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.

 



Migrants & Breeding

With migrating birds still coming in (or yet to arrive in some species cases), some of those that have arrived are already getting down to business building nests and breeding. Resident species are also doing the same.

A pre-CES session on Wednesday at Priory Country Park, Bedford produced the following:

Green Woodpecker 0 (1) - 2 years, 315 days (from 2011)

Wren 3 (2) - including one from 2012
Dunnock 0 (4) - including one from 2011
Robin 1 (0)
Blackbird 1 (0)
Song Thrush 2 (0)
Blackcap 6 (1) - including a control
Chiffchaff 1 (1) - retrap from 2011
Long Tailed Tit 1 (1) - retrap from 2011
Blue Tit 3 (1) - retrap from 2011
Great Tit 1 (1)
Chaffinch 2 (0)
Bullfinch 1 (0)

I was struck by the number of females already well advanced with brood patches and in egg. Already in egg were: Long Tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Dunnock Brood patches were present in: Song Thrush, Blackcap, Blackbird, Chaffinch.

If the weather stays good, we could be in for a good breeding season.

A return to action

The start of 2014 was a bit windy and a wash out, meaning not many ringers were able to put any mist nets up. I've also been busy elsewhere but I've managed to find a bit of free time coinciding with ringable weather so a couple of early morning starts at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve have produced the following (retraps in brackets).

Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 (3) - 4 different birds (including an IRG & site longevity record at 3 years and 15 days)

Wren 0 (2)

Dunnock 0 (5) - including a site longevity record at 3 years, 25 days

Blackbird 1 (0) - a breeding female with a advanced brood patch (code 3)

Song Thrush 1 (0)

Chiffchaff 1 (0) - the first of the spring migrants

Long Tailed Tit 1 (1) - see photographs below

Blue Tit 1 (3)

Great Tit 1 (4)

Chaffinch 2 (1)

10 new birds and 19 retraps (29 handlings, 26 different birds).

There was one bird that went away unringed - that's because we are forbidden to ring this game species:



Above: A Red-Legged Partridge

Red-Legged Partridges, if they do stray into mist nets, would be more likely to leave a hole than to stay in. This one, after having a photo taken, was released and left to go on its merry way.

A much more regularly caught bird, the Long Tailed Tit, threw up another surprise as you can see:

Above & Below: Long Tailed Tit

This bird still retained some pigmentation, but was remarkably pale all over. It was caught along with a regularly coloured bird (presumably a pair) and had a better weight, though the colour of the bird does not effect it's ability to feed. It may provide it with more camouflage during the snowy times though!

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.

Eager to learn

By Martin A:

I gave a talk to the Eversholt Beaver pack on Monday 3rd June.

Twenty Beavers, all 6 and 7 years old, came to my ringing station which happens to be in my back garden. Unfortunately, due to the strengthening breeze, I only managed to catch them two Greenfinch but they were an adult male and female so I was able to show them the differences.

The Beavers showed just how eager they were to learn and asked some great questions!

I also showed them a Coal Tit nest and pictures of the eggs and the adult bird. We talked about putting up bird boxes and what to feed the birds.



 Above & below: Martin (dark blue top) shows the Eversholt Beaver pack a Greenfinch.

After half an hour the Beavers had to go. I hope a good time was had by all.

CES 2 and other sessions

On Saturday, CES session 2 was run at Priory Country Park as follows:

Wren 1 (1)
Dunnock 1 (4) - two of the retraps from 2010
Reed Warbler 2 (0)
Whitethroat 1 (1)
Garden Warbler 1 (0)
Blackcap 0 (2) - one of the retraps was from 2011
Long Tailed Tit 1 (0)
Blue Tit 1 (0)

7 new & 9 retraps = 16 birds of 8 species.

Averages for CES 2 are 15 new and 6 retraps. Thus, CES 2 this year (as CES 1) is showing fewer new birds than average but more retraps than average. I am told there are fewer Chiffchaffs around than normal and none have yet been ringed on CES.

On Friday and Sunday, I did a couple of sessions at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve which proved worthwhile.

