Holme Pierrepont - Sunday 11 August

A still and bright morning greeted us for the second visit to Holme Pierrpont (Skylarks NR) this week. All the usual nets were set and we were quite hopeful after a reasonable catch on Thursday.

However, it was a very quiet start, with only 3 birds in the nets first round. Sadly, it continued to be very quiet all morning, as the sun shone on a lot of the nets and it got hotter.

Of the 12 birds caught, all were juvenile, except the single willow warbler, which had completed its moult. The two retraps were the Bullfinch and Blue Tit.

Final numbers: 1 Bullfinch, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Garden Warbler, 4 Reed Warbler, 1 Cetti's Warbler.

However, at least there was time to enjoy the insect life and blackberries.

This site has changed so much over the last 10 years I've been visiting it with SNRG, so much more growth of trees and undergrowth, with many of the old rides no longer visible.

Sue

net ride (SL)

 

Southern Hawker (HJ)

Goldfinch update: 100+ colour-ringed

We've now ringed 119 Goldfinches in Nottingham with yellow colour-rings that we hope people can resight in their gardens and inform new data on population size, distribution, migration, and survival rates.

Of those 119, 57% have been juveniles, and that number is only going to increase as now is the time when young Goldfinches start to flock and move around to find food. It’ll be peak Goldfinch season in gardens over the next couple of months.

You'll need binoculars or a good camera to be able to read the two-digit alphanumeric code on the ring. At the moment, all the rings we're using are yellow with black text, and the ring is on the left leg.

Email your sightings to goldfinchresighting@gmail.com

Pictured is a juvenile Goldfinch with the combination 'IL' who visits our garden often and was ringed on 13 July.

Thank you to the funders who made this research possible: East Midlands Airport Community Fund, Mansfield Building Society and Lush Charity Pot.

Holly

 

Holme Pierrepont - Thursday 8 August

Although it seemed fairly quiet at Skylarks with not much song or movement of birds, we had
another decent mid-week catch with a total of 68 birds caught including 6 retraps. The surprises
were the high number of Chiffchaffs and the low number of Blackcaps. It was good to see a
few Sedge Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats.

We saw a good example of a fault bar in the Cetti’s Warbler - a dark line across the tail
indicating that when the bird was growing in the nest it experienced a period of poor weather.
Also, some castellations in the tail of a young Willow Warbler - tiny chips out of the ends of the
tail feathers from when the bird was growing in a domed nest.

The final totals were: Chiffchaff 27, Blackcap 8, Reed Warbler 8, Willow Warbler 3, Robin 3, Lesser
Whitethroat 3, Garden Warbler 3, Wren 2, Long-tailed Tit 2, Sedge Warbler 2, Blue Tit 2, Great
Tit 2, Dunnock 1, Cetti’s Warbler 1, Bullfinch 1.

Our adventures in baking continued this time with a strawberry and rhubarb pie. 

Holly

Cetti's Warbler growth bar (JP)

Sedge Warbler (SL)

juvenile Willow Warbler tail showing castellations (HJ)

Ramsdale Park Gold Club – Sunday 4 August

We went up to the golf club near Calverton for the first time this year. As a result, the net rides were very overgrown and required a lot of treading down. Despite the weather forecasts, patches of drizzle moved through mid-morning. The site seemed very quiet, with few birds moving around. Many net rounds were blank, and the totals from the morning only managed to reach 24, including 2 retraps. This is in stark contrast to the same time in 2015, when 151 birds were caught here. The highlight from the morning was a juvenile male Sparrowhawk.

Totals were: 8 Chiffchaffs, 3 Blackcaps, 1 Wren, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin, 2 Great Tits, 6 Blue Tits, and 1 Sparrowhawk.

Joshua 

 

Holme Pierrepont - Wednesday 31 July

It was great to get out for a cheeky midweek session today with Kev, Kev, Gary, Holly and Josh. Having not been to the site for a couple of years, I struggled to recognise many areas, the vegetation has grown up so much. It remains an interesting spot, but one that's increasingly difficult to net. However, despite this and the hot weather, we had a good day and continued to catch well beyond midday.

The day was dominated by Chiffchiffs and notable for the number of Garden Warblers, one of which was a control. The final tally was 79, which included 6 retraps and the control. This comprised: 32 Chiffchaff, 4 Wren, 4 Willow Warbler, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 11 Blackcap, 5 Blue Tit, 8 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Chaffinch, 8 Garden Warbler, 1 Dunnock and 1 Blackbird.

