Ramsdale Park Golf Centre

We had not managed to make a normal visit here, so on 3 July, Mick P and I made an afternoon visit in very hot conditions and not looking forward to the job of clearing the rides. However, we were delighted to find that the ride for the main line of nets up the hill had been mowed for us by the ground staff which was very much appreciated. We quickly erected nets here and then cleared the rides for the other nets. As expected in the full sun and breezy conditions we only had a small catch totalling 15, mostly warblers. At least the site is now ready for future visits this year.

Kev

Holme Pierrepont

On 28 June we made the first summer visit, only to find the net rides very overgrown from our last spring visit. So it was hard work for just the 3 of us, and not helped by finding 2 poles and 4 guys had been stolen. Two hours later we had the nets up and ended with a decent catch of 44 birds, the majority being 19 Chiffchaff. 

Bird of the day was an 8-year-old retrap Garden Warbler that amazingly had avoided our nets every other year since being ringed. Not a longevity record yet but still nice to see. (see photo)

We returned on 5 July and had an easier time putting up the nets with a similar catch to the previous visit of 43 birds. Chiffchaff again dominated with 13 caught. 

Then 11 July saw us back again with Mark Gash joining us from Derbyshire. A quieter day with 36 birds. This time Blackcaps dominated with 8 being caught. Surprisingly we caught 3 juvenile Sedge Warblers, an unusual bird in our nets now at this site. However, the big surprise of the day was not a single retrap! 

Kev

Terns & Gulls

On 22 June we visited the tern platform and adjacent island at Skylarks NR. Unfortunately, the Black-headed Gulls had taken over the tern platform and had laid about a month earlier than last year and most had fledged. We did get 6 late chicks which we ringed and colour ringed.

Friday 26 June saw us back at Attenborough to ring the tern chicks. 37 were ringed, all on the two platforms alongside the Visitor Centre. The platform on Church Pond was also checked but the Black-headed Gulls nesting there were also early this year and had fledged.

Kev 

Attenborough Sand Martins

On 15 June we had a mist-netting session at the Sand Martin colony. There were fairly low expectations as most of the first broods had fledged. Jenny was on hand again to take blood samples, so the totally unexpected catch of 48 birds was most welcome, and included 32 unringed birds (4 adult males, 14 adult females and 12 juveniles). All the juveniles were birds that were born elsewhere and were undergoing post-juvenile dispersal. Of the 16 already ringed birds, 7 were males, 5 were females and 4 were recently fledged juveniles. Of note, 1 of the males was ringed as a nestling in 2021. Another male was ringed as a nestling in 2023. Considering the activity levels around the colony at the time, the 30 adults were probably about 50% of the adult population at the colony.

Kev 

Attenborough CES

Visit 5 was made on 14 June and produced 42 birds, much improved catch and timed perfectly for the visit of Jenny from Manchester University to take blood samples from some of the birds. Unfortunately, the recent strong winds had brought down a tree into the ride where net 5 is sited so we had to leave that net out for this visit. Blackcaps made up the majority of the catch, but it was nice to get 4 juvenile Treecreepers. A Blackcap from 2022 was the oldest retrap. We also had a control blackcap from Northamptonshire.

Visit 6 was made on 21 June and we were back to a low catch despite Emmeline and the volunteers from NWT clearing the fallen tree prior to our visit. We had just 19 birds, the usual mix, and the oldest retrap was a Reed Warbler from 2024.

Kev 

Barn Owl - a lucky escape!

In June I ringed a brood of 4 Barn Owls at a farm in Woodborough. These farmers are extremely keen to support their wildlife, so much so, that I also ringed another brood of 5 Barn Owls and 4 Kestrels in two of their other nest boxes. They understand the perils young owls face when they fledge and learn how to survive, including the dangers posed by water troughs, which they protect with netting.

This nest box is close to their house and they were delighted to film the 4 chicks learning to fly around their garden. However, this soon turned to a horror show when they saw one young owl enter the water butt and realised that it wasn't protected with a lid or netting. Fortunately John reacted in time, rescuing the owl and emptying the water. After drying off, the young owl resumed its flying practice, perhaps wiser after its near miss!

