Linacre Ringing - 8th October 2024

Last weekend, we had a ringing session down at Linacre. We arrived at 6.45am, and, by 11am, we had ringed 47 new birds of 8 species.

Birds ringed were (new/retrap): Blackbird 2/0 (1 juvenile), Song Thrush 2/0 (both juveniles), Blue Tit 12/2, Great Tit 22/1, Coal Tit 1/0 (juvenile), Wren 3/0 (all juveniles), Blackcap 1/0 (juvenile male - weighing in at just over 20g!!) and Chiffchaff 1/0 (adult).

This was, by far, our best session at Linacre this year, with the best birds obviously being our latest ever ringed  Blackcap and Chiffchaff. The two Song Thrushes were also great records, and presumably, relate to locally bred birds.

Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Song Thrush

Linacre Ringing - 5th November 2022

 Just two of us managed to get to Linacre for this week's ringing session with Sorby Breck Ringing Group, but we had a fantastic few hours with 46 birds, of 8 species, ringed.

As always, the majority of the birds were Blue and Great Tits, with 18 (15 new and 3 re-traps) of the former and 9 (8 new birds and 1 re-trap) of the latter caught. 2 Coal Tits (both new) were also caught, along with 11 Long-tailed Tits (all new), 1 Blackbird (new), 1 Chaffinch (new), 3 Goldcrests (2 new and 1 re-trap) and, best of all, a young Sparrowhawk - the first to be ringed at Linacre!!

Sparrowhawk!!

As well as the ringing, we also managed to see a flock of c.30 Redwings, c.20 Fieldfares and we also heard Tawny Owls calling.

German-ringed Blackbird - 28th February 2021

 With ringing in public places severely restricted at the moment, I decided to put my 20ft net up in the garden.

I'm very glad I did, because the first bird I had was a second calendar year, female Blackbird wearing a German ring!! This is my first ever foreign-ringed Blackbird, so you can imagine how excited I was. The bird has been reported, so I'll update as soon as I hear back.

Blackbird 7103826

Linacre Ringing - 11th October 2020

 Last Sunday, 4 members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group were down at Linacre for a ringing session. It was quite quiet, with just 19 birds of  8 species ringed, but 2 Lesser Redpolls were very nice.

Bird numbers were (new/retrap): Blue Tit 3/0, Robin 1/0, Dunnock 4/0, Goldcrest 2/1, Blackbird 2/0, Treecreeper 2/0, Chaffinch 2/0 and Lesser Redpoll 2/0. 

The retrap Goldcrest, was one that we had ringed in September 2020.

Linacre Ringing - 24th November 2019

Yesterday I was down at Linacre for a 4 hour ringing session with 3 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We had a steady morning, with 41 birds of 11 species.

Numbers were as follows (new/retrap): Blue Tit 6/7, Great Tit 7/5, Long-tailed Tit 1/2, Coal Tit 3/1, Redwing 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Wren 1/1, Bullfinch 2/0, Chaffinch 1/0 and Jay 1/0.

Garden Ringing - 15th June 2019

I haven't done any ringing in my garden since March, so this morning I decided to get the net out for a few hours (05:45 - 09.00). My main target was to try and catch some of the 20ish juvenile Starlings that have been feeding daily in the garden, along with several ringed adult birds. By the end of the session I'd caught 17 birds, including 8 Starlings (6 new birds and 2 ringed birds), 2 juvenile Dunnocks, 4 Greenfinches (2 adults and 2 juveniles), 1 adult Blackbird and 2 adult House Sparrows.

I was able to sex the juvenile Starlings using their eye colour. The male birds have an all dark eye, whereas the females have a pale ring around the eye.

Male Starling

Female Starling

The two ringed Starlings that I managed to catch were very interesting. The first bird was an adult female with a very well developed brood patch (indicating breeding), and, when I read the ring, turned out to be a bird I'd caught in the garden in 20th May 2018. It had a brood patch then too.

The second ringed bird was a juvenile, and turned out to be one of the four pulli I'd ringed in May in the nestbox on the side of my house (see here). This bird was the only one of the 6 juveniles caught this morning to have started its post juvenile moult, as seen in this picture below.

