Showing posts with label spurn point; sparrowhawk trap; BTO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label spurn point; sparrowhawk trap; BTO. Show all posts

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Sparrowhawk trap

This trap on Spurn Point is used by the British Trust of Ornithology to catch and ring birds for migration studies.
But a local sparrowhawk had better ideas for its use. I saw one rush in and as it did so all the birds scattered and got trapped by the wire. She then picked off a brambling and headed out again with her prize.

I felt sorry for the brambling, which had just made it across the North Sea. Bramblings are the Scandinavian equivalent of our chaffinch.