Ringing at Lamport Hall

Hello

An evening ringing session took place at Lamport Hall today where the venue, species and methods employed tends to attract ringers and interested parties to converge on the site to see Swifts and House Martins close to. Often the views of these aerial gleaners are brief or over the open water so it is a rare treat. Over the years we have built up quite a data set associated with the breeding efforts of these summer visitors which breed in and on the buildings at Lamport Hall.

Sadly on this occasion we couldn't find any breeding Swallows, very much a sign of the times! Up to about twenty Swifts were seen screaming around at any one time and although this seems a low number we actually caught and processed eighteen Swifts which is more than normal. Eight of these birds were newly ringed and not encountered before and ten were birds caught in previous years, mostly in 2022. One however was first ringed way back as a breeding female on 20th July 2016. All the Swifts encountered today were adults and probably breeding at the Hall.

Forty-four House Martins were caught and processed with seven birds from previous years, the oldest being an adult ringed on 12th July 2021. The House Martins included flying young from this year as well as breeding adults. A single House Sparrow, a juvenile Pied Wagtail and two Collared Dove squabs are also in receipt of a shiny new ring after our combined efforts!

Regards

Neil M

House Martin courtesy of Jane Neil.

Collared Dove nestling
courtesy of Jane Neil.

Common Swift.