Recent ringing at Ramsdale Park Golf Centre

As at Holme Pierrepont, the extent of the scrub is also diminishing rapidly as the trees get bigger, which is affecting the site's productivity. In the period covered we made 4 visits, getting 216 total captures. As you would expect species such as Willow Warbler, along with Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat are much scarcer now. Again the only warblers maintaining reasonable/good numbers are Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

13 July – 48 birds caught, mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff along with a few other Warblers and a Linnet amongst a few residents caught.

2 August – 56 birds caught, again Blackcap and Chiffchaff dominated but 2 Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Common Whitethroat and 5 Willow Warblers added a little variety. Limited nets this time as I was operating the site alone.

6 September – 73 birds caught, Blackcap and Chiffchaff making up the bulk of the catch but along with a few resident species caught was the first Nuthatch caught at the site.

21 September – 39 birds caught, mostly Blackcaps and Long-tailed Tits with just 3 Chiffchaffs. Limited nets again as I was operating the site alone.

Kev

Nuthatch, Ramsdale, 6 Sept (KJH)

Goldcrest, Ramsdale, 21 Sept (KJH)

 

Recent ringing at Holme Pierrepont

The willows get bigger, the scrub diminishes rapidly and the sites productivity is now a shadow of what it was. In the period covered we made 11 visits, getting only 417 total captures. In comparison only a few years ago we would have achieved that total in probably 4 visits. As you would expect species such as Reed, Sedge and Willow Warbler, along with Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat are much scarcer now. The only warblers maintaining reasonable/good numbers are Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

27 July – 31 birds caught, mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff along with a few Reed Warblers and party of Long-tailed Tits and a few resident species. One of the Long-tailed Tits had originally been ringed in April 2022.

10 August – 51 birds caught, again mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff along with a few Reed Warblers and a couple of Cetti’s and a few other resident species.

14 August – 33 birds caught, again mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff but 2 Sedge Warblers were a surprise. Quite unusual to catch any thrush species here nowadays so today was exceptional with 2 Song Thrush and 4 Blackbird finding the nets. Both of the Song Thrushes were already ringed the oldest from 2022.

30 August – 42 birds caught, again mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff but only 2 Reed Warblers, they have mostly all moved on now.

2 September – 16 birds caught, yes you read right just 16. Perfect conditions, all the usual nets, 4 experienced ringers and five MP3s playing! Just to make things worse, Mariana from the Zoological Society of London had set out from Essex at 0300 to join us to take blood samples from various species to investigate mosquito-borne viruses that affect wild birds such as Usutu virus, which has led to declines in the Blackbird population. Thankfully the majority of the tiny catch we had were Blackcap and Chiffchaff, which are both a target species for testing.

14 September – 62 birds caught, the best catch of the year for the site, amazing after the 16 birds caught on the last visit. Again mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff, also 2 Cetti’s Warblers and a single Reed Warbler along with a few residents. A Dunnock captured was originally ringed in 2022.

25 September – 56 birds caught. the second best catch of the year for the site and with 2 nets less than usual, bizarre! 5 Blackcaps, 18 Chiffchaff and 1 Cetti’s were the only warblers the rest being mainly tits and a few residents but 2 Lesser Redpoll attracted to the sound lure were the first of the Autumn. A Dunnock captured was originally ringed in 2019.

Kev 

Portland Bird Observatory: A September Pilgrimage

My twice-yearly pilgrimage to the Portland Bird Observatory with Mick Thompson is always a highlight, and this trip from 19-22 September 2025, was no exception.

Day One: A Warm Welcome
We arrived early on Friday morning, and the sight of hirundines streaming down Chesil Beach at Ferrybridge was a clear sign of what was to come. After the long drive, we headed straight for Culverwell to help local ringer Mark "Slasher" Cutts. The weather was surprisingly warm and humid for late September, which seemed to encourage a continuous southbound flow of hirundines and pipits. By the end of the day, an estimated 10,000 hirundines had passed through.

Our morning ringing session was incredibly productive, with 58 birds caught. The majority were Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, but we also got our hands on a good mix of others, including Swallows, Grey Wagtails, Meadow Pipits, Lesser Whitethroats, Whitethroats, and a Stonechat. While we were busy, an Osprey glided overhead, heading south toward the Bill. A walk around the south of the island later in the day gave us great views of numerous Wheatears and an early Dartford Warbler. We even tried our luck for owls at the Verne in the evening with Jim’s "magic tape lure," but they remained just out of reach.

