The forecast was good for Sunday morning so Kev and I decided to ring at the Grange site at HPP. By 06.00 only Jim, Tom and myself had turned up (Kev had a knee problem). Not sure what happened to the SNRG trainees?
The usual 11 nets were set and the first round caught 26 birds, the second 25 and after that things got a little slower and that provided the chance for Tom to start ringing a few birds.
The wind got stronger as the morning went on so we finished on 60 birds ringed and 6 retraped.
Ringed/retraped as as follows: Reed Warbler 40/2, Blue Tit 1/0, Sedge Warbler 4/1, Blackcap 5/0, Robin 1/0, Whitethroat 1/0, Bullfinch 3/1, Wren 1/1, Willow Warbler 3/0, Dunnock 0/1 and Chiffchaff 1/0.
Looks as if the Reed Warblers are fairing better than we thought as 30 of the 40 ringed were juvs and 10 unringed adults, were have they come from? However, the lack of tits, Dunnocks and Sylvia warblers was very striking.
Gary
Monday, 30 July 2012
Tuesday, 24 July 2012
Barn Owl rescue
The following story just in from Don Pritchett, co-ordinator of Vale Barn Owl Conservation:
"On Saturday 10 June I received a phone call from a Denton farmer about a tree that had blown down on the Friday night. A farmworker who lives nearby had been watching Barn Owls visiting the tree to feed young so first thing Saturday they inspected the tree and a fox was already on site and crows were gathering.
They removed 2 young owls from a hole and as the farmworker's father had a box in his back garden they fixed it to the fallen tree.
The owls were placed in the box and as requested, I had a look. Given the traumatic event and bad weather I bought six frozen white mice from a Grantham pet shop, defrosted them and took a biggish mouse from my garage trap before visiting the box with Keith Waterfall.
Keith climbed to the box and the youngest owl was not looking lively. Keith stretched his arm intending to offer my trapped mouse to the bigger owlet at the back of the box and as the mouse went over the smallest owlet, it perked up and grabbed the mouse and swallowed in one go. It then took three white mice.
The older one would not take a mouse so we piled three up near it.
That evening an adult owl was seen returning to the tree but seemed confused. On Sunday morning a peek showed two of the white mice we left had been eaten. That evening at 9pm an adult was seen entering the box.
On Thursday 11 July Colin Shawyer who monitors the boxes on this farm ringed the two young owls which were about to fledge!"
"On Saturday 10 June I received a phone call from a Denton farmer about a tree that had blown down on the Friday night. A farmworker who lives nearby had been watching Barn Owls visiting the tree to feed young so first thing Saturday they inspected the tree and a fox was already on site and crows were gathering.
They removed 2 young owls from a hole and as the farmworker's father had a box in his back garden they fixed it to the fallen tree.
The owls were placed in the box and as requested, I had a look. Given the traumatic event and bad weather I bought six frozen white mice from a Grantham pet shop, defrosted them and took a biggish mouse from my garage trap before visiting the box with Keith Waterfall.
Keith climbed to the box and the youngest owl was not looking lively. Keith stretched his arm intending to offer my trapped mouse to the bigger owlet at the back of the box and as the mouse went over the smallest owlet, it perked up and grabbed the mouse and swallowed in one go. It then took three white mice.
The older one would not take a mouse so we piled three up near it.
That evening an adult owl was seen returning to the tree but seemed confused. On Sunday morning a peek showed two of the white mice we left had been eaten. That evening at 9pm an adult was seen entering the box.
On Thursday 11 July Colin Shawyer who monitors the boxes on this farm ringed the two young owls which were about to fledge!"
Monday, 23 July 2012
Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 22 July
We were back on the Grange side of Holme Pierrepont on Sunday. Another good sized team of Gary, Steve, Ruth, Ian, Tom and I started in perfect overcast and calm conditions but by 0900 the sun was blazing (I know I should not complain after the summer we have had so far) and the breeze was picking up, eventually becoming quite strong. We ended with 64 birds including 16 retraps, not got all the details to hand but the usual mix of warblers including two controls. We even caught a single juv Long-tailed Tit, the first of the year!
