Sibthorpe - Sunday 12 April

Like everything else at the moment, our bird ringing is severely curtailed, and rightly so. This means in practice only ringing and nest recording in your own garden. The BTO’s stance on this is here, and closely follows Government guidance.

Right now, the group's focus would normally be on monitoring breeding Cormorants, Grey Herons and Tawny Owls, but not this year... Like many ringers with more time on their hands, I have refocused on ringing in my garden. My normal fare is tits, finches, Dunnocks, Starlings and sparrows, but interesting migrants do drop in from time to time. These might include Redpoll, Siskin and Chiffchaff.

As Sunday was calm and overcast, I decided to mist net from dawn. My first visit to check the nets produced two unringed Dunnocks which was unusual as they are rather sedentary and I must have ringed most of this winter's population, but then an odd robin-shaped bird caught my eye and after an initial WTF moment I soon had a female Black Redstart in my hand! They are early spring migrants and Birdguides currently shows reports of a handful across the country and I’m told one was ringed in a Coddington garden a few years back. However, only 39 were ringed in Britain and Ireland in 2018, so what are the odds of one turning up in my garden mist net?

Jim Lennon

 female Black Redstart, Sibthorpe (J. Lennon)