Ramsdale Park Golf Centre, Sunday 27 October

After the good catch we had last Tuesday we paid another visit to Ramsdale today with a team of Sue, Holly, Sarah, Gary and me. We again set the usual seven 18m nets in conditions that were fairly calm but the stars in the sky meant we were in for full sun as it rose. Three MP3s were set all playing Redwing song. As dawn broke and we made the first round and it was obvious it was going to be a quieter day than last Tuesday. Overall throughout the morning there seemed to be considerably less birds around of all species and with the sun climbing in the sky and the breeze pickling up we decided to finish early, with a round of empty nets. We did have a Brambling calling nearby and a Nuthatch along with a Jay or two. Later in the session we tried playing all these calls on the MP3s but without success. We ended with a total catch of 22 including 7 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 5/0, Redwing 8/0, Dunnock 0/1, Wren 0/1, Goldcrest 1/1, Blue Tit 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 0/4. The oldest retrap was a Long-tailed Tit from 2017.

Kev

 Net ride and Redwing (S. Lakeman)

Ramsdale Park Golf Centre, Tuesday 22 October

A visit to Ramsdale was made with good sized mid-week team of Sue, Duncan, Gary, Mick T and me along with Dawn who came along on a taster session. We set the usual 7 x 18m nets in near perfect conditions. Three MP3s were set playing, with mixed warblers and Redwing song. A steady catch was made throughout the morning, not as many Redwing around as I thought there might be but still a decent catch. The warbler calls attracted nothing, the only warbler caught was close to an MP3 playing Redwing! 

 

We ended with a total catch of 78 including 14 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/0, Song Thrush 3/0, Redwing 21/0, Dunnock 2/0, Robin 2/2, Wren 4/2, Chiffchaff 1/0, Goldcrest 2/1, Blue Tit 12/3, Great Tit 3/0, Long-tailed Tit 8/6, Bullfinch 3/0, Greenfinch 1/0. The oldest retraps were a Long-tailed Tit and Blue Tit from 2017.

 

Kev

Recent Recoveries

Here is the pick of the recoveries that have come through in the past four months or so.

Two Kestrel records have come in, both concerning birds found and taken into care. The first, found on the road in Marton near Gainsborough in June, had originally been ringed in Girton in the nest in 2014. Unfortunately this bird died as a result of its injuries. The other had originally been ringed as a chick in Lambley in 2016 and was taken into care in nearby Calverton in August.

A Black-headed Gull, ringed on the Gull Island colony at Attenborough back in 2010, was found with injuries and released onto a local water-body in Wellingborough, Northants in July this year.

An Attenborough Grey Heron, ringed as a chick in 2015, has been seen alive and well 4 years on on the reserve.

Ringing activities at Holme Pierrepont this summer have resulted in a good run of recoveries and controls:

• A Reed Warbler ringed at Icklesham in 2018 was recovered at HP in July, and another ringed at Cottam in August this year was captured on site 11 days later.
• A Blackcap originally ringed at Wymondham in Leics in August was caught on site on 1 September, and a Blackcap ringed in July on site was captured on 14 September at Stanford Reservoir. 
• A Chiffchaff ringed in July was also caught by ringers at Stanford on the same day.
• A Garden Warbler, caught on 16 July, was controlled 3 weeks later at Titchfield Haven on the south coast.
• A Cetti's Warbler, ringed initially at Marsworth Reservoir near Tring on 13 August, was caught on site in October, one of many young Cetti's Warblers caught on site this year. 
• A Great Tit, ringed in July, Hit a window in Carlton in September.

Away from Holme Pierrepont, another Great Tit, ringed at Brackenhurst, Southwell in January 2017, was controlled by ringers at Langford Lowfields in June this year.

Skeletal remains of a Robin, ringed at Bestwood in January this year, were found in Wakefield, Yorks, in June. Another Robin, ringed in 2014 in Kev's Garden in Toton, was caught by a nearby cat in June. Similarly, a Coal Tit caught at the same site on Christmas Eve of 2018 was also caught by a cat a week before the Robin met the same fate.

Tom

Holme Pierrepont, Thursday 10 October

Mick T, Gary, Duncan, Sophie and I went to the Grange end this morning to close the site down for the year and remove all the poles and guys at the end of the session. The conditions were breezy from the start with mainly clear skies. We set 11 of the usual 12 nets with three MP3s playing warbler calls. Catching was quite brisk to start but the rising sun and increasing wind made us finish a little earlier than usual. The only migrant warblers caught were a singe Chiffchaff and a couple of late Reed Warblers. It was nice to catch a control Cetti’s Warbler and a new male Sparrowhawk (a female was also around), but the biggest surprise was a Nuthatch in the net when we went to take down. To the best of our knowledge this was the first Nuthatch ringing record for Holme Pierrepont since we started here in 1979.

We ended with a total of 47 birds including 13 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Sparrowhawk 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Wren 7/2, Song Thrush 1/0, Reed Warbler 2/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Cetti’s Warbler 0/1, Blue Tit 6/5, Great Tit 6/2, Long-tailed Tit 3/3, Nuthatch 1/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Reed Bunting 4/0. The oldest retrap was a Great Tit from 2017. Overhead was fairly quiet, no winter thrushes in evidence but a Jay and Raven did go over.

Kev

Sparrowhawk & Nuthatch (K. Hemsley)