Broomfield Winter CES Visit 5 - Sunday 28 December

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

Starling (KJH)

 

Brackenhurst Winter CES Visit 4 - Sunday 21 December

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 

Fog!

A Blue Tit with 4 retained juvenile greater coverts - an unusually high number. (TS)

Broomfield - Saturday 20 December

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

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 4 - Saturday 13 December

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

Redwings (Alex Underwood)

 

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 3 - Sunday 30 December

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 

 

Recent Recoveries

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.

• A bird ringed on 17 April (CSV) was seen on 22 October on the Wirral at Hoylake Shore.
• Another, that had been ringed on 7 May (CSZ) was re-sighted near Crosby, also in Merseyside, on the same date in October.
• Also ringed in 7 May, another bird (CZ7) was noted closer by at Thornton Reservoir, Leicestershire in October, and again on 2 November.
• An older Attenborough bird (CRB), ringed in 2018, was seen near Sizewell Power Station in Suffolk on 21 November. This bird was also seen at Colwick Park and Holme Pierrepont earlier in the year and has been seen numerous times locally as well as at Rutland Water and Minsmere since it was ringed.
• Finally, an external bird, ringed in Blomendaal, Netherlands in June 2024, was seen at Colwick Park on 4 September. This bird has been seen regularly over the river at Holme Pierrepont since August 2024.

Our Group is probably leading on the ringing of inland-breeding Cormorants, and colour ringing them adds hugely to the value of this. 

One of our Colour-ringed Cormorants by Richard Smith, Dee Estuary Birding.

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:

• A bird ringed at Loch of Leys in Aberdeenshire on 16 September was captured at Ramsdale Gold Cub on 18 October
• An older bird ringed in October 2023 at Holland Haven in Essex was re-trapped at Holme Pierrepont on 22 October this year
• Another, ringed at Foxglove Covert Reserve near Catterick, North Yorks on 14 October was recaught at Bestwood on 18 November. 
• And a bird ringed by Mick P at Bestwood on 9 October, moved a short distance to Hanger Hill in Sherwood Forest, retrapped there on 5 November

Tom

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 2 – Sunday 16 November

After a rather disappointing visit last weekend we carried out our third visit, officially CES visit 2 on Sunday and had a much better catch. We were joined by Ben who had come along on a taster session and Paul who is one of the college staff and a lapsed C-permit holder.

The repaired feeder wires seem to be holding the extra weight of the enlarged feeders. The feed (particularly fat balls and peanuts) had obviously been popular with the birds over the last week. Decent weather conditions prevailed and thankfully the recent storm had removed many leaves from the trees that had been falling and filling the nets the week before.

We set the standard feeder nets plus some in the sports fields. We played Redwing calls and caught a few and also tried Woodcock calls as two had flown close by the previous week as we were setting up, but none were seen this week!

There were plenty of birds around generally and Redwing and Fieldfare numbers have picked up over the last couple of weeks.

We ended on 52 birds with 25 from the feeder nets, mostly tits. We had 13 different species and 4 birds recaptured from last winter's ringing effort. The catch comprised: Wren 1, Blue Tit 25, Great Tit 10, Coal Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 1, Treecreeper 1, Robin 1, Greenfinch 2, Bullfinch 1, Dunnock 1, Song Thrush 1, Redwing 6, Blackbird 1.

Kev

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 1 – Sunday 3 November.

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

 

Broomfield Hall, Sunday 19 October

Kev B, Josh and I set up the feeders for the coming winter. It needed some strimming and heavier clearing and the small feeder suspension wire repairing but we managed to get it all finished before the forecast rain started. We also set up a peanut feeder away from the usual CES feeders to try and attract the ever-present (but net shy) Nuthatches to join in!

