Attenborough NR, CES Visit 3 - Sunday 18 May

On our third CES visit things finally started to look up, with the first 3JJ Robins and Long-Tailed Tits caught. We processed a total of 35 birds, of which 18 were recaptures.

We retrapped two Great Tits that were 4 years old, a 4-year-old Chiffchaff and a 3-year-old Robin. Some good adult survival there, and we hope to see a good breeding season as the CES continues.

We also ringed another brood of Blue Tits in a nest box with 4 healthy chicks, plus one Tawny Owl chick.

Often we get hornets caught in the mist nets and we do our best to extract these as well.

We enjoyed rhubarb cake courtesy of Kev’s rhubarb, and delivered an impromptu ringing demo to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust volunteers who were on the delta removing Himalayan Balsam.

Holly

Hornet (JP)

young Robin (HJ)

young Long-tailed Tit (JP)

 

Attenborough NR, CES Visit 2 – Sunday 11 May

We made our second constant effort visit this weekend. Despite being less breezy than the last visit,
the catch was still potentially affected by the bright sunshine. We only caught 14 birds, including 6
retraps. Highlights included a new Blackbird, a new Cetti’s Warbler, and two Reed Warblers. We also ringed a brood of 8 Blue Tits in one of the nest boxes on the delta. This provides information about the timing and success of breeding attempts. Much of the interest at this session came from other wildlife encounters. For example we found a Poplar Hawkmoth in the vegetation right near our ringing base.

Josh

 

The Juveniles Begin - Saturday 10 May

Although a few juvenile passerines have appeared in the last few days, these are the first I've ringed in 2025. In comparison, last year I first ringed a juvenile Starling on 19 May (so we're 9 days earlier this year), and juvenile Goldfinch on 16 June. But this year I first saw a juvenile Goldfinch in the garden on 28 April! It was so early I emailed the local biological recording centre so that it could be logged somewhere!

Holly

 

More on Tawny Owls

Just finished my last 4 Tawny Owl boxes today. I had a good start 2 weeks ago with 2 occupied out of 2 checked; then a less productive middle: 1 occupied out of 8 checked; and a decent finish today with 2 occupied from 4 checked. So 5 occupied from 14 is not too bad. I've not found any rodent prey in any box, only feathers and the maximum brood size was 2. It seems to be a later season this year. I have two boxes from this week to go back to, one was still sitting and the other had a chick too small to ring despite apparently having consumed all but the head of its sibling... Also, 3 adults were caught, 2 new and one a retrap from 2021.

Kev

 

Bestwood Lapwings - Thursday 8 May

A few lapwing chicks were ringed near Bestwood this morning. Their plumage provides excellent camouflage.

Mick P 

Attenborough NR, CES Visit 1 - Monday 5 May

On a very breezy morning, Josh, Gary, Kev H and I made the first CES visit to Attenborough Nature Reserve. CES stands for Constant Effort Site, and it’s a national scheme to monitor the abundance and breeding success of 24 common passerines.

The catch was no doubt affected by the wind, and we only caught a total of 15 birds. One of them was a retrapped Blackcap that was ringed as a 5 in 2022, making that bird 4 years old.

I’d like to say a personal thank you to the ringing group. It’s been nearly 6 years to the day that I first turned up at Attenborough during the CES to see what ringing was about, and today was the first day that I acted as ringer in charge so it felt like a lovely full-circle moment. 

Holly

Treecreeper