New for Year totals and a few recoveries

I have, quite rightly, been chided for not updating this blog in a quite a while - sorry for that. By way of an update on my ringing sites (Priory Country Park and Sandy Smith Nature Reserve) I feel it would be best to give you New for Year totals (for those unfamiliar with this phrase it gives a proven population total filtering out same year retraps).

Priory Country Park

Woodpigeon 2
Green Woodpecker 4
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2
Wren 26
Dunnock 41
Robin 25
Blackbird 31
Song Thrush 11
Reed Warbler 13
Whitethroat 19
Garden Warbler 29
Blackcap 148
Chiffchaff 41
Willow Warbler 2
Goldcrest 10
Long Tailed Tit 13
Blue Tit 85
Great Tit 60
Treecreeper 4
Magpie 2
Chaffinch 16
Goldfinch 8
Bullfinch 7

This comprises of 599 individual birds of 23 species. CES results are included in the totals - but so are non-CES results. All 12 CES visits were completed for the 4th year running. CES results this year were much improved on the previous two years, though not spectacular. The highlight being 4 Green Woodpeckers - normally we are lucky to catch 1 per year at this site - and a Blackbird first ringed in 2005 (a new IRG longevity record at an elderly 8 years, 312 days). Also of note were 10 Goldcrests caught before the arrival those of continental origins. An exceptional breeding year for the park.

Sandy Smith Nature Reserve

Mute Swan 1
Kingfisher 4
Green Woodpecker 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker 11
Meadow Pipit 1
Yellow Wagtail 1
Pied Wagtail 1
Wren 42
Dunnock 41
Robin 14
Stonechat 2
Blackbird 8
Song Thrush 5
Sedge Warbler 12
Reed Warbler 5
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Whitethroat 35
Garden Warbler 8
Blackcap 98
Chiffchaff 31
Willow Warbler 8
Goldcrest 6
Spotted Flycatcher 1
Long Tailed Tit 26
Marsh Tit 1
Coal Tit 7
Blue Tit 138
Great Tit 151
Nuthatch 4
Treecreeper 4
Jay 8
Magpie 4
Jackdaw 1
Chaffinch 20
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 4
Yellowhammer 1
Reed Bunting 5

This comprises of 713 individual birds of 38 species. All species new for the site this year are in bold (53 species have now been ringed on site & one - Mute Swan - with colour rings read). Of note - it was an extremely good year for catching Jays - at 8 new birds this is more than were caught in the entire county last year. Whitethroats had good numbers of adults around but didn't have a successful breeding season. The end of August & beginning of September were extremely good for high catch totals (150 being the highest of 3 sessions that went over 100).

Best bird status has to go to Stonechat. A juvenile male and female were ringed yesterday (16/11/14). The first in 20 years for the group - with just 3 previous records.

Above: Male and Female Stonechat.

 

More photographs of the Stonechats and a Pied Wagtail can be found on my blog here as well as other highlights of the year.

 

News of a few recoveries have filtered through as follows:

 

Blue Tit - V670579 - Ringed 28/05/12 at John O'Gaunt Golf Club. Recaptured 21/04/14 in Potton. A movement of 2 km, 693 days later.

 

Kestrel - EL36089 - Ringed 07/02/13 at Carlton. Road Casualy 21/09/14 in Chellington. A movement of 3 km, 591 days later.

 

Blue Tit - L302621 - Ringed 05/03/12 at Preston, Hertfordshire. Recaptured 12/04/14 Maydencroft Manor, Hertfordshire. A movement of 4 km, 768 days later.

 

Swallow - D044249  - Ringed 26/06/13 at Cardington. Ring read in field - 01/08/14 at Southill. A movement of 9 km, 401 days later.

 



Recent recoveries

Here is a list of recent recoveries that Ivel Ringing Group has received: LESSER REDPOLL, ringed Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (Bedfordshire) 24/11/12, controlled Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire 05/05/13. 275 km, 162 days, NNW. SISKIN, ringed Sandy Smith Nature Reserve 08/12/12, controlled Callander, Stirling 530 km, 154 days, NNW. SISKIN, ringed Wibrin, Luxembourg, BELGIUM 24/02/12, controlled Sandy Smith Nature Reserve 08/08/12. 474km, 288 days, WNW. REED BUNTING, ringed Sandy Smith Nature Reserve 26/05/12, field observation Southill, (Bedfordshire) 12/04/13. 6 km, 321 days, NE. MAGPIE, ringed Chalton STW (Bedfordshire) 29/09/12, road casualty, Haynes (Bedfordshire) 10/03/13. 14 km, 162 days, NNE. CHAFFINCH, ringed Everton (Bedfordshire) 07/08/11, found dead, Little Paxton 10/03/13. 12 km, 581 days, N. BLUE TIT, ringed Carlton (Bedfordshire) 22/10/12, controlled Olney, Milton Keynes 19/05/13. 8 km, 209 days. SWALLOW, ringed Marston Moretaine (Bedfordshire) 02/09/12, controlled Rainworth, Nottinghamshire 14/05/13. 125 km, 254 days.