Kev
Kev
Wednesday, 18 July 2012
Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 15 July
We decided to run a session from the A52 side of the Holme Pierrepont site because of a major event being held at the Water Sports Centre. A good sized team of Gary, Steve, Nick, Libby, Ian, possible new recruit Tom and I carried all the kit and poles up the track for the first session at this site for 2012. The weather was good with just a light breeze but the breeze did pick up quite a bit as the morning went on.
Unfortunately the poor weather we have had has also affected this normally dry site. The base was flooded, some of the usual nets were not possible to put up because of the water and a couple were only possible with wellies that were close to being breeched!
Catching was steady right up to the time we took down but there were no flocks of birds moving through and not a single Blue or Great Tit was caught. We ended with 63 birds including 6 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Wren 2/0, Dunnock 7/1, Robin 8/0, Blackbird 0/1, Song Thrush 0/1, Sedge Warbler 0/1, Reed Warbler 9/0, Lesser Whitethroat 3/0, Whitethroat 4/0, Garden Warbler 3/0, Blackcap 5/1, Willow Warbler 7/1, Chiffchaff 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 2/0, Greenfinch 1/0, Goldfinch 3/0, Bullfinch 2/0.
Kev
Unfortunately the poor weather we have had has also affected this normally dry site. The base was flooded, some of the usual nets were not possible to put up because of the water and a couple were only possible with wellies that were close to being breeched!
Catching was steady right up to the time we took down but there were no flocks of birds moving through and not a single Blue or Great Tit was caught. We ended with 63 birds including 6 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Wren 2/0, Dunnock 7/1, Robin 8/0, Blackbird 0/1, Song Thrush 0/1, Sedge Warbler 0/1, Reed Warbler 9/0, Lesser Whitethroat 3/0, Whitethroat 4/0, Garden Warbler 3/0, Blackcap 5/1, Willow Warbler 7/1, Chiffchaff 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 2/0, Greenfinch 1/0, Goldfinch 3/0, Bullfinch 2/0.
Kev
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Holme Pierrepont, Sunday 8 July
I still can't believe Mick P, Gary, Steve, Nick and I managed to get a full session in on Sunday at Holme Pierrepont. The forecast said it would rain by 10.00 and the morning started grim looking with slight drizzle but we went ahead and even managed to park in the car park, which was an improvement on last week - although security were on duty when we returned. Net erecting was a rather slow process because many of the rides needed clearing and the poles and guys finding. We found all the kit bar a few guys and erected nets in the usual rides, although a couple of rides had to have shorter net lengths because of the high water level. The reed beds seemed relatively quiet for a July morning!
The weather stayed mainly overcast, the sun appearing briefly mid-morning and the rain only started just as we had decided to take down, the wind was light all morning. Catching was steady right up to the time we took down.
We ended with 86 birds including 19 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Wren 4/0, Dunnock 1/1, Robin 2/1, Blackbird 2/0, Sedge Warbler 2/3, Reed Warbler 12/8, Whitethroat 3/0, Garden Warbler 5/1, Blackcap 12/0, Willow Warbler 2/1, Chiffchaff 6/1, Blue Tit 3/1, Chaffinch 2/0, Greenfinch 1/0, Goldfinch 2/0, Bullfinch 1/0. Reed Bunting 7/2.
Interestingly the same weekend last year gave us a catch of 84 birds but 42 of those birds were Reed Warblers and in the 42 there were 27 juvs (64%). This year we had a similar number of adults (16) but only 4 juvs (10%). We also failed to sex 4 of the adult Reed Warblers as they showed no sign of CP or BP, strange for this time of year. Have they had a terrible breeding season, giving up early or just not bothering?
Kev
The weather stayed mainly overcast, the sun appearing briefly mid-morning and the rain only started just as we had decided to take down, the wind was light all morning. Catching was steady right up to the time we took down.
We ended with 86 birds including 19 retraps, made up of (new/retrap): Wren 4/0, Dunnock 1/1, Robin 2/1, Blackbird 2/0, Sedge Warbler 2/3, Reed Warbler 12/8, Whitethroat 3/0, Garden Warbler 5/1, Blackcap 12/0, Willow Warbler 2/1, Chiffchaff 6/1, Blue Tit 3/1, Chaffinch 2/0, Greenfinch 1/0, Goldfinch 2/0, Bullfinch 1/0. Reed Bunting 7/2.
