Attenborough CES, Visit 4 - Sunday 10 June

The fourth CES visit of the season was carried out on Sunday by Sue, Mick T, Gary and me. The weather was perfect, a bright start but soon after cloud covered the sun and there was not a breath of wind. In a normal year with conditions like this we should have been on for a good catch. We did get the best catch for this years CES season but it only beat visit 2 by a single bird.

Total catch was 26 including 7 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 1/0, Robin 3/2, Dunnock 0/2, Chiffchaff 1/0, Blackcap 1/1, Garden Warbler 1/0, Blue Tit 2/0, Great Tit 5/1, Wren 1/0, Bullfinch 4/1.

The oldest retrap was a Robin from 2016. So closing in on the middle of June and only 3 of today's catch were juveniles: 2 Robins and a Great Tit. The low numbers continue here and around the country. Of note this week was a Wren (the first of the year!) and a Garden Warbler, the first on a CES visit since 2015.

As the photos show there were plenty of invertebrates about to make up for the lack of birds, we also had a brown hawker in the net (successfully extracted) and a hornet which bit through a net strand and extracted itself (thankfully!).

Kev

photos by S. Lakeman

Buzzards

I ringed two Buzzard chicks on 7 June 2018 near Bestwood. You can see from the remains that they eat rats too!

Mick P

Ramsdale Park Golf Centre, Sunday 3 June

We held the first ringing session of the year at Ramsdale this morning. The weather was good with no wind and clear skies. The team consisted of Maria, Fiona, Sue, Tom, Gary, Duncan, Mick T and myself. We were hoping for a better catch than the last 3 CES visits we have made to Attenborough which had reflected reports of low numbers from around the country (the total catch in the first 3 visits to Attenborough was 63 compared to 115 for the same 3 visits last year).

The catch rate at Ramsdale was pretty much on a par with Attenborough, very slow throughout the morning. This first visit of the year was the worst numbers total of the last 3 years at this site. We ended with a total catch of (new/retrap) 22/4 made up of: Blackbird 1/1, Song Thrush 1/0, Dunnock 2/1, Wren 1/0, Robin 1/0, Garden Warbler 2/0, Whitethroat 2/0, Lesser Whitethroat 1/0, Chiffchaff 3/2, Willow Warbler 3/0, Blue Tit 1/0, Linnet 4/0. The oldest retrap was a Blackbird from our first visit to the site in July 2015.

Other than a visit made in December 2015 this is the only visit we have not caught a Blackcap here, although we did have our first Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler of the year. Numbers of resident species were low, with no Bullfinch this time at a site which is usually very good for this species. A few juvs were caught but only 19% of the total catch - it was 37% of the total last year. A Cuckoo was around first thing but managed to evade the nets!

Kev

 A Lesser Whitethroat (age code 5 - i.e. born in the previous year) that had replaced the two outermost tail feathers on the left

 (both pics S. Lakeman)

Mandarin

A pleasant surprise when checking Barn Owl boxes recently was this beauty. Apparently, they can breed away from water and are often found in Tawny boxes; almost being a nuisance! Can't find any guidance, but presume this is an adult female.

Jim

Attenborough CES, Visit 3 - Sunday 27 May

The third CES visit of the season was carried out on Sunday by Alex, Tom, Maria, Jake, Mick T, Gary, and I. No rain was forecast for Sunday morning but it did rain just before we met at the site. Fortunately it stopped and we got all the nets up quickly - but then it went down hill fast, there were very few birds around. I have not confirmed with a check of past data but I think this will probably rate as one of, if not the worst, CES catch we have ever had. Total catch was only 15 including 7 retraps made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 0/2, Dunnock 0/1, Blackcap 2/1, Reed Warbler 1/0, Cetti’s Warbler 0/1, Blue Tit 2/0, Great Tit 1/0, Treecreeper 0/1, Bullfinch 1/0, Chaffinch 1/0, Jay 1/0, Reed Bunting 0/1. The oldest retrap was a Blackbird from 2016. Low warbler numbers are being reported around the country but we also seem to have lost many residents over the winter. Last year by visit 3 we had caught 7 Wrens, none so far this year, 8 Robins (including juvs on the first visit), 2 this year and no juvs!

Kev

Century's up!

