Elron Park Farm - Saturday 20 April

It was a pleasant enough morning at this interesting site and the nets were well sheltered from the cool northerly breeze. On our arrival, good numbers of Willow Warblers could be heard in the short rotation willow coppice, though this is some distance from the ringing site which turned out to be rather quiet. The flocks of finches and buntings were not in evidence, although some had been reported the previous day and we had to be happy with just a dozen birds, including Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, a Reed Bunting and 2 Yellowhammer.

Pete

Willow Warbler (A. Turnbull)

Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 21 April

We were hoping to get a good first visit in to Holme Pierrepont as the forecast was calm and overcast. When we went to clear the rides back in February we could only get to 3 of the net positions because of the flooding. After seeing how dry the CES rides were at Attenborough last week, I assumed all would be well at Holme Pierrepont, but how wrong was that assumption! We could only get 6 of the usual 9 nets up, but 4 of them only with care as the site was still very flooded. Bright sun and quite a breeze did not help either and we caught just 20 birds. No Reed Warblers were heard singing and none were caught. However, we did get 5 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Cetti’s Warbler.

 

Kev

 

net ride (H. James)

 

Attenborough NR, 13 March & 14 April

We made another visit to the Delta at Attenborough on 31/03/24 putting up another long line of 13 nets. A better catch today helped, no doubt, by no mishaps with breaking poles! 52 birds captured, a mixture of the usual woodland species plus 7 Chiffchaffs and the first 2 Blackcaps of the year.

We missed a session at Attenborough on 07/04/24 because of the high winds but returned on 14/04/24. Another long line of nets erected and more warblers singing on site, but the catch was only modest with 28 birds caught. Willow Warblers were heard singing, a scarce bird on the Delta, so I was surprised when we caught one with a ring on. It was originally ringed there 2 years ago, one of only 2 birds caught on the Delta in the last 5 years. 3 Blackcaps and 4 Chiffchaffs were also caught. An inspection of the main CES ride found it looking clear and dry, it was flooded throughout our CES visits last year.

Kev

Willow Warbler (K. Hemsley)

 

Rooks

I've set up a remote-fired whoosh net in the garden and managed to catch a couple of adult Rooks. They are extremely wary, and usually appear very early in the morning, seemingly attracted by food and the soft ground around the septic tank. I think these were males on size, presumably the females are incubating. They are very smart birds close up!

Jim

Elton Park Farm, Sunday 14 April

Today’s visit to the farmland feeding site in Elton was very successful with 71 birds processed in total, including 50 Yellowhammers, one of the target species. The other birds included resident birds such as Blackbird, Dunnock, Reed Bunting and Wren, as well as several Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and our first Willow Warbler of the year. The flock of Brambling we saw on the previous visit had moved on, but it was nice to hear some summer migrants singing in the trees. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 chaffinches we caught had 'scaly legs' caused by Fringilla papillomavirus. They were released unringed, but it is worrying that we found it here.

Alex T.

Yellowhammer (A. Turnbull)

Yellowhammer (A. Turnbull)

Portland Bill trip

Josh and I stayed at Portland Bird Observatory for a week-long ringing trip at the start of April, hoping to catch and monitor the returning spring migrants. Although the weather was far from ideal (very windy all week with rain on and off) we enjoyed a steady trickle of Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps alongside the mostly-resident birds such as Dunnock, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Robin and Great Tit.

The highlights were two stunning male Redstarts and a female Sparrowhawk. Birds seen but that evaded the mist nets were Ring Ouzel and Serin. One male Blackcap weighed a whopping 22.8g with a fat score around 6 or 7, which makes you wonder how much further North he was planning on travelling. Nearly all of the other Blackcaps weighed around 17-18g.

What was slightly different for us was that at Portland they play-safe on ageing Chiffchaffs in spring because they do a pre-breeding moult. Although the pre-breeding moult is usually confined to body feathers, Svennson says 5% of birds can moult a few greater coverts. This means that any bird returning could have at least two ages of greater coverts. Moth traps were set every night but returned little in numbers (understandable given the weather).

As it was my first time visiting Portland, what struck me the most was the social aspect and company of fellow ringers and naturalists who were also staying at the Obs. It was great to chat with others about their ringing experiences and learn so much. Thanks to the wardens, Martin and Jody, for their hospitality and guidance.

Holly

 

Ravens

It's that time of year again when we join forces with NNRG to ring Raven chicks at their undisclosed site. This year the birds had chosen a new nest site which proved a bit difficult to locate. However, last week it was eventually found and four chicks were seen. 

On 10 April, Kev B, Holly, Jake and I joined Adrian and Tara from North Notts RG, the site manager and the Access Techniques team to ring the chicks. The Access Techniques team are very proficient and Andy soon reappeared with the chicks. I was surprised to find that there were 5 large, healthy chicks, a first for this site as the broods have always been smaller. 

Whilst the adults kept watch from nearby, the chicks were ringed (unfortunately only one could be colour-ringed this year due to problems with the supplier) and returned safely to the nest. 

I will continue to monitor the nest so its outcome can be added to the nest record and submitted to the BTO.

Many thanks to Andy and Anthony for taking the photo of the birds once they were safely back in the nest.

Mick P

 

Elton Park Farm - Saturday 30 March

Jim, Alex and I met Ben at the farm in Elton on a cold but bright morning, hoping that the day would bring plenty of birds coming to the feeding site, especially as the supplementary feeding elsewhere on the farm had stopped for the season. Ben had been feeding the site regularly and had seen plenty of birds coming and going, including some Brambling.

We set the nets, with some affected by a stronger than expected breeze, but nonetheless we managed a decent first round, which dropped off subsequently, with a steady trickle of birds for the remainder of the morning. There were indeed plenty of Brambling, with birds calling around the copse all morning, but only one found the nets. A few Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting added to the mix along with a couple of pairs of Bullfinch.

Later in the morning we put on a tape for Chiffchaff and managed to catch 4 birds during the session, along with an unexpected male Blackcap, that was caught without any use of sound lures.

All in, it was a pleasant early spring morning with the sunshine keeping us very warm and even stirring awake several butterflies with Brimstone, Orange-tip and Peacock seen.

Total new birds ringed were Blackbird 1, Blackcap 1, Blue Tit 1, Brambling 1, Bullfinch 4, Chaffinch 1, Chiffchaff 4, Long-tailed Tit 1, Reed Bunting 4 and Yellowhammer 13. There were also 3 retraps, a Blackbird and 2 Dunnock.

Tom

Brambling (A. Turnbull)

Reed Bunting (T. Shields)

Yellowhammer (T. Shields)

Chiffchaff (T. Shields)