Some of our Boxes

Keeping the locals informed.

 

Some of the group run nest box schemes for Pied Flycatchers etc.  Although they are just coming to completion below is a report produced for  a  Deer Reserve  and Environment Education Centre in the South Lakes which no longer supports many Pied Flycatcher. Apologies for the simplistic style it is for "Joe Public." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Mixed Year



 

Being too close to the sea our group's main site is not a constant effort site and so we have no accurate means of comparing years.  Having said this the general consensus is warbler adult numbers are down but breeding success is high. The Marsh Tit study indicates a good breeding season and hopefully will arrest the decline. Other nest box species were successful although box occupancy indicated lower numbers.  Little and Artic Tern again had a disastrous breeding year and also the waders.

Below is the totals for the 34 species the group is involved with the exception of  Twite and waders which are on separate databases and my lack of skill does not allow me to combine these easily. 

 

PEREGRINES SOUTH CUMBRIA

The Peregrines in Cumbria have had a poor breeding season.  There were high hopes this year as most of the local birds had  a years rest from breeding the previous year. The average successful clutch was 1.66 and some birds did not attempt to breed for the second year. The photographs below were taken at a site where the birds had a second attempt.  Four eggs laid, two young raised with one infertile egg. The other, the chick died during chipping out. The eggs were sent to Lancaster University for storage and possible future analysis. 


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Wader/Tern Recoveries and Controls

Possibly a little radiation is no bad thing? See below

WADER AND TERN RECOVERIES

These were reported to the group last year.

SPECIE                  RINGED                     REC/CONTROL                 YEARS
Ringed Plover        Annan Scotland           Bardsea Cumbria                     8
Oystercatcher         Sellafield Cumbria      Seascale Cumbria                   18
Ringed Plover        Betenti Senegal           Bardsea Cumbria                     8
Bar-tailed               Allonby Cumbria        Wainfleet Lincolnshire            10
L B B Gull             Pitsea Essex                 Barrow Cumbria                      2
Little Tern              Foulney Cumbria        Rue Pt . Isle of Man                 2
Artic Tern              Foulney Cumbria        Foulney Cumbria                      4
Artic Tern              Rhosneigr Wales        Foulney Cumbria                      14
Artic Tern             Foulney Cumbria         Gambia                                     53 days

Non-Stick Mist Net Pole Joint.

The first connecton between the pole that is pushed into the ground and the next standard pole often sticks because I tend to push one in to the ground with the other. The plain end rides over the swaged end. My solution is simply to hacksaw 6 mm off the plain end of a standard pole and push it onto the swaged taper. It is not advisable to do this with the remaining poles as they will slip out when raising the net. If on occasion you need to temporarily lower a net the fact that this lower joint comes apart easily is of some advantage. I hope this stops people having to lower their back seats in order to transport their poles.

Ken Hindmarch

 

Recent Dunlin Recoveries and Controls

RECENT DUNLIN RECOVERIES AND CONTROLS

Although other people were involved outside of our unofficial ringing group it has been decided to publish these and other Wader recoveries on our blog where some of our team has been involved. Distances and direction of travel have been omitted where time is greater than 50 days.     The time referred to below is the approximate date between the two handling occurrences in years.
SPECIE                   RING NO    RINGED                   CONTROLLED                        TIME
Calidris alpina        SB49705    Moeze    France                 Bardsea ,Cumbria                   3
Calidris schinzii     NT48863    Bardsea ,Cumbria              Leverton,Lincolnshire            8   
Dunlin                    NR93148    Tummerhill,Cumbria         Snettisham,Norfolk               13
Dunlin                    NS18903    Tummerhill,Cumbria         Terrington,Lincolnshire         9
Dunlin                    NS18942    Tummerhill,Cumbria          Holbeach,Lincolnshire          9
Watch this space more to follow. Please note this is not a response to the latest omissions in Ringing and Migration.

