Brackenhurst, Sunday 18 January

Sunday was almost perfect catching conditions, being dry, bright and frosty. Myself, I would have a slight breeze as I think birds, like Yellowhammers, are more likely to move about. However, after all the high winds this winter I'm not complaining! I was hoping for more Yellowhammers, but we only managed a single retrap. Puzzling as they just weren't about today. Also, just the one Chaffinch was surprising. The cold did bring in more Blackbirds & Robins. Eight retraps of the latter is quite unusual, and maybe shows how reliant they are on known supplementary feeding sites in freezing weather. We thought we'd ringed all the resident Long-tailed Tits, but not so as a flock of 9 unringed birds were processed. Overall, we processed 52 birds with the majority being retraps.

The majority of the retraps were from last winter, bar 2012/13 - Robin (2); 2010/11 - Robin. Captures were (new/retraps) 54(25/29): Blackbird 3/4, Blue Tit 3/3, Chaffinch 0/1, Dunnock 1/2, Goldcrest 1/1, Great Tit 5/8, Long-tailed Tit 9/0, Redwing 2/0, Robin 0/8, Tree Sparrow 1/0, Wren 0/1, Yellowhammer 0/1.

Jim

Recent Recoveries

Just two recoveries to report on. Firstly a Black-headed Gull ringed as a chick on the island at Attenborough in June 2010 has had its ring read in the field near Manchester. Secondly, a Cormorant ringed (and colour-ringed) at the same site in May last year was spotted alive and well at Ynyslas, near Aberystwyth in Wales in December.

Pete

Kingston, Sunday 4 January

What a difference a few metres above sea level can make. Whilst Jim and his team were apparently in clear conditions and catching birds at Brack, Gary and I were in freezing fog in the bottom of the valley close to where the Soar flows into the Trent. Almost as soon as the nets went up they turned white and froze. Apart from a couple of birds that must have entered the nets in the few minutes before they turned into a white wall we caught nothing. Just before 1100 we decided no thaw was imminent so we ‘folded’ the nets up and went home. I then spread the nets out on newspaper in the house and turned them frequently over the afternoon whilst they thawed and dried.

Kev

Brackenhurst, Sunday 4 January

The plan was an early start at Brackenhurst today, but this was somewhat hampered by me returning home to fetch my rings. Still it was a chance to give the skidpan roads near there another go. It certainly made up for my early morning lack of caffeine! This meant we lost an hour's ringing time at the best time of the day. My apologies to Duncan, Lorna & Tom.

Still, for all that, we had ourselves a busy morning with 114 birds processed. We had two initial rounds of 35-40 birds then it settled down. The clear, calm and cold weather (no self-respecting male monkey would have been out in it) made good safe catching conditions for a lot of hungry birds. We had our first decent Yellowhammer catch of the winter with 33 birds. On mornings like this you expect to ring more new birds and this was true for all species, and in particular for Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch & Yellowhammer. However, the ringed 'veterans' tend to turn up on cold days, and we had Blackbirds from 2012/13(2); Blue Tits from 2010/11 and 2012/13(2); Robins from 2010/11 and 2012/13(3); Yellowhammers from 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13. We also controlled a Tree Sparrow ringed as a pullus - not a common event!

Captures were (new/retraps) 114 (75/39): Blackbird 9/3, Blue Tit 6/6, Chaffinch 13/3, Dunnock 2/2, Fieldfare 2/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1/0, Great Tit 4/10, Redwing 2/0, Robin 4/5, Tree Sparrow 7/1, Yellowhammer 24/9.

Thanks to Lorna Griffiths for all the photos

Jim

Herons & Cormorants at Attenborough, Sunday 21 December 2014

Duncan, Mick and I made a late check of the 2014 Grey Heron and Cormorant nests at Attenborough Nature Reserve. One of the wardens, Alex Gilham, drove us around in the Trust boat. We knew at least 23 heron nests had been used for breeding attempts, and wanted to see whether they'd been successful or not. On account of high water levels we could not check all nests, and of those we checked 18 looked to have been successful as there were no signs of dead chicks. We only found one ring, which suggests that unlike last year the majority of pulli got away from their nests.

The overall impression is that, despite some early clutch failures, the Attenborough Grey Herons had a reasonably successful breeding season in 2014. With Mick being out of action, we did not get into the heronry until early May and only some of these chicks were ringed, with 14 Grey Heron pulli being fitted with BTO metal rings and of those only eight getting colour rings. By May, most of the Cormorant pulli are too big to ring safely and we only managed a brood of three. One of them though (CVA) has been see four times already - three times in Yorkshire at RSPB Old Moor, Rotherham and Orgreave, and on the Ceredigion coast on 12 December.