Starling with a few adult feathers

It could also be sexed as a female, using the eye colour.

Female Starling

Other birds seen. but not ringed, were Chaffinch (2;1 male and 1 female), Goldfinch (4; 2 adults and 2 juveniles), Blue Tit (1 adult) and Coal Tit (1  juvenile).

Lesser Whitethroat "blythi" - 3rd February 2019

Back in February (3rd), I had my first garden ringing session on 2019. I had the 20ft net up by the feeding station and caught just 8 birds including 2 Blackbirds, 2 Goldfinches, 1 Bullfinch and 2 Long-tailed Tits (first for the garden).

The highlight of the morning, however, was the very last bird, which turned out to be a LESSER WHITETHROAT!! I've only ringed 1 previously, so I was very excited to see this species in the net, but, given the time of year, I was even more surprised to see it, and my first thoughts were.... is this an "eastern" type bird?

Lesser Whitethroat "blythi"

The first thing I noticed once in the hand was the small size, and the 2 prominent outer tail feathers. The tail feathers, in particular, looked interesting, so I quickly "processed" the bird (put a ring on, aged it as a 5, based on 1 retained greater covert, and a tail with 2 generations of feathers, and measured the wing, 63mm), before phoning a more experienced ringer to get some advice. Numerous photos were also taken showing the wing, tail and body.

Lesser Whitethroat tail

I was advised to retain any feathers lost during ringing, for DNA analysis. These feathers were subsequently sent to Aberdeen University, where said DNA analysis was carried out, confirming the bird as an "eastern" Lesser Whitethroat, subspecies blythi!!!!!!!!!

This is the first confirmed record of this subspecies in Derbyshire. There have been 2 previous "possibles" 1 in 1998 (a bird seen at feeders in November and December), and a bird seen in a garden in Eggington from December 2013 to March 2014.

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).

Majorcan Birds - Puerto Pollenca

Jayne and I have just spent two weeks in Puerto Pollenca in Mallorca. Whilst there we hired a car for a few days and travelled around the island to a few of the birding sites. This first post will, however, cover just those birds seen in and around the seaside town of Puerto Pollenca.

One of the first birds seen was one that many birders travel to this island to see, namely Audouin's Gull. Birds were seen everyday flying in and around the town, harbour and beaches.

Audouin's Gull

The other gull species seen here was Yellow-legged Gull. Again, birds were seen daily, in and around the beaches and in the nearby La Gola nature reserve.

Yellow-legged Gull (La Gola reserve)

La Gola Reserve is a small reserve right in the centre of Puerto Pollenca (2 minutes walk from the harbour). Although it wasn't great for birds, I did get daily views of Yellow-legged Gull, along with Blackbird, Kingfisher (1 sighting), Moorhen, Coot, Great Tit, Mallard, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Stonechat, Linnet, Little Egret (flying over), Fan-tailed Warbler (Zitting Cisticola), Hoopoe (2 fly overs), Sardinian Warbler (see and heard daily, but impossible to photograph!!!) and Mediterranean Flycatcher. 

This last species, Mediterranean Flycatcher, (Muscicapa tyrrhenica baleric) was a bit of a surprise for me, as I hadn't realised it was a full species until I was actually in Mallorca!  It was formally accepted as a full species in January 2018 (see article here), so was a very nice addition to my "life list". The birds were plentiful around the town, in the gardens and in trees on the beach.

Mediterranean Flycatcher

Other species seen daily were Common Tern and Shag (sub species desmarestii) Both species were out on the breakwaters by the main beach. House Sparrows, Woodpigeons and Collared Dove were also seen every day. The final species for this site was Oystercatcher. One bird was seen on the breakwaters on one occasion. 

Year List update:

157 – Audouin’s Gull

158 – Yellow legged Gull
159 – Fan-tailed Warbler
160 – Mediterranean Flycatcher
161 – Hoopoe
162 – Sardinian Warbler

Linacre Ringing - 7th July 2018

Back at the start of the month I was down at Linacre with Sorby Breck Ringing Group for the first mist netting session since April. We had an early start, arriving on site at 4.45am, and caught a very respectable 74 birds of 13 species.

