Starlings

I've been catching a few Starlings in the garden using spring traps. Always disappointing when you only catch one at a time.

Gary

Recent Recoveries

The latest few batches of recoveries come as a bit of a mixed bag, with several species ringed by the group being represented.

Firstly, two Barn Owls. One was ringed at Clifton Wood as a nestling in September last year and found dead nearby at Burrows Farm in April this year. The other Barn Owl travelled a little further, being found dead as a road casualty in Cambridgeshire in April, 81km from where it was ringed as a chick in Elton in June last year.

An Attenborough-born Grey Heron, colour-ringed in June 2013 was re-sighted at Carsington Water in Derbyshire recently. It's encouraging to get some resightings of these colour-ringed birds, generating some useful data from this relatively new project for the group.

A Sparrowhawk which was caught as Jim was setting the nets in preparation for the Winter Thrush sessions in Flintham Orchard in December last year, was found dead in the village in May this year, supposedly caught by an animal...

A Whitethroat, ringed as a 3J at Holme Pierrepont in Aaugust 2014, was found dead in May this year the other side of Nottingham, in Bulwell. It goes to show that these young birds do sometimes show a preference for the area in which they were raised, as this one would have made the journey to Africa and back and was found not too far from where it was ringed.

A Jackdaw ringed as a nestling in Calverton in May last year met its end against some overhead wires in Bestwood, where it was found freshly dead in May this year.

And the latest recovery comes in the form of a Little Owl, found dead in Ruddington in May this year. It was ringed nearby in Keyworth as a chick in May last year.

Tom

Holme Pierrepont, Saturday 30 May

Sue, Tom and I paid a visit to the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont on Saturday. There was a triathlon event on at the NWSC over the weekend but from the website it looked like Saturday would be the easier day to get in and park. The weather forecast also suggested that Sunday would be a washout and for once it was correct. However, on arrival at the usual car park there were attendants refusing entry but we noticed the old ‘B’ car park was open for spectators and was free to park so we headed for there.

On site the vegetation, away from the reedbeds, had gone wild and locating the guys and poles took quite a while but all were found eventually. Then we got to the reedbed nets and all was not well. To cut a long story short 5 poles had been taken and smashed. We found the remains of them and you may be able to see them in the following photographs. We found a large well constructed shelter and enormous hole in the the sandy area that has attracted campers in the past. The construction and hole was no small effort and I did think it was the work of adults, but looking through the rubbish left Tom found the cans were all pop not alcohol and so it may well have been kids.

We decided to limit the number of nets erected both for practical reasons and lack of poles but the sunny and breezy conditions meant the nets, particularly the couple we did put up in the reeds, were affected by the conditions.

The total catch was 21 (13 new/8 retrap) made up of: Blackbird 1/1, Dunnock 2/0, Wren 0/1, Robin 1/1, Blackcap 0/1, Garden Warbler 1/0, Sedge Warbler 2/1, Cetti’s Warbler 1/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Willow Warbler 0/2, Blue Tit 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 4/0.

The retraps were all relatively recent, the oldest being from last year. Interestingly not a single Reed Warbler was caught and the reedbeds were very quiet. When we finished we hid the remaining poles somewhere else...

Kev

Egrets and herons

Success yesterday with the Little Egrets. We ringed another 35 chicks at our Nottinghamshire heronry and most were fitted with colour rings. The Grey Herons had fared less well since our last monitoring visit with several large chicks succumbing to the unspring-like cold and wet weather we're having.

Jim

Attenborough CES, Session 3, Sunday 24 May

The third CES visit of the season was carried out on Sunday. The forecast was not good and it started to rain as we were putting up the first net but it lasted only five minutes leaving calm and overcast conditions for the rest of the session.

The team this week was Gary, Duncan, Tom, Linda and myself. Another decent catch but still not many warblers, although we did get the first Cetti’s of the year.

Total catch was 45 (25 new/20 retrap) made up of: Blackbird 2/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Dunnock 1/4, Wren 3/0, Robin 2/0, Blackcap 4/1, Reed Warbler 1/2, Cetti’s Warbler 1/0, Chiffchaff 1/4, Blue Tit 1/0, Great Tit 2/3, Long-tailed Tit 3/3, Bullfinch 1/1, Greenfinch 2/0, Treecreeper 0/2.

The retraps were all relatively recent, the oldest being a Reed Warbler from 2013.