Jim

Movements of Cormorant CVA (map prepared by M. Pearson)

All photos by Alex Gilham

Flintham, 28-30 December 2014

Every winter or so the weather is spot on for orchard thrush ringing. It needs to be freezing, preferably with snow on the ground as well as calm so that the nets aren't too visible. The harder weather makes birds 'tamer' as they search for food and grounded apples are top if the list!

The last few days of December ticked all the boxes so Ewan and I set up nets in an orchard at Flintham late in the afternoon on the 28th. Straight away we caught an adult female Sparrowhawk as the sun was setting.

With David, Sam and Tom variously involved, over the next two mornings we went on to catch and ring 95 thrushes of four species (mainly Fieldfare and Blackbird), but also species I don't catch regularly like Coal Tit, Mistle Thrush (my first in 15 years!) and Starling.

The total number of birds ringed was 105(all new), broken down as: Blackbird 30, Chaffinch 1, Coal Tit 1, Fieldfare 59, Long-tailed Tit 1, Mistle Thrush 1, Redwing 5, Robin 2, Sparrowhawk 1, Starling 2, Wood Pigeon 2.

Jim

Fieldfare (Tom Shields)

 Fieldfare (Samantha Franks)

 orchard ringing (Samantha Franks)

Mistle Thrush (Samantha Franks)

Granby, Friday 26 December

Ewan, Emma and I took advantage of a drop in the wind to have a morning at the Granby feeders on Boxing Day. We managed 57 birds, two-thirds of which were tits and nearly all those were retraps. It was surprising not to catch any Yellowhammers at this time of year at all.

Capture totals were (new/retraps) 57(22/25): Blue Tit 3/17, Chaffinch 6/2, Dunnock 2/1, Great Tit 1/12, Long-tailed Tit 4/0, Redwing 2/0, Robin 0/2, Tree Sparrow 4/0, Wren 0/1.

Most of the retraps were from this and last winter, but we did have a 2010/11 Blue Tit, 2011/12 Great Tit & Chaffinch and a 2012/13 Great Tit.

Jim

Kingston on Soar, Sunday 28 December

A freezing, snow-covered scene appeared before Alex, Gary and I as dawn broke at Kingston. We thought the cold weather would hopefully pull in a few more birds to the feeders. The first net round produced a few birds but not as many as expected, catching then continued with just a few birds each round. We thought we would have had a bigger catch given the perfect conditions but we did get a nice variety with another new Jay and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. The morning ended with a total of 28 birds made up of (new/retrap): Robin 2/0, Chaffinch 6/1, Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 1/5, Coal Tit 1/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Blackbird 2/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Redwing 1/0, Great Spotted Woodpecker 3/0, Jay 1/0.

Kev

Recent Recoveries

A couple of recoveries of some of our ringed birds have come in;

A Reed Warbler ringed at Holme Pierrepont in August this year was soon the move and was controlled by ringers in Hampshire ten days later.

And an unfortunate Barn Owl is the first of this year's young birds to be reported to us as a road casualty, after being ringed in Clifton wood in June. It met its end near Bingham, so hadn't travelled far.

And we have controlled a few birds too;

A Barn Owl ringed as a chick by Birklands RG near Newark sewage works in May this year, was controlled nearby in Hockerwood, Southwell in August. Another Birklands Barn Owl chick, ringed in July 2013 in Caunton, was controlled close by in Kirklington this October.

Two Sorby Breck birds reported by us were a Mute Swan, colour-ringed in Markeaton, Derbys, in August 2010 which was resighted at Attenborough in May this year. Then a Reed Warbler, ringed at Williamthorpe, Derbys, in August 2012, was controlled at Holme Pierrepont in July this year.

And finally we controlled a Chiffchaff in September this year at Holme Pierrepont which had been ringed as a youngster in August 2013, near Ripon in North Yorkshire.

Tom

Kingston on Soar, Saturday 13 December

A beautiful winter's morning broke as we set nets for the first time at the new Kingston on Soar feeding site. We put up just 2 x 6m and 2 x 9m nets and made a base a short distance away. The first net round produced a good catch and the next and again the next. We were pleasantly surprised by the numbers caught, to have been perfect it would have needed a bigger range of species. But the team of Sue, Tom, Alex, Alistair, Gary and I were happy enough with the final total of 72 all new birds (I’m sure that the next visit will include a good number of retraps!).

