Does anyone know D787769

This year we are trialing a CES site with a view to going live in 2017. It's something I've been wanting to do for sometime and we now have enough ringers that are interested and able to commit the time.

Yesterdays trial was a great success with a couple of highlights. The ring number above (D787769) was a control Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scripaceus) age 4. If anyone recognizes the ring number, please let me know. The recapture data will be submitted to the BTO in the usual way.

Another highlight was the first Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) to be caught on the reserve, an adult male. It will be nice to catch a juvenile later in the year to prove breeding.

Cetti's Warbler,

© Nigel Judson

  The more common birds often bring up most surprises. Yesterday we caught two Treecreepers (Certhia familiaris) one with a brood patch, not only the first that we had caught on the reserve but the volunteer warden had only seen one on the reserve in the previous 20 years.

It was also nice to catch the first juvenile of the year. Not surprisingly a Robin.

Here are the totals, New/Retrap :-

Blackbird             0/1

Blackcap             2/0

Blue Tit                1/2

Cetti's Warbler     1/0

Chiffchaff              5/1

Great Tit               5/0

Long tailed Tit       4/0

Reed Bunting         5/0

Reed Warbler        5/2

Robin                    1/0

Sedge Warbler      3/0

Song Thrush          2/0

Treecreeper          2/0

Willow Warbler     1/0

Wren                     1/1

We also the checked the progress of a Tree Sparrow (Passer montanus) colony. This year all the nest boxes are occupied except for two, that have been taken over by Bumble bees. The nests are at the hatching stage and I will ring the chicks when large enough. Each box will have two broods, sometimes three, in the season. At the end of the season all the data gathered will be submitted to the Nest Record Scheme of the BTO. At the same site swallows usually nest in the garage, this year we have three nests occupied with eggs in. 

Looks like a bumper year in Charnwood.

Nest Recording and things

Spent a day on the reserve checking the progess of nests we are studying as part of the BTO's Nest Recording Scheme, which along with the Ringing Scheme is part of the Demography Unit (see http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nrs). First we checked on four Lapwing nests that we have been monitoring. At the first nest the female was still incubating. The eggs had hatched in the second nest a couple of days ago and today we managed to locate the three chicks. The final two nests had also hatched.

Lapwing chick 'hiding'.

Lapwing chicks at this age defend themselves from predators by hiding, which usually means putting their head under some vegetation and staying still, "if I can't see you then you can't see me".

One of the chicks ready for release. You can see mud on its' beak where it has been probing in the soil for food.

The chicks are quickly ringed and released, so that disturbance is kept to the minimum.

We then went off to see what other nests we could find for our project. We soon found, among others, a linnet, reed bunting and dunnock. We will keep track of how these nests progress and send in the data to the BTO at the end of the season.

Reed Bunting nest