Day Two: Wind and Rain
Saturday brought a colder, breezier change. We were back at Culverwell, but the winds picked up quickly and forced us to close the nets by 10 a.m. Still, we managed to ring 48 birds, again mostly Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, but with some Willow Warblers, Meadow Pipits, and Grey Wagtails mixed in. In the afternoon, we moved to the Observatory Garden, where we caught more Chiffchaffs, along with a Reed Warbler and a Spotted Flycatcher, before the rain and heavy winds stopped play completely.

Day Three: An Unexpected Visitor
Sunday was another day of ringing at Culverwell with similar species as before. The afternoon brought the most excitement, though, when a shout of “swift!” went up from the Obs patio. We were seawatching at the time, and only one person with binoculars was quick enough to confirm it was an Alpine Swift. Unfortunately, it headed northeast before anyone in the ringing shed or kitchen had a chance to see it. A great bird for those who were lucky enough to get a glimpse!

Day Four: A Grand Finale
Our plan was to head off by 10 a.m. on Monday, so we weren't expecting much. However, the cold northeasterly winds had other ideas. They pushed a large number of Chiffchaffs, Meadow Pipits, and a small group of Firecrests into our nets. With so many birds arriving, Mick went to support Mark at Culverwell, and I joined a team of Cornish ringers in the Obs garden. By the time we left, we had added Sedge Warblers and more Firecrests to our totals, with well over 200 birds rung for the day.

It was a busy but incredibly rewarding few days. Between us, Mick and I ringed over 200 birds of a great variety. The supporting cast included Passenger and Convolvulus Moths and a Bluefin Tuna that was spotted offshore. We'll be back in the spring!

Alex P.

Early September at Gedling CP

After the passage of Willow Warblers in August, the first couple of weeks of September sees Chiffchaffs becoming the main species passing through locally. Some days there seem to be birds in any given bit of cover, their distinctive and constant contact calls being a fixture of the season. 

There had been loads around at my local patch of Colwick Park, and most days they had been heard in the garden so I headed up to Gedling CP for a couple of ringing sessions to see if many were passing through the site.

My first session on the 5th was a short morning session, not starting til around 8am. In the couple of hours I had my two nets up I caught 22 birds which was manageable, and due to the absence of big tit flocks hitting the nets. Of these, 16 were Chiffchaff and it was good to try and identify old greater coverts on the young birds, which was sometimes easy, sometimes a challenge. A few tits and singles of Goldcrest and Blackcap rounded off an enjoyable session. 

I headed back for a slightly earlier session on the 9th, catching 30 birds. The first round was fairly busy, with the site's first Garden Warbler caught, but the catch quickly dropped off with the wind and sun getting up a bit. Another juvenile Green Woodpecker was good to catch, and tit numbers remained low so the catch was restricted to more of the target species. 17 were Chiffchaff, including a retrap, and another Goldcrest and 3 Blackcap were best of the rest. 

Totals for the two sessions were: 
Chiffchaff 32, Blue Tit 5, Great Tit 4, Blackcap 3, Goldcrest 2, Green Woodpecker 1, Garden Warbler 1, Goldfinch 1 and 3 retraps, a Blue Tit, a Chiffchaff and a Long-tailed Tit.

Tom

juvenile Green Woodpecker, Gedling CP 9-9-25 (TS)

Garden Warbler, Gedling CP 9-9-25 (TS)

 

August at Gedling Country Park

Having planned to have a few earlier session, for one reason or another I had not been able to get out to Gedling CP until August. It started well on the 10th when I set the usual 2 nets from last season in the scrub to the west of the park. The first couple of rounds were very busy with the smaller 9m net in particular picking up a big tit flock early on. There was a good proportion of warblers however, with a decent number of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler, along with Blackcap and Whitethroat. A Tree Pipit was a surprise catch, the site has produced records of this species in the past and I have targeted them previously with no success, but it certainly looks good for them. On my final round I approached the same net, and the first thing I saw was a Redstart in the bottom of the net. This is a species that often eludes me on passage, but August is a good time for them locally, and it is the first full-grown bird I have had the pleasure of ringing.

I returned a few days later, anticipating another busy day, but had to be satisfied by a smaller catch of 25 birds. This was much more manageable on my own but it did feel a little quiet compared to a few days ago. There were still a few Pylloscs captured but only one Blackcap and a couple of Whitethroat. Perhaps passage had been slowed a bit by the few days of very hot weather?

