgeous adult male Bullfinch.

This bird is a full adult now in its 3rd year (Euring 6). Birds fledged last year would have a brown tip to the carpal covert. This one has a nice white tip - see below:

Other species caught were Great-spottted Woodpecker and Nuthatch whilst everyone's garden favourite, the Robin, was popular!

 Ness gardens also hosts a good dispaly of Purple Toothwort at this time of year. This is a parasitic plant that was originally introduced from France many years ago but has become naturalised (although not common) in the UK.  Ness is one of the best places to see it in the north west.

It doesn't photosynthesise like most plants but obtains its nutrients from being parasitic on the roots of its host plant - these are mainly alders, willows and poplars.

It was also nice to see a number of Common Toads out and about and so far this spring seems to have been a good one for amphibians.