Ringing

Sunday 28th A cool, overcast, start with only a gentle breeze was a good beginning. Warblers were moving through in big numbers. One-hundred-and-ninety-five were ringed plus there was a Blackcap and a Chiffchaff with rings from elsewhere in the UK. The other birds were also typical of autumn – six Goldcrests and singles of Dunnock, Blackbird, Great Tit and Jay.…

Friday 30th A calm start followed by a stiff breeze mid-morning. To emphasise the approach of autumn Blackcap was the most numerous with 35 of the 48 new birds being Blackcap. Next most numerous was Chiffchaff with five. There were also two Reed Warblers, three Willow Warblers and singles of Robin, Lesser Whitethroat and Whitethroat. Although hirundines could be heard…

Tuesday 30th The heat brought an early end to bird activity and to ringing. There were 12 new birds today. Another juvenile Green Woodpecker contiued their improved performance after a poor year last year. As usual the warblers were birds of the year. Another young Cetti’s Warbler was particularly pleasing. After the poor showing in our nest boxes it is…

Friday 28th It was a team effort, with particular thanks to Guy, the new net 11 boardwalk is in. We have used recycled plastic wood supplied by Plasteco to build a longer lasting walkway. Tuesday 25th Work progressed well on the replacement boardwalk. In the evening a check of the House Martins resulted in 14 more chicks being ringed. It…

Friday 24th A total of 11 birds were processed. A Cetti’s Warbler was new for the year and our first three juvenile Long-tailed Tits were caught. Wednesday 22nd The last few tit pulli were ringed. Of great concern is the position with House Sparrows. The only two nest with chicks have both failed and lots of nests are not carrying…

Tuesday 30th Although rather delayed news of a Blackbird ringed here on November 15th 2016 and ring read in the field in Liepaja, Latvia (which is 1410 km ENE) on March 3rd 2017 was very interesting and will take some explaining. Was it already heading back far east? Monday 29th There is a good hint of warmth in the air…

Sunday 31st Unfortunately yesterdays pleasant conditions were not repeated and it was much more breezy than expected. Some nets were possible but there were not the number of Chiffchaffs around and just one was ringed. Of more interest were the two new Green Woodpeckers. This was because we only ringed three in the whole of 2023. Saturday 30th If anybody…

Saturday 24th A calm, clear, night resulted in a shock to the system with a slight frost to start with. The sun quickly cleared this. It was a case of quality over quantity with just two birds caught. One of these was the second male Firecrest this year and the other was a retrap Redwing. Friday 23rd It was a…

Saturday 20th Another very frosty start but this time a bit of a breeze removed some of the frost in exposed spots. Twenty-five birds were caught of which seven were new. The new birds were headed up by a Blackcap, there were also four House Sparrows, a Blackbird, and a Song Thrush. Such is the scarcity of Starlings these days…

There must be somebody out there who can help. We are still looking for a Treasurer who can replace Bo when he moves out of the area. Please contact treasurer@sbbot.org.uk. Tuesday 26th The promise of a more settled day tempted two of us out and it was worth is in quality if not quantity. There were only seven new birds…