Kev 

Ramsdale Park Golf Centre - Saturday 18 October 2025

Managed to get in a visit here with Mick P before the calm weather was forecast to break. We set just 2 pairs of 18m nets aiming to lure in Redpolls and Redwings using MP3s. From reports seen from other ringers this is turning into a good autumn for Redpoll. The first net round produced a few Redwing and tits, the second round some more Redwing and about 25 Redpoll, the next round forced us to turn off the MP3s and concentrate on processing! We ended on 101 birds including 10 Redwing and 68 Lesser Redpoll. Two of the latter were subsequent encounters, one from the same site last October and the other a control.

Kev

 

 

Vilamoura, Portugal, Autumn 2025

I visited this site for the third consecutive year from 3-13 October. Colin McShane from the Belvide R.G. has been organising ringing at this site for many years and had got a team of 12 together to operate there from 25 Sept - 4 October. I had to get a team up for the second half of the visit, this year I was the only SNRG member making the trip. However, Kate Moore who came with us last year wanted to return and between us we got up a team of 7 ringers plus Christine who would act as scribe again. The team consisted of Kate, Heather, Christine and myself from the midlands and Terry (ex-SNRG), Rebecca, Iain and Lauren from the Clyde R.G. in Scotland. Despite most of us having never met before we turned into a great team which made the trip so successful. The grand total was 2504 birds ringed, split closely between the two teams. We had a number of foreign controls including Reed Warblers from Germany and Belgium, Bluethroats from France and Belgium and a Blackcap and Chiffchaff from the UK.

Other highlights from the two teams' efforts were 16 Quail, 11 European Nightjar, 7 Red-necked Nightjar, 25 Hoopoe, 11 Wryneck, 124 Bluethroat, a Dartford warbler, a Paddyfield Warbler, a Bonelli’s Warbler, a Yellow-browed Warbler and 3 Penduline Tits. Other less exotic but surprising birds caught were a Wren, a Long-tailed Tit and 3 Tree Sparrows!

On Wednesday 8 Oct we had to close the nets early as the wind got up to be quite strong. So a leisurely afternoon lay ahead, some of us went to the beach, most for a swim but Rebecca and Terry went looking for colour rings on the many Lesser Black-backed Gulls there. Within a short time they had recorded the colour rings on 9 gulls, so far details have come back for 2 of them, a youngster from Flat Holm, Wales and one from Texel, Netherlands ringed in 2022.

Thanks go to Colin for making these trips possible and to ex-pats Carl and Julie, who, as usual, we had superb support from throughout.

The photos below were all taken by Rebecca Dickson. 

Kev

 

Sparrowhawk, Tuesday 14 October

This young male Sparrowhawk did a good job of keeping other birds away during my catching efforts this morning near Bestwood, particularly the small flock of Redwing (which I think it was particularly attracted to) and Redpolls. Things improved a bit after I released it and it left the area.

Mick P

 

 

Gedling CP - Friday 10 October

Having noticed plenty of Redpoll flying over at Colwick Park and my garden, I thought a trip to Gedling CP would be a good idea. I didn't get on site until 9:30, due to other commitments, and as I set up it seemed rather quiet. I mixed things up a bit with a 12m net in a ride I haven't used for a while and the 9m net moving to where the usual 12m goes (as the 12m net I had was misbehaving...)

I set one tape off with Redpoll playing and the other with the Phyllosc/crest tape. After a couple of checks, the Redpoll tape had only attracted two birds so I swapped them round to see if they would be attracted to a more open situation.

This seemed to work as both nets became very busy, with lots of Long-tailed Tits and friends in one, and plenty of Repolls in the other.

I ended the session on 67 birds from 21m of net, which kept me very busy. 25 of these were Redpoll and otherwise it was good to get a few late Chiffchaff with 5 birds caught, along with 18 Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Goldcrest. The second Coal Tit for the site was also ringed, but the third managed to escape as I opened the bag!

A pleasant autumn session, in perfect conditions. Certainly seems worth another visit soon.

Tom

 

 

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