Kev

Barn Owl update

I’ve just spent the last 3 days checking Barn Owl boxes in east Lincs. It looks like a much later season than last year when birds had complete clutches by early April. This year maybe half had started laying or had complete clutches, some were just paired up and I suspect other regular sites have yet to be used. However, a 12 year old retrap male was a nice find. Anyway, based on this, I’m not going to be checking local boxes until the first half of June. 

 

The lateness is most likely down to be down to lack of food:

• lots of reports of birds hunting in the daytime
• some breeding females being underweight
• no voles to be found in sort of owl box as yet

Jim

 

Tawnys again

I ringed what will almost certainly be my final Tawny Owl chick of the year tonight. That makes a grand total of three this season... It wasn't the fattest chick either and there was no food cached in the box. Interestingly, the box is part of a double-decker arrangement. It's at the top of a pole which has another box below. In most years, both boxes are occupied by something and I have had kestrels in the top and Tawny Owls in the bottom at the same time before. When I first checked this year there was a Jackdaw nest in the bottom box. Subsequent checks revealed an adult Jackdaw carcass in the Tawny's nest and a clutch of cold Jackdaw eggs below. One can only guess the story...

Pete

Attenborough CES, Session 2, Sunday 17 May

The weather forecast was OK for Sunday so we met at 06.00. The team was Alex, Duncan, Libby, Sue and myself along with Dave Ward for his second session with us and Chris Grocock from Charnwood RG.

All the CES nets were quickly put up and we had a steady catch throughout the morning. The wind did increase as the morning went on but we did not think it affected the catch of 40 birds (32 new/8 retrap) made up of: Chiffchaff 2/2, Wren 5/0, Treecreeper 3/2, Long-tailed Tit 1/1, Blackcap 4/1, Goldfinch 2/0, Bullfinch 3/0, Blue Tit 3/0, Robin 2/1, Great Tit 1/0, Garden Warbler, Dunnock 3/1 and Song Thrush 1/0.

Weather permitting the 3rd CES will be next Sunday 24 May.

Gary

Bullfinch (Alex Phillips)

Attenborough CES, Session 1, Sunday 10 May

The first CES visit of the season was carried out on Sunday after being rained off last weekend. Good weather, good catch and a good team of Gary, Alex, Duncan, Nick, Tom and myself along with Dave Ward who came along to see what it was all about. Not as many warblers in the catch as I would have hoped for and no returning birds from previous years, but we did catch the first 3Js of the season in 6 Long-tailed tits, along with parents. A Kingfisher was also caught to add to the diversity and we ringed two Tawny Owl chicks in one of the boxes. Total catch in the CES nets was 52 (45 new/7 retrap) made up of: Kingfisher 1/0, Blackbird 2/0, Dunnock 5/0, Wren 2/1, Robin 3/0, Blackcap 4/0, Chiffchaff 4/0, Blue Tit 5/0, Great Tit 10/2, Long-tailed Tit 7/2, Bullfinch 3/0, Treecreeper 1/2.

Kev

Kingfisher (top two N. Humphreys, bottom A. Phillips)

Blackcap (A. Phillips)

Tawny Owl (top N. Humphreys, bottom A. Phillips)

Tawny Owls

The story so far appears to be a poor year for Tawny Owls. Personally, in the 12 boxes checked so far I've had just one family with just two chicks and there was no food cached in the box. It'll be interesting to see what theories emerge in the weeks to come as to why this might be.

Pete

Recent Recoveries

The usual Barn Owl recoveries were in this most recent batch, however they were unusual in that they weren't just local recoveries of road casualties, but rather birds that had either travelled far, or had been recovered a good time after ringing.

• A bird ringed in June 2007 as a chick in Barton-in-Fabis, near Clifton, was the most local recovery, being found as a road casualty in nearby Borrowash in April this year, almost 8 years after it was ringed.
• A chick ringed in Greasley in September 2011 was found as a road casualty near Kings Mill Reservoir in Mansfield, in April this year, 4 years on.
• Another chick, ringed in 2011 in Radcliffe, was found dead in Shropshire in March this year, 4 years on.
• A bird found injured in Staffordshire in April this year had been ringed last June in Eaton, Leics. It had travelled a fair bit and the fate of this Barn owl is unknown.
• And finally a bird ringed in Rolleston was controlled in Norfolk at Welney in February this year.

Another interesting recovery is of a Teal, of which we do not ring many. The bird was ringed at Holme Pierrepont in November last year, and was controlled by ringers at Holme in Norfolk, 2 months later.

