Friday 28 March 2014

Shes Back!

Apologies for the extremely long pause since I last posted. No excuses really, other than being very busy with data analysis. So what has been happening? 

STORKS
Aldina and ringed neighbour on the same nests as last year
Goncalo -same nest as last year
 In the past few months over 30 storks have been caught on landfills and fitted with solar powered data loggers.

I visited quite a few of them recently in March by tracking them to their nests. They are being very well behaved this year! Unlike last year, some are in colonies and nests I am already following. Storks usually breeding in the same nest every year so this means I have previous years breeding history for them, which is fantastic news. Also unlike last year, this year many are in nests low enough to be reached with my camera pole. It was quite early in the season so most did not have eggs yet. However, some of the high quality breeding pairs already had a clutch of 5, including logged stork Alina. It will soon be possible to follow the new birds on the website of the BTO, I will let you know when.
I also visited some of the logged birds from last year. Although no longer transmitting they are back on the same nests and appear totally unaffected by carrying their loggers.


FUNDING
My application for funding for fieldwork this summer was successful!
Many thanks to the British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) for your support. Your money will be spent wisely!
http://www.bou.org.uk/


CONFERENCES
A questions session, Congresso de SPEA
My first oral presentation at a conference: The VIII Congresso de Ornitologia da SPEA, Lisbon. 
http://congresso.spea.pt/pt/

SPEA are the Birdlife Partners for Portugal. The White Stork is the SPEA bird of the year so it was very exciting to be making my oral presentation conference debut about them. I was quite nervous about it initially, but everyone was so friendly and interested in each others research that by the time the day of my talk arrived I was actually really looking forward to the opportunity to present my research. I presented the preliminary results of tracking my 15 adult storks from last year: how much they use the landfills, how it varies between winter and breeding season, and which non-landfill habitats they select. It lead to some very interesting discussions afterwards. A great opportunity to catch up with Portuguese colleagues and meet other researchers over many a long boozy Portuguese-style lunch!


CANNON NETTING
Attempting to catch Sanderlings at high tide roosts in salt pans. 
With Jose Alves, Teresa Catry and team.  

Digging in the cannons  for a good firing angle.

A cannon. The charge is in the base and as it fires it carries
the net attached to the shackle at the other end
















DATA ANALYSIS
More on that another day... there is too much to say!

IN OTHER NEWS
Literally in the news. 
As part of National Science Week team and as a STEM ambassador, I took my "Geology of Norfolk" work shop in to Great Yarmouth High School. It was run alongside 5 other hour long sessions run by UEA for the whole of year 10. The fossils mostly survived the occasion..... It made the local paper, though not as the headline piece:
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/mobile/news/photo_gallery_5_4_3_2_1_great_yarmouth_students_science_lesson_goes_off_with_a_bang_after_rocket_launch_1_3452847

Releasing a male adder

VOLUNTEERING
Spring has sprung, so it is survey season again at the consultancy branch of Norfolk Wildlife Trust
This will be my 3rd season as a Norfolk Wildlife Services (NWS) volunteer. Newts surveys are under way and I am also helping out with a series of adder hibernacula surveys too. This involves catching adders, photographing their heads to ID them, and GPSing their hibernaculum. It also involves gorgeous dawn walks on beautiful heaths!







Now you know why I have been a bit slack with the updates! A feast of news on all the above subjects and more to come more frequently from now on, I promise.