A few recovery reports...

This week, the Ivel Ringing Group received a number of recovery reports from BTO. Here is a selection:

Cetti's Warbler ringed 26/08/12 at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire. Controlled at Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire on 11/11/12. Movement of 63 km, WSW in 77 days.

Mute Swan ringed 03/10/12 at Brandon Creek, Norfolk. Controlled at St. Neots, Cambridgeshire on 15/10/12. Movement of 54 km, SW in 12 days.

Lesser Redpoll ringed on 13/10/12 near Bestwood, Nottinghamshire. Controlled at Priory Country Park, Bedford on 28/10/12. Movement of 113 km, SSE in 15 days.

Swallow ringed 09/07/12 near Hawnby, North Yorks. Controlled at Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire on 22/09/12. Movement of 258 km, S in 75 days.

Swallow ringed 13/07/12 near Hazleslack, Storth, Cumbria. Controlled at Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire on 03/09/12. Movement of 283 km SSE in 52 days.

Sand Martin ringed at Icklesham, East Sussex on 19/08/12. Controlled at Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire on 31/08/12. Movement of 154 km, NNW in 12 days. (This one is interesting - has it moved in the opposite direction to what would be expected? Perhaps it was prospecting for potential breeding sites for 2013!)

Goldfinch ringed at Links Wood, Newport, Fife on 10/08/12. Controlled at Eversholt, Bedfordshire on 15/11/12. Movement of 515 km, SSE in 97 days.

A good start to December

Finally, a weekend without rain and it proved to be worthwhile getting out of bed!

Above: A female Blackcap. In all, I caught 4 Blackcaps (3 at Priory including the female above) and a female at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR) that had a Strasbourg ring on its leg! More about the session at SSNR can be found here.

Above: An adult male Kestrel. Seen, unusually (perhaps because of floods and icy conditions), around the ringing area at Priory Country Park (PCP) all day. It got some bling & it then continued to spend the rest of the day in the area but keeping a respectful distance this time! Only the second to be ringed at this site (the other in 2003). More about this session can be found here.

More Lesser Redpolls were ringed at SSNR & PCP. 2 Song Thrushes were rare for SSNR and A good number of new Blackbirds were ringed at both sites.

Finally, a Chiffchaff ringed at SSNR on 15/07/12 was controlled in Letchworth on 27/08/12 - 43 days later. A movement of 11km in an ESE direction.

Blackbird Recovery

News came through yesterday of a Blackbird ringed at Priory Country Park on 9th December 2009 as a juvenile male. Unfortunately, it had met a sad end - this is a common way for ringers to find out what happens to some of our birds. The fortune this time was on our side as it had made its way to FINLAND!

It was found on 23rd September 2011, at Vistanvagen, Soderudden, Vaasa, Finland - 653 days after it was ringed in Bedford - a distance of 1775km in a North Easterly direction.

Details of the ringing session this bird was caught on can be found here (it was the first bird caught that day).

Wildfowl returns

WWT have sent through a few recovery records for the Blunham trap.

Pochard - 6M on 13 Jan 08, shot at Saint-Philbert-de-Grand-Lieu (Loire-Atlantique) France on 17 Dec 08; a case of wintering 577 km further south 11 months later.

Tufted - 3 males shot in the Russian Federation:
3M on 31 Dec 01, shot in Pecherskiy district, Komi Assr, RR, 2694 days later on 17 May 09, 3583 km ENE.
6M on 7 Jan 05, shot in Khanty-Mansi, Tyumen, RR, 1594 days later on 20 May 09, 3865 km ENE.
4M on 30 Nov 05, shot in Yamal-Nenets, Tyumen, RR, 1274 days later on 27 May 09, 4002 km ENE.

Recovery of Tufted FP93907

Wigeon - 6M on 20 Feb 06, shot near Berezovskiy, Sverdlovsk, RF, 3970 km E on 15 Apr 09.

Recovery of Wigeon FH00889

The riddle of the sands

Just had the above Common Tern back via the BTO.

It was ringed at Roxton on 3rd June 2003 as a pullus and found at Eemshavn, which is the port serving Groningen via the Eemskanal. The bird was found freshly dead on 7th September, how or why is not known, nor exactly where. It is a busy area with petro-chemical storage facilities.

Distance 500 km ENE (official) - 6years 3 months & 4 days.

[With apologies to Erskine Childers]