Late news of CES visit 2 results

Priory Country Park (13/05/12) 13 new, (12 retraps) as follows:

Garden Warbler 2 (2)

Blackcap 3 (2)
Reed Warbler 1 (0)
Song Thrush 1 (0)
Dunnock 0 (2) - including 1 retrap from 2008
Chaffinch 1 (0)
Whitethroat 2 (2) - including 1 retrap from 2008
Robin 2 (0) - both juveniles (our first of the year)
Chiff Chaff 1 (1)
Great Tit 0 (2)
Blackbird 0 (1) - a retrap from 2008

A well attended dawn chorus guided walk popped in for a ringing demonstration and left happy having seen a Song Thrush, Garden Warbler, Dunnock and Blackcap.

Later on in the morning, we saw the first Turtle Dove (see photograph) of the year at Priory and a Peregrine.
Thanks to Guy & team for results from The Thorns (19/05/12) are 20 new, (12 retraps) as follows:
 
Blackbird 0 (1)

Song Thrush 1 (0)
Robin 2 (1)
Willow Warbler 1 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 2 (1)
Wren 1 (0)
Whitethroat 5 (2)
Blackcap 1 (1)
Bullfinch 1 (2)
Dunnock 0 (2)
Garden Warbler 3 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat 2 (0)
Grasshopper Warbler 1 (0)

Chalton STW 06/05/2012

An extremely pleasing start to the season. Although we have opted out of the CES due to the site changing rapidly it has meant we are able to put up nets in other areas.

Our first session for some time produced 84 birds. 63 new and 21 re-traps of 14 species which included two controls.

Blackbird            3/0
Blackcap             8/0
Blue Tit               2/8
Bullfinch             2/0
Dunnock             2/1
Great Tit             2/2
Long-tailed Tit    1/3
Reed Bunting     3/0
Reed Warbler     2/1
Sedge Warbler   9/3
Song Thrush      2/0
Swallow              23/0
Whitethroat        3/2
Wren                  1/1

We also had a Great-crested Grebe on one of the lagoons.

CES season begins

The Constant Effort season begun across the country during the week. Locally, those of us involved seemed to choose Sunday as the better day for ringing activities.

At Priory Country Park, we caught 17 birds in total (retraps in brackets) as follows:

Blackcap 3 (1)
Sedge Warbler 1 (0)
Chaffinch 1 (0)
Garden Warbler 3 (1) - the retrap having been ringed as an adult in 2009
Chiff Chaff 3 (0)
Blackbird 0 (1) - the retrap having been ringed as a juvenile in 2005
Dunnock 0 (1)
Blue Tit 0 (1)
Robin 1 (0)

A little cold today but nice to see summer migrants such as Garden Warbler again (very recently in).

At the Thorns CES, they caught 46 birds (new/retrap) as follows:

Song Thrush (2/0)
Willow Warbler (2/0)
Chiffchaff (5/2)
Long-tailed Tit (3/2)
Wren (2/0)
Whitethroat (3/0)
Blackcap (9/1)
Bullfinch (6/0)
Dunnock (1/2)
Garden Warbler (1/0)
Blue Tit (1/0)
Lesser Whitethroat (1/0)
Great Tit (2/0)
Blackbird (0/1)

Only 11 more visits (each) to go between now & the beginning of September!

1st Quarter Ringing totals.

After Mark shared his totals for his sites for Jan-March, I thought I'd do the same. I'm up on the same period last year so I'm hoping for a bumper year - I've got nothing better to do so I've got a good chance at beating last year's totals which were (retraps in brackets):

SSNR 693 + (306) = 999
PCP 860 + (415) = 1275

Total for both sites 1557 + (722) = 2279

Priory Country Park

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 (1)
Wren 2 (6)
Dunnock 2 (13)
Robin 0 (4)
Blackbird 6 (0)
Song Thrush 1 (0)
Redwing 1 (0)
Blackcap 11 (0)
Chiff chaff 1 (2)
Long Tailed Tit 10 (11)
Blue Tit 19 (30)
Great Tit 25 (32)
Treecreeper 1 (0)
Chaffinch 2 (0)
Bullfinch 2 (3)
Reed Bunting 1 (0)

