Leicestershire 68 v Northants 84

Over the last few years we have set up our moth traps along the old rail track or within the reservoir perimeters to see what species are around. These areas have the usual flora expected such as Ash, Oak, Hawthorn and Blackthorn but no phragmites. So with this in mind I decided that I would try the moth trap on the Leicestershire side of the reservoir where there is a large reedbed.
On Friday 9th August I arrived and donned my waders then made my way to the reedbed to set up some nets to attempt to catch some Swallows coming in to roost. I set five nets in the reedbed and on returning to the car Mick arrived to join me. With two more nets erected we got to the task of setting the moth trap and an additional light and white sheet. The main trap was set as near as possible to the reedbed to see if we could attract some reedbed species. The sheet was set near the base to give us something to do between visits to the trap.

Base camp

On checking the mist-nets before dusk we found that we had managed to catch a single juvenile Swallow along with six Reed Warblers, 1 Sedge Warbler and 4 Reed Buntings....... not exactly the roost were we hoping for! These were all bagged up and kept overnight in a safe place for ringing in the morning as by now the light had faded.
The sheet was already starting to attract large numbers of small insects but not many moths but the trap was now bringing in good numbers of Lesser Broad-bordered and Lesser Yellow Underwings.
30 species of micro and macro were recorded including 3 species of Footman, double figures of Flame Shoulder and Double Square-spot. Pebble Prominent, Dusky Thorn, Scalloped Oak and Ruby Tiger were nice examples. One reedbed specialist trapped was micro Chilo phragmitella, although a common species it was nice to see something other than the usual woodland species.
Dave arrived just after 04:00 to replace Mick who was travelling around to the Northants side to ring with Ed, Dawn and Simon where they set their nets on the opposite bank. I think they enjoyed themselves over there as we heard chuckles of laughter from across the water all morning!
Altogether, there were 152 birds processed with 84 on the Northants side and 68 on the Leicestershire side, an excellent day for both teams.

New/retaps

Woodpigeon 1/0
Swallow 1/0
Wren 2/0
Dunnock 1/0
Robin 0/1
Sedge Warbler 12/3
Reed Warbler 30/17
Lesser Whitethroat 2/0
Whitethroat 12/1
Garden Warbler 4/1
Blackcap 7/2
Chiffchaff 1/1
Willow Warbler 15/3
Long-tailed Tit 3/2
Blue Tit 6/3
Treecreeper 4/0
Goldfinch 2/0
Linnet 3/0
Reed Bunting 9/3

Bird days and moth nights

The first two weeks of August have seen warm and calm days which have been great for ringing. The number of warblers are steadily increasing as Whitethroat's in particular look like they have had a decent breeding season with 250 ringed up to date. Mick and Dave got the ball rolling on the first day of the month with their nets covering a corner of the bay including the feeding station. Surprisingly, 32 birds from a total of 41 were warblers in an area that would expect good numbers of tits and Trees Sparrows.

The following night was a planned moth trapping session so Ed, Dave and I met on the Friday night and set up camp on the rail track. All nets were erected and furled ready for the early morning start. The moth night was another success with 51 species of micro and macro recorded.
We were up bright and early at 04:00 to open the nets which then gave us a few minutes to check the moth trap and pot-up any worth photographing. A selection of these are shown below.

The bird total was not great with just 45 birds processed as our reward.

New / retraps
Wren 3/0
Dunnock 1/1
Robin 1/0
Blackbird 1/1
Sedge Warbler 3/2
Lesser Whitethroat 1/0
Whitethroat 6/4
Blackcap 2/0
Chiffchaff 1/0
Willow Warbler 4/1
Marsh Tit 0/1
Willow Tit 1/0
Blue Tit 1/3
Treecreeper 2/0
Chaffinch 2/0
Linnet 1/0
Reed Bunting 2/0

An inspection of the Swallows at nearby stables and farm resulted in a further 12 pulli being ringed with more still on eggs.