Interestingly the same weekend last year gave us a catch of 84 birds but 42 of those birds were Reed Warblers and in the 42 there were 27 juvs (64%). This year we had a similar number of adults (16) but only 4 juvs (10%). We also failed to sex 4 of the adult Reed Warblers as they showed no sign of CP or BP, strange for this time of year. Have they had a terrible breeding season, giving up early or just not bothering?
Kev
Recent recoveries & controls, July 2012
Recent recoveries and controls for the group comprised of a number of different species and locations, quite refreshing to see, as usually it feels like Barn Owls make up the majority of data we get back.
A Barn Owl ringed as a chick at Hawton in June 2011 was found dead 8km away at Normanton in February 2012.
A Blackbird ringed in Arnold in January 2012 was found dead in the same area in March of 2012.
A young Great Spotted Woodpecker ringed at Attenborough in December 2011 unfortunately hit a window in February 2012.
And finally a Kestrel which was ringed as a chick in Shelford back in 2010 had been hit by a car near Cotgrave in May 2012, the happy ending being that after rehabilitation it was set to be released back into the wild.
Control birds this time round included a Lesser Redpoll ringed as a young bird at Bestwood in October 2011 which was controlled in Kent, in January 2012 after travelling 247km.
A young Yellowhammer from Lincolnshire, ringed in December 2010 was picked up at Rushcliffe Country Park in Feb 2012 after travelling 79km.
A Goldfinch ringed at Darlton, Nottingham back in April 2010 was controlled at The Meadows, Nottingham in February 2012 after travelling 41km.
Finally a Tree Sparrow did a fair bit of moving from where it was initially ringed at Spurn Bird Observatory in October 2011 to where it was controlled 108km away at Bestwood, Nottingham in February 2012.
Ian
A Barn Owl ringed as a chick at Hawton in June 2011 was found dead 8km away at Normanton in February 2012.
A Blackbird ringed in Arnold in January 2012 was found dead in the same area in March of 2012.
A young Great Spotted Woodpecker ringed at Attenborough in December 2011 unfortunately hit a window in February 2012.
And finally a Kestrel which was ringed as a chick in Shelford back in 2010 had been hit by a car near Cotgrave in May 2012, the happy ending being that after rehabilitation it was set to be released back into the wild.
Control birds this time round included a Lesser Redpoll ringed as a young bird at Bestwood in October 2011 which was controlled in Kent, in January 2012 after travelling 247km.
A young Yellowhammer from Lincolnshire, ringed in December 2010 was picked up at Rushcliffe Country Park in Feb 2012 after travelling 79km.
A Goldfinch ringed at Darlton, Nottingham back in April 2010 was controlled at The Meadows, Nottingham in February 2012 after travelling 41km.
Finally a Tree Sparrow did a fair bit of moving from where it was initially ringed at Spurn Bird Observatory in October 2011 to where it was controlled 108km away at Bestwood, Nottingham in February 2012.
Ian
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Barn Owl season
Well, a bit like Murray's Wimbledon final, my Barn Owl season started well and looked promising initially, but the end was a little disappointing, though perhaps inevitable. I visited my final three boxes whilst listening to 5 Live this afternoon and all three had held birds with clutches of 5 eggs about a month ago, but sadly all three had failed. Two boxes still held roosting adults, but on cold scattered eggs and one had a Stock Dove on 2 eggs. You can only ever guess at the cause of such failure, but I can't believe the weather hasn't played its part...