Total 85 + (102) = 187 of 16 species

Sandy Smith Nature Reserve

Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 (5)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 1 (0)
Wren 2 (1)
Dunnock 7 (31)
Robin 1 (2)
Blackbird 5 (2)
Song Thrush 2 (0)
Mistle Thrush 1 (0)
Long Tailed Tit 7 (7)
Coal Tit 2 (2)
Blue Tit 8 (38)
Great Tit 9 (23)
Starling 1 (0)
Chaffinch 14 (4)
Brambling 1 (0)
Greenfinch 2 (0)
Goldfinch 21 (1)
Siskin 3 (0)
Common Redpoll 1 (0)
Lesser Redpoll 11 (1)
Reed Bunting 2 (0)

Total 103 + (117) = 220 or 21 species

Total for both sites = 188 + (219)= 407

The above totals do not include birds ringed/retrapped in April which now includes a new species for SSNR:



Above: A Magpie.

First quarter summary

I've had a very quiet first three months of the year on the ringing front, due to other work taking precedence. Hopefully things will be getting back to normal from now on.

My ringing totals for the year so far are listed below, with retraps shown in brackets:

Wren 1
Dunnock (+1)
Robin 1
Blackbird 2
Song Thrush 1
Cetti's Warbler 1
Long-tailed Tit 1 (+1)
Marsh Tit (+1)
Coal Tit 4 (+1)
Blue Tit 20 (+16)
Great Tit 8 (+3)
Nuthatch (+1)
Chaffinch 1
Reed Bunting 9
Total 49 (+24), Grand Total 73

Of the 73 birds processed, 35 were caught at Bromham Mill, 16 at Marston Vale Millennium Country Park and 22 at Bedfordshire Golf Club, Stagsden.

Sandy Smith Nature Reserve 28/02/12

Numbers wise today, it started off slowly and picked up a bit mid morning.



Above: A Siskin (on the right) and a Lesser Redpoll (on the left).

For the third time in 3 days, I caught a new species for the site...



Above: A Common (Mealy) Redpoll. All the previous redpoll's I've caught have been of the Lesser variety. This bird and a Great Tit formed a small and impromtu ringing demonstration to two delighted passers by who took an interest in what I was doing.

After the Common Redpoll, another new species for the site (and for me) was the next bird out of the net and it was a rarity. There are only a handful of birds of this species in the county and are nationally scarce. I have never seen one before and it is a rare day indeed that one is ringed. I am told only 6 have been ringed in Bedfordshire since 1980, the last of which was ringed in 1992 - 20 years ago!

I should find out how many the Ivel Ringing Group have ever ringed.



Above: A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.


A number of Jays were seen. 2 Woodcock were flushed in Upper Alders (wet woodland), lots of fieldfare about, skylarks were singing, 2 buzzards and 2 Little Owls were seen. One that missed the nets (thankfully) was a Pheasant. One that got away was Sparrowhawk - would have been a site first but it extracted itself about two seconds
after I realised something large was in the net!

For more photographs, visit my blog here.

Totals for the day in order of appearance: New (retrap)

Long Tailed Tit 2 (1)
Blue Tit 0 (4)
Robin 0 (1)
Coal Tit 1 (1)
Goldfinch 3 (0)
Great Tit 2 (1)
Wren 1 (0)
Lesser Redpoll 2 (0)
Siskin 1 (0)
Common Redpoll 1 (0)
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 1 (0)
Chaffinch 2 (0)
Great Spotted Woodpecker 0 (1)

25 birds of 13 species - a good variety.

Stockgrove Country Park 26/02/2012

The first session at Stockgrove CP for some time. This still produced 27 birds of 8 species. These are ringed/retraps in brackets

Blue Tit 4(3)
Chaffinch 3(0)
Coal Tit 4(0)
Dunnock 1(0)
Great Tit 4(4)
Goldfinch 1(0)
Marsh Tit 1(0)
Nuthatch 1(1)

A siskin did just miss the net, buzzards were heard calling overhead with great-spotted woodpeckers drumming within the close vicinity.