One of our birds has been in the news for breaking the UK longevity record:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ne7kg387o
One of our birds has been in the news for breaking the UK longevity record:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ne7kg387o
I had noticed that the tern platform on Church Pond had a few pairs of late nesting Black-headed Gulls. Having counted birds from the bank the previous weekend when I saw 4 or 5 chicks, I arranged with Emmeline to make visit today. Despite the engine being repaired there is no slipway into Church Pond so the inflatable was needed again. As we got closer the number of chicks kept going up and we ringed 11, one nest with 2 eggs still to hatch – must go to Specsavers!
Kev
Just 3 of us again for this visit, not so much vegetation adjustment this time in the mostly clear and slightly breezy conditions. A bit better catch with 40 birds including 4 retraps, all Dunnocks with one from 2019. The majority of the catch was Reed Warblers and most birds were juveniles. It is looking, unsurprisingly, that this breeding season will end up being much better than 2024.
Kev
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adult Whitethroat (KJH) |
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juvenile Whitethroat (KJH) |
NWT had received funding for some new Common Tern platforms in 2025. They were sited at Skylarks, Besthorpe, North Muskham and Netherfield. The Trust asked if we would ring any terns that nested. The Skylarks platform was, unfortunately, the only one that attracted terns. Three chicks were visible so I arranged a visit on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far. We arrived on site, inflated the Trust boat and paddled out to ring the terns. After doing this we looked on an adjacent island that had some gulls and terns nesting. Strangely the majority of nests still had eggs at this late stage of the season but we did manage to find and ring 5 Black-headed Gull chicks. We were greatly assisted by Miriam, AJ and Millie from NWT. All the other new platforms had attracted Black-headed Gulls to nest but the birds on the Besthorpe and North Muskham platforms were too advanced to attempt a visit.
Kev
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Black-headed Gull chick (KJH) |
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Common Tern chick (KJH) |
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Common Tern chick (KJH) |
The third visit of the year to this site and first since the end of May meant another battle with the ever-encroaching vegetation for the 3 of us that were out. We set the usual 9 nets in very warm but mostly overcast conditions. We ended with a catch of 31 birds, mostly juveniles and all new birds. The best of the morning were 3 juvenile Bullfinch caught together, an increasingly scarce bird now locally.
Kev
Of the 5 viable tern platforms at Attenborough only 2 were occupied by Common Terns, the two close together by the visitor centre. Having monitored progress we organised a visit today and met at the Sailing Club to use the Trust boat to get out to the platforms. Unfortunately we could not get the engine started and after a couple of hours gave up and paddled an inflatable from close to the visitor centre out to the platforms. The birds were at a perfect age range and 16 chicks were ringed on one platform and another 13 on the other. With a number of eggs still apparently being incubated we may visit again in a few weeks time. Thanks as always at Attenborough for all the help from Emmeline of NWT.
Kev
I had been wanting to make the first visit of the summer here for a month or so but each weekend it was a bit breezy. So today with a small team we managed to get there, because of the small team Mick P agreed to join us first thing to help clear the net rides before he had to leave for a previously arranged appointment. This was a great help and we got 6 of the usual 8 nets up and then put up 2 in another location. Catching rate was low but steady and we ended with 34 birds including 3 retraps, best of which were a Chiffchaff from 2020 and a Song Thrush from 2021.
Kev
The constant effort site continued to deliver a mix of bird species on our latest visit. Out of the 31
birds caught, juvenile Long-tailed Tits, Blue Tits and Great Tits were present. Numbers of warblers
were still low, with singles of Garden Warbler and Blackcap. This visit delivered 5 adult Blackbirds,
including one with a leucistic tail feather as shown in the picture.
Birds continued to show breeding condition, while some birds had already started replacing their
main flight feathers in main moult – there was plenty to explain and demonstrate to the group of
trainees we had out with us!
Bonus wildlife on this visit included Swifts flying over the ringing site, several bumblebee species,
and a Blood Vein moth in one of the net rides.
Josh
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Blackbird with leucistic tail feather (L. Green) |
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Blood-Vein (K. Hemsley) |
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Garden Warbler (L. Green) |
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Great Tit undergoing main moult (L. Green) |
On our third CES visit things finally started to look up, with the first 3JJ Robins and Long-Tailed Tits caught. We processed a total of 35 birds, of which 18 were recaptures.
We retrapped two Great Tits that were 4 years old, a 4-year-old Chiffchaff and a 3-year-old Robin. Some good adult survival there, and we hope to see a good breeding season as the CES continues.
We also ringed another brood of Blue Tits in a nest box with 4 healthy chicks, plus one Tawny Owl chick.
Often we get hornets caught in the mist nets and we do our best to extract these as well.
We enjoyed rhubarb cake courtesy of Kev’s rhubarb, and delivered an impromptu ringing demo to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust volunteers who were on the delta removing Himalayan Balsam.
Holly
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Hornet (JP) |
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young Robin (HJ) |
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young Long-tailed Tit (JP) |
We made our second constant effort visit this weekend. Despite being less breezy than the last visit,
the catch was still potentially affected by the bright sunshine. We only caught 14 birds, including 6
retraps. Highlights included a new Blackbird, a new Cetti’s Warbler, and two Reed Warblers. We also ringed a brood of 8 Blue Tits in one of the nest boxes on the
delta. This provides information about the timing and success of
breeding attempts. Much of the interest at this session came from other wildlife encounters. For example we found a Poplar Hawkmoth in the vegetation right near our ringing base.
Josh
Although a few juvenile passerines have appeared in the last few days, these are the first I've ringed in 2025. In comparison, last year I first ringed a juvenile Starling on 19 May (so we're 9 days earlier this year), and juvenile Goldfinch on 16 June. But this year I first saw a juvenile Goldfinch in the garden on 28 April! It was so early I emailed the local biological recording centre so that it could be logged somewhere!
Holly
Just finished my last 4 Tawny Owl boxes today. I had a good start 2 weeks ago with 2 occupied out of 2 checked; then a less productive middle: 1 occupied out of 8 checked; and a decent finish today with 2 occupied from 4 checked. So 5 occupied from 14 is not too bad. I've not found any rodent prey in any box, only feathers and the maximum brood size was 2. It seems to be a later season this year. I have two boxes from this week to go back to, one was still sitting and the other had a chick too small to ring despite apparently having consumed all but the head of its sibling... Also, 3 adults were caught, 2 new and one a retrap from 2021.
Kev
A few lapwing chicks were ringed near Bestwood this morning. Their plumage provides excellent camouflage.
Mick P
On a very breezy morning, Josh, Gary, Kev H and I made the first CES visit to Attenborough Nature Reserve. CES stands for Constant Effort Site, and it’s a national scheme to monitor the abundance and breeding success of 24 common passerines.
The catch was no doubt affected by the wind, and we only caught a total of 15 birds. One of them was a retrapped Blackcap that was ringed as a 5 in 2022, making that bird 4 years old.
I’d like to say a personal thank you to the ringing group. It’s been nearly 6 years to the day that I first turned up at Attenborough during the CES to see what ringing was about, and today was the first day that I acted as ringer in charge so it felt like a lovely full-circle moment.
Holly
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Treecreeper |