Above: A control Common Whitethroat

Friday brought the following birds:

Great Spotted Woodpecker 0 (1)
Dunnock 0 (1)
Blackbird 0 (1)
Whitethroat 2 (3) including a control
Garden Warbler 1 (1)
Blue Tit 0 (3)
Chaffinch 3 (0)
Greenfinch 1 (0)
Goldfinch 1 (0)

Sunday brought a few more birds:

Dunnock 0 (1)
Sedge Warbler 0 (1)
Whitethroat 2 (2)
Garden Warbler 0 (2)
Blackcap 3 (0)
Long Tailed Tit 0 (2)
Coal Tit 0 (1)
Blue Tit 0 (1)
Great Tit 0 (2)
Chaffinch 0 (2)
Greenfinch 1 (0)
Lesser Redpoll 1 (0)

Above: An unseasonal and suprise Lesser Redpoll. Perhaps there is still some movement of this species going on, perhaps it's staying around.

A few of the birds also added to the longevity records for the site (including Whitethroat, Blue Tit & Great Tit). I don't normally catch Greenfinch here so 4 new ones recently is good.



Also seen at SSNR were a flock of 7 Linnets. I managed this rather poor photograph (above) before they departed.

Wind free for once!

As a nice change of pace, Sunday and Monday (last weekend) were largely wind free! This allowed me to get out ringing and catch some of those summer migrants that come to breed in the UK and begin another year of Constant Effort ringing at Priory Country Park (PCP).


On Sunday, I ran CES Visit 1 at PCP. Totals, including extra nets, were as follows (retraps in brackets):


Wren 2 (1)
Dunnock 1 (3)
Blackbird 1 (2)
Whitethroat 3 (3)
Garden Warbler 1 (0)
Blackcap 3 (1)
Willow Warbler 2 (0)
Long Tailed Tit 0 (1)
Great Tit 1 (0)
Chaffinch 1 (0)
Bullfinch 1 (1)

That makes a total of 16 new and 12 retraps - 28 overall. Average for CES visit 1 (including extra nets) is 30, of which 21 are normally 'new' and 9 are normally 'retraps'. Whilst the 2013 total is just short of average, the ratio of new to retrap is more in favour of the returning adults rather than recruitment of new adults. This could be a result of a poor breeding season last year. Delayed breeding and migration from the cold weather in early spring may also have a bearing here. But this is just a small sample and I'm far from being an expert!

Whitethroats were the most numerous on this visit and could be seen feeding well around the area. One of the retraps was first ringed on 1st May 2011, whilst the other 2 retraps were both ringed on 13th May last year.

2 of the 3 Dunnock retraps were from 2010 and the other from last year. One of the Blackbirds was ringed in 2010. The Blackcap retrap was ringed as a juvenile in July 2011. All the other retraps were from birds ringed in 2012.

The best birds were 2 new Willow Warblers. The numbers ringed at this site have steadily decreased over the last 20 years to the point where last year was the first year where none were ringed at all.

A ringing demo for The Wildlife Trust 'dawn chorus' walkers was well received.

On Bank Holiday Monday, a visit to Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR) produced a tally of 40 birds of 12 species as follows (retraps in brackets).

Green Woodpecker 1 (0)
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 (4)
Wren 2 (0)
Dunnock 1 (1)
Sedge Warbler 3 (1)
Whitethroat 2 (5)
Garden Warbler 1 (0)
Long Tailed Tit 0 (1)
Great Tit 1 (3)
Chaffinch 6 (3)
Greenfinch 2 (0)
Goldfinch 2 (0)

Above: A Whitethroat. 2 of the retraps were ringed at SSNR in 2011 whilst the other 3 were ringed last year (all as adults). L302789, ringed on 22/04/11 set a new longevity record for the site at 2 years and 14 days.

Chaffinches were, surprisingly, the most numerous species. I normally catch a couple per session but I think a small change in feeder & net set up may have proved to be useful. A new longevity record for the site was set by L302734 - 2 years and 62 days. Also, a bird ringed in a field at nearby Beadlow earlier this year was retrapped at SSNR. More pictures & info of this ringing session can be found here.

In terms of breeding evidence at both sites, the resident species (Dunnock, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Great Spotted Woodpeckers), in general, seem to be ahead of the migrant species. More residents are showing respective male/female apendages/brood patches whereas there is little or no evidence yet of this in the migrant species.

Lets hope 2013 is a good breeding year.

A slow and windy April

With a lot of wind ringing has not often been possible and when I have been out, totals have been low. However, I did manage to add Redwing to the Sandy Smith Nature Reserve list of species ringed. There was also a controlled Long Tailed Tit (March) and yesterday, this:



Above: An adult male Green Woodpecker.

