Release day is an early start for everyone involved. A few volunteers and friends joined us to help monitor the birds once the doors are opened. We met them at the gate at 6:30 before settling down with spotting scopes, notebooks and clipboards behind bushes and long grass for a hidden vantage point.
Firstly, a dish of mealworms was placed on the outside of the cage on a platform to entice the birds out, then around 7am the release doors are opened, one bird made an instant bid for freedom and disappeared into the hawthorn scrub behind the cages. The others were less eager and hung back in the cages for around half an hour, we were just starting to question whether they even realised the door was open when one of the bossier fledglings began chasing his cage mates who eventually found the exit. Branches were attached to the outside of the cages to give the birds a place to perch whilst they got used to their surroundings and the birds darted from the outside cage perches back inside until they were confident enough to venture for a hawthorn a few meters from the cage. Before we new it all birds were out and had begun pestering a nearby captive pair of nesting shrikes.
Firstly, a dish of mealworms was placed on the outside of the cage on a platform to entice the birds out, then around 7am the release doors are opened, one bird made an instant bid for freedom and disappeared into the hawthorn scrub behind the cages. The others were less eager and hung back in the cages for around half an hour, we were just starting to question whether they even realised the door was open when one of the bossier fledglings began chasing his cage mates who eventually found the exit. Branches were attached to the outside of the cages to give the birds a place to perch whilst they got used to their surroundings and the birds darted from the outside cage perches back inside until they were confident enough to venture for a hawthorn a few meters from the cage. Before we new it all birds were out and had begun pestering a nearby captive pair of nesting shrikes.
Bold and unphased, the birds chased one another playfully in nearby bushes.
After an hour or so we leave the birds to it. We will return in 2 hours to monitor their progress. Supplemental feeding continues for a few weeks post-release until the birds are able to source their own prey. Most were seen hunting wild prey after only a few days, which is not surprising given the recent explosion of cricket numbers in the field.
The cold snaps in the air trigger the birds to move on to their overwintering grounds. Some are carrying geolocators to record their migration path. We wish our birds good luck and keep a positive outlook that they will return next year and be able to provide us with that vital information.
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