Looking at the video, it makes you wonder what made the owl to fly into the water. Was it the water or its reflection? Whatever it was, it seemed very interested in what was in the water butt.

A very lucky escape for this young owl and hopefully a cautionary tale for others who have Barn Owls and water butts.

Mick P

Bumper Beginning to Barn Owl Season

The Barn Owl season has kicked off to an incredible start, with early breeding birds found in many boxes and brood sizes large. There has even been evidence of a little cached food, suggesting that prey is sufficient, if not abundant. 

Of the boxes I check, average brood size is currently standing at 4.5 and it'll be interesting to see if that changes. Several 5s and 6s and even two broods of 7 have now been ringed by the group and that was all by the end of May!

Pete

A brood of 7 Barn Owls in the Vale of Belvoir.

 

 

Mist-netting in May

We started the CES at Attenborough on 4 May. A reasonable visit with 46 birds caught, the usual range of species but 2 Cetti's and 2 Reed Buntings were nice, particularly as one of the Reed Buntings was a retrap from 2022. We also had a few returning warblers from the last couple of years. Visit 2 was carried out on 10 May. What a difference! Only 16 birds caught. One interesting bird was a retrap Garden Warbler from 2023 in the adjoining net to where it was originally caught but we did not catch it in 2024 or 2025. Visit 3 was carried out on 24 May and was thankfully a small improvement on visit 2 with 26 birds, including 8 Reed Warblers, one of which was a returning bird from 2024 and 2025. The low numbers continued for Visit 4 last Sunday: just 22 birds. We had a Dunnock and Great Tit from 2022 but the bird of the day was a Whitethroat, the first on the CES since 2011.

Between CES visits 2 and 3 we had a session at Holme Pierrepont. The site was very quiet and a couple of the usual nets failed to catch anything. We finished with just 22 birds, but 5 of them were Garden Warblers.

Kev

Reed Warbler, Holme Pierrepont, May 2026 (KJH)

Unusual Tawny Owl

In 2021, at the request of the Parish Council, Jim and I installed some large nest boxes at William Lee Memorial Park in Calverton. Even though the habitat didn't look ideal, except perhaps for Kestrel, we were told Tawny and Little Owl were seen and heard in the park so we went ahead and put up boxes designed for Tawny Owl, Little Owl and Kestrel.

After several years of monitoring, and finding Stock Doves, squirrels or bees in the boxes, we have finally had success with the Kestrel box.

However, unusually it has been used by Tawny Owls, and with Jim's many years experience this is only the second time he can recall it happening.

Apart from our understanding of the best design for a Tawny Owl box, the photos show how un-Tawny-Owl-like the habitat seems to be and unfortunately the park has become an island surrounded by continuing housing development since.

Mick P

 

April at Allestree

This marks the start of the second full year monitoring birds at Allestree Park in Derby. After setting
up the site with an improved area for netting, we undertook two ringing visits this month. A total of
35 birds were caught during these visits, including a wide variety of species and some valuable data
gained.

New species for the site included a Jay, a Magpie, and a Whitethroat (pictured). Other species of
interest included a Nuthatch and a Garden Warbler (also pictured), indicative of the scrub and
woodland habitats in which we operate. 

With it being the breeding season, we also found multiple pairs of birds actively breeding, including Coal Tits, Blackbirds, Great Tits, and Chiffchaffs.

Of the 35 birds encountered, 13 were retraps. Some of these included Blue Tits which were last
recorded on site in November 2024. Even more interesting were Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs, and Willow
Warblers who we also encountered breeding on site last year. Some of these will have undertaken impressive migrations to southern Europe or even Africa since last year, and have returned to the same area of Allestree Park to breed once again.

Our monitoring work at Allestree will continue throughout the spring and summer to continue investigating the trends of birds on the site and look at how important these habitats are for breeding and migrant birds. 