Birds ringed (new/retrap):  Dunnock 1/0, Robin 7/0, Blackbird 1/0, Blackcap 9/0, Chiffchaff 2/0, Goldcrest 1/0, Long-tailed Tit 2/0, Blue Tit 24/4, Great Tit 13/3, Nuthatch 1/0, Chaffinch 1/1, Goldfinch 3/0 and Bullfinch 1/0.

The best thing about the birds caught was that the majority were young birds, possibly indicating a good breeding season? We also had 3 of the re-trapped Blue Tits and one of the re-trapped Great Tits were young birds ringed by Sara from the Group in the nest boxes at Linacre a month earlier.

Three species, however, that were missing from the ringing totals were Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and Whitethroat. All 3 species have been recorded singing in the area this year, so hopefully, we'll be able to confirm breeding next time we're down ringing.

Linacre - 11th November 2017

It's been a while since I was last at Linacre, but today I was down on site for a couple of hours with my nephew, Luke.

We arrived at 7.40am, and walked around all 3 reservoirs. Waterbirds seen were: Mallard (69), Tufted Duck (12), Mandarin Duck (2), Little Grebe (2), Great-crested Grebe (1), Coot (5 adults), Moorhen (16; 11 adults and 5 well grown juveniles), Black-headed Gull (26)and Grey Wagtail (3).

Black-headed Gull

Grey Wagtail

The woods were quite quiet, but we did manage to record Great-spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Blackbird, Robin (singing), Wren (singing), Siskin, Kestrel (1 male), Starling (flock of c.30 flew over), Redwing (17 over), Jay, Magpie (2), Carrion Crow, Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit.

Linacre Ringing - 23rd September 2017

I was out ringing at Linacre yesterday with Sorby Breck Ringing Group. This was our first session since the start of August, and we were on site from 06.30 to 10.30, catching a very nice 76 birds, including 2 warbler species and a species that we've only ringed twice at Linacre, once in 2012 and again in 2014. Can you guess what it was??
.
Totals for the morning were new/retrap: Blue Tit 12/4, Great Tit 10/5, Coal Tit 2/0, Long-tailed Tit 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Robin 4/0, Blackbird 1/0, Blackcap 1/0, Chiffchaff 9/0, Goldcrest 15/1, Meadow Pipit 1/0, Nuthatch 1/0 and Goldfinch 8/0.

As you can see, the two warbler species were Chiffchaff and Blackcap. All birds were aged as 3s (born this year). The other highlight was the single Meadow Pipit, also a bird born this year. This species is heard most years passing over the site, and we have managed to entice a few birds down in 2012 and 2014, so to catch one this weekend was very nice.

Other species seen between net rounds included a very impressive flock of c.50 House Martins (the biggest count of the year by a very long way), that were feeding over the ringing site, 5 Swallows, 1 Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk.

French-ringed Reed Warbler

Yesterday I was out for my first ringing session in a while at Poolsbrook Marsh, with 5 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group.

We arrived on site at 5.00am, got the nets out and started to catch some birds. By the end of the morning's session we had caught 73 birds of 15 species. Totals were (new/retrap): Wren 2/0, Dunnock 2/0, Robin 1/0, Blackbird 1/0, Sedge Warbler 1/0, Reed Warbler 33/2, Lesser Whitethroat 2/0, Whitethroat 3/0, Blackcap 6/0, Chiffchaff 2/0, Willow Warbler 5/1, Willow Tit 4/0, Blue Tit 0/1, Bullfinch 4/0 and Reed Bunting 3/0.

As you can see, we had a good range of resident and migrant species, including 7 species of warbler. The vast majority of birds were new (and juveniles), but we did have a few previously ringed birds, including a very special Reed Warbler bearing a "Museum Paris" ring!! As the name implies, this bird, which we aged as an adult, had been ringed in France. It'd be great to think that it is a bird that was born at Poolsbrook, and was then ringed on migration through France, before returning the breed here in Derbyshire. I'll update the blog when we get the details back from the BTO.

