Further recoveries

Following on from the previous recoveries, we have had details of two birds that we have reported.

The first was a Cormorant, ringed as a young bird at Abberton Reservoir in Essex in 2007, which had its colour ring (Black on orange, CD3) read 7 years later at Attenborough in October.

The second was a Tree Sparrow which was caught at Brackenhurst in January this year, with a B ring on, meaning it was ringed as a youngster. It was ringed by Chris de Feu at the nest in Beckingham in June last year. This bird found the net shortly after Duncan and Jim were remarking how we very rarely get any control or even retrap Tree Sparrows!

Tom

Recent Recoveries

The first big batch of 2015 recoveries has come in and as usual there are a good few Barn Owls amongst them. Most recoveries of this species are local birds which have been either found dead or controlled, but this time only 2 fell into this catergory, a bird ringed at the nest in Claypole near Newark whose leg and ring was found in the same area 4 months later in January this year, and another which was found as a road casualty in Balderton in January after it was ringed 4km away at the nest in Hawton in June last year.

A little further afield was a Barn Owl controlled by SNRG friend Garry Barker as an adult in Long Clawson last June, which we ringed as a chick 21km away in Allington, Lincs in July 2013. Even further afield was a bird which reached Dronfield in Derbyshire, 38 km away from its nest site in Kirklington, where it was ringed in June last year. It was picked up as a road casualty in February.

Anything further than this is less common, but a bird ringed in Woolsthorpe near Belvoir in June last year, travelled to Warwickshire where it was killed on the roads in February this year, 93km away. Lastly, a bird ringed as a chick in Clifton Wood in September decided to have a trip to Skegness where it was found freshly dead in January, having travelled 107 km from its nest site.

In non-owl news, a female Pied Flycatcher which was ringed as an adult during the trip to Wales in 2012, was controlled 35km away in Herefordshire, in May last year.

One of Attenborough's Cormorants ringed at the nest in 2013 is still residing at Priory Water in Leicestershire, having its colour ring read in the field again. This bird (CTH, black on yellow) was reported from the same site in October last year.

And finally, a Lesser Redpoll, ringed nearly 40 years ago at Cotgrave Forest on 28 May 1977, was controlled 13 months later on 28 June 1978, 437km away near Antwerp in Belgium (see map below). A good movement, which is often the case with these finches... but maybe the Belgians need to get up to date with their ringing data!

Tom

 A Lesser Redpoll movement from 1978...

Brackenhurst, Wednesday 11 February - Student ringing demonstration

It was the perfect morning for ringing - cold with clear skies and little wind. Jim, Gary, Liz, Geoff, Duncan, Simon, Esther and myself set off for the ringing site with David Roberts from NTU's Conservation Society. We set up the usual nets at the ringing site (where food is currently being topped up every other day) plus extra nets nearby.

The morning started off well with over 25 birds on the first catch and 100 birds in total. Just under half of the birds caught were retraps, and all but one were from this and last winter, perhaps indicative of the relatively mild winters we have had following the harsher winter of 2012/3. There was a diverse range of species including House Sparrow, Goldcrest, plenty of new Yellowhammers and a noticeable number of retrap Great Tits (although very few Blue Tits).

Capture totals were (new/retraps) 100(59/41): Blackbird 5/3, Blue Tit 1/3, Chaffinch 4/4, Dunnock 4/1, Goldcrest 1/0, Great Tit 2/22, House Sparrow 3/0, Robin 5/3, Tree Sparrow 1/0, Yellowhammer 35/4.

We were joined at hourly intervals over the morning by NTU students interested in finding out more about bird ringing. Jim did a grand job of showing the students the different birds and explaining exactly what everyone was doing and why. The students were really interested and asked plenty of inquisitive questions. It was a great opportunity for them to see and learn about wildlife monitoring in practice rather than just in lectures. Approximately 30 students plus several members of staff joined us over the morning and we have a similar number coming along to another ringing demonstration next month. Many thanks to the Conservation Society for helping to organise the morning.

Nevertheless, the highlight of the day, which even surpassed Simon's famous lemon drizzle cake (double drizzled!), was a migrant adult male Blackbird from Heligoland. Apparently, Jim had just been discussing large migrant Blackbirds with the students so this was perfect timing! Heligoland is a small group of islands in the North Sea, home to one of the world's first ornithological observatories, and a major migration stopover for birds crossing the North Sea. It is approximately 600km (373 miles) from Southwell as the 'Blackbird' flies, with a shortest land route of around 950km (590 miles), so the bird certainly travelled quite a distance! The bird was noticeably larger than our resident Blackbirds, with a wing length around a centimetre longer than usual. Luckily, the bird didn't seem to mind everyone's excitement, and obligingly posed for photos - the perfect end to the perfect morning!

Louise

The German Blackbird and Brack students at the demo (G. Goddard)

Granby, Sunday 8 February

It was a beautiful, calm and clear morning at Granby with enough members to merit two trips in the Landie to get us all into the site. Tom, Alex, Duncan, Nick, Gary, Kev, Jim and Pete set the normal nets and an additional pair with a thrush tape above the cutting. A young female Sparrowhawk found its way into one of the latter before the sun had come up and got us off to a good start.

