RINGING SESSION IN MEMORY OF JULIE
A ringing session was held at Storton’s on Sunday, where
the bird ringing was of secondary importance. We had gathered to celebrate the
life of Julie Donohoe, a cherished member of our ringing group who we lost just
six months ago. Julie’s husband, Ken had asked if the family could come along to
one of our ringing sessions and he was joined by daughter Clare, and son Andy. They
wanted to experience why anyone would get up at silly times in the morning to
go bird ringing. It was quite an emotional morning but also lovely at the same
time.
The bird count was steady with the typical titfest for
this time of year with three Redwings, a Cettis, and a Chiffchaff giving a bit
of quality. The star bird of the day was a Grey Wagtail, the first of its
species to be ringed on this site.
The team gave the family a demonstration of all aspects
of bird ringing and explained the importance of cake and coffee when ringing. One
of the numerous re-traps was a Blue Tit Julie had ringed back in 2023, so quite an
emotional experience for the family.
A small Oak tree Julie had grown from a seed was
planted just off one of the feeder rides, in an area where Julie would have
made many extractions.
“I first met Julie down here as a volunteer with the
Wildlife Trust and like a lot of people she took up ringing which is very
time consuming. She loved being down here with the birds and camaraderie, but
the most important part of the whole thing were the Jaffa cakes.” John Woollett
IN MEMORY OF JULIE DONOHOE
"Never knowingly on time"