Ruby Tiger

Scalloped Oak

Purple Thorn

Pale Prominent

July updated

We are now into August so apologies for the lack of posts on the blog recently. July has been our busiest month so far with fifteen ringing sessions including seven since the last update.
The groups first attempt at the CES project is going well with 417 captures since it started in May. The majority of these are made up of juveniles from what looks like a fairly good breeding season although numbers are still lower than previous years as many of our warbler species are recovering from failed attempts in 2012.
Nearly 500 more birds have been processed since our last blog on the 12th July so here's a summary of our latest outings.
15th July was CES session No'8 with Mick and I processing 84 birds of 20 species including 34 Whitethroats and 7 Garden Warblers.
Mick was ringing solo on the 18th from the dam to the orchard and managed 74 birds of 14 species. Whitethroats again made up the majority of these with Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Reed Bunting and Linnet also in noteable numbers.
Once again my night shift got in the way of ringing on the 20th so I arrived four hours later to meet Mick, Ed, Dawn and Dave half way between the feeders and the point. On arrival, Ed and I wandered off into the wood to check the large nest boxes for Stock Doves. One new adult and chick were ringed and a re-trapped adult ringed in July 2011 is now our oldest individual of this species at 2 years and 4 days! The days total was 83 birds of 18 species with Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and Long-tailed Tits being the most abundant.
Whilst the group took the nets down, Ed and I drove to a local farm to check the Swallow nests. None of the Swallows were at a ringing stage but we did find that the Collared Doves were a nice size and a new species for Ed too. A phone call from a local landowner to say that they have heard hissing from one of their many nest boxes saw us ring this years first Barn Owl chicks. Although we had a great day, by this time I had been awake for over 24 hours and I was looking forward to getting home!

Barn Owl chick

Mick and Dave were available on the 24th for a session in the reedbed on the Leicestershire side. Reed Warblers were the target of the day with 65 birds processed, 33 of those were Reed Warblers.
On the 26th we carried out our nineth CES session as well as playing host to 'The University of The Third Age' (U3A). Lots of warblers including Sedge and Reed Warbler, Lesser and Common Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler were the order of the day with juvenile Robins, Treecreeper, Tree Sparrow and Linnet making up a total of 73 birds processed. A great day was experienced by everyone with lots of photo opportunities and a chance to see birds up at close quarters.
We would also like to take this opportunity to thank the U3A for their generous donation to the group funds and trust that they went away having learned something about ringing and migration.

Blower's Lodge Bay by Ed Tyler

The following day Mick brought along Jed Andrews (ex Holme NOA warden) where they met Ed, Dawn, Dave, Simon and I at the rail track gate to be greeted by perfect conditions. A Grasshopper Warbler reeled as the first nets were erected and subsequently caught in the first net round. Dave and Simon joined me as I check the Pole nest boxes. One Stock Dove fledged as I leaned the ladder against the pole but two chicks were ringed in the second box. 100 birds were processed including 14 Sedge Warblers, 20 Reed Warblers, 18 Whitethroats, 5 Garden Warblers, 10 Willow Warblers, 7 Reed Buntings and singles of Marsh and Willow Tits. After everything was packed away I decided to pay a visit to the dam to check the nest boxes for Stock Doves but there were none to be ringed. Whilst driving past the house I noticed a juvenile corvid sitting on a wooden railed fence. When I stopped the car it promptly hopped into a paddock of tall grass...... I quickly followed and before long I had a 1J Carrion Crow for the year list!

