CES Visit 5 - Priory Country Park

Todays bird ringing session - CES visit 5 at Priory Country Park - was dominated by juvenile birds.

41 birds of 13 species, 32 new & 9 retraps (retraps in brackets).

Chiffchaff 4 (2) - 5 of these were juveniles
Great Tit 4 (0) - all 4 juveniles
Wren 1 (1)
Blue Tit 7 (0) - all 7 juveniles
Long Tailed Tit 1 (0) - a juvenile
Bullfinch 1 (0) - a juvenile
Dunnock 1 (2) - of these 2 were juveniles (the other being a retrap adult)
Blackbird 4 (0) - 4 new juveniles
Robin 2 (1) - including 1 new juvenile
Blackcap 4 (2) - including 1 new juvenile
Greenfinch 1 (0)
Chaffinch 1 (0)
Song Thrush 1 (0) - a juvenile

That's a total of 27 juveniles. Here are some of the cast:

Above: A juvenile Blackbird on the left and an adult female on the right for comparison.

Above: A juvenile Song Thrush - note all the thorn shaped markings on the wing.



Above: A juvenile Chiffchaff.



Above: A juvenile Robin (left) and adult Robin (right) for comparison. It will be a while yet before the baby Robin gets its own red breast - it has to replace and grow more feathers before that happens.

Above: A juvenile Bullfinch

Last weekend, we made a visit to 'the crescent' where we caught 20 different adult Reed Warblers moving between the reed bed and surrounding vegetation. Of the other 10 birds we caught, of only note was our first juvenile Blackcap of the year at this site.

Now to hope the wind dies down a bit so I can make the most of my weekend ringing activities.

Late news of CES 3 & 4

CES 3 - Priory Country Park (27/05/12) - Total 17 = 6 new, 11 retraps
Dunnock 0 (4)
Blackcap 0 (1)
Reed Warbler 2 (0)
House Sparrow 1 (0) - the first one ringed in the Rough since Oct 2008
Robin 2 (1) - including 2 juveniles (not the first of the year)
Blue Tit 0 (1)
Garden Warbler 1 (0)
Whitethroat 0 (2) - including a retrap from 2007
Wren 0 (2)

Last year CES 3 at Priory CP (22/05/12) we had a total of 26 birds. Included in this catch were juvenile Blue Tits and Dunnocks. The bad weather seems to have made the juveniles fledge later this year.

CES 3 - The Thorns - Total 26 = 14 new, 12 retraps

Jay 1 (0) an adult female with brood patch

Long-tailed Tit 1 (2)
Wren 1 (1)
Great Tit 2 (1) - two new youngsters
Garden Warbler 2 (1) looking like a good season for these
Blackcap 5 (2) … and these
Chaffinch 1 (0)
Blue Tit 1 (0)
Chiffchaff 0 (1)
Whitethroat 0 (1)
Dunnock 0 (2)
Robin 0 (1)

CES 4 - Priory Country Park (05/06/12) - Total 19 = 11 new, 8 retraps
Blackcap 1 (2)
Chiffchaff 4 (2) - including 3 juveniles (first of this species this year)
Robin 2 (0)
Chaffinch 0 (2)
Dunnock 2 (0) - First juveniles of this species this year
Wren - 1 (1)
Whitethroat - 0 (1)
Blue Tit - 1 (0) - First juvenile of this species this year

Last year CES 4 at Priory CP (05/06/12) we had a total of 47 birds. Included in this catch were juvenile Whitethroats, Blackcaps, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Chaffinch and Coal Tit. Further evidence to support that the juveniles are fledging later this year.


CES 4 - The Thorns - Total 30 = new, retraps

Kestrel 1 (0)
Dunnock 1 (2)
Robin 1 (0)
Blackbird 0 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat 2 (0)
Whitethroat 0 (2)
Garden Warbler 0 (1)
Blackcap 3 (1)
Chiffchaff 0 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 4 (1)
Great tit 1 (0)
Treecreeper 0 (1)
Chaffinch 3 (0)
Bullfinch 4 (0)

Thanks to Guy & Chris for the totals from The Thorns.

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.