Welcome Back EXP662

EXP662 is the ring number of a Chiffchaff that was ringed as a juvenile bird at Linacre on 16th July 2016 (see blog post here). This morning I was out ringing at Linacre with 3 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group, when we re trapped said bird. Where it's been in between we don't know, but most recoveries of British-ringed birds show this species moving south into southern Europe and North west Africa, so this the was likely destination for "our" bird. Hopefully, it'll hang around and breed here. Along with this bird, we also ringed another 4 Chiffchaffs (all new).

Chiffchaff

Also caught this morning were (new/retrap): Blackcap (1/0), Dunnock (1/0), Coal Tit (1/1), Blue Tit (1/2), Magpie (1/0), Nuthatch (1/0).

In between net rounds we also saw: Brown Hare (2), 1 Peacock and 1 Small Tortoiseshell (first Linacre records of 2017 for all 3 species), a Dronefly (Eristalsis sp), a Harlequin Ladybird, Mandarin Duck (2 flew over), Sparrowhawk ( 1 female over), Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow,  dozens of Cowslips and a single Red Campion flower.

Peacock

Small Tortoiseshell

Harlequin Ladybird on Gorse

Deep Dale

Last May I visited Deep Dale to see the Early Purple Orchids and Cowslips that grow there. This weekend Jayne and I had a return visit to see them again.

Early Purple Orchids and Cowslip

 Whilst there, we also spotted a few butterflies, including this male Orange Tip and a beautiful Green Hairstreak.

Orange Tip (male)

Green Hairstreak

Deep Dale

On Monday it was a bank holiday, and the weather was bright and sunny, so I went out to Deep Dale in the Peak District for a walk with  my family. The site is managed by Plant Life, and contains many species of  plant including many Early Purple Orchids and Cowslips.

Early Purple Orchid

Cowslip

Unfortunately, we were a little early as most of the flowers were just coming out, so a return trip in a few weeks would be useful!!

As well as the flowers, we also spotted a black Rabbit. I've never seen one before, but apparently they are not that uncommon, and the area around Deep Dale is, according to the Derbyshire Mammal Group, a known "hotspot" for them. Here's a picture.

Black Rabbit

Whilst there, we also managed another "year tick" with a singing Garden Warbler heard by the entrance to the reserve.

Year List update:
130 - Garden Warbler

Linacre Ringing and the first egg of 2015

Hot on the heels of Saturday's ringing session, I was out at Linacre Reservoirs again on Sunday, with 4 other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group for another ringing session, and a first check of the owl nestboxes. The ringing session was quiet, but the nestbox check produced our first egg of the year.

First up the ringing. We set up 4 nets this session, 2 around the feeding station, and a further 2 around the site. The ringing was quite quiet, as is to be expected at this time of year, as the birds disperse, and get on with business of mating, but we still managed to catch 3 new Chiffchaffs (our first to be ringed here this year), and another 24 birds of 8 other species (Nuthatch, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Goldcrest, Robin, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Blue, Great, Long-tailed and Coal Tit).

After 3 hours ringing, we decided to go and check the 4 "owl boxes" that we have on site. The first box we checked contained our first egg of 2015!

Mandarin Duck egg?

We think it's a Mandarin Duck egg, so we'll keep an eye on this box and hope for more eggs over the next few weeks. The second box contained a female Mandarin Duck, but, as yet, no eggs; another one to watch! The last 2 boxes were empty, so again, we'll keep an eye to see if anything moves in.

Aside from the ringing and nestbox checking, we also managed to spot a few spring flowers (Cowslip, Coltsfoot, Lesser Celandine and a new one for me, Sweet Violet (see here for details of this plant).

Sweet Violet

We also managed a few other birds, including my first 2015 Linacre record of Tawny Owl, with 2 "twit-twooing" by the Rangers' Base when we arrived at 6am, a fly-over Sparrowhawk and a single Little Owl in the "breeding tree". Now I just need to get some more summer visitors- a Swallow or Willow Warbler would be nice!

Last March Visit

Yesterday morning the weather wasn't conducive to ringing, so instead I had a walk around all three reservoirs at Linacre. It was just 7 degrees, grey, overcast and windy when I arrived at 6am, but the Chiffchaffs were singing (3), as was a single Skylark (my first Linacre record of 2015), several Goldcrests (also my first singing record this year), and a few spring flowers had begun to flower (Cowslip, Coltsfoot and a single Marsh Marigold flower).

In addition, there was a pair of Canada Geese on the middle reservoir, along with a Moorhen that was sitting on an empty nest. The 2 Great-crested Grebe pairs were still on site, and I also managed 5 Mandarin Ducks ( 4 males and a female), which are always a bonus at this time of the year.

When I got home, I spent some time watching the garden birds for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme, and was treated to another visit from this beautiful male Sparrowhawk, this time sitting on the feeders for 10 minutes, before chasing, unsuccessfully, after a Blackbird.

Sparrowhawk

I'm pretty sure its the same bird as last week, as it has 2 white spots on the back of its head. Just need to get a ring on it!!

Ringing, Nesting, Year List addition and a new insect

I thought today's title should give you some idea of what I got up to at Linacre yesterday morning, so I hope it does exactly that.

First up, the ringing. I met at 05.45am with 4 other members of the Group for a mist netting session. When we arrived, it was zero degrees and there was a heavy frost covering the Cowslips and Red Campion. The sun soon came up, the frost melted, and we began to catch birds in the nets. First bird of the day was a Nuthatch, our first for Linacre this year. We also caught another one later on. Blackcaps seemed to be everywhere this morning, and we managed to catch 3 different birds. A Whitethroat (Year Tick) was heard singing and seen a short distance from the nets, but wasn't caught. The final migrant of the day was Chiffchaff, of which we caught 3, including a retrap from last year. We also managed a stunning male Bullfinch, several Dunnocks, Robins, a female Chaffinch, a male Blackbird  and Great Tits.

