Cormorant CVF

This bird was ringed and colour-ringed at Attenborough NR on 23 April 2015. Within a couple of months it had moved to Norfolk where it appears to have resided ever since. There have now been over 40 sightings from places such as Salthouse, Cley, Holt and Overy Marshes. The latest sighting comes from Blakeney Point where it was within a roost of 65 other birds. Thanks to Freya Platts and Edward Stubbings for informing us. 

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 8 - Sunday 8 February

Managed to find a small gap in the seemingly endless rain and completed the final winter CES session at Broomfield today, eleventh visit overall. We set all the usual nets, including the Redwing nets, despite not catching any last week. The catch was again quite low given the relatively calm and overcast conditions. We caught 28 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 12 were retraps, including the regular male Nuthatch and another new male. There were a few Redwing around and we managed to catch 5. A Tawny owl was heard calling again when we arrived on site and 3 Buzzards were soaring overhead at one point. 

Kev

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 7 - Sunday 1 February

This winter seems to have been more difficult than usual to pick the right day to go based on the weather forecasts, and this weekend proved to be no exception. Each of the five forecasts I checked varied on their rain prediction for Saturday morning, but all agreed it would be too breezy. Most suggested Sunday morning would be dry and calm - so we opted for Sunday to carry out our 7th Winter CES visit, and tenth visit overall. 

So it was frustrating to see on Saturday that all the forecasts had got it spectacularly wrong as conditions for mist-netting were good, and then to arrive on site on Sunday in the drizzle! We went ahead and set the feeder and Redwing nets as the drizzle was very light and intermittent but after an hour the rain got heavier, and we had to close the nets for a while. 

When it did stop, we opened the nets again and the rain held off for the rest of the session. The catch was quite low and somewhat surprising as the seed in the feeders had gone down more than usual. We caught 24 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 13 were retraps, including the male Nuthatch that we had originally ringed in the autumn. 

We did not catch any Redwing this week, the first time for some weeks that none were caught, and very few winter thrushes were seen. A Tawny owl was heard calling again when we arrived on site. 

Kev

 

Another Stonechat

I dodged the rain again this morning (30 Jan) and had another attempt at catching Stonechats.
I managed to spring trap one, this time a male. After I packed up I did see another two but couldn't tell if these were the two which are ringed. Several snipe were on site too.

Mick P

Subsequent Encounters

I was interested in item 9a on the agenda of the Ringing Committee meeting of April 25 - "BTO Expectations Regarding Generation and Submission of Ringing Data," particularly the requirement to submit retrap data, so I had a look at how we compare to what is expected by the BTO.

The BTO's analysis indicated that the average ratio of retraps to new birds for the vast majority of ringers falls within a similar range, averaging 22%. I guess this would very much depend on where and what species you are ringing. Their analysis focused on 10 common species of Blackbird, Wren, Dunnock, Robin, Long-tailed tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Chaffinch and Goldfinch, for 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024.

To get an idea of how we compare, I analysed SNRG data submissions for 2025 for these 10 species and the results were - 2866 new birds ringed and 1264 subsequent encounters, = ratio of 44.1%.

The following chart shows how these are broken down per species. 

So, if my methods and calculations are correct, SNRGs new to retrap ratio of 44.1% for these 10 "common garden" birds for 2025 was double the average!

This seems surprising and prompted a bit more investigation. The total of 4,130 birds were ringed across 19 sites, 8 of which are garden sites or sites where supplementary seed is provided. It's no surprise that feeding sites and gardens attract more birds, could our use of these sites account for our high ratio?

Another thought, and one we discuss often, is, could the loss of and deterioration of our "natural" sites, resulting in a focus on feeding sites, affect this ratio? So I did similar searches for several earlier years, and it appears we have been a high retrap ratio Group since the mid 1990s, averaging 37.0% over the targeted years. See chart below for more detail. Communications from the BTO mandating the submission of retrap data, in 2001 and 2005 accounts for some of the increase. 

Mick P 

 

 

Stonechat

I got prepared to take advantage of the small weather window this morning and set a spring trap at Erewash Meadows targeting stonechat. I have seen them regularly in a particular area and where I could watch the trap, this proved to be successful with a young female being caught. Many thanks to Mel, of the Cromford Canal and Codnor Res. group for the photo.

Mick P

 

Broomfield - Saturday 17 January

This weekend we carried out our ninth visit. It was another additional visit and not part of the winter CES. The forecast was for rain but we went anyway and had no rain at all, but it was considerably milder than last weekend. This was probably the reason the catch was not as good. We caught 35 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 18 were retraps. Interestingly we did not catch any Robins after catching 11 in the cold conditions last weekend. We did catch a Great Spotted Woodpecker which is only the second individual we have had at the site. A Tawny Owl was heard calling again when we arrived on site and a Red Kite was spotted twice during the morning flying over.

Kev

Great Spotted Woodpecker (KJH)

 

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 6 - Saturday 10 January

This weekend we carried out our sixth visit for this season’s winter CES, or eighth visit including non-CES visits. A very cold start with snow cover and clear skies.The college was still closed and we had a little difficulty gaining access to the site because the barriers were unusually down, probably a precaution because of the very icy roads and car park. The feeder nets were very quiet all morning but a Redwing call playing at the sports field nets pulled on a surprising 39 Redwing. Unusually they caught all morning despite the nets being lit up by the full sun from dawn and even more obvious against the white snow. The weights of the Redwing ranged from 52.7g to 80.6g. A surprising number of Robins were also caught, 11, no doubt attracted to the bait in the cold conditions. We caught 71 birds in total throughout the morning, of these 19 were retraps. Other observations from the morning included Nuthatch and Tawny Owl calling, Raven and Buzzard.