There were also a few passerine recoveries:

A tree sparrow ringed as a chick at Beckingham Marshes in May last year was controlled by the group at Bestwood this February. This is the second control Tree Sparrow the group has had from Beckingham Marshes this year, both initially ringed by Chris de Feu last year.

A Long-tailed Tit, which was ringed at Hazelford Weir was retrapped by Mick at the same site seven and a half years later. This is quite impressive for a Long-tailed tit as the longevity record for the species is eight years and eight months, so it's not far off!

And a Chaffinch ringed at Brackenhurst in March 2013, met its end against a window in April this year. It must be a local breeder as it was found nearby in Halloughton.

Tom

Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 26 April

Tom, Duncan, Gary and I managed a Sunday visit to Holme Pierrepont, despite the weather forecast predicting it would not be possible! There was hardly a cloud in the sky and only a slight breeze was blowing. We erected 12 nets including a couple in new sites.

We finished on 47 birds including 18 recaptures. The catch was made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Dunnock 0/2, Wren 2/0, Robin 1/3, Reed Warbler 4/1, Sedge Warbler 4/0, Blackcap 8/3, Garden Warbler 0/1, Chiffchaff 0/1, Willow Warbler 3/3, Blue Tit 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 0/2, Bullfinch 2/0, Reed Bunting 0/2.

There were a couple of Whitethroats around but they managed to avoid the nets, as did a calling Cuckoo. The oldest retraps of the morning were a Robin and a Garden Warbler from 2011. An added extra was a couple of Blackcap controls.

Kev

 Willow Warbler with pollen deposit on bill from migration (T. Shields)

Attenborough Herons, Thursday 23 April

Pete S, Gary, Mick and I had a great day out on the reserve at Attenborough today. We handled 22 Grey Heron chicks - fitting BTO metal rings to 17 chicks and adding 18 colour rings to those that were big enough. It helped that they're more synchronous this year, but very noticeable that the
western, more exposed nests, are a week or two later than those more sheltered on the east side of the reserve. We also ringed a brood of 4 Cormorant chicks, the rest on the main island colony were too big to approach safely.

Jim

 Jim with a personalised heron chick... (Photos by Gary Goddard)

Holme Pierrepont, Saturday 18 April

Nick, Gary and I, along with guest Lucy Jones held the first ringing session at the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont on Saturday morning. There was hardly a cloud in the sky and a good breeze was blowing from first thing. Sheltered spots at the site also had a ground frost on them so we quickly erected eight nets, missing out the exposed reedbed nets.

Catching was steady most of the morning and I was pleasantly surprised with a total catch of 44 birds, 29 of them being warblers. A Green Woodpecker towards the end of the session in one of the nets was nice as it had been around all morning.

The catch was made up of (new/retrap): Green Woodpecker 1/0, Blackbird 0/1, Song Thrush 1/0, Dunnock 2/0, Wren 0/2, Robin 0/1, Reed Warbler 0/1, Sedge Warbler 4/0, Blackcap 14/2, Chiffchaff 2/1, Willow Warbler 4/1, Long-tailed Tit 2/0, Treecreeper 1/1, Reed Bunting 2/1.

There were plenty of Blackcaps around but I did not see or hear any Reed Warblers; until we caught one! Along with one of the Blackcaps they were the oldest retraps of the morning, both being returning birds from 2010 - but curiously neither had been caught in the intervening years. A good start, more to follow next weekend if the weather allows!

Kev

 Green Woodpecker (Nick Humphreys)

Brackenhurst, Sunday 5 April

A fairly quiet morning at Brackenhurst, with only 16 birds processed, but variety with 10 species handled. Our team was Gary, Alex, Kate, Kev and myself. Several Chiffchaffs gave us a welcoming chorus and it was nice to be ringing our first summer migrants of the year. However, there were few Yellowhammers about. This perhaps reflects the mild winter as in previous Aprils we've caught good numbers of them following on from a hard winter.

The more interesting of the retraps were Great and Blue Tits, both ringed on 02/11/2012, a Yellowhammer from 19/03/2011 which had not been caught since, and a Chiffchaff from last March.

Captures were (new/retraps) 16(8/8): Blue Tit 0/1, Chaffinch 1/0, Chiffchaff 3/1, Goldcrest 1/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Great Spotted Woodpecker 0/1, Great Tit 0/4, Robin 1/0, Wren 1/0, Yellowhammer 0/1.

Jim