Pete
Pete
Monday, 25 June 2012
Attenborough CES - final visit, Sunday 24 June
Leading up to the weekend the weather forecast was poor but on Saturday it changed and said the expected rain would pass over by 0600ish. So when I looked out of the window early on Sunday I was happy to see the rain had stopped. Gary, Duncan, Nick and I met at the site and despite the dark sky we started to erect the nets. As we were on net 9 of 10 it started to spit with rain, we continued to erect the full quota of nets only to find the rain got heavier and forced us to close all of them. We then had a not so pleasant hour or so as we stood in the pouring rain getting soaked to the skin waiting for the Met Office 0600ish to arrive - eventually it did, at 0830. We opened all the nets but then the breeze got up and the sun came out. So we ended the final CES session with a paltry catch of 17 birds including 8 retraps. The most unusual bird being the first tit for a few weeks, a retrap Great Tit. Catch totals (new/retrap) Dunnock 1/0, Reed Warbler 4/1, Garden Warbler 0/1, Blackcap 2/0, Chiffchaff 0/1, Treecreeper 1/0, Great Tit 0/1, Bullfinch 1/4.
Kev
Kev
Thursday, 21 June 2012
Post-juvenile Starlings
One thing I enjoy most about ringing independently in the garden is that I'm able to examine different birds at different time of the season.
The Starlings are flocking to my sultanas this week and have been bringing their youngsters along too, some of which are undertaking their post juvenile moult and I've noticed that they do some slightly different things which readers of the blog might find of interest.
Starlings are a species which undertake a complete post-juvenile moult, replacing body and flight feathers before the Autumn. In the image below you can see that the bird has started to moult its primaries along with the corresponding primary covert, contrasting with what we usually encounter with say, a Blue Tit, which undertakes a partial post-juvenile moult and retains the primary coverts and alula.
A good number of birds have started to moult their tail feather too, you can see this in the image below with new feathers appearing in the centre as the bird moults outwards.
Other individuals are showing more obvious signs of their moult, with new feathers appearing in patches upon the breast as in this image, something can we usually see in the field without having the bird in the hand.
The thing which strikes me is that there seems to be no hard and fast rules in terms of the moult sequence, of the birds I have ringed today, some are undergoing wing and tail moult with no body moult at all, whilst some are just starting with odd breast feathers and haven't started wing moult yet, yet others are kicking off by replacing body contour feathers on their back and central tail feathers!
It is known that Starlings on rare occasions show signs of eccentric primary moult as well as retaining alula and / or secondary feathers every now and again and I will certainly keeping an eye out for this in the future.
Ian
The Starlings are flocking to my sultanas this week and have been bringing their youngsters along too, some of which are undertaking their post juvenile moult and I've noticed that they do some slightly different things which readers of the blog might find of interest.
Starlings are a species which undertake a complete post-juvenile moult, replacing body and flight feathers before the Autumn. In the image below you can see that the bird has started to moult its primaries along with the corresponding primary covert, contrasting with what we usually encounter with say, a Blue Tit, which undertakes a partial post-juvenile moult and retains the primary coverts and alula.
A good number of birds have started to moult their tail feather too, you can see this in the image below with new feathers appearing in the centre as the bird moults outwards.
Other individuals are showing more obvious signs of their moult, with new feathers appearing in patches upon the breast as in this image, something can we usually see in the field without having the bird in the hand.
The thing which strikes me is that there seems to be no hard and fast rules in terms of the moult sequence, of the birds I have ringed today, some are undergoing wing and tail moult with no body moult at all, whilst some are just starting with odd breast feathers and haven't started wing moult yet, yet others are kicking off by replacing body contour feathers on their back and central tail feathers!
It is known that Starlings on rare occasions show signs of eccentric primary moult as well as retaining alula and / or secondary feathers every now and again and I will certainly keeping an eye out for this in the future.
Ian
Monday, 18 June 2012
Attenborough CES, visit 5 - Sunday 17 June
Gary, Duncan and I completed the fifth CES visit to Attenborough on Sunday. The weather was not particularly good, a brisk wind blowing for the duration and bright sun for most of the session. So it was no surprise that we had a limited catch of only 27 including 11 retraps made up of (new/others): Woodpigeon 1/0, Dunnock 1/4, Robin 2/0, Blackbird 1/1, Cetti's Warbler 1/0, Reed Warbler 0/1, Garden Warbler 3/1, Blackcap 6/2, Chiffchaff 1/2.