Kev

 

Box maintenance in the Vale

A beautiful day with hard ground making access easier. I spent it clearing out boxes in the Vale of Belvoir, excavating vast old Jackdaw nests from boxes and getting covered in dust and pellets. Met a few old friends along the way and made a couple of new ones. Also put up a new Kestrel box.

Pete 

 

Orchard ringing - Monday 5 January

On Monday, Kev H and I attempted to catch Fieldfare at an orchard in Linby. There were possibly up to 100 present with many feeding on the windblown apples as we arrived.Rather disappointingly we only caught 1 Fieldfare, along with 1 Redwing, 2 Blackbirds, 2 Starlings, 2 Blue Tits and a Robin.

Mick P

 

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 5 - Sunday 28 December

This weekend we carried out our fifth visit for this season’s winter CES (and the seventh if you include non-CES visits). No frost today but dawn seemed to take a while to arrive and it stayed grey and dull all morning. The feeders had been well attended judging by the level of food left in them. And with the college having been closed for a week, so presumably less disturbance, we hoped for a decent catch in the feeder nets. We set all the usual nets and the first net round surprised us all. Just 1 bird in the feeder nets but the two Redwing nets had 29 birds including 22 Redwing and 5 Starlings. It is a long time since we caught Starlings away from a garden. The Redwing nets continued to catch well all morning whilst the feeder nets were surprisingly very quiet all morning. We caught 68 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 21 were retraps. Other observations from the morning included Nuthatch and Tawny Owl calling and a Raven overhead. 

Happy New Year! 

Kev

Starling (KJH)

 

Brackenhurst Winter CES Visit 4 - Sunday 21 December

Jim, Alex and I made a pre-Christmas visit to the feeders at Brack, going for the Sunday mainly for my availabilty but also the promise of lighter winds from the east which hopefully would avoid too much wind getting into the feeding area. What we hadn't banked on was a slow moving patch of rain that decided to begin just as we parked up 100m or so down the track from the feeders, and only got worse during setup. We furled nets and went to wait it out in the Landrover, and luckily within around 20 minutes or so it had abated, so we went for round two. 

It was a steady morning, mainly dominated by retrap Blue Tits, but a small number of Yellowhammer in the nets was a nice surprise this side of Christmas, with birds usually expected after the new year. The fog that accompanied the rain didn't lift until shortly before we left, which seemed to limit the movement of birds around the site, with little noted round the ringing base, and a dog-leg of nets set in the Orwin's field was empty throughout the morning. Overhead, obscured by thick fog, we could hear birds passing by, which included a distant flock of Pink-footed Goose and unusually, several parties of Wigeon. A Tawny Owl piped up in Orwin's mid-morning, perhaps disturbed from a day roost, or just confused by the lack of visibility! 

Totals were (New/Retrap): Blue Tit 2/19, Dunnock 2/2, Great Tit 1/7, Robin, 1/1 and Yellowhammer 8/0. 

The oldest bird was a Great Tit ringed in 2020. 

Tom 

Fog!

A Blue Tit with 4 retained juvenile greater coverts - an unusually high number. (TS)

Broomfield - Saturday 20 December

This weekend we carried out our sixth visit, this was an additional visit not part of the winter CES. It was a slightly frosty start but then fog came down and hung around for most of the morning. We had a good sized team out and put up three extra nets. We caught 70 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 32 were retraps, the same number as last week. Interestingly one Blue Tit had been ringed on our first ever visit in November 2023 and not caught again until this weekend. Other highlights from the morning included 24 Long-tailed Tits, the first Goldfinch of the winter and 7 Redwings. Tawny Owls were heard calling when we arrived on site. 

Happy Christmas!

Kev

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 4 - Saturday 13 December

This weekend we carried out our fourth visit for this season’s winter CES, fifth visit including non-CES visits. It was a frosty start but soon warmed up when the sun came up. We caught 60 birds throughout the morning. Of these, 32 were retraps, including some which had been ringed in the previous two winters at the site - but the best bird was a Blackbird that was wearing a Dutch ring. Other highlights from the morning included a retrap Nuthatch, 5 Redwings and 3 Coal Tits. 

Kev

Redwings (Alex Underwood)

 

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 3 - Sunday 30 December

This weekend marked our third visit for this season’s winter CES, with Alex and I organising the session. We caught 47 birds in total throughout the morning. Of these, 20 were retraps, including some which we had previously ringed in previous years at the site – this is effective data in demonstrating the longevity and survival of individual birds. Highlights from the morning included two retrap Nuthatches, six Blackbirds, one Coal Tit, and one Blackcap. The Blackcap (pictured) is a first for the site and demonstrates that they are increasingly spending winters here instead of migrating down to southern Europe.

Totals comprised: 17 Blue Tits, 11 Great Tits, 5 Long-Tailed Tits, 6 Blackbirds, 2 Nuthatch, 2 Robin, 1 Dunnock, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Coal Tit, and 1 Blackcap.

Josh