 

2012 Ringing Totals

    
    
    
    Full grown    Pulli    RecoveriesRetraps    Total

    Sparrowhawk    2    0    0    2

    Peregrine    0    2    0    2

    Woodcock    1    0    0    1

    Tawny Owl    0    2    0    2

    Great Spotted Woodpecker    5    0    4    9

    Tree Pipit    3    0    0    3

    Meadow Pipit    23    0    0    23

    Wren    42    0    10    52

    Dunnock    74    0    11    85

    Robin    81    0    22    103

    Stonechat    5    0    0    5

    Blackbird    64    0    11    75

    Fieldfare    48    0    0    48

    Song Thrush    34    0    1    35

    Redwing    9    0    0    9

    Lesser Whitethroat    2    0    0    2

    Whitethroat    2    0    0    2

    Garden Warbler    2    0    0    2

    Blackcap    41    0    3    44

    Chiffchaff    39    0    2    41

    Willow Warbler    22    0    0    22

    Goldcrest    28    0    5    33

    Pied Flycatcher    1    29    1    31

    Long-tailed Tit    21    0    10    31

    Marsh Tit    22    14    46    82

    Coal Tit    30    0    40    70

    Blue Tit    128    92    103    323

    Great Tit    58    11    62    131

    Nuthatch    13    10    4    27

    Treecreeper    8    0    2    10

    Jay    1    0    0    1

    Magpie    1    0    0    1

    Starling    6    0    0    6

    House Sparrow    1    0    0    1

    Tree Sparrow    4    0    0    4

    Chaffinch    150    0    3    153

    Greenfinch    7    0    0    7
          
    Goldfinch    2    0    0    2

    Linnet    4    0    0    4

    Lesser Redpoll    10    0    0    10

    Bullfinch    76    0    21    97

    Yellowhammer    1    0    0    1

    Reed Bunting    47    0    1    48

    Total:    1118    160    362    1640

Kirksanton Moss

Present AM, RG and CG.

A few wind free days made this a very productive site.  The table below shows the species and numbers caught on 4 recent visits.

KIRKSANTON  MOSS

GROUPS RUNNING 2012 TOTAL

Leisurely West Coast Migration

Present AM, RG and CG.

Part of the team are exploring the migration potential of a West Coast site called Kirksanton..  It is where the western most mountain of the lakes, Black Combe, meets the Irish Sea. In certain conditions large visual migration can be seen,  At the time of writing this blog they are having a third ringing session.  Two sessions in  September have produced the following. I have a feeling they will be lucky  today 

Mipit Net Inspection

Some sit Tight in the Hedge

Is this a First year Bird?

Easy Species to Age.

Present CG, RG, JS, and KH.  A nice number of species considering, the site is a wet broad-leafed wood.

Photographs of two species we did not debate the age of, unlike the Marsh and Coal Tits.

Part of our Ringing History.  Members will know the details. 

Eskmeals Saturday 21/07/2012

Present JS, RG, CG, LH and KH.

Bright sunshine and the poor breeding season reduced our normal July catch size by approximately 50%.  A total of 56 birds were processed of 14 species.  They were as follows, (retraps). Wren 3(1), Dunnock 9, Lesser Whitethroat 1,  Blackcap 4, Blue Tit 8(1),  Robin 7, Song Thrush 2, Chiffchaff  8, Willow Warbler 4, Great Tit 2, Treecreeper 1, Jay 1, Bullfinch 1, Lesser Redpoll 3

Reduced Activity

Our main ringing site being out of bounds until recently due to security clearance problems, the groups activities have been much reduced.  The  following is a summary of our activities during April, May and June,
a total of only 137 birds processed of which there were 25 species. They were as follows (retraps) :
Peregrine 2, Tawny Owl 2, Great Spotted Woodpecker (2), Tree Pipit 3, Wren 1, Dunnock 2(1), Robin 5, Blackbird 5, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Garden Warbler 2, Blackcap 3, Chiffchaff  9, Willow Warbler 6, Goldcrest 1, Pied Flycatcher 10, Long-tailed Tit 1(1), Marsh Tit 15(11), Coal Tit 1(2), Blue Tit 11(1), Great Tit 9(12), Nuthatch 11, Treecreeper 1, House Sparrow 1, Chaffinch 3, Greenfinch 2.

 Nest and eggs of a ground nesting Tawny Owl against a large conifer. Two pulli ringed and survived as the nest was in the middle of a fox proof  pheasant pen.

Some people spend money on fibre optic endoscopes. This photograph through a mirror shows a correctly designed nest box and a mirror is all you need. 

One of two ringed with a Schedule 1 Licence.  A very poor year in our area for this species.