Brackenhurst Ringing Demonstration, Wednesday 8 March

Jim, Kev, Esther, Erin and myself set out on a relatively mild morning, later accompanied by Lorna and Simon. Again, the feeders had been completely emptied by squirrels a couple of days earlier but had been topped up prior to the ringing demo. As usual, we set up nets at both the ringing site and Orwin’s field. The morning started off at a fairly leisurely pace but we were kept busy all morning with a constant supply of birds and interested students.

We caught 61 birds of 9 species, as follows (new/retrap): Dunnock 2/0, Robin 0/1, Goldcrest 1/1, Blue Tit 1/3, Great Tit 2/2, House Sparrow 2/0, Chaffinch 2/0, Yellowhammer 29/13, Reed Bunting 2/0.

It was a decent catch of Yellowhammers and of note were a couple of that were 6 years old, one of which was first ringed in 2011 as an adult. The two Goldcrests were a male and female together (presumably a pair).

Finally, we were treated to Simon’s award-winning lemon and lime drizzle cake – delicious!

Louise

 (all photos by L. Griffiths)

Sutton Bonington, Saturday 4 March

Duncan, Gary and I netted the feeding site this morning. The last couple of visits have produced very few birds despite the hoppers being emptied of seed quickly. We discovered by removing nets and watching the feeders there are plenty of birds coming in but as soon as nets are erected the ‘openness’ of the site makes the nets too visible and puts the birds off. This proved to be the same this morning.

The weather was good but birds caught were few, despite plenty of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting coming in as soon as the nets were down. Weather permitting the next visit will see whoosh nets being deployed!  We ended with 18 birds including 5 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Song Thrush 1/0, Wren 1/1, Long-tailed Tit 1/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Chaffinch 1/0, Yellowhammer 5/4, Reed Bunting 3/0. The oldest retraps were from last winter.

Kev

Heron caught on camera

An Attenborough ringed Grey Heron was recently caught by a camera trap in Northamptonshire. Trap operator, Keith Walkling, said: “I get a bit of an influx of herons at this time of year, when the frogs start to appear, although there is no nesting colony on site. Peak numbers would be 8 - 10 although there always seems to be 1 or 2 about. The nearest colony would probably be at Eyebrook reservoir, about 5 or 6 miles to the north and there is one to the south at Titchmarsh BCN Wildlife Trust Reserve. I keep a couple of trail cameras on site all year round so will let you know if I get it again. Coincidentally our local BCN group had a very interesting talk in November given one of your colleagues, Nigel Slater, and our plan is to visit Attenborough some time soon.”