Busy Weekend

This weekend I have been very busy with ringing and birding. After Friday night's trip to Ladybower Woods I was out on Saturday and Sunday morning ringing with members of the group, adding another 23 Blue Tits, 2 Great Tits, 2 Pied Flycatchers and 1 Little Owl pullus to the total. As well as the ringing I also managed an addition to my "Year List" with a singing Quail in fields near Shilito Woods (thanks for the tip off Sylvia).

Saturday morning's ringing session took place at a new site for me, Greenwood Farm, an area of land in the Peak District, owned by the National Trust, and part of the Longshaw Estate. Over a three hour visit we managed to ring 2 broods of Pied Flycatchers, as well as several Blue and Great Tit clutches, including 1 Blue Tit nest with 15 well grown pulli, the highest number I've ever seen.

Sunday morning started with the year tick, when I went to listen to a singing Quail. The song is very distinctive, listen here, but the bird is very elusive and rarely seen. Afterwards I drove up to Linacre, where the group ringed another 44 more pulli, including a Little Owl chick from the nest where we ringed the female bird in May (see here). Back in May she had laid 2 eggs, but when we checked yesterday only 1 had hatched.

Little Owl pullus

There were three boxes with pulli still to ring, so when they're done next week I'll give a round up of this year's successes.

After the ringing we popped down to the ringing site to check on the net lanes and whilst down there we spotted this beautiful day-flying moth, which according to Ispot and UKMoths is a Forester. It's a new species for Linacre and it posed nicely for this photo.

Forrester

Year List:

144- Quail

Another Ringing Tick

Following quick on the heels of last week's Redstart chicks, I was back at the DWT's Ladybower Woods reserve on Friday to catch up with the Pied Flycatcher chicks that were too small to ring last weekend.

Oak woodland at Ladybower Wood

This time around there was one box of  pulli that were ready, so together with Ray, my trainer and Stewart, I got to ring my 43rd species of bird and my 5th new species of the year.

Here are the brood before ringing and one of the 6 individuals I was lucky enough to ring.

Pied Flycatchers

 

Pied Flycatcher pullus

 

Small Phoenix!

Whilst out ringing at the DWT's Ladybower Woods this morning Stewart and I came across this interesting moth.

Small Phoenix

 

After a bit of research I think I've identified it as a Small Phoenix, which is a relatively common moth found across Britain, in open woodland, feeding on willowherbs such as Rosebay Willowherb. Here's a link to the UK Moths website, so you can check for yourself.

Ladybower Wood SSSI

Spent a couple of hours out at the DWT's Ladybower Wood reserve with Stewart from the ringing group to check a few boxes and ring my first Redstart pulli. He had 1 box  with 4 chicks in it and we ringed 2 each. Thanks Stewart!

Redstart pulli

 

We checked a few other boxes and ringed some Blue and Great Tits, but the 4 boxes with Pied Flycatcher chicks and eggs weren't ready, so they'll have to wait for another day.

 

Pied Flycatcher chicks

 

Pied Flycatcher eggs

 

As well as these birds we also managed to record several other species including 2 "year ticks", namely Wood Warbler and Tree Pipit. Cuckoos were calling all morning and Stewart managed a quick glimpse of one as I dragged myself up the hill!!

 

Year List:

142 - Wood Warbler

143 - Tree Pipit