brewoodringers - Latest Blog Entries

Ringing Nightjars

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 10:05:00 -0500

Keith and Jim are in outstanding form ringing Nightjars and this includes chicks as well at the adults caught in mist nets.

Wednesday 28th Belvide

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 04:03:00 -0500

Another good session. Weather calm, warm, slight cloud cover--ideal ringing conditions. Had a couple of extra nets by the feeding station--new birds= 71.

Highlights were 11 Chiffchaff, 7 Willow Warblers,12 Blackcaps, 10 Sedge Warblers, 5 Reed Warblers, 6 Tree Sparrows and 2 each of Garden Warblers and Whitethroat. We also ringed a third Common Tern chick which we obviously missed last time--but noticed that on Steve Nuttall's blog that he had seen 3 chicks being fed.

Hobby chicks ringed

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:10:00 -0500

Peter Bache et al recently ringed a couple of Hobby chicks at an undisclosed location in Staffordshire.

Friday 23 into Sat 24th

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 04:27:00 -0500

We set the nets on Friday evening to get a quick start on Saturday morning. We spent a couple of hours catching on Friday but only managed 17 new birds. The nets were then furled and we started again at 4.45am on Saturday. First bird at 5.15 was a Kingfisher--the first for a couple of years. Things then went quite--lovely sunny morning with no wind quickly warming up. Things were moving along steadily however, and a couple of catches at the feeder increased numbers --especially of Chaffinch and Tree Sparrow. Session enede with 61 new birds ( ie 78 for both). Main highlignts of the combined actch were 11 Chiffchaff, 12 Reed Warblers, 5 Sedge Warbler, 8 Blackcaps, our first Goldcrest of the year, and 2 Common Tern chicks on the nesting platform

Wednesday 21st at Belvide

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:40:00 -0500

After a fairly modest catch on Saturday, we were'nt expecting anything special today. The weather dawned clear, with light winds, 15 C and cloud slowly building. The first net round was not particularly good--but each round after maintained a reasonable catch until we closed at 9am. We had about a dozen same site retraps, but 63 new birds was a very respectable catch. Made up of Chiffchaff 8, Reed warbler 15, Blackcap 10, Sedge warbler 6, Garden warbler and Whitethroat 2 each--with some spice added by yet another Yellowhammer, and a Marsh tit.

It looks as though the young Reed warblers are finally coming out of the woodwork--or at least the reedbeds, so we are getting a much better feel for how many there are.

Feeders

Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:36:00 -0500

On Monday we tried the feeder at Belvide early evening. Not a lot about but we did catch 24 new birds--mainly tits, but a couple of Chaffinch, a Chiffchaff and a Goldfinch livened things up a bit.

On Tuesday, we operated at the feeder in a nearby mixed woodland during the early evening and yet again this site produced a good catch of 53 new birds. The largest number were Chaffinch, but some Goldfinch and a couple of juvenile Siskin made for a smashing session for this time of year.

Saturday 17th --a bit disappointing!

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:38:00 -0500

Given that the weather was pretty good-quite calm and still, the catch this morning was rather disappointing with only 34 new birds caught. The fact that there were very few retraps of birds from this site suggests that birds seem to have started moving out from their natal area already. This may be migration--or probably 'post breedind dispersal'--where young birds explore their surroundings to enable them to find their way back next year and to exploit new breeding areas.

Within the new birds however, were 11 new Reed warblers, whose numbers are now beginning to build up as expected. 4 Chiffchaffs, 7, Blackcaps, 2 Sedge warblers and 2 Whitethroat provided a good supporting cast of probably locally bred birds.

Let's see what the next session brings?

Belvide - another good catch

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:14:00 -0500

Belvide on Wednesday (14.07.10.) produced yet another good catch with 17 species ringed. chiffchaff 15, willow warbler 3, reed warbler 11, sedge warbler 1, whitethroat 4, lesser whitethroat 1, blackcap 17, garden warbler 3, reed bunting 3, dunnock 1, robin 2, treecreeper 3, long tailed tit 20, willow tit 1, blue tit 9, great tit 2, yellowhammer 1

Another great Belvide session

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:53:00 -0500

Sunday dawned bright but a little cooler than the baking temperature of Saturady due to a brisk westerly wind. Fortunately the site is protected a little from winds from the south round to west--so ringing was possible--and very successful. 79 new birds were ringed, with the stars being ,yet again 22 Chiffchaff. Interestingly, the large numbers of Sedge warblers didn't materialise--but they were replaced by 13 young Blackcaps, and another 7 young Whitethroat. We still only caught 4 new Reed warblers. Last but not least we ringed a young Marsh tit-presumambly one from the pair which was known to have bred at the reserve this year.

Summer Feeding station???

