Friday 9 March 2018

Ringing at Kelmarsh Hall

Hello

Today saw some bird ringing at Kelmarsh Hall in rather cool conditions - I'm not sure my toes ever did warm up!

Just three mist nets caught 148 small birds of 13 species, the majority of them being common tits. Initially we caught plenty of birds already bearing rings from previous operations and they easily outnumbered unringed birds but as the session progressed we began to catch a larger proportion of new birds. In the end it ended up being 74 re-trapped and 74 new birds!

These totals were made up of 3 Blackbirds, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Dunnocks, 12 Robins, a Treecreeper, 2 Nuthatches, 40 Great Tits, 54 Blue Tits, a Coal Tit, 9 Long-tailed Tits, 6 Chaffinches, 8 Goldfinches and 3 Siskins.

One of the Chaffinches was first ringed there on 13th January 2013 when it was assessed as a bird hatched in 2012, so if it survives until this summer it will be six years old. Interestingly it has only ever been re-trapped once during the relevant period. One of the Blue Tits caught today was originally caught and ringed as a juvenile at Harrington Airfield in June 2017.

A flock of up to fifty Siskins were present for a short time and a Raven was seen and vocal on and off during the day.

Regards

Neil M


Male Chaffinch. Hopefully
we'll see some fresh leaves and
blossom soon!
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Robin. Twelve caught
today no doubt were
assisted through the cold
weather of last week due to
the local feed station maintained
 within the grounds of Kelmarsh Hall.
Image courtesy of
Cathy Ryden.

Blue Tit, image courtesy
of John Tilly. Fifty-four
were processed at Kelmarsh
Hall today.

Great Tit, image courtesy
of John Tilly. Forty birds
processed today was a high
number with quite a number
of birds showing tick infestations
around the head.

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