Supporting the RSPB, Big Garden Birdwatch

On 19th January members of Northants Ringing Group supported the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch event held at Stanwick Lakes.

Group member Dr. Ian Wrisdale, who rings at Stanwick Lakes, organised the group demonstration and members of the RSPB Mid Nene local group also provided guided walks, bird food making and a nature quiz.

It is estimated that nearly 200 members of the public came and enjoyed the event and the interaction with both adults and children was excellent, and the ability to give attendees the opportunity to see close up the birds they see in their gardens was very rewarding.

Birds processed on the day were;

Blue Tit.                15 new and 4 retraps.
Dunnock.                7
Great Tit.                7 new and 3 retraps
Long-tailed Tit.       2
Redwing.                 1
Robin.                      5
Wren.                       1

The photographs below were supplied by Liz Williams. Nature Engagement Coordinator, Rockingham Forest Trust, Stanwick Lakes.

BIRD RINGING SESSION AT STORTONS

Bird Ringing session at Storton’s on Thursday 24th October .

A small band of multi layered ringers rolled up just before dawn. Well insulated for a typical October day, but by mid-morning layers were being discarded as the weather was more Spanish than St James.

A total of 58 birds were processed, of 14 different species. Most of the summer migrants have now departed and the mixture of birds was typical of an Autumn/Winters day ringing.

Greenfinch have been having a tough time of late, but on site during the breeding season there was quite a vocal presence of calling males. Today’s Greenfinch’s were all born this year, which could be a sign of a good local breeding season for this finch. 

Details of birds

New                                      Retraps

WREN                  4

GOLDCREST       4

CHIFFCHAFF       3

BLUETIT               7                        9

REED BUNTING  1

GOLDFINCH        6

ROBIN                  2                         1

BLACKCAP          1

DUNNOCK           4

GREAT TIT          2                         7

GREENFINCH     3

CETTI’S WARBLER                      1

MOORHEN          1

WATER RAIL                                2

TOTAL OF 58 BIRDS   14 SPECIES 

We also colour ringed our first Moorhen as part of the National Moorhen colour ringing project. The project is led by PhD student Aurora Gonzalo-Tarodo for the Waterbird Colour-Marking Group.

Despite being common, widespread, and familiar the Moorhen is an understudied species in Britain and Ireland. There is limited information available on its movements at local, national and international levels.  

To address these gaps in knowledge, the National Moorhen Colour-ringing Project is coordinating efforts among a team of ringers and independent ringing groups to mark birds across Britain and Ireland. 

By increasing the number of birds ringed and the number of recoveries and sightings, the project aims to discover the seasonal movements of Moorhen, including local dispersal, spring and/or autumn migration within the UK and overseas and other aspects of their lifecycle such as site fidelity and survival.

 

The first Colour ringed Moorhen at Storton's Nature reserve

processed as an Adult female.

A Hectic Weekend of Bird Ringing

Members of Northants Ringing Group have had a fruitful weekend with over 200 new birds being ringed.

On Saturday Kenny Cramer led a team of five at Linford Lakes Nature Reserve and on Sunday Neil McMahon led a team of three at Brixworth Water Treatment Works. Neil McMahon also conducted a session on Saturday morning at Pitsford Reservoir, trapping forty birds and ringing a brood of Swallows

Linford Lakes narrative by Kenny Cramer.

 Today was the kind of day where you couldn't make up your mind whether you were hot or cold. Walking round the nets was sweaty work, but standing or sitting still for any length of time had everyone reaching for an extra layer. It certainly didn't feel like mid-August!

This was another very busy session, with 162 birds handled consisting of 18 species, 148 of which were newly ringed.

As we would expect at this time of the year, warblers made up the bulk of the catch with 29 blackcaps, 22 reed warblers, 15 garden warblers, 11 willow warblers, 9 chiffchaffs, 3 sedge warblers, 3 Cetti’s warblers, and a whitethroat giving the assembled team some interesting aging challenges. 

We also expect tit flocks, and these helped to bulk out the numbers with 35 blue tits, 11 long-tailed tits and 5 great tits finding the nets. 

Star bird of the day was neck and neck between a spotted flycatcher (only the second for Linford) and a tree pipit (the fifth for Linford). See attached images of a few key ID criteria for tree pipit including short P5, short hind claw, and distinct facial markings.

Brixworth narrative by Neil McMahon.

We managed to put up a fairly full suite of nets yesterday evening and were able to start catching birds pre-dawn this morning. The Two Tawny Owls alongside one of the net rides, the Kestrel living in the tree next to another net ride and the vocal Green Sandpiper all decided they didn't want to join in though! Two bats said they wanted some bling but they were sent on their way! 

On a day of strong passage as evidenced by bird sightings in the county today, we were fortunate to find the warblers. The cloud cover remained for much longer than forecast and the wind held off for those first three or four critical hours which was ideal for us. We pretty much packed up as soon as the sun broke through and the breeze kicked in. 

This is a dry site these days as the reed bed has been lost but you perhaps wouldn't have thought that with the number of acrocephalus warblers we encountered! 

We only processed three re-traps which included an adult Reed Bunting from 2022 and an adult Common Whitethroat from a couple of years ago

Details of the catches from both sites.

Linford Lakes Nature Reserve				Brixworth Water Treatment Works
10th August				11th August
Species	New	Retrap		Species	New	Retrap
Blackbird	4			Blackbird	4
Blackcap	26	3		Blackcap	14
Blue Tit	33	2		Blue Tit	2
Cetti's Warbler	3			Chiffchaff	6
Chiffchaff	8	1		Common Whitethroat	24	1
Garden Warbler	14	1		Dunnock	4
Great Tit	3	2		Garden Warbler	1
Greenfinch	2			Great Tit	2
Long-tailed Tit	9	2		Grey Wagtail	5
Reed Bunting	2			Linnet	1
Reed Warbler	22			Magpie	1
Robin	1	1		Pied Wagtail	2
Sedge Warbler		3		Reed Bunting	1	1
Spotted Flycatcher	1			Reed Warbler	16
Tree Pipit	1			Robin	2	1
Whitethroat	1			Sedge Warbler	22
Willow Warbler	11			Tree Pipit	1
Wren	4			Willow Warbler	9
				Wren	8
Total	145	15		Total	125	3

Spotted Flycatcher                                                        Tree Pipit

                          

                           

Tree Pipit – Short hind claw.                   Tree Pipit – Short 5^th primary feather.    

All images curtesy of Kenny Cramer.