Today’s visit to the farmland feeding site in Elton was very successful with 71 birds processed in total, including 50 Yellowhammers, one of the target species. The other birds included resident birds such as Blackbird, Dunnock, Reed Bunting and Wren, as well as several Blackcaps, Chiffchaffs and our first Willow Warbler of the year. The flock of Brambling we saw on the previous visit had moved on, but it was nice to hear some summer migrants singing in the trees. Unfortunately, 2 of the 3 chaffinches we caught had 'scaly legs' caused by Fringilla papillomavirus. They were released unringed, b ..read more

It's that time of year again when we join forces with NNRG to ring Raven chicks at their undisclosed site. This year the birds had chosen a new nest site which proved a bit difficult to locate. However, last week it was eventually found and four chicks were seen.  On 10 April, Kev B, Holly, Jake and I joined Adrian and Tara from North Notts RG, the site manager and the Access Techniques team to ring the chicks. The Access Techniques team are very proficient and Andy soon reappeared with the chicks. I was surprised to find that there were 5 large, healthy chicks, a first for this site as t ..read more

Jim, Alex and I met Ben at the farm in Elton on a cold but bright morning, hoping that the day would bring plenty of birds coming to the feeding site, especially as the supplementary feeding elsewhere on the farm had stopped for the season. Ben had been feeding the site regularly and had seen plenty of birds coming and going, including some Brambling. We set the nets, with some affected by a stronger than expected breeze, but nonetheless we managed a decent first round, which dropped off subsequently, with a steady trickle of birds for the remainder of the morning. There were indeed plenty of ..read more

It's not that long ago that Cetti's Warbler was unknown from our part of the world and it was retricted to England's southernmost counties, but in the last 25 years or so, it has spread to almost every region of England and Wales. Our ringing group's first capture was at Holme Pierrepont (HPP) in 2009. Since then, at that site, we have ringed 86 new Cetti's and had 40 subsequent encounters. In 2011, we caught our first at Attenborough Nature Reserve (ANR). Here we have since ringed 15 new birds and had 12 subsequent encounters. ANR is approximately 10km southwest of HPP, but crucial ..read more

A very modest catch today in windy and sunny conditions, though it did take longer than usual to put up the nets because just as we reached the last one, the first pole in the line snapped in half, collapsing the whole line. It took a while to get the nets back up and free of twigs and alder cones... Still, we processed a total of 18 birds. The highlight was catching 4 Treecreepers together, which meant we could compare the primary coverts and we were surprised to see that they were all different!  We tried tape lures for Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Siskin, but those were unsuccessful. We cau ..read more

This was to be the final visit of the season to the winter feeding site at Broomfield campus. Nets were wind affected from the start, but a little light drizzle early on soon cleared. We ended up with a reasonable catch of 27 birds, including 15 retraps. Blue Tits made up half the catch, plus a few Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits and 5 Robins. Only 2 Chaffinch were caught. The bird of the day was the first Nuthatch recorded for the group at this site.  Thanks to Caitin for keeping the feeders topped up! Sue Nuthatch (K. Hemsley)   ..read more

A cold a foggy start to the Sunday session at Broomfield College. A large number of recaptures this week including the resident Great Spotted Woodpecker that we caught last year. Signs of breeding preparation and pairing up were noted in a few of our birds this week, so we dusted off our brood patch score sheets! Holly attempted to catch some birds with her newly acquired spring traps. Unfortunately the traps proved rather empty, even as the Blackbirds mocked us from the hedgerows every net round. We are coming to the end of our winter site lifespan, whilst the search for the next best summer ..read more

Gary and I had a productive morning at the Brackenhurst feeders with 43 birds of 9 species including a Brambling (the site's fifth), 15 Yellowhammers, a Chiffchaff and a Treecreeper. The oldest recapture was a 2019 Great Tit. We also had a group of students come and watch to learn about ringing. Jim Brambling (JL) Chiffchaff (Duncan)   ..read more

On 6 March we finally managed an evening session targetting ducks and waders at Erewash Meadows Reserve. With permission from Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Kev, Josh and I were joined by Andy and Mel from the Cromford Canal and Codnor Res. Group, who shared their knowledge and passion for the local area and wildlife with us. We erected our nets around the two pools on site, disturbing a few Teal and Mallard as we did so, a Snipe was also seen. We hoped to target Lapwing, Teal (mainly Teal, but any duck species) and Snipe, so things were looking hopeful. We then waited till dusk fell, initially ..read more

  We’ve launched a new colour-ringing project and we need your help!  Since the start of 2020, we have ringed 1181 individual Goldfinches and only had 5 recoveries. This is unusually low, especially when compared to Redpoll which has a similar ringing rate but much higher recovery rate. Given that Goldfinches are more common in gardens throughout the year than Redpoll, the low recovery rate is strange. Some comparison data are below: Goldfinch stats 01/01/20 to present 1181 individuals ringed 106 retraps 8.9% 5 controls 0.4% Redpoll stats 01/01/20 to present 1337 individuals ring ..read more