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 12:50:00 -0500

On Thursday we had a session at one of the 2 feeders we have --this one in a plantation of young pines with birch mixed in. The session started at 15.30--generally not the best time of day--but resulted in 69 new birds!! Highlights were 15 Bullfinch,22 Chaffinch, 6 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Garden warbler and a Yellowhammer. There were only 2 tits--1 Blue and 1 Great--which is very surprising--but perhaps they are still focussing on caterpillars?

Another good catch today

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 03:30:00 -0500

Again a small team restricted the number of nets we could operate. The weather was good to start with, -warm dull and still--but by 8am the cloud had broken, the breeze got up and the temperature rose quickly. Consequently, many birds stopped moving as they tend to. However, we ringed another 54 new birds--mostly more juvenile warblers including, 15 Chiffchaff; 11 Whitethroat; and another 11 juvenile Sedge warblers. All the retraps were local birds, and/or recently ringed. There are still a lot of Reed warblers to ring ( we assume) but to date we haven't opened the nets near to the reedbed, so presumably they haven't yet started to explore the general area--more to come on this topic we hope!

Bumper breeding season!!

Sat, 03 Jul 2010 05:03:00 -0500

We had our first ringing session for the post-breeding season at Belvide this morning. Weather was cloudless, warming up from 15C at 5am to 20+ at 10 when we finished, gentle SW breeze.

Only 9 nets set through lack of personnel--but the catch was one of if not the best ever. 152 new birds of 20 species, plus 12 retraps from previous years.

Lots of young birds around showing that hopes of a good breeding season have been fulfilled. Highlights--most of these birds were juveniles:- 21 Chiffchaff, 36 Long tailed tits, 6 Reed warblers ( many more to come), 20 Sedge warblers, 14 Garden warblers, 10 Blackcaps, and 8 Whitethroat. next session, on Wednesday weather permitting--starting at 5am--hope to see you there.

Reed Warbler nests at Belvide

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:48:00 -0500

Last night an intrepid band; Colin, Dan, Jane and James, spent the evening on the smelly and back-breaking task of monitoring the Reed Warbler nests in the 2 main reedbeds at Belvide. The Scott Hide reedbed held 9 nests--in 2 the chicks were almost fledged so we left them alone. In another they were too small having just hatched. One brood of 3 chicks was ringed and another we ringed 4 of the 5 chhicks--with one runt too small. One further nest had eggs, while another was probably waiting for eggs to be laid --probably a second brood as it was within a few feet of a nest from which the chicks appeared recently to have left. One further recently fledged nest was found.We reckon there is a minimum of 7 pairs in this reedbed.

In Gazebo Bay, we found fewer nests than expected--although we were running out of time and probably missed some near the water's edge. One 'fledged' nest was found; 3 'new' nests awaiting eggs, 2 nests with eggs and one with 4 chicks too small to ring, was the total. We reckon there are a minimum of 6 pairs here.

It looks like there is a minimum of 13 pairs of Reed Warblers breeding at Belvide this year. However, we feel this is probably a significant underestimate for a variety of reasons:- we may well have missed some nests in the survey area; we did not survey all reedbeds; in previous years we have found birds nesting in habitats not connected to the reedbed--for example in the bases of Glyceria grass tussocks and even in Willow bushes.Perhaps we will get a better idea when we compare nesting data with numbers of free-flying birds captured.

Nestboxes in Wales

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:41:00 -0500

A rather disappointing season given the relatively good weather. 170 Pied Fly chicks were ringed--but there were lots of unoccupied boxes and many cases of predation reported. These appear to have been from a variety of causes, including the tell-tale signs of woodpecker attacks via holes chipped out of the side of the box. It's difficult to relate the results to the bigger picture given there has been ( we think) quite an increase over the years of similar nest box schemes. Around 20 years ago we would expect to ring around 600-700 chicks, although that did vary each year. Numbers have steadily decreased since that time. Undoubtedly there is some decline in the numbers as reported by BTO surveys--but we wonder to what extent the available birds are being 'diluted' by the greater box availability? Similar declines have been seen in Redstarts--only 7 chicks ringed this year-about one third of the totals 20 years ago.

Keith ringing Wood Warbler

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:36:00 -0500

barn owls chicks

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:25:00 -0500

Rob and Jim ringing Barn Owl chicks at undisclosed location.

pied flycatcher

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:05:00 -0500

Kieth has taken some excellent photographs of Pied Flycatchers

buzzards

Sun, 13 Jun 2010 07:01:00 -0500

Peter, Rob and Jim ringing buzzard chicks recently at an undisclosed location

Heron Stop Press!!

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:06:00 -0500

We have just heard that a Heron we ringed at the Gailey heronry FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, has been found at a site in the Netherlands. Clearly the experience of having a ring put on it as a chick has not had any effect on its survival or its meanderings!

Exciting new site

Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:04:00 -0500

We have an exciting new site this year, but it must remain undisclosed. However, this has added a complete new dimension to our ringing with species such as Buzzard, Raven and Tree Pipit already being ringed in good numbers. We will try to provide as much information as we can as the year unfolds.