Last Thursday members of Northants Ringing Group assembled at Storton’s Nature reserve to conduct some ringing.
Ringing on the south side of the reed bed, the aim being to catch summer migrants as Storton’s hosts many species of summer visitors and possibly the Savi’s Warbler that had caused such a stir over the last couple of days.
We were joined that morning by our young trainee Henry Day and his mum Sophie.
Henry had come along to one of Northants Ringing Group’s taster ringing sessions in late 2025.
He was not old enough to take up ringing, but came along with his mum to experience a session, and see if bird ringing was an option for him.
It became apparent during our initial meeting that Henry was going to take to ringing like a duck to water.
As soon as he was old enough, he applied for his training licence and has attended a number of full ringing sessions at Storton’s, under the supervision of licenced trainer Chris Payne.
Henry spent the morning leaning how to handle and ring a variety of birds including: Blackcap, Chiffchaf, Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Robin and Blue Tit.
Henry has thrived under Chris’s guidance, and he will continue to gain experience at various ringing sites throughout the county.
Henry is a prolific creator of wildlife videos tailored to the younger generation. His YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/NaturetasticWH hosts around 73 videos which is quite impressive for someone his age.
His efforts on social media has also earned him a role as a Junior Ambassador for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust.
Henry was recently promoting 30 Days Wild on the BBC Breakfast sofa and explained very confidently what the project was all about.
This short film was featured in a recent episode of BBC Springwatch.
When watching Henry promoting various events and projects or telling us about the amazing wildlife in our area, one wonders if he will emulate one of our previous trainees.
Many years ago, we were joined by a young man who wanted to expand his ringing experience, prior to going to university.
That young man was Hamza Yassin who has become an outstanding wildlife photographer and presenter, and now has sell-out talks at venues across the country.
We look forward to many more visits from Henry, a great addition to our Ringing Group.