The total comprised: Treecreeper 1, Long-tailed Tit 11, Robin 2, Chaffinch 15, Blue Tit 20, Great Tit 16, Goldfinch 3, Dunnock 1, Blackbird 1 and Jay 2.

It was surprising number of tits in this farmland site, especially as there were no peanuts or other such favourite food of tits but as the winter goes on the site will hopefully pull in more farmland species. The two Jays were unexpected and managed to bring a little blood to the fingers of Tom and Sue! We were also joined for the session by potential new trainee, Jack.

Kev

(Alex Phillips x 3)

(Gary Goddard x 3)

A bit of group history...

SNRG has its roots in the Fairham Ornithological Society. Its founder, Humphrey Dobinson, has written the following letter to anyone with an interest in the early days of the group. (Click on the letter for a larger view.)

Granby, Sunday 7 December

Saturday would have been the better day to have gone out this weekend, but I wanted to show the Notts Biodiversity Action Group 'scrub-bashing' party what we do. About 20 of them were out to cut re-growth from last winter and do more clearance work on the Bingham side. This is all to encourage the Grizzled Skippers to move along the line from the Bingham Linear Park, where it is close to its northern limit in the UK.

Weather wise, it was windy with a mix of sun, cloud and showers; bit like April really! This affected the catch as not many birds were moving around (particularly Yellowhammers). I suspect they lie low as beating against the wind would burn a lot of calories. Nevertheless we managed 41 birds, which was dominated by tits & Chaffinches. The majority of the retraps were from last winter, bar a Chaffinch from 2012/13, Great Tit and Yellowhammer from 2011/12 and a Blackbird from 2008/09.

Captures were (new/retraps) 41(18/23): Blackbird 0/1, Blue Tit 6/8, Chaffinch 10/2, Dunnock 0/2, Great Tit 0/8, Redwing 1/0, Robin 0/1, Yellowhammer 1/1.

Jim

Recent Recoveries

The interesting recoveries continue, as a first winter female Chaffinch ringed at Brackenhurst in March 2010 was seen knocking about the Netherlands in October this year. That's a movement of 361km, 4.5 years after ringing. The ring was read in the field, which is quite an achievement considering the size of an A-ring and demonstrates the importance of placing the ring so it can be read in the field, no matter what size it is!

And a Tawny Owl that was ringed as a chick in Plungar 9 years ago, in May 2005, was picked up sick or injured in nearby Orston in November this year. See the earlier blog post for further information http://southnottsringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/tawny-owl-recovery.html

Other recoveries are as follows -

4 ill-fated Barn Owls first:

• a bird originally ringed as a pullus in June this year in Upper Broughton was found dead 8km away in a building in Wymeswold 4 months later
• a bird ringed in June this year as a pullus in Moorgreen, was killed on the roads around Lincoln 5 months later having travelled over 50km
• one ringed in Shelton this June as a pullus was found just 4km away in Hawksworth in August, having been partially eaten
• and another June bird, ringed as a pullus in Muston, Leics, was found dead 3 months later, 31km away in Beeston, another road casualty

Then a Tawny Owl that was ringed as a pullus in May this year was found dead in nearby Norwell Woodhouse, in October.

Birds we have controlled are as follows:

A Barn Owl originally ringed as a chick by North Notts RG in Edingley in June 2013 was found dead 10km away in Caunton in February this year.

A Little Owl ringed in June 2013 as a chick in Hoby, Leics, was controlled by us in Tithby, 17km away in May this year.

And a Kestrel ringed in July 2011 as a pullus by Sorby Breck in Pilsley, Derbyshire, was found without its head in an owl box in Lowdham, in June this year, having travelled, one way or another, 30km from its birthplace.

Tom

On the value of ringing again

A post by Dave Leech on Mark Avery's blog which is worth a read:

http://markavery.info/2014/12/03/guest-blog-nests-nets-dave-leech-bto/

Treecreepers

Today I retrapped a Treecreeper which was originally ringed in January 2013 and aged as a first winter bird (age code 5). According to the Identification Guide to European Passerines by Lars Svensson there is a “difference in the size and shape of the pale tip on the outermost long (3rd) primary covert, adults having smaller and more rounded tips, young birds larger and on average more drop-shaped or wedge-shaped pale tips”. However he does recommend more testing of this method.

Today's bird supports this aging method. Below is a juvenile bird for comparison.

Mick P

 juvenile Treecreeper wing (M. Pearson)

adult Treecreeper wing, age confirmed through ringing (M. Pearson)