Juvenile Carrion Crow

It has been a productive month with just over 1200 birds processed.
July's new and retrap totals combined.....
Mallard 1, Stock Dove 5, Collared Dove 2, Barn Owl 2, Kingfisher 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker 3, Swallow 2, Wren 23, Dunnock 26, Robin 24, Blackbird 13, Song Thrush 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 112, Reed Warbler 133, Lesser Whitethroat 10, Whitethroat 233, Garden Warbler 53, Blackcap 37, Chiffchaff 40, Willow Warbler 98, Goldcrest 1, Spotted Flycatcher 1, Long-tailed Tit 13, Marsh Tit 1, Willow Tit 3, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 106, Great Tit 121, Treecreeper 12, Carrion Crow 1,
House Sparrow 2, Tree Sparrow 39, Chaffinch 13, Goldfinch 7, Linnet 9, Bullfinch 6, Yellowhammer 1, Reed Bunting 44.   

Adam

Moths galore and a lot of birds too!

When someone mentions a moth night, the topic usually ends with a few 'perhaps' and 'maybe's'. Our past experience of moth nights have fallen well short of the groups expectations with cold nights taking a hit on the size of the moth catch and dampening the enthusiasm of everyone involved.
The forecast for July this year has been perfect for both moth trapping and bird ringing, so what could possibly go wrong?
Well as it happens, everything went brilliantly and possibly the best weekend that I have ever experienced at Stanford Reservoir in my 10 years as a member. I finished work at 3pm on Friday and arranged to meet Ed and Dave at around 4-5pm. I arrived first and quickly erected my tent on the hardest and lumpiest ground imaginable.

After several bent pegs and numerous swallowed flies, Dave arrived. With both tents erected we got to the task of erecting and furling the nets ready for the following morning. We decided to keep the feeder nets open to give us something to occupy ourselves untill it was time to set up the moth trapping equipment.
Ed arrived and erected his bird hide which he had decided to double up as his sleeping quarters which he shared with numerous ground beetles, nice!

A juvenile Great-spotted Woodpecker and a Lesser Whitethroat were the only birds of note before we closed the nets up. Whilst I wandered off down the railtrack to get the generator started, Ed and Dave got their portable barbecue's lit ready for an evening feast. We sat in wait for about an hour before the first moths started to arrive at two lights set up. The numbers and species quickly amounted and we were soon tallying up a long list of species, some I have never seen before. Good numbers of Beautiful Hook-tip and Peppered Moth were notable. We were so engrossed in the spectacular event that it was 1am before anyone realised the time, we had agreed to rise at 4am to open the nets!

I topped up the generator with more fuel and retired to my tent at 1.30am. It felt that I had no longer shut my eyes when I heard Ed's alarm go off. It was 3.50am, warm and clammy. On checking the moth trap, I could see that there were Elephant and Poplar Hawkmoths, Buff Arches, Burnished Brass and many more species. I turned the generator off and covered the trap for checking later. The three of us had the nets unfurled in 30 minutes and Mick, still smiling after his day at Trent bridge, arrived just as we were returning to the railtrack.
This gave us time to check the moth trap before the first round of nets.

Blackneck

Buff Arches

Eyed Hawkmoth

Elephant Hawkmoth

Privet Hawkmoth

Peach Blossom

Peppered Moth

Poplar Grey

Lackey

Leopard Moth

Spectacle



Poplar Hawkmoth












Over 170 macro moths of 58 species were recorded plus 13 species of micro moth.

Our first round of the nets resulted in 71 birds with the highlight of the day being an adult Spotted Flycatcher in the feeder nets. Warblers were in decent numbers with 13 new Sedge Warbler and 17 new Whitethroat.

Spotted Flycatcher

By 11am we had processed 134 birds and we were all dead on our feet. Ex-member Brian joined us as we were taking the nets down and it was then that I found our 58th moth species for the day. A Lunar Hornet Moth was clinging to the last line of nets to come down!

Catch of the day - Lunar Hornet Moth

If I ran back to the car to get a pot it would no doubt have disappeared so I gently put it in a bird bag and transferred it to a pot when I got back. Hornets and wasps sometimes get entangled in the nets and it was lucky that I looked twice before shaking it off. There are a long line of Poplar trees at Stanford and Hornet Moths have been on my list for a long time. A perfect end to a perfect weekend!

