What I’ve been up to for the past few months!

I haven’t done many blogs recently, as I’ve been very busy with gcse mocks and the real exams coming up!

However I have still been getting outside a lot and volunteering with various places, so I thought I would show you a few of the things I have been doing for the last few months!

I have been putting up various nest boxes for different species around the farm, including a Tawny owl box, lot of Tit boxes, a House Martin nester and a tree creeper box!

I have a pair of Blue tits making a nest in one of my boxes with a camera in, and I cannot wait to follow their journey through the season!

I have been watching the frogs in my school pond starting to mate and spawn, and I’ve been teaching lots of students about them and inspiring a love for nature and wildlife in others at my school!

I went on a fantastic young birders walks around a Poole harbour which was organised by the BTO Dorset youth reps. We saw lots of different species including Great Crested Grebes, Brent Geese, a Sandwich Tern, Turnstones, Oystercatchers and many more!

During the February half term I had a lovely time up in Kent with my cousin at one of my favourite reserves, Cliffe Pools. We went for a windy walk in the evening and saw big flocks of lapwing, a mini starling murmuration, a kestrel on the sea wall really close to us, and even a glimpse of a hunting Barn owl!

After 6 weeks of no ringing because of the bad weather, we finally had a good session around the farm, with some of the highlights being a Redwing, lots of Goldfinches and a stunning male Yellowhammer!

We had a great Young Nature Watch walk around some local fields, watching hares! We saw lots of individuals through binoculars and even a thermal imager, and saw many other species including Snipe flying over, herons, golden plover and heard tawnies calling!

I went for an evening walk to see the lapwings across the road, when I saw a big flock of of birds flying around, and it was a species I didn’t recognise! After they landed really close and I managed to get a few shots of them, I noticed they were Golden plover, and new species tick for me and a bird we hadn’t seen on the farm before!

I went to a fantastic ringing demo for the HOS (Hampshire Ornithological Society) young members, and as I am a trainee ringer had the opportunity to ring a few of the birds. I ringed two new species for me, a Lesser Redpoll and a Siskin! It was a really nice morning, catching up with some friends and meeting new local ringers!

My brothers and I have been out searching for nests, finding pulli (chicks in the nest) to ring! Ringing chicks in the nest and seeing where they go/ if they survive produces really valuable data for the BTO. We have found 3 blackbird, 1 song thrush and 1 robin nest so far!

So there’s a little update on my life at the moment, I’ve got gcse exams in May so am cracking down preparing for them, before having an amazing summer with lots of exciting trips already planned!