Clearing the news backlog

There's a backlog of news that's built up since our last post to the IRG blog so I'll start with the most recent, and work my way backwards!

A ringing session yesterday at a field near Sandy Smith Nature Reserve. Totals: 70 birds of 11 species comprising of 66 new and 4 retraps (retraps in brackets below):

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 (0)
Dunnock 6 (0)
Robin 1 (0)
Blackbird 1 (0)
Blue Tit 6 (1) - retrap ringed at SSNR 15/07/12, 209 days ago
Great Tit 1 (0)
Chaffinch 4 (1) - retrap ringed at SSNR 24/11/12, 77 days ago
Goldfinch 1 (0)
Lesser Redpoll 1 (0)
Reed Bunting 41 (2) - both retraps ringed at SSNR 11/03/12, 335 days ago
Yellowhammer 3 (0)

Above: Yellowhammer

For more photographs of this ringing session, see here. And no, it's not a typo, I did catch 43 Reed Buntings!

Last weekend, the Priory Country Park volunteers kindly agreed to help out with managing the vegetation within the CES site. They did a marvelous job. Thank you to Jane & the volunteers for all their effort.

Above: The net rides in the 'rough' have had their annual maintenance. It's looking good.

Looking back into January, the two main bits of news I have are that I ringed 13 Fieldfare (and retrapped one) outside my house. This was the first time I'd ringed them. I also caught a few Redwings and Blackbirds.

Above: A fieldfare.

Ringing did take place at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve but with low totals, there wasn't much worthy of news. At Priory Country Park however, a controlled Courn Bunting may well be the first ever movement of a Corn Bunting in/out/within Bedfordshire.

Above: A Corn Bunting

Now for December - there was a second foreign controlled bird a week after my last post in December (when I told you about a foreign ringed Blackcap). I also made 1000 handlings at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve. And then there's the 2012 highlights which were as follows:
Priory Country Park:

• Lesser Redpoll control (awaiting details)
• Blackcap ringed in September 2011 controlled at Grafham Water Nature Reserve in May 2012
• Blackcap ringed in September 2011 controlled at Portland Bill, Dorset in April 2012
• 2nd Kestrel for site ringed
• 2nd Jay for site ringed
• All 12 CES visits were completed

2012 ringing totals and review for Priory Country Park can be found here.

Sandy Smith Nature Reserve:

• Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ringed (one of 11 new species ringed here)
• 1000 birds handled for the year
• Chiffchaff ringed in July caught at Letchworth in August
• Strasbourg ringed Blackcap caught in December (awaiting details)
• Brussels ringed Siskin caught in December (awaiting details)
• Chaffinch controled at SSNR in February originally ringed at South Lopham, near Thetford in May 2010

2012 ringing totals and review for Sandy Smith Nature Reserve can be found here.

No corny jokes please!

A roost catch produced 29 birds this evening and included this beauty (a female on size):

Above & Below: A Corn Bunting.

Only one was caught (catching this species is notorioiusly difficult) but I learnt several things from this experiment (the net rides were not new but I'd not used them at dusk before). Thanks go to Mike for helping out on short notice.


This species is depicted on the Ivel Ringing Group logo so it's about time we started catching them again.