Holme Pierrepont, Saturday 23 April

Alex, Duncan, Sue, Tom, Gary and I made another ringing visit to the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont today, this time using the usual net rides. Another frosty morning to start but again the sun soon warmed things up. This water level is pretty high which restricted us putting some of the nets up but the rest were soon up and catching was steady all morning.

We ended with a total of 44 birds including 14 retraps. The species totals were (new/retrap): Great Spotted Woodpecker 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Blackbird 2/0, Robin 1/1, Wren 0/1, Blackcap 3/0, Whitethroat 1/0, Reed Warbler 1/0, Sedge Warbler 4/0, Cetti’s Warbler 0/1, Chiffchaff 4/1, Willow Warbler 2/1, Dunnock 2/1, Reed Bunting 3/4, Blue Tit 0/2, Great Tit 1/1, Chaffinch 1/0, Bullfinch 3/1.

The oldest retrap was a Robin ringed in 2012, we also had a returning Willow Warbler from 2014 and a Chiffchaff from 2015. The reed bed was pretty quiet and only one Reed Warbler was heard singing, which could have been the one we caught, we did see one Swift passing over.

Kev

 Sedge Warblers (top A. Phillips, bottom S. Lakeman)