Other birds seen today included Kingfisher, Common Buzzard and Water Rail (heard only).

Spotted Flycatcher

I was up in Ripley, North Yorkshire at the weekend enjoying my son's wedding(!). In a quiet moment, I had a walk around the village where I spotted a pair of Spotted Flycatchers, who were busy "flycatching" in the church yard, and returning to an unseen nest. Both birds were very confiding, and posed beautifully on the various gravestones. A very nice "year tick".

Spotted Flycatcher

Whilst there, I also had a walk down to the nearby Ripley Castle and River Nidd, where I had another pair of Flycatchers collecting food, as well as Grey Wagtails feeding at least 2 juveniles, a fly over Grey Heron and several pairs of Jackdaws visiting nest holes. Other species recorded in the village including Pied Wagtail, House Sparrow, Starling, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Goldcrest, Red Kite, Swallow, nest building House Martin and Swift.

House Martin

Year List update:
174 - Spotted Flycatcher

How old??

How long do birds live? is a question we are often asked by members of the public at ringing demonstrations. I was asked this exact question whilst out ringing yesterday with Sorby Breck Ringing Group at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve. The bird in question was a Blue Tit that we'd just extracted from one of the nets and was found to be wearing a ring already.

David checked the ring number when he got home, and emailed the following details. The bird had originally been ringed at The Avenue on 28th March 2010 and aged as a 5M i.e. it had been born in 2009. It had only been re trapped once before today, on 27th February 2011, also at The Avenue. This means that this bird is now 7 years old (in its 8th calendar year), which is a pretty impressive age for such a small bird. A quick check of the BTO's Longevity Records , shows that the oldest Blue Tit on record was 10 years, 3 months and 10 days old when it was last recorded, so "our" bird still has a few years to go!

Other birds caught during yesterday's session were (new/retrap): Wren 0/1, Dunnock 2/1, Robin 3/0, Blackbird 5/0, Song Thrush 0/1, Long-tailed Tit 1/0, Blue Tit 0/4, Great Tit 3/1, Chaffinch 2/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Bullfinch 4/3, Yellowhammer 1/0, Reed Bunting 11/1.

Colour-ringed Waxwing

I was driving past Sheepbridge Business Centre in Chesterfield yesterday, when I spotted the familiar silhouette of a Waxwing perched up in trees. I pulled the car over and saw that there were in fact 30 birds in the trees, which, after a couple of minutes, flew down and started to feed on the few remaining Rowan berries. I grabbed  a few photos, but then spotted that one of the birds was colour- ringed!!

Waxwing (green over red)

Details were quickly emailed to the Grampian Ringing Group, who informed me that the bird had been ringed in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire on 27th November 2016 as a 3 male i.e. a bird born that year. My sighting was the first since ringing. Hopefully, it'll keep being reported again, either here in the UK, or possibly back as a breeding bird in northern Europe somewhere.

Other birds seen in the same tree were: Redwing (4), Blackbird (3), Bullfinch (1 female), Great Tit (1) and Mistle Thrush (1).

Linacre Ringing - 10th December 2016

I was down at Linacre again yesterday morning with Sorby Breck Ringing Group and Luke, for what will most likely be our last ringing session there of 2016. It was grey, overcast, still and 11 degrees when we arrived, and we caught 48 birds of 6 species in just over 3 hours.

Birds caught were (new/retrap): Blue Tit (10/7), Great Tit (12/6), Coal Tit (3/2), Robin (1/0), Goldcrest (5/0) and Blackbird (2/0). One of the Blackbirds, a first year male, had "scalloping" on its feathers, which points to it possibly being a continental bird. Two of the Goldcrests were long winged, and showed grey around the neck, so too, may be of a continental origin. Nice!

In between net rounds we spotted the following: Sparrowhawk (2 sightings, possibly of the same bird), Magpie (1), Mistle Thrush (5, possibly 6, including 1 singing briefly, Great-spotted Woodpecker (2), Grey Heron (1 flew over), Lesser Redpoll (flock of c.15 birds), Lesser Black-backed Gull (2 over), a small warbler species, possibly a Chiffchaff and, best of all, an amazing sighting of between 600 - 700 Starlings that flew low over the trees early morning! This by far the highest ever count of Starlings at Linacre- very impressive!