After the ringing finished at about 9.30am I decided to do a "quick" round of the boxes. Two and  a half hours later I'd been round all the tit boxes and had recorded 34 active nests with eggs and/or sitting adults, an increase of 10 nests since my last visit. This number is an occupancy rate of 39%, up from 29% on my last visit (see here). Very pleased to say the least! As before, all the nests were Blue or Great Tits, and there was still no sign of any Pied Flycatchers. Whilst walking around the site I also managed to spot a Grey Wagtail nest with 4 eggs, and saw a female Chaffinch carrying food, which is the first time I've recorded proof that Chaffinches actually breed on site. Other evidence of breeding today included the  Coot nest on the top reservoir which contained at least 1 small young today, 3 broods of Mallard (1,1 and 7), and the 2 Great-crested Grebe nests which are still being incubated.

The last item on my title today is a new insect. The insect in question is a species of ladybird; the Eyed Ladybird. As you can see from this link, this insect is found in conifer woodlands, which is exactly where I found today's specimen, so it should be relatively common at Linacre. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for more examples over the summer.

Eyed Ladybird

Year List update:
142 - Whitethroat

Returning Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Cowslips and Tawny Owl success

This morning's ringing session at Linacre was excellent with 3 Chiffchaffs (2 new and a retrap from last year),1 Blackcap (the first Linacre record for 2014 and a "Year Tick" for me), 2 Jays (1 new and 1 retrap), and, best of all, a sitting Tawny Owl in one of the "owl boxes"!

The Chiffchaffs were the first to be caught and ringed at Linacre this year. The first bird, ring number ECA340, was ringed by David from the Sorby Breck Ringing Group, at Linacre, on 20th April last year, as a 5, which means it was born in 2012. The other 2 Chiffchaffs were new, so hopefully, we'll retrap them later in the year and perhaps in future years too.

The Blackcap, a 5 male (born last year), was also caught early on this morning. The picture below shows this bird and the remaining juvenile brown feathers on the "blackcap"can just be seen. Whenever we catch migrants, we like to check their fat levels. The scale goes from 1- 8, and today's bird was assessed as a 5, which means it was fat! This stored fat, obviously, helps the bird when migrating, so chances are this Blackcap was still en route.

Blackcap

As stated above, this is our first record at Linacre, and much earlier than last year (21st April).

 

The other big bird news of the morning was our first record of Tawny Owls using the "owl boxes" that were put up in October 2011 (see here). They have been used by Mandarins in previous years, and hopefully the others will be this year as well, but we were very pleased to find this female sitting tight this morning. An empty eggshell was found on the ground below the nest box, so hopefully there'll be at least 1 chick this year. A brilliant record for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme. 

 



Tawny Owl

After all the excitement we also caught and ringed/retrapped a good number of commoner birds (Blue, Great, Coal Tit, Chaffinch and Robin). My numbers were (new/retrap):

 

Coal Tit 1/2, Great Tit 2/2, Blue Tit 0/2 and Robin 0/2.

 

As well as the excellent birding we also spotted the first Cowslips of the year in the ringing area, along with dozens of Coltsfoot.

 

Cowslips

Several large queen Bumblebees were also flying about and feeding up on the Willow blossom. I think they were either White or Buff-tailed Bumblebees, but I couldn't get close enough to check.

 

Year List update:

115 - Blackcap

Linacre update- ringing tick and nesting success.

Two visits to Linacre this weekend, one for ringing and nest recording, and one to catch up with the summer migrants. A mixed set of results.

First up the ringing and nest recording. A four hour session with the nets resulted in just 17 birds ringed, but this total did include our first ringed Linacre Chiffchaff of the year and a ringing tick for me; a Woodpigeon! A very interesting bird and my first "F" ring.

Woodpigeon

 

Between net rounds we managed a bit of birdwatching and recorded the first records of Mute Swan (1 flew over) and Pied Wagtail (flew over), for Linacre this year.Other birds of note included a Sparrowhawk overhead, 3 Jays, 2 Canada Geese, yaffling Green Woodpecker and drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker. We also recorded our first butterflies of the year, Small Tortoiseshell, 3 feeding on the Coltsfoot, which was out in profusion today, along with super Cowslip and Wood Anenome.

 

Cowslip

 

The last job of the morning was to check on the owl boxes and the Little Owls. We checked the two owl boxes above Spire View and found both contained Mandarin Duck eggs!! The first box contained 5 eggs and no bird, while the second box contained 9 or possibly10 eggs and a female Mandarin Duck.

 

Mandarin eggs

 

The second box, shown above, was full of down as well, whereas the eggs in the first box were laid simply on the sticks and leaves that were already in the box. Anyway, we'll fill in BTO nest record cards for both boxes and watch what happens. I'll let you know. We also checked the tree where we'd seen a couple of Little Owls and were very pleased to find one bird sitting tight. The hole is pretty small, so we couldn't see what the bird was sitting on, but we'll keep monitoring over the next few weeks and hopefully record a successful brreding attempt here as well.

 

I popped back to Linacre again this morning and walked around all three reservoirs recording the first Willow Warblers (4 singing), Sand Martins (6 over the top reservoir) and Blackcaps (4 singing) of the year. Nice!!! Just need the flycatchers, Swifts and House Martins to come back now.