I dodged the rain again this morning (30 Jan) and had another attempt at catching Stonechats.
I managed to spring trap one, this time a male. After I packed up I did see another two but couldn't tell if these were the two which are ringed. Several snipe were on site too.
Mick P
I was interested in item 9a on the agenda of the Ringing Committee meeting of April 25 - "BTO Expectations Regarding Generation and Submission of Ringing Data," particularly the requirement to submit retrap data, so I had a look at how we compare to what is expected by the BTO.
The BTO's analysis indicated that the average ratio of retraps to new birds for the vast majority of ringers falls within a similar range, averaging 22%. I guess this would very much depend on where and what species you are ringing. Their analysis focused on 10 common species of Blackbird, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Long-tailed tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch and Goldfinch, for 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024.
To get an idea of how we compare, I analysed SNRG data submissions for 2025 for these 10 species and the results were - 2866 new birds ringed and 1264 subsequent encounters, = ratio of 44.1%.
The following chart shows how these are broken down per species.
So, if my methods and calculations are correct, SNRGs new to retrap ratio of 44.1% for these 10 "common garden" birds for 2025 was double the average!
This seems surprising and prompted a bit more investigation. The total of 4,130 birds were ringed across 19 sites, 8 of which are garden sites or sites where supplementary seed is provided. It's no surprise that feeding sites and gardens attract more birds, could our use of these sites account for our high ratio?
Another thought, and one we discuss often, is, could the loss of and deterioration of our "natural" sites, resulting in a focus on feeding sites, affect this ratio? So I did similar searches for several earlier years, and it appears we have been a high retrap ratio Group since the mid 1990s, averaging 37.0% over the targeted years. See chart below for more detail. Communications from the BTO mandating the submission of retrap data, in 2001 and 2005 accounts for some of the increase.
Mick P
I got prepared to take advantage of the small weather window this morning and set a spring trap at Erewash Meadows targeting stonechat. I have seen them regularly in a particular area and where I could watch the trap, this proved to be successful with a young female being caught. Many thanks to Mel, of the Cromford Canal and Codnor Res. group for the photo.
Mick P
This weekend we carried out our ninth visit. It was another additional visit and not part of the winter CES. The forecast was for rain but we went anyway and had no rain at all, but it was considerably milder than last weekend. This was probably the reason the catch was not as good. We caught 35 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 18 were retraps. Interestingly we did not catch any Robins after catching 11 in the cold conditions last weekend. We did catch a Great Spotted Woodpecker which is only the second individual we have had at the site. A Tawny Owl was heard calling again when we arrived on site and a Red Kite was spotted twice during the morning flying over.
Kev
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker (KJH) |
This weekend we carried out our sixth visit for this season’s winter CES, or eighth visit including non-CES visits. A very cold start with snow cover and clear skies.The college was still closed and we had a little difficulty gaining access to the site because the barriers were unusually down, probably a precaution because of the very icy roads and car park. The feeder nets were very quiet all morning but a Redwing call playing at the sports field nets pulled on a surprising 39 Redwing. Unusually they caught all morning despite the nets being lit up by the full sun from dawn and even more obvious against the white snow. The weights of the Redwing ranged from 52.7g to 80.6g. A surprising number of Robins were also caught, 11, no doubt attracted to the bait in the cold conditions. We caught 71 birds in total throughout the morning, of these 19 were retraps. Other observations from the morning included Nuthatch and Tawny Owl calling, Raven and Buzzard.
Kev
A beautiful day with hard ground making access easier. I spent it clearing out boxes in the Vale of Belvoir, excavating vast old Jackdaw nests from boxes and getting covered in dust and pellets. Met a few old friends along the way and made a couple of new ones. Also put up a new Kestrel box.
Pete
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On Monday, Kev H and I attempted to catch Fieldfare at an orchard in Linby. There were possibly up to 100 present with many feeding on the windblown apples as we arrived.Rather disappointingly we only caught 1 Fieldfare, along with 1 Redwing, 2 Blackbirds, 2 Starlings, 2 Blue Tits and a Robin.