My final session of the month was on the 22nd. There seemed to be a lot of Willow Warblers around during the week, observed around and about whilst I was at work, so I was hopeful of a decent catch. I was a little disappointed by the lack of warblers however, with only a small number of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff ringed, and no Sylvia warblers. It was pleasant to ring a juvenile male Green Woodpecker however - the first I've handled in over a decade!

I'm generally quite pleased with the site, although the catches are often dominated by Blue Tits and Long-tailed Tits at times. It does seem a good area for Willow Warbler and visits in the spring are full of their song, so I am happy with that as they are not especially common elsewhere in the local area. It does seem a little quiet here for other warblers though, more Blackcaps have been around this year, but still in small numbers, but I have yet to capture Garden Warbler, and Acros have been completely absent although they are present in other areas of the country park.

It will be interesting to see whether birds continue to move through during September. Hopefully I'll manage to squeeze in at least another couple of sessions over the next few weeks.

Totals for August (new/retrap):

Blue Tit 43/4, Willow Warbler 17/-, Chiffchaff 16/1, Long-tailed Tit 11/1, Great Tit 11/-, Blackcap 7/-, Whitethroat 4/-, Goldfinch 2/- and singles of Goldcrest, Green Woodpecker, Redstart, Robin, Tree Pipit and Wren.

Tom

Tree Pipit

Redstart

Redstart

Goldcrest

Green Woodpecker

 

Record-breaking Barn Owl

 One of our birds has been in the news for breaking the UK longevity record:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy4ne7kg387o 

  

Attenborough – Thursday 10 July

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

 

Holme Pierrepont, Skylarks NR – Tuesday 8 July

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

adult Whitethroat (KJH)

juvenile Whitethroat (KJH)

 

Holme Pierrepont, Skylarks NR – Monday 30 June

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

Black-headed Gull chick (KJH)

Common Tern chick (KJH)

Common Tern chick (KJH)

 

Holme Pierrepont, Skylarks NR – Sunday 29 June

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 

Attenborough – Friday 27 June

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

 

Ramsdale Park Golf Club – Sunday 15 June

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

 

Recent Recoveries

The first half of 2025 has actually been rather quiet on the recoveries front, but there have been a few birds of interest to keep things ticking over.

One of the Attenborough Cormorants (CS6), ringed as a youngster in April 2024 has been seen regularly at Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire, the latest report came on 2 January, but the bird was first seen onsite from July last year.

Continuing the Attenborough theme, a Grey Heron (HA), ringed at the reserve in the nest in June 2013 was noted at the reserve on 31 January. This appears to be the first time the bird has been reported since being ringed over a decade ago. Another Heron (HP), also an Attenborough bird, ringed in 2014 has been reported at Pleasley Pit just over the border in Derbyshire. The bird was noted on 29 April, just a few days shy of 11 years since it was ringed, and again was the first report received of this bird since fledging.

I was keeping my eye out for colour-ringed gulls again over the winter months, although it was fairly slim pickings. A Black-headed Gull made its third appearance for me at Trent Bridge on 10 January - White 7JJ. This bird had been ringed near Copenhagen in 2016 as an adult. At the back end of the year there was several near-misses with some colour-ringed BHG, but codes weren't fully read, but it was saved by a metal-ringed Danish bird that was seen at Colwick Park on 21 March. This bird had been ringed at Hirsholm in Denmark in 2020 as a nestling. The ring-reading was made easier by the fact that the code on Danish E-rings is printed vertically, which makes it much easier to get the full series.

One of the Swans ringed by members of the team at the end of January at Codnor Reservoir was found at the side of the road in May in nearby Ilkeston with a broken wing, and taken into care.

A Lesser Redpoll, ringed near Bestwood in 2021, was retrapped in Cropwell Bishop in February this year.

A Chiffchaff, ringed in Worthing, West Sussex in September 2023 was captured again at the new group site at Allestree Park in May.

And finally, a special mention for the juvenile Starling ringed at Gary & Holly's garden in the Meadows on 23 May, which hit a window after travelling to Keyworth, only 6 days later on the 29th.

Tom

Attenborough NR, CES Visit 5 - Sunday 8 June

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

Blackbird with leucistic tail feather (L. Green)

Blood-Vein (K. Hemsley)

Garden Warbler (L. Green)

Great Tit undergoing main moult (L. Green)

 

Attenborough NR, CES Visit 3 - Sunday 18 May

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

Hornet (JP)

young Robin (HJ)

young Long-tailed Tit (JP)