Luke popped down to the reservoirs to see if he could find the Shag. Unfortunately, it couldn't be located, but hopefully it's still there. He did, however, have a couple of Moorhens, 1 Coot, Black-headed Gulls and a Grey Wagtail. A good morning all round!

Dusky Thrush!!!

Last Sunday evening photos of a Dusky Thrush appeared on Twitter. The bird in question had been found in Beeley, a short half an hour drive from home. It was the first record for Derbyshire, and only the 12th record for Britain, so definitely worth a look at. Unfortunately, due to work, I couldn't get across during the week, so I popped across this afternoon and, after an hour and a half, managed to catch up with this bird. It was showing distantly (about 300m away) feeding in a field with a couple of Blackbirds, a Song Thrush and a Redwing. The photos I got aren't worth posting, so instead, to see what one looks like, follow this link to Darley Dale Wildlife's blog here.

This bird is my 3rd new bird of the year (lifer), and is obviously also a Derbyshire, British and Year Tick, taking the Year List to 184 species.

Year List update:
184 - Dusky Thrush (lifer)

Linacre Ringing - 15th October 2016

Weather conditions for ringing were perfect this morning, and with good numbers of Redwing being ringed by members of The Group last weekend, we decided to head down to Linacre this morning to try our luck. We arrived in the dark, at 6:30am, and got the nets up and sound systems on to begin attracting the Redwings down.  The first net round produced 5 birds, and by the end of the session at 11.30am we'd caught and ringed a very respectable 15 birds. Its hard to estimate how many birds were attracted into the area, but there must have been 100+ throughout the morning.

Redwing

Other birds ringed this morning were (new/retrap): Goldcrest (12/1), Wren (0/1), Robin (6/0), Blackbird (1/0), Long-tailed Tit (11/0), Blue Tit (23/5), Great Tit (11/1), Coal Tit (4/0) Goldfinch (4/0) and Treecreeper (1/0), bring the morning's total to 96 birds.

Here's a photo of this mornings' Treecreeper, a juvenile, just before it flew off. Love the beak and those amazing claws!!

Treecreeper

Other birds seen or heard this morning included Tawny Owl (heard first thing), Skylark (1 over, the first since June), Nuthatch and Woodpigeon.

Smashing Sunday

Four years ago, during the London Olympics, the British athletes celebrated what was called Super Saturday, when lots of medals were won. At the time, I "borrowed" the title for a blog post about a really good ringing session I took part in with Sorby Breck Ringing Group (see post here). Well, four years down the line, the Rio Olympics are taking place and the British athletes have had a "Super Sunday", with lots of medals won again, and guess what? I've "borrowed" the slightly amended title to describe a "smashing" ringing session I took part in with 2 other ringers on Sunday at Linacre Reservoirs.

In total, we caught 64 birds of 15 species, which, in itself is great, but what made it even more amazing was the number of warblers in the total. The most numerous warbler was Willow Warbler, with 12 juveniles ringed!! To put this total into some kind of context, since we started ringing at Linacre in 2012, we've only ever caught 13 adults, and have never caught any juveniles before, so Sunday's total was outstanding.

Willow Warbler (1 of 12 juveniles)

In addition, we also caught several other warblers, Chiffchaff (4 juveniles and a retrap adult), Blackcap (7 juveniles and 1 adult) and Whitethroat, (2 juveniles). I'm particularly pleased with the Whitethroat record, as I'd only heard and seen the male bird singing once this year, so proof of breeding was very welcome.

Whitethroat (1 of 2 ringed)

Along with the warblers, we also had a good morning with the Linacre "regulars" (new/re-traps): Blackbird 1/0, Robin 3/0, Wren 1/0, Song Thrush 1/0, Coal Tit 2/0, Dunnock 1/0, Blue Tit 12/0, Great Tit 8/0, Goldfinch 1/0, Bullfinch 4/0 and Goldcrest 3/0. Phew!