One Garden Warbler (see photos below) had, unusually, moulted a handful of remiges, tertials and coverts and many other adult birds were now in full wing moult.

It's generally been a poor year for insects, but we noted several species of butterfly, moth and dragonfly. However, the undoubted highlight away from the birds were the abundant and succulent blackberries, some fresh from the bush, some returned to the site as delicious pie by Holly courtesy of the 2023 season.

Pete

Garden Warbler showing an unusual moult pattern

Garden Warbler showing an unusual moult pattern

Willow Warbler

The Forge Nature Reserve – Ringing Demo, Sunday 28 July

The Forge Nature Reserve is a privately owned reserve just on the Derbyshire side of the county boundary at Ironville. Seven of us were joined by volunteers from the Cromford Canal and Codnor Park Reservoir Group and the Forge Nature Reserve to carry out a bird ringing demonstration on the reserve.

Following several meetings and site visits, two quieter areas of the large site were identified where we could erect two lines of nets which would be close to a suitable area for our base.

All the birds caught were taken to our ringing base where groups of interested visitors waited to see the birds and the ringing process.

The morning started well, considering how quiet the site seemed, with around 24 birds in the first catch. These birds were ringed, data gathered and then shown to the enthusiastic visitors before being released.

As is often the case, this was the best catch of the day with numbers dwindling as the morning progressed. Luckily we always caught something to show the 20 or so visitors throughout the morning.

We packed up around 11:30, the warm temperatures also influencing this decision.

In total we ringed 60 birds, comprising: 13 Chiffchaff, 7 Willow Warbler, 2 Wren, 1 Garden Warbler, 4 Robin, 8 Blue Tit, 10 Great Tit, 1 Bullfinch, 9 Blackcap, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Reed Warbler, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Woodpigeon.

So, a great morning and a reasonably good catch on a site we have never operated at before.

Many thanks to everyone who attended but particular thanks must go to Sally Fisher, for allowing us onto her reserve, and to members of the Cromford Canal and Codnor Park Reservoir Group for publicising the event, organising the visitors and opening the gates!

Hopefully further studies can be undertaken on the birds using The Forge Nature Reserve.

We would very much like to thank the Cromford Canal and Codnor Park Reservoir Group for their generous donation. 

Mick P & Kev 

Demo base (KJH)

Terns and Sand Martins at Attenborough, Thurs 18 July

This morning, we made our final visit of the year to check on and ring the Common Tern chicks
on the floating platform at Attenborough Nature Reserve. On our previous visit, there were a
number of eggs still to hatch, and today we were able to ring 12 chicks and retrap 1 chick that
was very small on the last visit.

We had also intended to check on the Oystercatcher chick, but the engine of the boat gave out
so we had to row back. The Oystercatcher will now be monitored from the shore and we hope
that it’s still being provisioned by its parents until it’s big enough to fledge.

Following our workout, we ringed 3 Sand Martin chicks at the artificial sand bank. It seems that
only one pair decided to try for a second brood.

Holly

 

Holme Pierrepont Ringing Demo - Sunday 14 July

Today we held a ringing demonstration at Holme Pierrepont for the Friends of the Hook Nature Reserve group. The numbers caught still seemed low compared to previous years, however a relatively high number of juvenile warblers were caught compared to previous visits this year. The low numbers could partly be due to a poor breeding season and lower bird populations in general, combined with the growth of the vegetation at the reserve making it a less favourable site for warblers and for us to catch warblers than when ringing started there. As the breeding season for many species is coming to an end, we used MP3 players playing mixed warbler calls to try and catch more warblers and this was successful. 

The final totals were 18 Chiffchaff, 3 Willow Warbler, 10 Reed Warbler, 13 Blackcap, 4 Garden Warbler, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Treecreeper, 2 Wren, 2 Robin, and 1 Reed Bunting. The 55 birds made for an enjoyable and interesting demonstration for the group and several other visitors to the reserve.

Thanks to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust for allowing us to hold the demonstration on the reserve.

Alex T

 

The Shiants

I had the opportunity to join the first week of the Shiant Isles seabird monitoring trip, organised by the Shiants Seabird Research Group led by Jim Lennon. The Shiants are a group of three uninhabited islands between Skye and Harris in the Outer Hebrides. They support nationally important populations of over 200,000 seabirds and the two-week trip is timed to coincide with chicks being of ringable age.

