Linacre Ringing - 5th January 2019

I was down at Linacre on Saturday morning for the first ringing session of 2019 with 5 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. As we set up the usual nets, we had a very nice surprise with a hunting Barn Owl, my first ever record on site! What a great way to start the new year. We also had several Tawny Owls calling in the surrounding woods, and a fly over Sparrowhawk.

The ringing session was also a good start to the year with 43 birds ringed, including Woodpigeon, the first since 2016 and Jay, only 1 ringed in 2018 (new/retrap): Woodpigeon 1/0, Robin 3/1, Goldcrest 3/0, Long-tailed Tit 19/1, Coal Tit 0/2, Blue Tit 6/4, Great Tit 0/1, Nuthatch 0/1 and Jay 1/0.

Jay (5, born last year)

In the afternoon I was out at Clumber Park for a family walk, and picked up 2 more "year ticks"; Common Buzzard and Goosander (7; 4 females and 3 males), along with a darvic ringed Mute Swan (104Y), a female with an un-ringed male bird and 3 juveniles (born in 2018).

104Y (back bird) and family

Year List update:

94 – Tawny Owl

95 – Barn Owl
96 – Sparrowhawk
97 - Common Buzzard

98 - Goosander