Red-backed Shrike - Derbyshire Tick!

Yesterday, whilst doing the weekly shop (!), I got a message from Luke that there was a Birdguides record of a juvenile/1st winter Red-backed Shrike (193) that had been spotted in The Avenue Washlands Country Park. Jayne and I went straight across, and found the bird feeding by a small pond.

It posed well, and even caught, impaled and then ate a Migrant Hawker whilst we were there. A later photo, not mine, unfortunately, also showed it eating a Lesser Emperor dragonfly!!! Here are a few photos (the last three slightly enhanced!).

Red-backed Shrike

Year List Update

 In the last two weeks, I've added a couple of new species to this year's Year List.

The first new species, Stock Dove (108) was added last week at The Avenue Washlands. The next species, Alexandrine Parakeet, was seen today in Graves Park, Sheffield. Obviously, this species is still not on the British List, so it won't count towards this year's total, but it's still nice to see!

Alexandrine Parakeet

Also seen here were: Mistle Thrush, Great-spotted Woodpecker , Woodpigeon, Stock Dove and, of course, the Ring-necked Parakeets.

Ring-necked Parakeet

Ringing Recoveries

I don't tend to get much news of the birds that I ring, so it was very nice, earlier this week, to get 2 emails from our Group's data manager of 2 recent recoveries.

The first email had details of the first ever Mistle Thrush that I ringed, at The Avenue Nature Reserve in Chesterfield on 8th February 2015 (see here for details). The bird was found, freshly dead, just 2km away in New Tupton, on 8th March 2018, 1124 days after ringing. When it was ringed, it was aged as a 5, i.e. it had been born in 2014, making it nearly 4 years old.

The second recovery was of a female Siskin that I caught (controlled) in my garden last week. It was my first control Siskin, and had originally been ringed on 14th May 2017 in Fort Augustus, Highland, 475km away from Dronfield. Presumably, it was a bird that had flown south for the winter, and was moving back north to breed. In total I've ringed 13 Siskins in my garden since August 2017, so a recovery of one of the others would be very nice too!!

At the time of writing, we're experiencing another weekend of heavy snow, and there are still at least 7 Siskins visiting the garden feeders. It is possible (likely?) that they will hang around for a while yet before heading back to Scotland.

Blue Tit Longevity Records... nearly.

Last week I received details of 2 interesting  Blue Tits that we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group) had ringed at the Derbyshire Wildlife's Trust Avenue Washlands Reserve.

The first bird was first caught in March 2010 as a 5, i.e. it had been born in 2009. It was then re trapped in February 2011 and then "disappeared" for the next 6 years, before being re caught on 5th February 2017. If it's still alive, it will be in its 9th year by now.

The second bird was first caught in October 2012 and aged as a 3, i.e. born that year. It was caught again once in 2012, 4 times in 2013, once in 2015 and then, most recently, on 4th February 2018. This last retrap means that this bird has now entered its 6th year.

According to BTO website (see here), the longevity record for Blue Tit is currently 10 years 3 months and 10 days from ringing, so hopefully these 2 birds might become  contenders for "record breakers" in the next few years.

Year List Update - 21st January 2018

It's been a while since I updated the Year List, and it's moved on quite a bit, so here goes. Numbers 47 to 50 were seen at Derbyshire Wildlife's Avenue Washlands reserve during a ringing session. Numbers 52 to 55 were seen during a walk around The Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Numbers 56 and 57 were recorded in my garden, whilst numbers 58 to 67 were seen last weekend at Carsington Water. The Goldcrest was seen yesterday during the ringing session at Linacre, and the Tawny Owl was heard in the early hours of this morning from my bed!!

47 – Little Owl

48 – Reed Bunting
49 – Yellowhammer
50 – Mistle Thrush
51 – Kingfisher
52 – Pochard
53 – Shoveler
54 – Canada Goose
55 – Teal
56 – Sparrowhawk
57 – Siskin
58 – Gadwall
59 – Wigeon
60 – Common Gull
61 – Great Northern Diver
62 - Pheasant
63 - Willow Tit
64 – Lapwing
65 – Snipe
66 – Fieldfare
67 – Treecreeper
68 - Goldcrest
69 – Tawny Owl

Year List Update - 4 new species

Over the last couple of weeks the "year listing" has slowed down some what, but despite this, I've managed to add 4 new species, taking the 2017 list to a very respectable 173.