With the exception of a single Song Thrush, Blackbirds were the only thrushes in evidence around the nets and only a trickle of Redwings and Fieldfares were noted elsewhere. The most numerous species trapped were Great Tits and Robins whilst finches, bunting and sparrows were conspicuous by their absence.

In total we captured 48 birds (28 new/20 retrap) comprising: Blackbird 6/2, Blue Tit 2/2, Chaffinch 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Great Tit 11/6, Robin 3/9, Sparrowhawk 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Wren 1/0 and Yellowhammer 1/1.
 

The majority of the retraps were from last winter, bar a Blackbird from 2009/10, a Great Tit from 2011/12 and three Robins from 2010/11, 2011/12 & 2012/13.

Elsewhere around the site we noted Buzzard, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, a few Reed Buntings and a single Greenfinch. In general it felt quiet, but we enjoyed the sunshine.

Pete & Jim

Setting up at dawn, young female Sparrowhawk and a view from the bridge (all photos PML)

Kingston, Sunday 25 January

Not sure where to start really, first session at Kingston late last year was excellent but each session since then has been poor with this last session being memorable for all the wrong reasons. Gary, Sue, Tom, Alex and I met at the site and quickly had the nets set. The bait in the feeders had gone down more in the last week than in any other week but the site seemed quiet. The first round produced only one bird and it didn't get better. We called it a day about 1100 having had just 3 birds, all new, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Song Thrush and a Blackbird. Not sure where we go from here other than to keep it baited and hope it improves.

Kev

2013 SNRG Report

The group's 2013 Report is now available as a pdf. For details of how to obtain one, please see the 'Reports' page (tab at the top).

Granby, Friday 23 January

Sunday's forecast and commitments elsewhere, meant Gary and I gave Granby a go today. We had the three Cs, calm, cold and clear weather, though the breeze did build up without any appreciable impact on the catching. A Tawny Owl flew across the bonnet as we drove up to the lengthsman hut.

The 3Cs gave up good conditions for catching 'keen' birds, and we processed 102 individuals. Pleasingly, Yellowhammers made up nearly a third; our best total of the winter so far. As often happens after Christmas, there was an influx of new tits amongst the retraps.

The majority of the retraps were from last winter, bar Blackbird and Yellowhammer from 2012/13, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Robin (2) and Yellowhammer (2) from 2011/12 and Blue Tit and Great Tit from 2010/11.

Total captures were (new/retrap) 102 (59/43): Blackbird 3/1, Blue Tit 9/12, Chaffinch 10/5, Dunnock 2/1, Great Tit 6/12, Robin 3/3, Tree Sparrow 5/0, Wren 0/1, Yellowhammer 21/8.

Jim

Brackenhurst, Sunday 18 January

Sunday was almost perfect catching conditions, being dry, bright and frosty. Myself, I would have a slight breeze as I think birds, like Yellowhammers, are more likely to move about. However, after all the high winds this winter I'm not complaining! I was hoping for more Yellowhammers, but we only managed a single retrap. Puzzling as they just weren't about today. Also, just the one Chaffinch was surprising. The cold did bring in more Blackbirds & Robins. Eight retraps of the latter is quite unusual, and maybe shows how reliant they are on known supplementary feeding sites in freezing weather. We thought we'd ringed all the resident Long-tailed Tits, but not so as a flock of 9 unringed birds were processed. Overall, we processed 52 birds with the majority being retraps.

The majority of the retraps were from last winter, bar 2012/13 - Robin (2); 2010/11 - Robin. Captures were (new/retraps) 54(25/29): Blackbird 3/4, Blue Tit 3/3, Chaffinch 0/1, Dunnock 1/2, Goldcrest 1/1, Great Tit 5/8, Long-tailed Tit 9/0, Redwing 2/0, Robin 0/8, Tree Sparrow 1/0, Wren 0/1, Yellowhammer 0/1.

Jim

Recent Recoveries

Just two recoveries to report on. Firstly a Black-headed Gull ringed as a chick on the island at Attenborough in June 2010 has had its ring read in the field near Manchester. Secondly, a Cormorant ringed (and colour-ringed) at the same site in May last year was spotted alive and well at Ynyslas, near Aberystwyth in Wales in December.

Pete

Kingston, Sunday 4 January

What a difference a few metres above sea level can make. Whilst Jim and his team were apparently in clear conditions and catching birds at Brack, Gary and I were in freezing fog in the bottom of the valley close to where the Soar flows into the Trent. Almost as soon as the nets went up they turned white and froze. Apart from a couple of birds that must have entered the nets in the few minutes before they turned into a white wall we caught nothing. Just before 1100 we decided no thaw was imminent so we ‘folded’ the nets up and went home. I then spread the nets out on newspaper in the house and turned them frequently over the afternoon whilst they thawed and dried.

Kev

Brackenhurst, Sunday 4 January

The plan was an early start at Brackenhurst today, but this was somewhat hampered by me returning home to fetch my rings. Still it was a chance to give the skidpan roads near there another go. It certainly made up for my early morning lack of caffeine! This meant we lost an hour's ringing time at the best time of the day. My apologies to Duncan, Lorna & Tom.

