RINGING SESSION 04 - 2012

23/05/2012  A brood of six great tits ringed were from one of the nest boxes near the ringing hut.

27/05/2012  The lean patch continues, but at least some juvenile birds are on the wing now. Local reports suggest that long-tailed tits have had a good breeding season and appear not to have been affected by the recent spell of cold and wet weather.

BLACKBIRD (JUVENILE)

The blackbird above is carrying some ticks around the eyes. Ticks (Ixodes species) are skin parasites that feed on the blood of their hosts. Nestling and recently fledged birds are sometimes burdened by these unwelcome visitors, although in most cases there are no ill effects and the ticks fall to the ground after engorging themslves. 

Today's totals (ringed and retraps)were:  

blackbird (1,0)

dunnock (1,0)
long-tailed tit (4,0)
robin (3,0)
song thrush (2,0)

willow warbler (1,0)

DAY TOTALS: 12 ringed (6 species), no retraps

NEW SPECIES: dunnock & long-tailed tit 

OBS: great spotted woodpecker heard briefly; brimstone & peackock butterflies foraging

LATEST RECOVERIES FROM BTO

Received a batch of 'recoveries' from the BTO recently, including a couple of very nice blackcap movements. One was to Norfolk, where one of our blackcaps was caught at the legendary Holme Bird Observatory. The other was to SW France, near the Spanish border. To date, we have ringed approx 10,500 blackcaps, of which 48 (or 0.45%) have been reported as caught or found elsewhere (see the map below). Twelve have been recovered abroad: in France (2), Portugal (1), Spain (5), Gibraltar (1) and Morocco (3). The longest distance covered so far by a one of our blackcaps is 2,383 km to Taroudannt in southern Morocco, in 2005.

Movements of blackcaps ringed in the Gordano Valley, 1991 to 2012

The full list of recoveries in the latest batch is as follows:
 

Blackcap X997597                                                 

Ringing details: GVRS 29/08/11                                   

Finding details: Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset 03/04/11   

Distance: 20 km                                                  

Duration: 5 days                                                 

Blackcap Y103114                                                 

Ringing details: GVRS 02/09/11                                   

Finding details: Etang de Moisan, Landes, FRANCE 17/09/11        

Distance: 857 km                                                 

Duration: 15 days                                                

Blackcap Y103285                                                 

Ringing details: GVRS 15/09/11                                   

Finding details: Holme Bird Observatory, Norfolk 26/09/11        

Distance: 285 km                                                 

Duration: 11 days                                                

Chiffchaff DRN391                                                

Ringing details: Much Marcle, Hereforshire                       

Finding details: GVRS 14/09/11                                   

Distance: 65 km                                                  

Duration: 38 days                                                

Lesser Redpoll Y103636                                           

Ringing details: GVRS 22/11/11                                   

Finding details: Blashford, Ringwood, Hampshire 02/02/12         

Distance: 97 km                                                  

Duration: 103 days                                               

Reed Warbler L923901                                             

Ringing details: Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset 10/07/11   

Finding details: GVRS 22/07/11                                   

Distance: 10 km                                                  

Duration: 11 days                                                

Sedge Warbler X790319                                            

Ringing details: Llangorse Lake, Powys, Wales 14/08/11           

Finding details: GVRS 04/09/11                                   

Distance: 61 km                                                  

Duration: 21 days                                                

RINGING SESSION 03 - 2012

13/05/2012  Another very quiet session this morning. Breeding birds are very territorial at this time of year and most females are sitting tight on eggs. Consequently birds aren't moving around much and trapping totals tend to be low. Within the next couple of weeks, however, things should pick up, as young birds start to fledge.





In the absence of interesting birds, this spider's web presented an early
morning photo opportunity!

 



Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (2,0)

blackcap (1,0)
blue tit (0,1)
chiffchaff (2,1)
great tit (1,0)

robin (2,0)
whitethroat (1,0)
willow warbler (1,1)

DAY TOTALS: 10 ringed (7 species), 3 retraps

NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: brown hare 2, roe deer, orange tip butterfly and a tawny owl hooting in the woods at 10am! 

Great tit nestling, almost ready to fledge

A check of the nestboxes around the ringing hut revealed a rather dismal picture, reflecting the recent spell of bad weather. The 'pullus' great tit above was the sole survivor of one brood, but looks healthy enough, if somewhat grumpy! Hopefully we'll catch it as a free-flying adult later in the season. 

RINGING SESSION 02 - 2012

06/05/2012  This morning's session was the first of the 2012 Constant Effort Sites Scheme (CES) season. The nets were opened at 06:00 to a very chilly (5C), grey morning. 

Following the wettest April for over 100 years, the ground was sodden and many of the nets lanes were still under water!

REDSTART (FEMALE)

Catching was very slow throughout. 'Bird of the morning' was a female redstart, caught in one of the Z nets. This was only the 3rd time a redstart has been caught at the site in spring or early summer; the other 22 have all been in autumn.


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (2,1)

blackcap (2,0)

chiffchaff (1,0)

great tit (0,2)

common redstart (1,0)

reed bunting (1,0)

robin (1,0)

song thrush (1,0)

common whitethroat (1,0)

willow warbler (1,0)

wren (2,1)

DAY TOTALS: 13 ringed (11 species), 5 retraps

NEW SPECIES: blackbird, chiffchaff, common redstart, robin, song thrush, common whitethroat & wren

COMMON WHITETHROAT (Subad. MALE)

BLACKCAP (FEMALE)

  

BTO CONSTANT EFFORT RINGING 

The Constant Effort Sites (CES) Scheme is the first national standardised ringing programme within the British Trust for Ornithology Ringing Scheme and has been running since 1983.  Ringers operate the same nets in the same locations over the same time period at regular intervals through the breeding season at 120 sites throughout Britain and Ireland. The CES Scheme provides valuable trend information on abundance of adults and juveniles, productivity and also adult survival rates for 25 species of common songbird.

RINGING SESSION 01 - 2012

06/05/2012  Finally, after much preparation, the nets were erected last night and opened this morning. It was a beautiful morning with practically no wind. But, unfortunately, not many birds :(

The highlight of the morning was a wood mouse family which had taken up residence in one of the nesting boxes!

Today's totals (ringed and retraps)were:  

blackcap (2,1)

goldcrest (0,1) 

great tit (1,1)

reed bunting (1,1)

robin (0,1)

willow warbler (3,2)

wren (0,1) 

DAY TOTALS: 7 ringed (4 species), 9 retraps

Retrap history - click to enlarge

Willow warbler CBR553 was ringed in 2008 and has been retrapped every year since.

REED BUNTING (MALE)

BLACKCAP (MALE)

WILLOW WARBLER