New Cetti's Warbler locality for SNRG

It's not that long ago that Cetti's Warbler was unknown from our part of the world and it was retricted to England's southernmost counties, but in the last 25 years or so, it has spread to almost every region of England and Wales.

Our ringing group's first capture was at Holme Pierrepont (HPP) in 2009. Since then, at that site, we have ringed 86 new Cetti's and had 40 subsequent encounters.

In 2011, we caught our first at Attenborough Nature Reserve (ANR). Here we have since ringed 15 new birds and had 12 subsequent encounters. ANR is approximately 10km southwest of HPP, but crucially it is also in the Trent Valley. Cetti's Warbler dispersal often seems to follow river valleys which provide corridors of suitable habitat. 

 

A map of field records from the National Biodiversity Network atlas clearly shows that the majority of records in our area are along the Trent and Erewash valleys.

 

 

However, birds do occasionally undergo exploratory movements away from the major river valleys and turn up in other interesting places. This is what has happened today, as finally (15 years after the first record at HPP), I caught a Cetti's Warbler at a site near Bestwood.

 

This site is about 13km to the north of both HPP and ANR, but separated by the city of Nottingham. It is, however, connected by the River Leen (a tributary of the Trent). Whether this species has followed the River Leen, or arrived at Bestwood by some other route, can only be guessed.

I've taken the opportunity to look at our Cetti's data in a bit more detail. As can be seen from the chart, we ring more males than females. Out of 101 new Cetti's ringed, 63 were male, 33 female and 5 unsexed.

 

And the following charts show that there is very little variation in wing length or weight.

 

 

And the averages are as follows:

Mick P.

Attenborough NR, Sunday 24 March

A very modest catch today in windy and sunny conditions, though it did take longer than usual to put up the nets because just as we reached the last one, the first pole in the line snapped in half, collapsing the whole line. It took a while to get the nets back up and free of twigs and alder cones...

Still, we processed a total of 18 birds. The highlight was catching 4 Treecreepers together, which meant we could compare the primary coverts and we were surprised to see that they were all different! 

We tried tape lures for Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Siskin, but those were unsuccessful. We caught a few Chiffchaffs early on, then a mix of Great Tit, Dunnock, Wren and Robin.

Holly

2023 Report

The 2023 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.

 

Broomfield Hall College - Saturday 9 March

This was to be the final visit of the season to the winter feeding site at Broomfield campus. Nets were wind affected from the start, but a little light drizzle early on soon cleared.

We ended up with a reasonable catch of 27 birds, including 15 retraps. Blue Tits made up half the catch, plus a few Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits and 5 Robins. Only 2 Chaffinch were caught. The bird of the day was the first Nuthatch recorded for the group at this site. 

Thanks to Caitin for keeping the feeders topped up!

Sue

Nuthatch (K. Hemsley)

 

Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 3 March

A cold a foggy start to the Sunday session at Broomfield College. A large number of recaptures this week including the resident Great Spotted Woodpecker that we caught last year. Signs of breeding preparation and pairing up were noted in a few of our birds this week, so we dusted off our brood patch score sheets!
Holly attempted to catch some birds with her newly acquired spring traps. Unfortunately the traps proved rather empty, even as the Blackbirds mocked us from the hedgerows every net round. We are coming to the end of our winter site lifespan, whilst the search for the next best summer site continues!

Jake

 

Brackenhurst, Wednesday 6 March

Gary and I had a productive morning at the Brackenhurst feeders with 43 birds of 9 species including a Brambling (the site's fifth), 15 Yellowhammers, a Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper. The oldest recapture was a 2019 Great Tit. We also had a group of students come and watch to learn about ringing.

Jim

Brambling (JL)

Chiffchaff (Duncan)

 

Erewash Meadows, Weds 6 March

On 6 March we finally managed an evening session targetting ducks and waders at Erewash Meadows Reserve. With permission from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Kev, Josh and I were joined by Andy and Mel from the Cromford Canal and Codnor Res. Group, who shared their knowledge and passion for the local area and wildlife with us.

We erected our nets around the two pools on site, disturbing a few Teal and Mallard as we did so, a Snipe was also seen. We hoped to target Lapwing, Teal (mainly Teal, but any duck species) and Snipe, so things were looking hopeful.

We then waited till dusk fell, initially observing the nets with binoculars, then with the aid of Mel using Cromford Canal's thermal camera. A hunting Barn Owl provided an excellent distraction during the long wait.

Our first net round produced a Lapwing and a Teal. After processing these we did one more net round where we found two Mallards in the net. One escaped but we managed to hang on to the other.

So only three birds, and no Snipe, but it was a good session and great to collaborate with another passionate wildlife group.

Many thanks to Andy and Mel for their assistance and photographs.

Mick P