We took a chartered boat from Uig on Skye, stopping off on the way at the island of Fladda Chuain to see what breeding birds we could find. We ringed 43 Arctic Tern chicks, as well as small numbers of Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover and Great Black-backed Gull. From the boat we saw a pod of Common Dolphins and two Manx Shearwaters.

Our main priorities were to complete the Razorbill RAS and Puffin RAS, which stands for Retrapping Adults for Survival and is a way to get consistent datasets across years to calculate the adult survival rates for individual species. During the Puffin RAS we also collected fish samples dropped at the net to analyse the success of their foraging.

The week was hugely impacted by rain and 45 mph winds, but when there were breaks in the weather we also managed to identify Great Skua territories, colour-ring Great Black-backed Gull and Herring Gull chicks, spring-trap Wheatears and Rock Pipits on the beach, mist net Storm Petrels at night, collect and fit new geolocators, and complete the daily log, with highlights being Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle and Arctic Skua.

One of the Storm Petrels was a control that was ringed 21 years ago. We’re waiting to find out where it was ringed.

On the boat back to Uig we saw Common Dolphin again and Sooty Shearwater.

In week 2, the group hopes to ring Razorbill and Guillemot chicks in the boulder field, find and ring Shag chicks, and fit more geolocators. In week 3, a small number of people will look for evidence of breeding Storm Petrels on the island of Shillay.

Thank you very much to Jim and the whole week 1 team for their support. I found it a steep learning curve, but I have a passion for seabirds and it was a good experience to see how they can be monitored for maximum return on useful data. 

Holly

 

Attenborough tern platforms, 03 July 2024

The first trip out in the boat to the tern platforms was made today. I had been monitoring the terns nesting on the platforms at Attenborough; 5 platforms, 2 with terns nesting. On 8 June the oldest and only fixed platform appeared (when viewed from the bank) to have a sitting Oystercatcher, but no Terns. I presumed the outlook for any eggs that hatched was not good as the precocial chicks would be on a barren platform 1m above the water with a 0.5m fence around it. So today we dodged the rain amazingly, ringed 21 terns and found about 20 more eggs still to hatch. Then we headed to the old platform to see what had happened to the Oystercatcher. To my great surprise we found a healthy chick which could hardly have been feeding itself as a chick in a natural site would. I checked BWP which said adults feed chick's for a 'variable ' amount of time. I guess these adults have had to fly in with every mouthful. We ringed it and will go and check on it on our next tern ringing outing. I have since been given information of other Oystercatchers bring up chicks in similar situations.

Kev 

Common Tern chicks and eggs, ANR (KJH)

Oystercatcher chick, ANR (KJH)

Holme Pierrepont - 30 June 2024 and 07 July 2024

The first and second summer sessions were held at Holme Pierrepont, both in reasonable weather conditions. We were hoping for some decent numbers after the disappointing CES sessions at Attenborough, but we ended on just 38 birds on the 30/6 and 42 on the 7/7, both from 150m of net. There seems to be very low numbers of juveniles, particularly tits and warblers. A poor breeding season is probably partly to blame but the increasing spread of willow is the main issue as the habitat is becoming poorer. 

So far not a single Whitethroat has found the nets at Holme Pierrepont this year. A quick look back 10 years at the end of June, beginning of July and the same site produced catches of 66 and 94 birds. 

The main bird of interest was a Cetti’s caught on the 30/6 that was originally ringed in Warwickshire in 2022.

Totals for 30/6 were: Blackcap 3, Blue Tit 5, Cetti’s Warbler 1, Chiffchaff 11, Dunnock 3, Garden Warbler 2, Great Tit 4, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Long-tailed Tit 1, Reed Warbler 5, Treecreeper 1, Willow Warbler 1.

Totals for 7/7 were: Blackcap 4, Blue Tit 4, Chiffchaff 13, Dunnock 3, Great Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 4, Reed Warbler 6, Robin 4, Wren 3.

Kev

Attenborough CES, Visit 6 - Sunday 23 June

On Sunday, Kev, Gary, Holly, Josh and myself made the sixth and final visit to the Delta area of Attenborough Nature Reserve as part of the 2024 CES. The weather was as forecast, fine and light winds, so we were keeping fingers crossed for a good catch to close the season. We set the usual 10 nets, plus Gary and Holly set an additional net (away from CES area) to try and catch one of the cuckoos calling overhead. Although the cuckoos kept calling all morning, none found the net.

