Linacre news- at last!

Sorry that I haven't been blogging about Linacre much, but I did get down this morning, so there is something to blog about. I spent four hours with the Sorby Breck ringers this morning and managed to ring nineteen birds.

Out of the 19 birds I ringed 5; 2 Coal Tits (1 juvenile and 1 adult), 1 Dunnock, 1 Willow Tit and a Great Tit. Interestingly and quite worryingly, the young Coal Tit was the only young bird we caught today. Where are all the youngsters? We ringed nearly 150 Blue and Great Tits in the boxes at Linacre, so we were hoping to retrap some of these in the nets. Perhaps during the autumn/winter when there isn't so much natural food around and feeders become more important?

Other birds ringed today were Blue Tit, Chiffchaff (1), Nuthatch and Chaffinch.

There were a few insects around this morning including 4 species of butterfly: Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Meadow Brown and Ringlet.

Ringlet

This ladybird was also feeding on a teasel. I think it's a Harlequin, but I'm not sure.

Harlequin ladybird?

Baslow Sewage Farm

A return visit to Baslow Sewage Farm this morning was a big improvement on my last visit, with 22 birds of 6 species ringed, including two new species for me; House Martin and Jackdaw.

The House Martin was the second bird of the day and turned out to be a bird born last year. I'd read that they have feathered legs, but today's bird was my first chance to see it in the flesh- lovely!

House Martin

The other new bird, a Jackdaw, was one of four rung today. Mine was one of this year's birds, a 3J which had begun it's post juvenile moult and therefore became a 3JP! The picture below is one of the adults we rung. Note the silver hood and blueish iris.

Jackdaw

Other birds rung today were: Swallow (all adults, no juveniles!), one juvenile Chaffinch, juvenile Grey Wagtails and several adult and juvenile Pied Wagtails. 

I'm off to Linacre tomorrow (at last), so hopefully I should be able to bring you some updatres from there.

That's more like it!

Following last week's quiet ringing session this morning saw the group out at a private site in Sheffield in near perfect conditions. 3 nets were set and during the morning, 22 birds were caught.

Species caught today were: Wren (juveniles), Blackbird (juveniles), Blue Tit (adult), Goldfinch(juveniles), Dunnock (juveniles), Whitethroat(1 juvenile), House and Tree Sparrow(adult and juveniles) and Great-spotted Woodpecker (1 juvenile). Unfortuntaely I'd forgotten to take my camera and I couldn't work out how to use my 'phone's camera, so no photos today!

What was really good to see was the number of juvenile birds present, so at least some birds have survived the recent terrible weather. Out of the 22 birds, I managed to ring or retrap 7, including one particular Tree Sparrow which was one that we had rung in the boxes that are present on this site. Hopefully we'll catch it again over the coming months.

A quiet session at the Avenue

This morning's session at The Avenue was the first mist netting that we've been able to carry out for a few weeks due to the poor weather. In all we spent 4 hours on site and managed to ring just 11 birds.

My first birds of July were a juvenile Great Tit and an adult male Blackcap. Other birds ringed were 2 Wrens, a Dunnock, 2 juvenile Blackbirds, a male Bullfinch and another juvenile Great Tit. The Blackcap was interesting as he had a large brood patch, which is normally only found in female birds. Apparently though other male "Sylvia" warblers also have brood patches.

Blackcap

Also seen and heard on site were: Grasshopper Warbler, Chiffchaff, Kestrel, Black-headed Gulls, but very little else!

A moth called a Latticed Heath was spotted in the grass around the net lanes.

Latticed Heath

Linacre WeBS Walk- June 2012

I didn't manage to do the WeBS walk this morning, because of the Swallow ringing, but thankfully, 3 other members of the Chesterfield RSPB Group got out and recorded the following: Mallard (24 adults and 13 young), Coot (12 adults and 5 young), Tufted Duck (10), Mandarin Duck (11 adults and 10 young),  Moorhen (2 adults), Great-crested Grebe (1 adult) and Little Grebe (1 adult).

A brood of Treecreepers were also seen, which is our first proof of breeding at this site- brilliant result!

Ringing pliers christened with a ringing tick

Last week for Father's Day, my daughter/wife bought me a new pair of ringing pliers. Unfortunately, the three boxes I checked at Linacre contained only dead eggs and empty nests, so I didn't get chance to use them!

This morning I went out with my trainer to a farm in Sheffield and, despite a week of wind and rain, we managed to find a brood of Tree Sparrows and Swallows that were ready to ring. Both birds were great to ring, but especially the Swallows which were a ringing tick. How this little bird will make it to Africa in a few months time is anyone's guess!

Swallow pullus

Nightjars and Woodcocks

Friday evening saw me and 5 others spending  a few hours in Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire on the Chesterfield RSPB's annual visit to see Nightjars and Woodcocks.

We'd had alot of rain this week, so we weren't expecting too much, but as we arrived, the rain stopped and the sun came out! The first part of the walk took place around the main lake, We saw a good number of waterbirds including Gadwall, Mallard, Mute Swan, Great-crested Grebe and a single male Mandarin Duck.

After an hour or so we headed over to the grassland area where we found a singing Yellowhammer, two Stock Doves and a single Tree Pipit.

Tree Pipit

The final part of the evening started at about 9.30pm, when we moved over to the Nightjar area. Within minutes of our arrival we'd seen a"roding" Woodcock and over the next hour we saw several more. A Cuckoo was heard calling and at about 9.45pm the Nightjars began to "churr" and we managed to see two birds flying around.

The Year List has moved on 4 species:

139 -Tree Pipit
140 - Woodcock
141 - Nightjar
142 - Cuckoo