The first new species was Grasshopper Warbler, with 1 male "reeling" at The Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield on 11th. I also added Long-eared Owl last weekend, at a site in Derbyshire, and the last 2 species; Woodcock and Nightjar were added during a visit to Clumber Park with Chesterfield RSPB Group.

Year List update:
170 – Grasshopper Warbler
171 – Long-eared Owl
172 – Woodcock
173 - Nightjar

Avenue Ringing - 2nd April 2017

After a few weeks without a ringing session it was really nice to get out and about again today. I spent 3 and a half hours out with 4 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield. We had a quiet session with just 17 birds ringed, but the total did include our first summer migrants of the year; 3 Chiffchaffs and a single, female Blackcap.

Chiffchaff

Blackcap

Today's totals were (new/retrap): Chiffchaff 3/0, Blackcap 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Blue Tit 0/1 , Great Tit 0/2, Long-tailed Tit 0/1, Dunnock 1/1, Robin 1/2, Wren 0/1, Bullfinch 1/0 and Reed Bunting 1/0.

During net rounds we also recorded these birds: Sparrowhawk, Green Woodpecker (year tick), Linnets, Yellowhammers, Goldfinch, Canada Geese and Mute Swans.

Year List update:
117 - Green Woodpecker
118 - Raven (1 over Sudbury Hall, Derby, this afternoon)
119 - Shoveler (1 male on Sudbury Hall lake).

New Year Ringing, Waxwings and Year Ticks

I know its not quite the new year now, but today was the first opportunity I had to get out ringing in 2017, hence the title of today's post.

This morning I was out with 4 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group visiting the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands Reserve in Chesterfield. We had a 3 and a half hour session, catching a super 104 birds of 15 species. Birds caught were (new/retrap): Wren 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Robin 3/0, Blackbird 1/0, Goldcrest 1/1, Long-tailed Tit 1/7, Willow Tit 1/0, Blue Tit 8/6, Great Tit 4/9, Chaffinch 4/4, Greenfinch 3/0, Goldfinch 36/1, Bullfinch 9/2, Yellowhammer 1/1 and Reed Bunting 3/0.

As you can see, we had  a very good selection of bird species today. The most notable were the excellent number of Goldfinch, followed closely by the new Willow Tit ( a species which seems to be declining quite quickly), the Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer and Bullfinch (all "year ticks" as well).

After ringing Jayne and I had a drive to Chesterfield to see a group of 18 Waxwings on Whittington Moor. We then had a drive out to Bakewell, where we had a spot of lunch and a walk by the river, adding Canada Goose to the "year list". Whilst here, we also spotted the Tufted Duck x Pochard hybrid duck, that is back on the river for the winter. Details of this bird can be found here.

Hybrid Duck

Year List update:
47 – Canada Goose
48 – Willow Tit
49 – Bullfinch
50 – Yellowhammer
51 – Reed Bunting

Avenue Ringing - 2nd July 2016

Every two years there is a 24 hour wildlife event at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve in Chesterfield. This morning I was down there from 5.15am with 5 other members of the Sorby Breck Ring Group to carry out a ring demo for the event. We ringed 44 birds of  14 species (Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Blackbird, Jay, Kingfisher, Robin, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Willow Tit).

The highlight of the morning's ringing for me was the chance to ring a new species - Kingfisher. The bird, a juvenile female, was also the first opportunity that I've had to extract this species from a mist net. As you can imagine, I was very pleased to see this species on a net round, and even more pleased when I realised that I was the only member of today's team not to have ringed one before. Here's a couple of pictures.

Kingfisher

Avenue Ringing - 7th February 2016

After a few weekends of wet and windy weather, I managed to get out with 4 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group for a ringing session at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve in Chesterfield. We managed  nearly 3 hours and caught a very respectable 39 birds of 11 species (Jay, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Lesser Redpoll, Willow, Blue and Great Tit).

The first bird in the net was a Jay, which I get the "pleasure" of extracting. Over the next few hours we continued to extract and process the birds, with an amazing 17 Bullfinches, being the most numerous species of the day. We also had a couple of Yellowhammers, including an amazingly bright adult male, 4 Reed Buntings and a couple of Lesser Redpolls- nice!

3 of the species we caught today were "year ticks", which took me over the 100 mark for 2016.

