Holme Pierrepont - Blotts, Tuesday 14 August

Mick T, Kev and I set 10 nets on a mild and relatively calm morning and we began catching birds before we'd finished setting up. We continued to catch and ring without a break until 10:00h when suddenly the sun kicked in and the temperature soared, after which we had no more than a trickle.

We finished on 109 captures, including 8 retraps, breaking down as follows (new/retrap): Song Thrush 1/0, Robin 2/1, Blackcap 28/1, Garden Warbler 11/2, Whitethroat 7/0, Goldcrest 3/0, Chiffchaff 5/2, Willow Warbler 9/0, Reed Warbler 14/0, Sedge Warbler 2/0, Blue Tit 6/0, Great Tit 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 3/1, Greenfinch 2/0.

The oldest retrap was a Long-tailed Tit from 2013. The Long-tailed Tits caught today are the first we have had since June - they have been very scarce this summer and we wondered if the long, cold winter had affected them. We caught very few adult warblers and a good proportion of the juveniles were building up their fat reserves nicely, gorging on the abundant (and particularly delicious) blackberries.

A single Yellow Wagtail, a few hirundines and the occasional Swift were overhead and a young Great Spotted Woodpecker tried its luck on one of our bamboo poles. Speckled Woods and a few whites were the only butterflies and Southern Hawker was the most numerous dragonfly by some margin.

Pete

Willow Warbler - one of the few adult birds we trapped, typically with much less yellow on the underparts than most young birds (PML)

Ramsdale Park Golf Centre, Tuesday 7 August

Duncan and I set the usual 8 nets at this site and hoped the sun would not be too bright. Clouds did help for a while but once the sun came out fully the catch dried up. We ended with a total catch of 65 including 1 retrap, made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Wren 2/0, Dunnock 1/0, Robin 2/0, Blackcap 27/1, Garden Warbler 6/0, Whitethroat 6/0, Lesser Whitethroat 1/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Chiffchaff 8/0, Willow Warbler 3/0, Blue Tit 3/0, Chaffinch 1/0. The retraps were all recently ringed birds. Plenty of birds about again and only the breeze stopped us having a bigger catch. The only retrap was a recently ringed bird.

Kev

Holme Pierrepont - Blotts, Sunday 5 August

Sue, Duncan, Mick T and I made another trip to this site setting 8 nets in good conditions. Another brisk start before the sun got too hot and the birds became scarcer. Lots of warblers again and we ended with a total catch of 119 including 11 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 1/0, Wren 1/0, Dunnock 0/3, Robin 2/1, Blackcap 20/2, Garden Warbler 19/0, Whitethroat 9/1, Goldcrest 1/0, Chiffchaff 5/0, Willow Warbler 10/0, Reed Warbler 26/4, Sedge Warbler 2/0, Blue Tit 6/0, Great Tit 1/0, Greenfinch 2/0, Bullfinch 3/0. The retraps were all recently ringed birds. Plenty of birds about again and only the breeze stopped us having a bigger catch. The retraps of our birds were all recently ringed but we did catch a Reed Warbler wearing a Portuguese ring.

Kev

Recent recoveries

Here's the latest batch of recoveries. This is the first round-up since February, as there hasn't really been a glut since then!

Most interesting recovery probably goes to the Long-eared Owl which was found dead on the roads near Long Bennington in March this year. It had been ringed as a chick back in 2005 at Hawton. This is particularly of interest as it is one of only a very few LEO ringed by the group.

An Attenborough Grey Heron has been re-sighted on the reserve in April this year, having been ringed there at the nest in 2015.

A Mute Swan, also noted at Attenborough in May, had been colour-ringed by Sorby Breck RG in August 2010 at Markeaton, near Derby.

A Tawny Owl, ringed at the nest as a chick at Hockerwood in 2017 was found dead in March this year in Northamptonshire, a decent movement for this species. It had been predated, reportedly by a Buzzard.

A Kestrel, ringed in Lambley as a chick in 2011 was found after it had been killed flying into a window in Gedling in April this year.

The Attenborough Sand Martin colony continues to be a source of recoveries, with 2 birds controlled on site on 12 June. They had both been ringed as youngsters at colonies in Rutland in 2017. Another bird ringed at the reserve as a chick in May 2017 was recovered on its return migration a couple of months later in Niovilles, near Zaragoza, Spain.

A Blue Tit (not a recoveries round-up regular!) controlled at Devon Farm in January, had originally been ringed at Hoby in September 2017. A female Chaffinch ringed at Devon Farm in 2016 was found dead in Burton Joyce in March.

The Bestwood to Edwinstowe Redpoll superhighway features again; another bird ringed at Mick's site in 2016 being controlled in Edwinstowe in February. (The ringer in Edwinstowe has recovered quite a few Bestwood birds to date!)

A Dunnock ringed at Ramsdale Gold Club in October last year was controlled by Birklands RG at nearby Bestwood Country Park in February. Birklands also controlled a SNRG-ringed Goldfinch at the same site in January. This bird had been ringed in Hucknall in 2012. Another Dunnock, ringed at Brack on October 2017, was found dead up the road by Simon in July, having been taken by a cat.

Also at Bestwood, a Tree sparrow controlled on site in July had come from the colony at Beckingham, ringed as a chick in 2017.

A Blackbird, ringed in West Bridgford in June 2017, met its fate in a nearby water butt in May.

A Bullfinch, ringed at Ramsdale in September 2017 was found dead in May in Ravenshead.

Tom