The CES catch was also limited, as has been the pattern of all 6 sessions, but at least we had several juvenile birds. Totals for the day were as follows: Wren 2, Treecreeper 1, Chiffchaff 2, Reed Warbler 8, Cetti’s Warbler 1, Great Tit 4, Blue Tit 2, Dunnock 4, Blackbird 1, Blackcap 1, Jay 1.

Bird of the day was of course the Jay, which we thought might be a recapture of the bird originally ringed a couple of sessions ago. However, it turned out to be a bird originally caught on 23/05/21, which and had not been caught again until now.

The team then removed all kit from the site, to close out the 2024 CES season.

Given the low numbers of birds during the CES visits that I attended this year (all numbers low, not just migrants and juveniles), I asked Kev for his overall impression of the 2024 season. He confirmed that this CES season has been the worst in the last 10 completed seasons, except for 2018. This year we had only 148 captures (not individuals). In 2018 we had 143 captures but 4 of the 2018 visits were affected by poor weather conditions (weather was not an issue this year). The average catch between 2014 to 2021 was 220, whereas in the last 3 completed seasons the average has been 163 (down by approx 25%.)

So, let's hope for a better CES season in 2025.

Sue

Attenborough CES, Visit 5 - Sunday 9 June

This morning we made our fifth visit to the Constant Effort Site for 2024. 

A smaller total than expected, but with some interesting captures and the star bird was a Jay (photos below). 

We finished on 25 birds, including just 3 juveniles (birds fledged recently) and 1 'control' bird (a bird not ringed by our group) and we await details of this control: a Reed Warbler.

Weather wise, the morning started encouragingly, going overcast and with not too much breeze (good catching conditions) but as the breeze increased, billowing the mist nets, it brought in short spells of fine drizzle with the occasional sunny spell.

Todays catch comprised: 5x Blackcap, 1x Robin, 4x Reed Warbler, 3x Chiffchaff, 1x Wren, 1x Cetti's Warbler, 1x Jay, 1x Song Thrush, 1x Dunnock, 1x Great Tit.

Kev B

 

 

Tenacious Tawny

A few weeks ago, I had a message from a landowner to say that their owl nest box had taken a hit in a storm and had come off the tree. However, it was still wedged up in the tree. I arranged to go and recover the box and try to reattach it. 

When I arrived, the box didn't seem to be damaged, but it was leaning precariously and the entrance hole was facing almost downwards. It didn't look too tricky to recover, but then as I climbed up to it, a Tawny Owl flew out!

Somewhat surprised, I tried to look inside the box, but the angle made it very difficult. Nevertheless, there appeared to be a single egg lying in a corner and it seemed to be a Tawny Owl egg. 

Some quick calculations suggested that the egg could have been laid before the box had been dislodged and it seemed the position of the egg was very awkward and I guessed the tenacious female owl would struggle to incubate it. 

Obviously I couldn't start moving the box, but it seemed reasonably secure, so I arranged to return a few weeks later. This plan was then thwarted by a car breakdown and it was a further 2 weeks before I was able to fit it in today.

Assuming that whatever the outcome, the box was now likely to be empty, I climbed up only to have the female Tawny fly out of the upturned box again! And when I reached inside, my hand found a well grown Tawny Owl chick perched on the slopping floor. The timing now suggests that the female may have laid after the box had moved, and she had clearly been able to incubate the egg, despite the odd position within the box. 

Pete

  

Attenborough CES, Visit 4 – Saturday 1 June

Our fourth Constant Effort Site visit for this year led to some encouraging results, with 34 birds
caught of 12 species – the busiest morning so far. Notable was a flock of Long Tailed Tits which were
caught. However, it was concerning that only one of eight was a juvenile – potentially a sign that
their breeding attempts could have been hindered by the weather. It will be interesting to monitor
the success of these over the next few months. Other birds caught were 2 Treecreepers, 3 Wrens, 2
Robins, 5 Reed Warblers, 3 Blue Tits, 1 Great Tit, 4 Blackcaps, 2 Dunnocks, 1 Blackbird, 1 Cetti’s
Warbler and 2 Reed Buntings. Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Cuckoo were all heard again, but did
not find the net.

Josh

Adult and juvenile Long-tailed Tits (JP)

Juvenile Robin (JP)

Adult male Reed Bunting (JP)