Mick P
This weekend we carried out our fifth visit for this season’s winter CES (and the seventh if you include non-CES visits). No frost today but dawn seemed to take a while to arrive and it stayed grey and dull all morning. The feeders had been well attended judging by the level of food left in them. And with the college having been closed for a week, so presumably less disturbance, we hoped for a decent catch in the feeder nets. We set all the usual nets and the first net round surprised us all. Just 1 bird in the feeder nets but the two Redwing nets had 29 birds including 22 Redwing and 5 Starlings. It is a long time since we caught Starlings away from a garden. The Redwing nets continued to catch well all morning whilst the feeder nets were surprisingly very quiet all morning. We caught 68 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 21 were retraps. Other observations from the morning included Nuthatch and Tawny Owl calling and a Raven overhead.
Happy New Year!
Kev
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| Starling (KJH) |
Jim, Alex and I made a pre-Christmas visit to the feeders at Brack, going for the Sunday mainly for my availabilty but also the promise of lighter winds from the east which hopefully would avoid too much wind getting into the feeding area. What we hadn't banked on was a slow moving patch of rain that decided to begin just as we parked up 100m or so down the track from the feeders, and only got worse during setup. We furled nets and went to wait it out in the Landrover, and luckily within around 20 minutes or so it had abated, so we went for round two.
It was a steady morning, mainly dominated by retrap Blue Tits, but a small number of Yellowhammer in the nets was a nice surprise this side of Christmas, with birds usually expected after the new year. The fog that accompanied the rain didn't lift until shortly before we left, which seemed to limit the movement of birds around the site, with little noted round the ringing base, and a dog-leg of nets set in the Orwin's field was empty throughout the morning. Overhead, obscured by thick fog, we could hear birds passing by, which included a distant flock of Pink-footed Goose and unusually, several parties of Wigeon. A Tawny Owl piped up in Orwin's mid-morning, perhaps disturbed from a day roost, or just confused by the lack of visibility!
Totals were (New/Retrap): Blue Tit 2/19, Dunnock 2/2, Great Tit 1/7, Robin, 1/1 and Yellowhammer 8/0.
The oldest bird was a Great Tit ringed in 2020.
Tom
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| Fog! |
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| A Blue Tit with 4 retained juvenile greater coverts - an unusually high number. (TS) |
This weekend we carried out our sixth visit, this was an additional visit not part of the winter CES. It was a slightly frosty start but then fog came down and hung around for most of the morning. We had a good sized team out and put up three extra nets. We caught 70 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 32 were retraps, the same number as last week. Interestingly one Blue Tit had been ringed on our first ever visit in November 2023 and not caught again until this weekend. Other highlights from the morning included 24 Long-tailed Tits, the first Goldfinch of the winter and 7 Redwings. Tawny Owls were heard calling when we arrived on site.
Happy Christmas!
Kev
This weekend we carried out our fourth visit for this season’s winter CES, fifth visit including non-CES visits. It was a frosty start but soon warmed up when the sun came up. We caught 60 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 32 were retraps, including some which had been ringed in the previous two winters at the site - but the best bird was a Blackbird that was wearing a Dutch ring. Other highlights from the morning included a retrap Nuthatch, 5 Redwings and 3 Coal Tits.
Kev
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| Redwings (Alex Underwood) |
This weekend marked our third visit for this season’s winter CES, with Alex and I organising the session. We caught 47 birds in total throughout the morning. Of these, 20 were retraps, including some which we had previously ringed in previous years at the site – this is effective data in demonstrating the longevity and survival of individual birds. Highlights from the morning included two retrap Nuthatches, six Blackbirds, one Coal Tit, and one Blackcap. The Blackcap (pictured) is a first for the site and demonstrates that they are increasingly spending winters here instead of migrating down to southern Europe.
Totals comprised: 17 Blue Tits, 11 Great Tits, 5 Long-Tailed Tits, 6 Blackbirds, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Coal Tit, and 1 Blackcap.
Josh
Here’s a selection of the recoveries from the second half of the year.
First, the Cormorants. The very few we have ringed recently, along with older birds, are still
providing valuable information from this inland colour-ringing project based at Attenborough Nature
Reserve.