Josh

 

Checking Tawny Owl boxes

I managed to fit in a few box checks around other jobs today. I think it's the first time I've been so sweaty carrying ladders across fields in April - it was remarkably hot today. No Tawnys, but some Great Tits, a clutch of 7 Jackdaw eggs and a Stock Dove nest fashioned out of a dead squirrel, with a spare set of cold eggs on the side...

 Pete

 

 

Summary of recent mist-netting

Since we finished at the winter feeding site, we've not been resting on our laurels. We carried out the usual pre-CES sessions at Attenborough. 

On the first (22 March) we had 144m of net up and caught 35 birds. These included 4 Blackcaps, 3 Chiffchaffs and 5 Treecreepers. 

The next visit was on 29 March and we had 228m of net up and caught 43 birds, this time with 2 Blackcaps, 6 Chiffchaffs and 4 Treecreepers. 

The third visit on 6 April - we had 144m of net again but with just 25 birds, including 2 Blackcaps and 3 Treecreepers. 

The final pre-CES visit, with 132m of net, produced 24 birds including 3 Blackcaps, 1 Chiffchaff but no Treecreepers. 

The 3 visits that produced Treecreepers involved 9 individuals: a healthy population. Parakeets were very vocal on each visit, so it's perhaps only a matter of time before one ends up in a net! 

Yesterday we paid the first spring visit to Holme Pierrepont and with the usual nets set we had just 19 birds. These included 3 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Cetti's Warbler and two rarities to our nets.....a Reed Bunting and a female Emperor Moth.

Kev

Female Emperor Moth, HPP (KJH)

Visitors to the Garden

With poor weekend weather, I have been unable to get out to ring by myself for a while. However, I
have been watching the birds in my garden. On 2 April, one of the resident families of Blackbirds
brought the first of this year’s fledglings into the garden, making best use of the food we put out for
them. This week, while feeding one of the chicks, I was able to take enough photos of the ring on the
adult male’s leg to determine that I had ringed him in the garden 18 months ago.

Other records of people reading metal rings provides valuable extra data on top of our normal
ringing activities. Data like this submitted to the BTO helps us to track patterns in the bird activity of
individual birds. Members from our group have also read the metal rings on Woodpigeons and Black-
headed Gulls. It’s always worth checking to see if a bird has been ringed, because their movements
can be surprising!

Josh

 

2025 Report

The 2025 SNRG Report is now published and available. If you would like a copy, please email the address at the top of the 'Reports' page - see tab at the top.

 

Bird Feeding Advice

Yesterday saw the release of the latest advice on feeding birds by the RSPB which you can explore here. The accompanying slogan is 'Feed seasonally. Feed safely.' The RSPB advocate feeding only in the months November - April, leaving a gap in summer when natural food is more abundant to help break the cycle of disease reinfection. They also advise against the use of any flat-surface feeders (such as bird tables), as these are the worst for spreading disease. The RSPB highlights the effect that trichomonosis has had, particularly on Chaffinch and Greenfinch populations.

I am in no way disagreeing with their findings or their advice, but it's interesting that in the last couple of years my gut feeling was that I was catching, and seeing more of these two species, so I crunched our numbers.

As ever, I'm not a scientist, data reviewer or bird disease expert, and this small amount of data from a small area in South Nottinghamshire shouldn’t be viewed as anything other than interesting. It cannot be compared to the extensive research carried out by the RSPB and their partners. But looking at our data from 2010 to 2025 it can be seen from the graphs that my gut feeling was correct, and both species have shown a alight increase recently. 

However, the actual reasons for this is anyone’s guess. Perhaps it's due to a reduction in the effects of trichomonosis, but I can't rule out many other factors such as changes in our ringing efforts or ringing sites.

One thing the data has highlighted though is the alarming lack of subsequent encounters of these 2 species, particularly Greenfinch! It will be interesting to keep re-examining the data in the coming years and let's hope that the RSPB's strategy does help reverse the fortunes of the effected species. 

Mick P

 

blue = new birds, orange = subsequent encounters