It’s been a while since my last post and much to report.

A fine week on Skokholm with the puffins and three weeks now of helping ring Red Kites in the Chilterns, and a lecture on Predators for the Kingston Connections Readers Festival.

Yesterday was special. A nest high in a Black Poplar ( one of the rarest trees in Britain with only 2500 left). A very big chick (around a kilo in weight ), a few days away from fledging. I finally made it up to the nest after gingerly testing all the branches twice because I didn’t like the look of them – I found out when I got down that Black Poplar is notorious for shedding large branches without warning ! As I poked my head over I was faced with a fierce looking chick in a perfect heraldic pose.

They only look fierce and are surprisingly relaxed (!) about being stuffed into a pillowcase and lowered down to the ground for weighing, ringing and measuring and then returned to the nest. This is one of a scant few that was reared successfully in Hertfordshire this year.