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Monday, 27 January 2025

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 7 – Saturday 25 January

Another frosty morning at Broomfield as we set the feeder nets and a few others, plus some traps. The clear skies meant the sun was soon shining on some of the nets, particularly the Redwing net which failed to catch any Redwing. In fact the feeder nets caught all but 3 of today's birds as the rest of the site was very quiet. Thankfully the feeders were fairly busy, although the majority of the birds caught were tits and retraps, much the same mix as being experienced at our other CES site at Brackenhurst. We finished with 38 birds as follows: Blue Tit 14, Great Tit 4, Long-tailed Tit 6, Robin 4, Dunnock 5, Chaffinch 3, Blackbird 2.

Kev

Monday, 13 January 2025

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 6 - Sunday 12 January

Kev H, Gary, Josh, Laura, Kev B and I made the sixth Winter CES visit to Broomfield College. We had nets up by the feeders and sports field, as well as a net and spring traps in the orchard, two nets by the allotment and a walk-in trap for Starlings.

The ground was frosty as we’ve experienced sub-zero temperatures all week, and we were expecting a good catch by the feeders as birds would be hungry in the cold conditions. Although we came back with birds every net round, the numbers weren’t as high as we’d hoped.

The spring traps baited with apple in the orchard did well at catching Robins and a nice continental female Blackbird. However, the walk-in trap baited with mealworms for Starlings remained empty. On two previous visits, flocks of 50+ Starlings had been seen nearby but only a handful were seen going over the base late in the morning.

Armed with mealworms and misplaced optimism, we moved the walk-in trap to the car park in the unlikely effort to catch a Pied Wagtail, and needless to say, success eluded us.

We caught a total of 38 birds, including 21 retraps, comprising: Blue Tit 12, Redwing 6, Robin 6, Great Tit 5, Dunnock 3, Long-tailed Tit 2, Blackbird 2, Wren 1, Goldcrest 1.

Thank you to Josh who brought some very tasty homemade blueberry mini muffins. 

Holly


 

Monday, 6 January 2025

Broomfield supplementary visit – Saturday 4 January

A cold frosty morning on Saturday, but overcast and still, which is perfect for mist-netting. Some investigation work had been carried out over the holidays to find why the fat balls we were putting out were all disappearing quickly after the feeders had been filled and this resulted in the culprits being identified. It was Jackdaws that were emptying the feeders in double-quick time, so a quick modification was made to the feeders to deter them, which as of today seems to working. 

No doubt the cold weather had made more birds head to the feeders and the result was the best catch of the winter in the feeder nets, including 7 Robins. A Woodpigeon in the net was a new species ringed at the site. A Great Tit showing unusual moult limits was captured, the fourth bird I have seen this autumn/winter having never seen it before. The bird had been ringed as a 1st winter bird in November 2023 so was of known age and should have had a full moult after breeding in 2024 but for some reason failed to moult all of it's primary coverts. 

We ended with a catch of 44, 42 of them from the feeder nets which is the best catch of the winter so far at these nets. The catch comprised: Woodpigeon 1, Dunnock 4, Robin 7, Redwing 2, Long-tailed Tit 10, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 7, Great Tit 11, Chaffinch 1.

Generally there were quite a few birds around including a Kestrel, but few winter thrushes again.

Kev

Wood Pigeon (KJH)

Unusual Great Tit moult, a bird born in 2023 with some retained juvenile primary coverts (KJH)

 

Broomfield Winter CES Visit 5 – Sunday 29 December.

More bad weather meant we had not visited for two weeks when we held a ringing session on Sunday. There seemed to be a little more bird activity at the site and we had a slightly better catch the compared with the previous visit. All the small hanging feeders had been emptied within three days, so something is busy feeding there. We had a catch of 18 birds made up of: Dunnock 1, Robin 3, Redwing 1, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 7, Great Tit 4, Chaffinch 1.

Other birds around were the Ravens, a few Redwing and a Red Kite passed over quite low. After the fog of the previous few days the sun was out and it was quite warm, this no doubt was what prompted a Mistle Thrush and Blackbird to burst into full song.

Kev