Another Cetti's Warbler was nice and a Woodpigeon added a bit of variety. Yet again not a single tit was caught. The session was filmed by Féaron Cassidy and Peter Cutler who have been awarded a grant by the Nottingham University Enrichment Fund to make a short promotional video as well as possibly a documentary-style video on the Attenborough Nature Reserve. I think all 3 of the ringers that were out that day ended up on the film, unusual at Attenborough but probably had something to do with our usual film star, Tim, being on holiday.
Kev
Another Cetti's Warbler was nice and a Woodpigeon added a bit of variety. Yet again not a single tit was caught. The session was filmed by Féaron Cassidy and Peter Cutler who have been awarded a grant by the Nottingham University Enrichment Fund to make a short promotional video as well as possibly a documentary-style video on the Attenborough Nature Reserve. I think all 3 of the ringers that were out that day ended up on the film, unusual at Attenborough but probably had something to do with our usual film star, Tim, being on holiday.
Kev
More Wales pics
Thanks to Nick for a few more photos from what seemed to be a great trip - against all the odds!
Wood Warbler
Pied Flycatcher chicks
Redstart chicks
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Reedbed forays
Over the past few weeks I stepped up my nest-finding mission and decided to dig out my waders for a few trips to the Holme Pierrepont reedbeds.
I managed to talk Chris into accompanying me for my first visit and as always he was kind enough to give me some great pointers. A later visit on my own proved successful with a fair number of nests located and this week Pete went back with me to ring the chicks.
Despite the weather conditions, they seemed to be doing really well (even if the nests were looking a little 'angular'). Let's hope some of them make it into our nets later in the season.
I also came across a few Coot nests whilst creeping around between the reeds, one in particular appeared to have young hatching on that day.
Ian
I managed to talk Chris into accompanying me for my first visit and as always he was kind enough to give me some great pointers. A later visit on my own proved successful with a fair number of nests located and this week Pete went back with me to ring the chicks.
Despite the weather conditions, they seemed to be doing really well (even if the nests were looking a little 'angular'). Let's hope some of them make it into our nets later in the season.
I also came across a few Coot nests whilst creeping around between the reeds, one in particular appeared to have young hatching on that day.
Ian
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Wales, Sunday 10 June
A small but experienced team made the trip to Wales last Sunday to 'hopefully' ring the Pied Flycatchers. I say 'hopefully' because we went just after the torrential rain caused flooding in Aberystwyth which is not that far away - and thoughts were that the Pied Flycatchers would have fared badly. On arrival, without encountering any flooded roads, we split into four and started checking the boxes. We did find a number of failed boxes but overall the birds were doing pretty well and we ringed 170 in total made up of 138 pulli and 4 adult Pied Flycatchers, 24 pulli and 2 adult Redstarts and 2 adult Wood Warblers.
Unfortunately there were no Buzzards nesting this year and very few Buzzards generally in the area! A Nuthatch had nested this year but had fledged before we got there. There are 20 boxes that had eggs or small chicks not yet big enough to ring, including 2 Redstarts, if they all survive over 100 more to ring. So if anyone with a pulli endorsement fancies making another trip around the 20th let me know and I will give you the rings and maps showing the relevant boxes.
Kev
Unfortunately there were no Buzzards nesting this year and very few Buzzards generally in the area! A Nuthatch had nested this year but had fledged before we got there. There are 20 boxes that had eggs or small chicks not yet big enough to ring, including 2 Redstarts, if they all survive over 100 more to ring. So if anyone with a pulli endorsement fancies making another trip around the 20th let me know and I will give you the rings and maps showing the relevant boxes.
Kev
Ruth's adventures across the pond...
Many of you will know that Ruth has been out to Delaware with the Wash Wader Ringing Group - see her blog for a full report:
http://ruthsringingrecord.blogspot.co.uk/
http://ruthsringingrecord.blogspot.co.uk/
Thursday, 7 June 2012
Recent recoveries
A pretty impressive Barn Owl just in - a chick ringed in Costock last July was hit on a road in Eccles in April, 111km to the north-west. Also, a Lesser Redpoll ringed by Mick P in Bestwood last October was caught by another old ringing pal of mine, John Forss. It had moved down to Surrey, 200km to the south and was trapped in March this year.
Pete
Pete
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