Year List update:

99 – Jay

100 – Willow Tit

101 - Yellowhammer

Blackcap and Chiffchaff

Today's ringing session saw 5 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group down at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve in Chesterfield. The forecast wasn't great, so we got down nice and early to get a few hours in before the wind picked up. The ringing was slow, but we still got a single Chiffchaff and our first Blackcap of the year, a male bird born last year.

Blackcap

As well as these two species we also caught a couple of Reed Buntings, 2 Bullfinches, 2 Wrens, 2 Yellowhammers, 1 Blackbird, 1 Greenfinch , 1 Dunnock, 1 Long-tailed Tit and a few Blue and Great Tits.

The Blackcap was a "year tick" and we also had 3 Linnets flying around the site, which were also new for the year. A Barn Owl was seen just before I arrived, so this "tick" will have to wait for another day!

Year List update:
103 – Linnet
104 - Blackcap

Avenue Ringing

Yesterday's ringing session with 4 members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at The Avenue Washlands began slowly, but, by the end of the session, we had reached a respectable 27 birds of 9 different species (Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Wren, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit and  Robin).

My personal totals were new/retrap:

Goldfinch 2/0, Blue Tit 1/1, Wren 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 0/2, Yellowhammer 1/0 and Great Tit 1/0.

As well as the ringing, we also recorded the other birds around the site, which included over 100 Redwing in several small flocks and a "year tick" for me, Skylark, which were singing on nearby fields.

Year List update:

85 - Skylark

New goose at Linacre.

I've been recording the birdlife at Linacre Reservoirs regularly since 2006, and in that time I've only seen Canada and Greylag Geese on the water. I've also had Pink-footed Geese flying over, and ever Spring a strange hybrid goose has appeared for a few weeks and then disappeared again (see here for a picture).

This morning, after a ringing session had been rained off, I went down to Linacre for a few hours, and spotted this bird swimming around the bottom reservoir, honking loudly.

Hybrid goose

 

At first glance, I thought it was a Canada Goose, and noted it down as such. After a few moments, however, I noticed it looked a little different, and grabbed a few photos. Looking closer, I'm now moving towards a hybrid Canada and Barnacle Goose.  This isn't as far fetched as it seems, because there is a feral flock of Barnacle Geese at Carsington Water, and a mixed Canada and Barnacle Goose pair have bred and raised young at The Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield.

 

Other birds present today included 4 Great-crested Grebes (2 pairs; one on the middle reservoir, repairing last year's nest, and another pair on the top reservoir), Mallard (37), Tufted Duck (10), Black-headed Gull (31), Cormorant (2), Coot (11), Moorhen (3), Goosander (1 "redhead") and Grey Wagtail (2 together on the middle reservoir, with a little song).

 

The woods were quite quiet, but there were several Song Thrushes singing along with the Blue and Great Tits, and a Common Buzzard flew low over the trees being mobbed by the local Carrion Crows.

Ringing tick

This weekend's ringing session took place at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands. There were just 3 of us from The Group, but we still managed to ring 63 birds of 11 different species, including a "ringing tick" for me; a Mistle Thrush.

Mistle Thrush

 

Other species ringed were: Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit.

Avenue Ringing - 4th January 2015

After a blank month in December, when I didn't manage to get out ringing at all, I was very pleased to get out this morning. There was a hard frost, when we arrived at The Avenue Washlands, but we still managed an excellent start to the year with 122 birds of 14 species ringed (Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Goldcrest, Jay and Wren).

My personal totals were (new/retrap): Long-tailed Tit 3/1, Blue Tit 3/2, Great Tit 1/2, Willow Tit 0/1, Chaffinch 1/0,Greenfinch 1/0, Bullfinch 1/2, Reed Bunting 1/0, Yellowhammer 1/0, Jay 1/0, Goldfinch 3/0, Goldcrest 0/1, Robin 0/1 and Wren 0/1.

We could have carried on ringing all day, as the birds were still coming thick and fast when we decided to pack up. Instead, we thought it best to give the birds some uninterrupted time to feed up on the feeders.

One of the Blue Tits we caught today was a "control", i.e. a bird that is caught away from the site it was originally ringed. Today's bird was one that had been originally ringed by our group 24km away at Blackburn Meadows in Sheffield in November 2014.

