Ringing In The New….
It’s a boy and a girl for the pair of New Forest Goshawks and today was ringing day.

Friday 5th June 2009. The Forestry Commission were up with the Lark and Goshawk this morning, to ring both the chicks and give them a check up.

The nest is up in a Douglas Fir, at the giddy height of 28metres, so FC keeper Matt Davies was given the task of scaling this giant.

Taking with him a camera, he first of all snapped some fantastic photos of the two chicks.

The blue/grey eyes have yet to change to fiery yellow.

He then gently placed the chicks in a small padded bag which was lowered to the ground.

Waiting below was head keeper Andy Page and retired keeper Maurice Holland, both experienced and licensed ringers. Basic information on size and weight were measured and logged for future research.

Then both the chicks were ringed with BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) approved metal rings. Adult males are smaller than the females, in general only about two thirds the size.This is well reflected in our two chicks.

The male youngster weighed in at 600grams and his sister, a whopping 900grams.
  
These pictures show that the female chick (right) has much larger talons.

While Andy and Maurice were busy on the ground, Matt was upstairs checking the nest. The recent high winds which at one stage blew the female adult completely off, had also damaged the nest itself. It had dropped slightly at the front and lifted at the back.

The female had tried to compensate for this with extra bedding, but it was important for Matt to make sure that the nest was not likely to tip any further or drop completely. A thorough check and a little titivation confirmed that the nest should be fine

All of this ringing and nest checking only took ten minutes. So brother and sister were back in the nest with the minimum of fuss, no doubt their thoughts quickly returned to what they do best….eating and sleeping.

The next ten to fourteen days will see them grow very quickly as they develop their flying feathers, at which point they will leave the nest for the first time.

There are at least twelve Goshawk nests in the New Forest and most are successfully raising chicks this year. One female has managed to hatch four eggs and the chicks are doing fine…..so far.

Complete with ring, ready to be returned to the nest.