Linacre Ringing - 22nd September 2018

This morning I was down at Linacre with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We had 4 hours on site and caught 38 birds (new/retrap): Robin 2/0, Chiffchaff 7/0, Goldcrest 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 8/0, Blue Tit 11/1, Great Tit 6/0 and Treecreeper 1/0.

Treecreeper

Whilst there, we set a net for Meadow Pipits, and, although they came down, none found their way into the nets.

Also seen during the ringing session were: House Martin (c.30 overhead), Green Woodpecker (1 heard), Kestrel (1), Sparrowhawk (1), Bullfinch (1) and Great-spotted Woodpecker (1).

Linacre Blue Tit Y844127

When I went to pick Luke up for a walk around Linacre yesterday, he showed me a dead Blue Tit that his cat had caught that morning (8th September). I checked with David, the data manager and ringer with Sorby Breck Ringing Group, to see if it was one of the birds we'd ringed at Linacre, and amazingly it was!

The bird had been ringed by Alan, another ringer from the Group, on 8th June 2013 as a pullus in one of the nestboxes by the top reservoir. This was the first time it had been re trapped in the 5 years since it was ringed, and had flown about 2 miles from its nest site.

Blue Tit Y844127

According to BTO's Bird Facts website the average age for British Blue Tits is 3 years, with the oldest recorded bird being just over 10 years, so this bird had done pretty well.

Linacre WeBS - 8th September 2018

This morning, Luke and I had a quick walk around all three reservoirs at Linacre, recording the following water birds: Mallard (58), Tufted Duck (22), Mandarin Duck (30), Moorhen (18; 13 juveniles and 5 adults), Coot (5 adults), Great-crested Grebe (9; 4 adults and 2 broods of juveniles of 4 and 1), Grey Wagtail (5), Grey Heron (1), Lesser Black-backed Gull (1 flew over) and Cormorant (1).

The woods were quite quiet, but we did record Blue Tit, Great Tit, Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Goldcrest, Robin, Wren and Chiffchaff (1 singing briefly).

Darvic'ed Black-headed Gull in Bakewell

Following the Swedish ringed Black-headed Gull in Bakewell (see here) I decided to go back again on Thursday (30th) to see if I could see it again. I managed to find it, in exactly the same spot, and took a picture of the whole bird this time, not just its feet!!

Swedish BHG 6198688

Whilst there I was also very lucky to find another ringed bird. This time it was a juvenile/1st winter Black-headed Gull that had been ringed at Rutland Water Nature Reserve on 1st June 2018, as a nestling. As well as its metal ring, it had also been fitted with a blue Darvic ring 2AHN.

Blue 2AHN

Luke popped across on Saturday (1st), and found it in the same area on the river. 

Blue 2AHN (courtesy of Luke)

He also had another ringed Black-headed Gull! This one just had a metal ring, and the words British Museum could be seen on it, meaning it was ringed somewhere in the UK. He managed to get the full number and sent it off to the BTO. I'll update when we hear back.

UPDATE: Luke heard back today (3rd Sept) that his Black-headed Gull had been ringed in Boston, Lincolnshire on 09/01/10 (114kn away). It was aged as at least 2 years old when ringed.

Norfolk Birding - August 2018

Last weekend Jayne and I spent 3 days in Norfolk. We travelled down on Sunday and popped into RSPB Frampton Marsh to catch up with a Stilt Sandpiper - a lifer. We got good 'scope views as it fed in amongst hundreds of Black-tailed Godwits out on the Reedbed Marsh. Here's a distant, heavily cropped photo.

Stilt Sandpiper

Whilst in Norfolk we had a walk around Blakeney Marshes where we got great views of a Whinchat. 

Whinchat

We also visited RSPB Titchwell, where we managed to find, amongst others,  10 "year ticks" (numbers 189 - 198) and a Garganey.

Year List update:
188 – Stilt Sandpiper
189 – Bearded Tit
190 – Spoonbill
191 – Spotted Redshank
192 – Bar-tailed Godwit
193 – Grey Plover
194 – Common Scoter
195 – Red-crested Pochard
196 – Pintail
197 – Tree Sparrow
198 – Golden Plover

Swedish Black-headed Gull in Bakewell

Back on 13th August I was in Bakewell when I spotted a Black-headed Gull with a metal ring. After a good half an hour I managed to get some photos of the number (6198688) and also noticed that the ring had the word Stockholm on it, indicating that the bird had been ringed in Sweden.

I sent the number off, and heard back today, that the bird had indeed been ringed in Sweden, as a nestling, on a large lake called Hornborgasjon on 20th June 2001, 1106km away from Bakewell. This means the bird is now 17 years old, and, my report is the first record since it was ringed!!

At the time I only took photos of its legs, so here are a couple showing the ring number.

Linacre Ringing - 25th August 2018

Saturday was dry, so I was down at Linacre with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for our first mist netting session since the start of July (see here). Despite the sunshine, we had a good session catching 49 birds of 13 species, including another 2 fledgling Blue Tits that were ringed in the nestboxes this year, and our first juvenile Willow Warblers of the year.

Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Dunnock 2/0, Robin 2/0, Blackbird 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Blackcap 6/0, Chiffchaff 2/0, Willow Warbler 6/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Coal Tit 1/0, Blue Tit 14/5, Great Tit 5/1, Chaffinch 2/0 and Goldfinch 1/0. As last time, the majority of the birds were juveniles.

Other birds seen or heard during the session were: Tawny Owl (heard), House Martin (c.6 overhead) and the hybrid Canada Goose (flew over).