Last weekend.

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 Bank Holiday Monday, a visit to Sandy Smith Nature Reserve 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 Garden Warbler. This is the 9th ringed here.

Above: A Whitethroat. 2 of the retraps were ringed here 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.

Whitethroats are the 3rd most ringed species at SSNR behind Blue & Great Tits and as long as this spring/summer proves to be a good breeding year, I expect to ring a lot more of these.

Above: A female Greenfinch. A surprise appearance of a male and female at the feeders represents the 8th and 9th ringed here (none have been retrapped).

Above: A Sedge Warbler. The retrap was ringed here July 2012.



Above: A female Green Woodpecker. Always a good day when I ring one of these! The 4th for the site.

Hardly a ringing session at SSNR goes by without a Great Spotted Woodpecker being retrapped and/or ringed. One male, CW08915, doesn't get retrapped during the winter months (Nov to February) but is regularly caught throughout the rest of year. At 2 years and 46 days since it was first ringed, this bird set a new longevity record for the site. I am still hoping to catch CW08911 (the female who I think breeds with CW08915) as this bird also disappears during the winter months.

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.

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.

This weekend may prove to be too windy and/or wet for ringing, so I might post a few bird photographs from Sardninia...

A new venture

After scoping out a new site (a field with a cover crop near Sandy Smith Nature Reserve) and gaining permission to ring there (thanks Chris), I had to wait a while before the weather decided to produce ringing conditions.

Whilst snow was still on the ground, I had seen at least 300 birds including species such as Reed Buntings, Linnets, Lesser Redpolls, Yellowhammers, Skylarks, Green Woodpeckers, Goldfinch, Blackbirds and Chaffinches in the cover crop. I was sure at least some of the species were catchable and could include birds ringed at SSNR.

The weather finally relented yesterday and despite the weather being a lot milder and fewer birds being about, I did well.

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)

A few record photographs:

Above: A female Reed Bunting 

I hadn't expected so many Reed Buntings (I didn't use binoculars or count numbers of each species when I looked at the site) but I'm not complaining... any large catch of Reed Buntings is a red letter day around these parts!

Above: A male Chaffinch

I had expected more Chaffinch to be about, perhaps one of the species that had dispersed since the cold snap (there were fewer Goldfinch too). I did expect to catch a retrap Chaffinch from SSNR where I have ringed 83 in the last few years and I did, albeit a recent one. If I get my timing right, I'm sure there'll be more Chaffinch to ring and retrap.

Above: A male Reed Bunting

From 10 birds ringed at SSNR in the few years, it was nice to retrap 2 of them - both ringed at the same time on the same day. With no retrap records for either site for this species prior to yesterday, the second of the 2 is now the longevity record for both sites by virtue it was recaught a couple of hours later than the first.

Above: A Blue Tit 

Catching Blue Tits I'd ringed at SSNR was inevitable really. They must pass between my feeders at SSNR and the residents feeders at Beadlow - they're only a kilometre apart. The retrapped bird was only retrapped for the first time, perhaps showing it prefers the feeders at Beadlow!

Above: A Great Tit

The nets weren't in the ideal position for catching passing Blue & Great Tits but that obviously didn't matter.



Above: A female Yellowhammer

I have ringed Yellowhammer before (East Yorkshire & Cambridgeshire) but have never caught my own. Yellowhammers have been declining rapidly since the 1980's and may well continue to do so. You can read more about the decline of Yellowhammers on the BTO website here.

Above: A male Lesser Redpoll

I had hoped for a few more of these, but given the milder conditions and location of my nets, this wasn't altogether a surprise.



Above: A Goldfinch



The Goldfinch I had seen before on this site must have dispersed as a lot fewer were seen this time.



Above: A Robin

I'd only seen one Robin here and I saw it collecting nesting material and taking it back to an ivy clad tree. Perhaps this was the one I saw?

Today, the weather has worsened (yet again) so it's chores, chores, chores.... and preparing the equipment for the next ringing session. I have a few pleasant diversions such as remembering yesterdays session, playing the X Box and the England rugby match is on later (though whether this is a pleasant diversion depends on the result!).