Just over a year after gaining my permit to trap birds in my garden using conventional traps I have managed to reach the 100 mark. Bird 100 was a rather handsome male House Sparrow caught in my potter trap.

The birds have all been caught in a mixture of spring, chardonneret, potter and walk-in traps and it has been an interesting learning experience researching, making and using these. I would highly recommend Hans Bub’s Bird Trapping and Bird Banding: a handbook for trapping methods all over the world, the BTO’s Trapping Methods for Ringers by Peter G. Davis and articles found in the Ringers' Bulletin for anyone interested in making and using their own traps.

The totals caught to date are as follows:

Wood Pigeon - 2
Blackbird - 12
House Sparrow - 5
Robin - 2
Starling – 79

So far there have been no recoveries, but I can hope! It has been a great experience and given me a very different perspective on common garden birds and I now look forward to learning even more as I head towards my full C-Permit.

Alex

Bird #100: a male House Sparrow (A. Phillips)

Attenborough CES, Visit 2 - Sunday 13 May

The second CES visit of the season was carried out by Sue, Fiona, Ellen, Alex, Duncan, Mick T, Gary, and I. The site vegetation was saturated after heavy overnight rain but the day started, and continued, with mainly clear skies and little to no wind. Unfortunately the catch was again slow throughout but this time we could not blame it on the heat. Where are all the birds - particularly the warblers? Total catch was only two better than last week at 25, including 10 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Great Spotted Woodpecker 0/1, Blackbird 3/3, Song Thrush 2/0, Dunnock 1/2, Robin 1/0, Blackcap 2/0, Blue Tit 2/0, Great Tit 2/0, Treecreeper 1/2, Bullfinch 0/2, Jay 1/0. The oldest retrap was a Blackbird from 2010 that we had not caught in the intervening years.

Kev

 Jay being processed (S. Lakeman)

Attenborough CES, Visit 1 - Sunday 6 May

The first CES visit of the season was carried out on Sunday by Sue, Fiona, Alex, Duncan, Mick T, Gary, and I. Not a cloud in the sky all morning and no wind either so the temperature started to rise quickly.

The catch was slow throughout no doubt affected by the hot conditions. Total catch was only half of the first visit last year at 23 (including 7 retraps) made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 5/1, Dunnock 1/2, Robin 0/1, Blackcap 3/1, Chiffchaff 1/0, Reed Warbler 0/1, Blue Tit 3/0, Great Tit 1/0, Treecreeper 0/1, Reed Bunting 2/0. A slow start, let’s hope it gets better on the future visits. The oldest retrap was a Blackcap from 2015, caught in the same net but not caught in the intervening years.

This year we were able to replace all of our rather tired CES nets, following a grant from East Midlands Airport. As a volunteer organisation, we would not have been able to buy new nets without considerable expense to the members. We would like to thank East Midlands Airport for their generous help.

Kev

Holme Pierrepont, Saturday 21 April

It had our second visit of the season to the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont this morning. Another good weather morning, calm and overcast until mid-morning when the sun came out. Tom, Gary, Mick T and I along with Fiona, who came along for a ringing taster session, set two more nets than last week. High water levels still restricted operations a little. The site seemed quieter than last week but Gary and Tom heard a Reed Warbler early on and I thought I heard a Cuckoo in the distance as we were setting nets (one was reported on NBW as well).

Catching was slow throughout the morning and we finished with a total of 25 including 10 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 0/1, Song Thrush 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Wren 0/2, Blackcap 4/0, Chiffchaff 0/1, Willow Warbler 0/1, Blue Tit 2/0, Great Tit 1/0, Bullfinch 3/2, Reed Bunting 3/3.

The oldest retrap was a Reed Bunting from 2014, the two retrap warblers were both from 2016. So more nets this week, less birds and a dramatic drop in warbler numbers, 26 last week only 6 this week and none of those were retraps from a week ago, looks like they have moved on.

Kev

Herons & Cormorants - a new season and a new approach

Our visits to the nesting colony of Grey Herons and Cormorants at Attenborough Nature Reserve have been a little delayed this year as we have been working out how to adapt to changes in the Trust's Health and Safety procedures. On 18 April we had our first attempt at working solely from ladders rather than climbing with ropes.