As well as the ringing, I also got a few "year ticks", bringing the total to 53 species so far:

46 - Greenfinch (garden)

47 – Sparrowhawk (over bypass)
48 – House Sparrow (garden)
49 – Reed Bunting
50 – Yellowhammer
51 – Willow Tit
52 – Green Woodpecker
53 - Jay

Avenue Ringing - Finches galore!

The weather for the last few weekends has been grey, overcast and wet, so when we saw a half decent forecast for this morning we (Sorby Breck Ringing Group) decided to get out and do some ringing - hurrah!

3 of us managed to get out to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield, where we ringed 49 birds of 11 species (Blackbird, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Robin, Blue, Great and Willow Tit) in three and a half hours.

As the title suggests, many of the birds were finches, and I was lucky enough to ring 3 new Bullfinches (and process 1 retrap), a retrap Greenfinch, 2 new Goldfinches, and 1 retrapped Chaffinch. Along with these birds I also had the following birds new/retrap: Blue Tit 2/3, Great Tit 4/6, Robin 2/0 and Willow Tit 0/1.

In between net rounds, as always, we kept our eyes open for other wildlife. Today we managed to record several Fieldfare, lots of Blackbirds, Skylark, a Kestrel, and, best of all, an over-flying flock of approx. 45 Pink-footed Geese.

Avenue Ringing x 2

As the title of today's post suggests, I've had two ringing sessions at The Avenue this week. The first, on Sunday, was an early morning session, whilst the second, on Tuesday, was an evening visit for a last attempt at the Swallow roost.

Sunday's session was a slow, but steady, with a total of 46 birds of 10 different species ringed (Willow, Great and Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Dunnock, Blackcap and Chiffchaff). My personal total were (new/retrap): Willow Tit 0/1, Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 2/4, Chaffinch 1/0, Bullfinch 1/2 and Dunnock 1/1.

Tuesday's session was out second attempt of the year to catch Swallows that roost at The Avenue before migrating to Africa for the winter months (see here for details of our first outing). . There were only about 50/60 birds roosting, so we were very lucky to catch 23, as well as a single juvenile Sand Martin. Again, my personal total was 8 Swallows, all new birds. A change from the first visit was the fact that we caught 4 adult birds this time.

Unfortunately, this will most likely be our last attempt to catch the Swallows this year. We can now begin to look forward to the Meadow Pipit migration up on the moors, and the first winter visitors... a Redwing or Fieldfare would be nice!!!

Avenue Swallow Roost 2014

Last night I was out with the Sorby Breck Ringing Group to carry out the annual Swallow roost at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield.

Sunset over The Avenue

This was our first attempt of the year, and ended in success with 105 bird ringed. Out of the 105 birds, 101 were juveniles, including one that had been ringed by another member of our group, in the Mayfield Valley in Sheffield, 14km away from The Avenue, on 1st July 2014. It's always great to get a "control", especially when it's one from our group. Hopefully we'll be able to get another session in, and pick up some more, before the birds migrate.

Other birds on site tonight included a couple of Swifts, 20+ House Martins, 1 Reed Warbler, a Kingfisher, 2 Grey Wagtails and a family party of  Canada Geese ( 2 adults and 3 young).

Kingfisher saves the day

I was out ringing yesterday morning with Sorby Breck RG  at Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield. We arrived at 05.15 and set up the usual nets with high expectations of  juvenile birds, especially warblers. Unfortunately, the forecast good weather didn't appear, and neither did the birds, with just 13 individuals caught.

Imagine our surprise, then, when, on one of the final net rounds, we spotted an electric blue rump sticking out of the nets! We all ran towards it shouting, "It's a Kingfisher!!!" - a first for the group at this locality, and a new bird for Stewart. The bird was duly extracted, ringed, aged and sexed (a 3J male, one born this year), and released.

Kingfisher

 

 

Avenue Ringing - 16th February 2014

Yesterday morning the weather was dry and still, so I managed to get out ringing with the Sorby Breck Group. We went back down to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's  Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield. We had a very productive few hours with 42 birds of 12 species ringed (Jay, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Dunnock, Blue, Great, Willow and Long-tailed Tit).

My totals were (new/retraps):
Song Thrush 1/0, Great Tit 0/3, Blue Tit 2/0, Dunnock 0/2, Reed Bunting 0/1, Yellowhammer 1/0.

In between net rounds we did some birding and the highlight for me was a "year tick"; Meadow Pipit. A flock of 12 appeared and perched on the fence. Grey Partridge were heard again.

Year List:
94- Meadow Pipit