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)

 

Attenborough NR, CES Visit 2 – Sunday 11 May

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

 

The Juveniles Begin - Saturday 10 May

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

 

More on Tawny Owls

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

 

Bestwood Lapwings - Thursday 8 May

A few lapwing chicks were ringed near Bestwood this morning. Their plumage provides excellent camouflage.

Mick P