We found 9 active and 5 probably active Grey Heron nests. The active nests contained eggs or really young chicks, too small to ring so we will return in a couple of weeks. The footage below shows the most advanced nest that we found, the oldest/largest chick being approximately 10-12 days old. It also shows the size variation of the chicks due to the asynchronous hatching of the eggs.

Whilst we can't be certain, we think that these are all replacement broods due to first breeding attempts failing, perhaps in that really cold snap several weeks ago.

We also checked the Cormorant colony and ringed and colour-ringed 5 chicks from 2 nests.

Happily the new procedures had an encouraging start but more visits are needed to be completely sure.


Mick P

Brackenhurst, Sunday 15 April

Jim, Duncan, Vicki and I made our way to Brack on Sunday for what was planned to be the last ringing session of the 'winter'. Having had a decent session last week, we were wondering what the day would bring. It seems the Yellowhammers are still reliant on the feeding station, perhaps due to the late spring. We were catching them steadily at the feeders all morning, but otherwise, diversity was quite low, except for a few more Reed Buntings to add to the decent winter totals.

Having had some success with the warblers last week, we put two lines of nets in Orwin's, and had a decent first round, but catching quickly dropped off after that. It was interesting to get some chunky Blackcaps, carrying good amounts of fat, with a bias towards female birds.

Other highlights included the first Sparrowhawk since 2012, a young male bird, and overhead were a few Fieldfare. A Tawny Owl was also calling nearby from beyond Orwin's.

Species totals were (new/retrap) 39/38, total 77: Sparrowhawk 1/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 2/5, Chiffchaff 3/0, Blackcap 6/0, Wren 0/1, Dunnock 1/0, Chaffinch 1/2, Yellowhammer 20/28, Reed Bunting 4/1.

The oldest retrap was a Great Tit from 2014. More than half the Yellowhammers were already ringed. Of the 28 Yellowhammer retraps, the oldest were: 2014 x1, 2015 x3, 2016 x2 and 2017 x4. This perhaps suggests we are now sampling a much more localised population a we approach ‘yammer breeding season, and also underlines importance of supplementary feeding during the ‘hunger gap’. Worryingly, another Yellowhammer was caught with similar symptoms to the Chaffinch papillomavirus disease. Only small numbers of birds have been encountered with such symptoms so far and hopefully it won't become quite so prevalent as it is in the Chaffinches. The bird in question was released unringed, and measures taken to avoid the spread of infection.

Jim and Tom

 Yellowhammer showing symptoms of presumed papillomavirus (T. Shields)

Holme Pierrepont, Saturday 14 April

First visit to the Grange end of Holme Pierrepont this morning and what a glorious morning it was, so different to the last few days. Sue, Gary, Mick T and I set a limited number of nets (very high water levels) and waited to catch some of the numerous singing Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. We were not disappointed with the catch of the first two, 26 in total, but somehow we managed to not catch any Willow Warblers. They were probably too busy proclaiming territory from the top of the (now) very tall vegetation. A steady morning that saw us end with a total of 47 including 8 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/1, Dunnock 0/1, Wren 4/0, Blackcap 18/1, Chiffchaff 7/0, Blue Tit 1/1, Long-tailed Tit 0/2, Goldfinch 1/0, Greenfinch 2/0, Bullfinch 1/1, Reed Bunting 3/1. The oldest retraps were from 2016, a returning Blackcap and a Long-tailed Tit. A few hirundines passed overhead, one Sedge Warbler was also heard along with a Cetti’s Warbler but the biggest rarity was the blue sky!

Kev

 Processing a Greenfinch (S. Lakeman)

Sutton Bonington, Sunday 8 April

Calm, overcast and mild conditions for our last visit of the winter. Sue, Alex, Jake, Mick T and I made up the team but the catch was very small, most of the birds seemed more interested in sitting around singing! We did see our first Swallows of the summer along with quite a few departing Fieldfares. Total catch was just 16 including 8 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Woodpigeon 1/0, Dunnock 0/1, Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 1/2, Chaffinch 1/1, Reed Bunting 0/3, Yellowhammer 5/0. The oldest retraps were from 2015. At the end of the session we removed the empty feeders.

Kev

 Processing Yellowhammers (S. Lakeman)