Thursday 19 June 2008

Keeping Tabs

Its not just the birds that fly up here, time seems to as well. The chicks are now 8.5 weeks old and have been introduced to some real Mull weather this week as the we 'enjoy' some refreshing showers - keeps the dust down at least! They should fledge sometime in mid-July so they can be seen stretching those wings at the moment and building up some much-needed muscle. Yesterday, the satellite tags were fitted to the birds so once they fledge we can keep a really close eye on them and find out more about their dispersal patterns over the next 5 years.

Its a busy time for lots of anxious adult birds at the moment as all sorts of chicks take to the wing and some of the smaller birds are on their second clutch. Some enterprising swallows have built a completely round nest on the security light over the door of the hide. There are four eggs in there at the moment so we'll be keeping an eye on them too with the aid of a CCTV camera.

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