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.

East Midlands Roundup

This time last year, Luke and I had a day travelling around the North East birdwatching (see here for details). This year we decided to stay a little closer to home, visiting several sites in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

First stop for the day was the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Willington Gravel Pits near Derby. We stopped here hoping to see a Great White Egret, and were lucky to spot it several times flying around the site.

Great White Egret

Whilst here we also recorded several species for the "year list" namely numbers 77 to 86. Next stop was a short drive to Newton Solney to see if we could spot 2 Cattle Egrets that were feeding in sheep fields by the road. We spotted one straight away, and managed a decentish photo.

Cattle Egret

Next up was Albert Village Lake in Leicester. We visited this site to see a juvenile Black-throated Diver. The bird was distant for photos, but we managed to see it well through the 'scope.

The final site for the day was Holme Pierrepont Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The main species we were hoping to see were Spotted Sandpiper and Long-tailed Duck. The first species was quite tricky, and it took about 2 and half hours before we spotted it!! Luckily, when we found it, it came down to within 5m, and Luke managed to get this lovely photo.

Spotted Sandpiper

The Long-tailed Duck (a 1st winter male) was easier to see, once we'd worked out which end of the rowing course was which(!). 

Long-tailed Duck

Other birds seen here included several Goldeneye, 2 Grey Wagtails and numbers 89 to 94.

Year List update:
77 – Water Rail
78 – Great White Egret
79 - Shelduck
80 – Skylark
81 - Curlew
82 - Mediterranean Gull
83 - Great Black-backed Gull
84 - Redshank
85 - Oystercatcher
86 - Cetti’s Warbler
87 - Cattle Egret
88 - Black-throated Diver
89 - Meadow Pipit
90 - Egyptian Goose
91 - Stock Dove
92 - Long-tailed Duck
93 - Spotted Sandpiper
94 - Little Egret

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

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).

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.

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 - 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

Summer Migrants...at last!

The weather this spring has been, to put it nicely, poor! Cold, northerly winds and rain have meant that few summer migrants have managed to push north so far. I did, however, manage to add a few ticks to the "year list" with a visit to the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Carr Vale reserve on Monday, where I managed to pick up a couple of male Garganey, and 2 fly-through Sand Martins. Another addition to the list was a  remaining winter visitor, the Wigeon.

Year List update:

88 – Garganey

89 – Sand Martin
90 - Wigeon

Sedge Warbler Recovery

So far in my ringing "career" I've only ringed 1 Sedge Warbler, so you can understand my excitement, when I received an email from David, our data manager at Sorby Breck RG, telling me that the bird I ringed last year, had been "recovered" by ringers in France on its way south for the winter!

The bird in question was a juvenile, born last year at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Carr Vale Reserve, and ringed by me on July 28th (see here for details and a couple of pictures). The bird was "recovered", which means it was retrapped away from the site it was ringed, by ringers in Sandouville, in the Seine Maritime region of northern France on August 12th, a distance of 431km. According to BTO's Birdfacts page, British Sedge Warblers have been recovered throughout France and Spain, down into Western Africa, so who knows where this bird spent the winter.

In the same session, we also retrapped another 2 Sedge Warblers, 1 of which had been ringed by my trainer at Carr Vale in 2013, so there's a possibility, that "my" bird could turn up in Derbyshire again this year. I'll be sure to let you know if this happens.

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

Siberian Chiffchaff

Common Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) is, as the name implies, a common summer visitor to Britain. These birds are recorded throughout the country during the summer months, with a several birds also over wintering. Today I saw a couple of these at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Carr Vale reserve, whilst I was looking for a much more uncommon bird, the Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis). Again, as the name implies, this subspecies of Common Chiffchaff originates from much further east, and is an annual, but scarce, winter visitor to the UK.

Telling these two birds apart is very difficult in the field, but one of the main identifying features is the over all grey tones of the Siberian Chiffchaff. Today's bird showed quite well, if somewhat briefly, and was noticeably greyer than the accompanying Common Chiffchaffs. I managed to grab a very poor photograph, which I heavily cropped.

Siberian Chiffchaff (honestly!)

 

To see some much better photographs of other Siberian Chiffchaffs see the Birdguides website here.

As this bird is still a subspecies of Common Chiffchaff it can't be added to my Year List.

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 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

 

 

Carr Vale Ringing - 19th April 2014

I was out ringing yesterday morning at The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Carr Vale Reserve with my trainer and 3 other members of Sorby Breck Ringing Group. We arrived at 06.00hrs, hoping to trap and ring a few summer migrants. By the end of the morning we had caught 25 birds, which included 3 Chiffchaffs and a couple of Blackcaps.

One of the Chiffchaffs was a retrap, a bird that we had caught before, and it turned out to be a bird that we had first caught last July at Carr Vale. Interestingly, the bird had been caught by Alan last year, and he also "processed" it today. It would be great to know where it had spent the winter. Southern Europe perhaps, or even further south??

Another bird that was very interesting this morning was a female Reed Bunting.

This bird was identified as a female by the presence of a brood patch, but, as you can see from the above picture, it had a great deal of black on the face. which is more normal in a male bird (see here for typical male and female birds).  Apparently there is evidence that some female Reed Bunting's colouring  becomes more "male-like" as they get older, but this bird was aged as 5, i.e. born last year, so what's happening is a bit of a puzzle. That's the joy of ringing, always lots more questions than answers!!

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

Avenue Ringing - 5th January 2014

After a four week break from ringing due to bad weather and Christmas I got out this morning with the group, visiting the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Avenue Washlands reserve near Chesterfield. This is one of our regular sites and today's visit will be the first of many this year I'm sure.

We arrived at 7.45am and during the next three and a half hours we caught and processed 61 birds. The first net round produced a small flock of Long-tailed Tits, most of which had already been ringed by us on previous visits. It's always good to retrap ringed birds, as this helps us learn more about their movements and longevity. Here's a picture of my first bird of 2014- a Long-tailed Tit.

Long-tailed Tit

Throughout the morning we carried on catching a good number of birds of many different species; Blue, Great and Willow Tit, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, Bullfinch and this beautiful male Greenfinch (1 of 5 birds).

Male Greenfinch

 

During net rounds we also like to do a bit of birding. Black-headed Gulls were flying over most of the morning along with a Jay, several Blackbirds and Robins. Sighting of the day, however was the small covey of 8/9 Grey Partridges that flew up from the site- a very good "year tick"

 

Year List update:

72 – Willow Tit

73 – Grey Partridge

74 – Reed Bunting

75 – Yellowhammer