Still, for all that, we had ourselves a busy morning with 114 birds processed. We had two initial rounds of 35-40 birds then it settled down. The clear, calm and cold weather (no self-respecting male monkey would have been out in it) made good safe catching conditions for a lot of hungry birds. We had our first decent Yellowhammer catch of the winter with 33 birds. On mornings like this you expect to ring more new birds and this was true for all species, and in particular for Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch & Yellowhammer. However, the ringed 'veterans' tend to turn up on cold days, and we had Blackbirds from 2012/13(2); Blue Tits from 2010/11 and 2012/13(2); Robins from 2010/11 and 2012/13(3); Yellowhammers from 2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13. We also controlled a Tree Sparrow ringed as a pullus - not a common event!

Captures were (new/retraps) 114 (75/39): Blackbird 9/3, Blue Tit 6/6, Chaffinch 13/3, Dunnock 2/2, Fieldfare 2/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1/0, Great Tit 4/10, Redwing 2/0, Robin 4/5, Tree Sparrow 7/1, Yellowhammer 24/9.

Thanks to Lorna Griffiths for all the photos

Jim

Herons & Cormorants at Attenborough, Sunday 21 December 2014

Duncan, Mick and I made a late check of the 2014 Grey Heron and Cormorant nests at Attenborough Nature Reserve. One of the wardens, Alex Gilham, drove us around in the Trust boat. We knew at least 23 heron nests had been used for breeding attempts, and wanted to see whether they'd been successful or not. On account of high water levels we could not check all nests, and of those we checked 18 looked to have been successful as there were no signs of dead chicks. We only found one ring, which suggests that unlike last year the majority of pulli got away from their nests.

The overall impression is that, despite some early clutch failures, the Attenborough Grey Herons had a reasonably successful breeding season in 2014. With Mick being out of action, we did not get into the heronry until early May and only some of these chicks were ringed, with 14 Grey Heron pulli being fitted with BTO metal rings and of those only eight getting colour rings. By May, most of the Cormorant pulli are too big to ring safely and we only managed a brood of three. One of them though (CVA) has been see four times already - three times in Yorkshire at RSPB Old Moor, Rotherham and Orgreave, and on the Ceredigion coast on 12 December.

Jim

Movements of Cormorant CVA (map prepared by M. Pearson)

All photos by Alex Gilham

Flintham, 28-30 December 2014

Every winter or so the weather is spot on for orchard thrush ringing. It needs to be freezing, preferably with snow on the ground as well as calm so that the nets aren't too visible. The harder weather makes birds 'tamer' as they search for food and grounded apples are top if the list!

The last few days of December ticked all the boxes so Ewan and I set up nets in an orchard at Flintham late in the afternoon on the 28th. Straight away we caught an adult female Sparrowhawk as the sun was setting.

With David, Sam and Tom variously involved, over the next two mornings we went on to catch and ring 95 thrushes of four species (mainly Fieldfare and Blackbird), but also species I don't catch regularly like Coal Tit, Mistle Thrush (my first in 15 years!) and Starling.

The total number of birds ringed was 105(all new), broken down as: Blackbird 30, Chaffinch 1, Coal Tit 1, Fieldfare 59, Long-tailed Tit 1, Mistle Thrush 1, Redwing 5, Robin 2, Sparrowhawk 1, Starling 2, Wood Pigeon 2.

Jim

Fieldfare (Tom Shields)

 Fieldfare (Samantha Franks)

 orchard ringing (Samantha Franks)

Mistle Thrush (Samantha Franks)

Granby, Friday 26 December

Ewan, Emma and I took advantage of a drop in the wind to have a morning at the Granby feeders on Boxing Day. We managed 57 birds, two-thirds of which were tits and nearly all those were retraps. It was surprising not to catch any Yellowhammers at this time of year at all.

Capture totals were (new/retraps) 57(22/25): Blue Tit 3/17, Chaffinch 6/2, Dunnock 2/1, Great Tit 1/12, Long-tailed Tit 4/0, Redwing 2/0, Robin 0/2, Tree Sparrow 4/0, Wren 0/1.

Most of the retraps were from this and last winter, but we did have a 2010/11 Blue Tit, 2011/12 Great Tit & Chaffinch and a 2012/13 Great Tit.

Jim

Kingston on Soar, Sunday 28 December

A freezing, snow-covered scene appeared before Alex, Gary and I as dawn broke at Kingston. We thought the cold weather would hopefully pull in a few more birds to the feeders. The first net round produced a few birds but not as many as expected, catching then continued with just a few birds each round. We thought we would have had a bigger catch given the perfect conditions but we did get a nice variety with another new Jay and 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers. The morning ended with a total of 28 birds made up of (new/retrap): Robin 2/0, Chaffinch 6/1, Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 1/5, Coal Tit 1/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Blackbird 2/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Redwing 1/0, Great Spotted Woodpecker 3/0, Jay 1/0.

Kev