Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 28 January

Another relatively calm day enabled us to ring at Broomfield College. We set up at 07:00 just before first light and heard a Tawny Owl calling nearby. The catch consisted of the usual suspects, though it was surprising how many unringed Blue Tits, Robins and Dunnocks we had this time.

A technical issue with the Redwing tape lure meant we didn’t catch any this time, but we’ll try again next week.

A new sighting was a Ring-necked Parakeet that flew right over our heads just after we were talking about their local distribution.

32 in total (including 15 retraps): Blue Tit 13, Chaffinch 5, Dunnock 4, Long Tailed Tit 4, Great Tit 3, Blackbird 2, Robin 1

Thank you to Jake for bringing the delicious, homemade rum cake!

Holly

 

Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 14 January

A fresh and bright morning in good conditions led to a catch of 33 birds, including 16 retraps. These were: 4 Blackbirds, 6 Redwing, 5 Robin, 4 Chaffinch, 8 Blue Tit, 4 Great Tit, 1 Dunnock and 1 Coal Tit.

We had previously ringed 4 Blackbirds in all of our previous visits, so 4 in one day was noteworthy.

We were joined by two students from Broomfield College who came to see what we do and the things we look for when ageing and sexing birds.

Holly

 

Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 7 January

With perfect conditions for mist netting, our first session of 2024 proved to be a productive one. Out of 47 birds caught, 32 were retraps. We encountered the resident Long-Tailed Tit flock once again, catching 12 of the 13 that have been ringed at the feeding site. Only one Chaffinch ended up in the net this time, down from 9 the week before. We were remarking how unusual it was not to have a Great Spotted Woodpecker, only for one to turn up in the very next net round!

The totals were: 5 Redwing, 3 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Dunnock, 12 Long-Tailed Tit, 16 Blue Tit, 5 Robin

Joshua