For many years I have been aware of ringers on the coast catching Swallows into roost in maize fields but I have never tried it inland. Recently we have been musing about the idea of trying to catch Yellow Wagtails into roost in such fields but thought that we need to prove the method and situation first. So, permission gained from a rather bemused farmer at one of our sites near the River Thames and I got to site first and set two tapes playing Swallow.
I was particularly tired tonight and I nearly fell asleep whilst watching absolutely no birds at all and then I was brought to a semblance of life with the appearance of 4 Swallows. Paul arrived and we sat watching pretty much nothing for another 30 minutes and then we saw 10 Swallows and numbers gradually rose. We decided that it would be worth setting two nets and then not long before dusk our world suddenly filled with about 250 Swallows and we were then treated to a real spectacle as a Hobby chased and harried them in a most magnificent display of aeronautical agility. Sadly for us, this destroyed the roost but not before we had taken a nice little catch and upon arrival at the net we were delighted to see that we had caught a few Sand Martins, a species that we catch very few of.
This has to be one of the easiest nights ringing we have ever done and we are very pleased that we have proved the method and situation can work. Sorry for the rather poor quality photo but it was took with a phone in the gloom. MP, PA
Swallow 26, Sand Martin 4