The Siskin, Redpoll and Brambling invasion that has been reported by many other ringers and from garden feeding stations has completely passed me by in the last month or so.

Effort at Priory Country Park has yet to really begin. A pre CES session was cancelled today due to the wind and I'm going to be away in Sardinia unitl the CES season starts again. I hope the wind dies down by then!

Chalton STW 17 February 2013

The first real session here of the year produced 21 birds of 8 species.
Ringed with retraps in brackets are as follows:

Blackbird 1(1), Dunnock 1(0), Great Tit 2(0), Kingfisher 1(0), Long-tailed Tit 8(1), Pied Wagtail 1(0), Reed Bunting 4(0), Wren 1(0).

Also on site was 11 cormorant first thing and 2 little Egret.

The beginning of the year has seen work started on the removal of typha and willow from the pond area. Hopefully, this will be a large improvement when complete.

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.

Recent Highlights

The weather is still interfering with operations and as the rain stopped play today, I've taken the chance to update my records and go through photographs.



Above: A male Siskin, one of 3 caught this autumn at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR). The rest of the flock (50 +) is proving as ellusive as always!

Above: A male Lesser Redpoll ringed at SSNR.

This autumn, I have more than doubled the number Lesser Redpoll ringed at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (11 previous + 19 new = 30) AND at Priory Country Park (10 previous + 18 new = 28). One of the Lesser Redpoll's caught at Priory already had a ring on it from elsewhere (I won't find out where for a while yet).

Above: A Goldcrest, a new species for the ringing list at SSNR. Why this species hasn't been ringed here before is a puzzle. Perhaps it's just down to luck.



Above: An October sunset at SSNR from where I park my ringing station!

So far this year (last year in brackets), of 896 (1411) handlings at Priory Country Park, 711 (1016) have been new for the year and of those 585 (868) have been new birds. Effort this year so far = 30 sessions (26 last year).

So far this year (last year in brackets), of 710 (999) handlings at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve, 462 (738) have been new for year and of those 386 (693) have been new birds. Effort this year so far = 32 sessions (36 last year).

I'm not going to worry last years totals, but there's still a good few weekends left between now and the new year (though having my bird feeders at Priory stolen isn't going to help the birds or my totals).

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 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)

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.

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.

Turdus viscivorus

Today at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR) the first bird of the day was a Chaffinch. It turns out this Chaffinch was ringed somewhere other than SSNR and by somebody else other than me (it did have a British ring on it).

A site ringing first came in the afternoon - Starling. Presumably coming to the peanuts.



Above: Starling

Based on observations, a new net site was operated and it caught 1 bird...



Above: Mistle Thrush - Turdus viscivorus

Another site first and a ringing 'tick' for me (my 4th self caught tick - all of which have been at SSNR). I couldn't have done it without help so thanks go to Amanda. More details can be found here

Today's totals: In order of appearance - new (retraps)

Chaffinch 4 (0) and 1 control
Dunnock 1 (3)
Great Tit 1 (4)
Coal Tit 1 (0)
Greenfinch 1 (4)
Blue Tit 2 (0)
Goldfinch 4 (1)
Starling 1 (0)
Mistle Thrush 1 (0)

25 birds of 9 species.

Yesterday, I was at Priory Country Park. On the non-bird front, I saw a Stoat! On the bird front, in order of appearance, ringing stoatals were: New (Retrap)

Blue Tit 9 (9)
Long Tailed Tit 0 (4)
Dunnock 1 (4)
Blackbird 1 (0)
Song Thrush 1 (0)
Bullfinch 2 (2)
Great Tit 11 (8)
Wren 0 (1)

53 birds of 8 species.



Above: One of four Bullfinch.

Sandy Smith Nature Reserve

This weekend I've been ringing at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve.



Above: A Lesser Redpoll.



Above: A Brambling - a first for SSNR.

For more details & more birds, see my blog.

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).

Sandy Smith NR Latest

A days ringing at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (03/09/11) turned out a lot better than expected, adding 4 new species for the site. 2 of them ringing ticks for me and 3 of them I had never caught myself before.



Above: First up, 3 Meadow Pipits.



Above: Next, 2 Green Woodpeckers. Here David is holding one of them.



Above: A Spotted Flycatcher.



Above: Last but not least, a Wheatear.

For more info on the session, visit my blog here.