Our Group is probably leading on the ringing of inland-breeding Cormorants, and colour ringing them adds hugely to the value of this.
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| One of our Colour-ringed Cormorants by Richard Smith, Dee Estuary Birding. |
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| Dispersal of Cormorant chicks ringed on 7 May at Attenborough NR. |
Teal, a species not ringed with any regularity by the group, but targeted by Mick P during the winter
months, is not a common feature of the recovery section. A bird ringed at Shelford 8 years ago in
2017, was shot near Ringkobing, Denmark on 21 October this year. A good movement, shame about the circumstances.
Black-headed Gull ring-reading season has got off to a slow start by Tom, with regular 7JJ from
Denmark seen at Blott’s Pit, Holme Pierrepont on 8 August and again at its usual haunt of Trent
Bridge on 19 November.
A Sand Martin, ringed in the nest at Wanlip in Leicestershire on 22 May, was retrapped 22 days
later at Attenborough.
A Redwing, ringed in November 2024 at Brackenhurst, was captured by a ringer in Birkeland (not
Birklands!), Rogaland, Norway on 13 October this year. This is one of very few subsequent recaptures of Redwing we have received, despite ringing a decent number each year.
One of many Starlings ringed at the Meadows, originally ringed as a juvenile in May 2023, has been
seen using the feeders in a private garden in nearby Wilford. Not a huge movement but great that
the homeowners put the effort in to read the ring.
Onto the warblers, and a Reed Warbler ringed as a juvenile at Holme Pierrepont in July 2018 was
caught on 2 occasions this summer at Marston STW near Grantham. This is the first time it has been re-caught since being ringed 7 years ago.
A Blackcap, ringed at Allestree Park on 9 September, was caught a couple of weeks later at
Titchfield Haven on the Hampshire Coast on the 25 Sept. Another, ringed at Holme Pierrepont in August 2024, was caught by ringers in France this September near Saint-Soline in the west of the country.
A Chiffchaff caught at Ramsdale Golf Club on 2 August, made a similar movement and was caught 6 weeks later down in Medway on the 14 September.
A Garden Warbler caught at Manor Floods in Ilkeston on 9 August had originally been ringed at
Stanford Reservoir in August 2024.
Goldcrest recoveries don’t come regularly as they are not caught in big numbers by the group, so to
have two this autumn is interesting. The first was a bird controlled at Allestree on the 19 September, which had been ringed 22 days prior at Planetrees in Northumberland. The second bird was captured at Ramsdale park on 25 October, having been ringed 13 days prior at Robin Wood near Ticknall in Derbyshire.
A Goldfinch, ringed in Colwick in October was caught 2 weeks later on 1 November in Icklesham,
East Sussex.
There’s been a few Redpoll around this autumn and as usual, are providing some movements
between ringers:
Tom
It was disappointing to arrive on site and find the wire holding up the six hanging feeders had snapped since last weekend and all the small hanging feeders were on the ground, thankfully the large feeders were still in place. Not ideal weather conditions for our first visit of the winter either, breezy and full sun. We set the standard feeder nets plus some in the sports fields and the garden. We tried playing Redwing calls and caught a few then switched one speaker to Redpoll but attracted nothing. The new feeder with peanuts in may have been the reason we caught 2 Nuthatch.
The catch rate dropped off quickly as the breeze picked up, the sun got higher and the nets started to fill with leaves. There were plenty of birds around generally but noticeably low numbers of Redwing and just one small party of Fieldfare passed overhead. Other birds overhead were 100 Pink-Footed Geese heading northeast, a small party of Ring-necked Parakeets and a Red Kite which was either trailing some prey from its talons or had jesses on.
We ended on 42 birds but only 16 came from the feeder nets, mostly tits. We had only 8 different species and just 2 birds recaptured from last winter's ringing effort. The catch comprised: Blue Tit 16, Great Tit 10, Robin 2, Chaffinch 1, Dunnock 4, Redwing 5, Blackbird 2, Nuthatch 2.
Interestingly on the first visit here in 2023, 67% of the tits caught were juveniles, in 2024 (a poor breeding season) 59% were juveniles and today 100% were juveniles.
Kev
