Saturday 31st
Good conditions for checking nest boxes. The House Sparrows at the Observatory are slowly getting going with a few nests with eggs at last. This is in contrast to just down the road where one nest is now with its second brood.
The House Martins seem to have delayed nesting but are also getting going and even better the group which had not done anything due to the adjacent Magpie are also back and active. Out of 20 boxes three were empty, six were lined nests, seven had eggs and four had chicks. We have usually ringed the first chicks and some are near fledging by now.
Friday 30th
The increasing breeze brought an early end to proceedings with two each of juvenile Robin and Dunnock the new birds.
Wednesday 28th
it is becoming a bit of a race between our availability and tits fledging. Two more broods were ringed today but three others were ready to go or had fledged. The position with House Sparrows continues to puzzle me. Along Sandown Road three broods have fledged but at the observatory the first eggs are appearing.
Friday 23rd
Dry and hot but there is a rumour that it might rain tonight! Nice conditions yielded 29 birds. Although only eight were new they were more juveniles, including four Long-tailed Tits. The token adult was a bit of a surprise as it was a Wren, we would have expected to have caught most locals over the last few months. The retraps were mostly juveniles and it is good to see that they are fledging and surviving.
Wednesday 21st
Still no sign of any rain here although apparently it did rain inland. Another catch up round with the nest boxes gave 33 more tit pulli. If they can get them to fledging it is turning into a great year for them.
Friday 16th
There might not be many but there are still surprises. A new, non-juvenile Cetti's Warbler was unexpected. A new Jackdaw reflects how the dry conditions are making feeding conditions difficult. A retrap female Bullfinch was unusual in that she did not show any breeding condition.
Over the last two days 52 tit pulli have been ringed from our nest boxes suggesting good productivity for the occupied nests. A brood of four House Sparrows were ringed on Sandown Road.
Wednesday 14th
A quite mornings ringing as the hot, dry, conditions continue. The new birds were yet another adult Blackbird, two Whitethroats, a juvenile Chaffinch, and a juvenile Robin. The Whitethroats were both males, maybe all the females are busy incubating/brooding. A retrap Song Thrush had not been seen since being ringed as a juvenile two years ago.
Sunday 11th
An interesting mix today with the first fledglings out and about - three Blackbirds and a Robin. The other new birds were a Chiffchaff, a Whitethroat, another adult Blackbird, and a Starling. The later is sadly notable these days. A Jay added a splash of colour to the retraps.
Saturday 10th
A good start to the nest box session with 18 Great Tits and 21 Blue Tits ringed. The bonus was an open nest of three Robins.
Friday 9th
It remains hot and dry but there was enough drop in the breeze for ringing to go on. It remains quiet but interesting. There were three new birds, two of which were a bit of a surprise, namely a new Blackbird and a new Great Tit. As we ring throughout the year it is a surprise when new resident adults appear. It may reflect the slightly damper conditions under the bushes in the Whitehouse for thrushes to find prey in the ground.
A ringed Lesser Whitethroat was of note because it already had a UK ring on.
Wednesday 7th
The first Blue Tit pulli were ringed this morning with brood of ten from a nest box.
Sunday 3rd
Despite the wind a few nets were okay but the only new bird was a Jackdaw. It would appear that with the very dry ground the Jackdaws are making use of the feeders.
Saturday 3rd
A pleasant morning gave just one new bird - another male Whitethroat.
Checking of the boxes on Sandown Road showed a very different picture to those around the Observatory. There were three progressing House Sparrow nests - two with newly hatched chicks and one with a full clutch of eggs. The House Martins are holding back, there are now five fully lined nests but no eggs. One part of the colony however is empty. This group are on a house with an adjacent Holly tree in which is nesting a Magpie, as this group is usually busy we can only see the Magpie as the explanation.
Friday 2nd
Nest box checking continued and the picture was slightly better in the Middle Field and along Guilford Road with a couple of extra nests built since the last visit. The picture around the Observatory is dire however. Although there is plenty of House Sparrow display there is only one nest nearly complete. The one Starling nest had five chicks which were ringed.
Good conditions for mist netting yielded five new and eight retraps. The new birds were two Blackcaps, a Whitethroat, the first Reed Warbler of the year and a smartly dressed adult male Ring-necked Parakeet.
Thursday 1st
I was concerned about the low occupancy when I wrote about our first check of the nest boxes but hoped things would improve with the warm weather by the time of the second check. Sadly this has not happened in the Elms where, out of 20 boxes, 14 were empty, two had part built nests and four had incubating Blue Tits. There were no Great Tits at all. It was slightly better along Guilford Road where there were three sitting Great Tits, two sitting Blue Tits, three boxes with a bit of a nest and four empty nests. It is the worst year since I started doing this 10 years ago.