Ringing Round-up - late July & August

Holme Pierrepont Grange 29/06/19 – carried out by Mick T and me in sunny and breezy conditions. A relatively quiet morning with limited nets due to conditions and team size but a nice catch of Reed Warblers was made and another 2 new Cetti’s Warblers. The oldest retrap was a Reed Warbler from 2017.

Holme Pierrepont Blotts 04/08/19 – carried out by Duncan, Richard, Holly, Sarah, Alan, Gary and me. Plenty of warblers again the breezy conditions keeping the catch down. Nice numbers of Reed Warblers but not many sylvias. The oldest retrap was a Reed Warbler from 2018.

Ramsdale Park Golf Centre 08/08/2019 – still but sunny conditions. Duncan, Sarah, Holly, Mick T, Gary and I put up the usual line of nets. A steady morning the only real surprise being a Tree Pipit. The oldest retrap was a Blackcap from 2016.

Holme Pierrepont Grange 13/08/19 – carried out by Sarah, Jim, Gary and me. Still but mostly sunny conditions. A very good catch of Reed Warblers was made. The oldest retrap was a Robin from 2018.

Holme Pierrepont Blotts 18/08/19 – a morning ringing demonstration for the South Notts branch of NWT. We had arranged to do this demo last year but managed to pick the only Sunday that it rained in the driest summer for decades! Better luck this year though in one of the wettest summers for years! We had a great team out, Cliff, Alex, Duncan, Holly, Sarah, Mick T, Gary and me. By the end of the morning that was sunny and breezy we had plenty of happy visitors, a possible new recruit and 123 birds caught (80 of them were warblers, 33 of them Blackcaps). Great job done by Cliff and Mick T who did the bulk of the talking to the visitors. The retraps were all birds ringed this year.

Holme Pierrepont Blotts 21/08/19 – an afternoon ringing demonstration held in the ‘new’ Skylarks reserve in support of the NWT Skylarks Woodland Gathering event that was being held across the road in the ‘old’ Skylarks reserve. Cliff, Jim, Holly, Duncan, Mick T, Gary and I were kept busy again despite the session being in the afternoon. Alan was around as well acting as photographer for the Trust. The weather was mostly sunny but getting quite breezy as the afternoon went on. We managed to have birds to show visitors all afternoon but unfortunately there were not many visitors that came over from the main event. The retraps were all birds ringed this year.

Holme Pierrepont Blotts 25/08/19 – Carried out by Holly, Alan, Duncan, Tom, Mick T, Gary and me. We were also joined by Heather who we met at the demo last Sunday. A still morning that started overcast but then became clear, sunny and very hot. We caught 43 Blackcaps which was almost 50% of the 94 birds caught in total! Again the retraps were all birds ringed this year.

Kev

 Magpie & Tree Pipit, Ramsdale Park Golf Club, 08/08/19 (K. Hemsley)

 Demo table & Great Tit release, Holme Pierrepont, 18/08/19 (Sarah Bowler)

 Ringing Demo with Blackcaps and Great Tit, Holme Pierrepont 21-08-19 (Alan Hurst)

Ringing totals summary table

Recent ringing at Holme Pierrepont

We have paid three more visits to Holme Pierrepont recently on 14, 16 and 21 July. The visit on 16 was to the Grange end the other two to the Blotts end.

Weather was relatively good for all visits but strangely on 21 when it was ideal we caught the least birds!

The team on the 14th consisted of Holly, Sophie, Alan, Kate, Sarah, Richard, Alex, Mick T, Gary and me. We finished on 106 birds including 15 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Song Thrush 1/1, Blackbird 2/0, Robin 3/0, Wren 2/0, Dunnock 1/0, Willow Warbler 7/1, Chiffchaff 8/2, Blackcap 5/2, Garden Warbler 3/1, Whitethroat 3/0, Lesser Whitethroat 1/0, Reed Warbler 18/1, Sedge Warbler 3/2, Cetti’s Warbler 0/1, Blue Tit 5/1, Great Tit 4/0, Treecreeper 1/0, Bullfinch 2/2, Greenfinch 6/0, Goldfinch 7/1, Reed Bunting 10/0. The most interesting recaptures were a control Reed Warbler and a Goldfinch from Tom’s garden in Colwick.

The team on the 16th consisted of Holly, Sophie, Alan, Kate, Sarah, Richard, Alex, Mick T, Gary and me. We finished on 96 birds including 12 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Wren 6/2, Willow Warbler 2/1, Chiffchaff 2/3, Blackcap 18/2, Garden Warbler 3/0, Reed Warbler 14/4, Sedge Warbler 2/0, Cetti’s Warbler 3/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Blue Tit 6/0, Great Tit 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 5/0, Greenfinch 2/0. The oldest retrap was a Reed Warbler from 2012.

The team on the 21st consisted of Holly, Sophie, Alan, Kate, Sarah, Richard, Alex, Mick T, Gary and me. We finished on 65 birds including 14 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Kingfisher 1/0, Blackbird
1/0, Robin 1/1, Dunnock 1/0, Willow Warbler 5/0, Chiffchaff 2/5, Blackcap 4/0, Garden Warbler 6/0, Whitethroat 5/1, Lesser Whitethroat 1/0, Reed Warbler 18/3, Sedge Warbler 1/2, Cetti’s Warbler 0/2, Great Tit 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 1/0, Bullfinch 3/0, Greenfinch 1/0. The oldest retraps were from 2018.

Kev

 A juvenile Whitethroat (showing a moult limit in the greater coverts) and a Kingfisher (Alan Hurst). It should be noted that the Kingfisher was not injured or behaving strangely in any way in the first photograph. Their natural reaction to a predator is to go into what seems like a trance, from which they will suddenly emerge and fly off (presumably when the predator has put them down, assuming them to be dead!).