Birds New/retrap (Friday and Saturday)
Great spotted Woodpecker 1/1
Wren 1/1
Dunnock 1/4
Robin 1/0
Blackbird 2/2
Sedge Warbler 13/17
Reed Warbler 4/2
Lesser Whitehroat 3/0
Whitethroat 18/10
Garden Warbler 5/7
Blackcap 3/0
Chiffchaff 1/0
Willow Warbler 2/9
Spotted Flycatcher 1/0
Long-tailed Tit 3/0
Blue Tit 8/6
Great Tit 4/11
Treecreeper 1/0
Tree Sparrow 2/0
Chaffinch 2/0
Linnet 1/0
Bullfinch 0/2
Reed Bunting 0/2

and out came the birds...

Well we've certainly had a decent few days at Stanford. As the sun came out, so too did the birds in good numbers.

First of all Adam and I met at 4:30 on Friday morning to do CES visit number 7. Our hopes were high for a decent catch and expectations were definitely exceeded .

The first round of the nets produced 65 birds and by the time we had finished we had processed 135 birds, 87 of which were new. The main species was Common Whitethroat with 29 new and 6 retraps.

The following day we were up early again for another session at a different area netting from the feeders up to the point and on around to the reed bed. This time we had Dawn, Dave and Paul with us, 3 of our 4 trainees. We had another good morning with 117 birds processed. Again Common Whitethroat being
the main species caught with 11 new and 7 retraps.  Sedge Warbler came a close 2nd with 10 new and 6 retraps.

Sunday was a welcome day of rest.

Monday dawned bright and early with yet another early start, this time meeting Mike at the Dam end, to erect nets from just past the Tower to the Orchard. This is one of my favourite areas around the Reservoir as you can sit and look over the water. Today we managed 76 birds processed, 46 new and 30 retraps with the main species yet again Common Whitethroat. We had a very pleasant morning ringing if not a little tiring in the sun.

Then finally, I was out on my own on Tuesday down the rail track and yes, you guessed it, another 4:30 start yet. (But tomorrow I'm watching the cricket on the telly then Friday going to Trent Bridge for the third days play HEAVEN).  Anyway back to Stanford, and Tuesdays efforts. It has to be said, although I caught 68 birds, it was not a great days ringing with very little moving around.

Over the 4 ringing sessions we ended up with 396 birds processed, of which 248 were new. Not too bad for an inland site on the borders or Leicestershire and Northants .

Mick

Summer at last

With the first real day of summer the reservoir burst into life with tits calling everywhere and the first real flush of juveniles in evidence. Dave and I met at the gate at 04:15 with no wind at all (the first time this year) so off we trotted down the old rail track to the res to get the nets erected at the CES site, better to get it done early than struggle for decent weather later on. With the nets erected we settled down for a good mornings ringing (we hoped). The morning progressed at a decent rate with 119 birds processed, this being the first 100+ day of the year.

What a great morning we had with the best bird being a Jay. We do not catch many of this species as we are mainly a scrub habitat and Jays are mainly Woodland species. We also had a great morning for Willow Warblers with 15 new birds and a retrap from a nest of young we ringed earlier in the month. Whitethroats reaching double figures, were not far behind.

With this start hopefully this breeding season will be a lot better than the last. Here's hoping!!!!

Mick

Early start and a late finish

On Saturday the group members welcomed Micks safe return from his annual ringing trip to Longpoint Bird Observatory in Canada. Joining Dave, Ed, Paul and myself, we all arrived at the gate at 04:30. Well nearly all of us! I was held up due to a car accident that had closed the main route through to Stanford which meant taking an unplanned diversion through unknown territory. This wouldn't normally be a problem but I was carrying all the groups nets and ringing kit! As it turned out, I was only a few minutes late and soon caught them up just as Mick was heading off down the railtrack to open the gate to the reservoir.
On Sunday 26th May, Dave and I experienced near perfect conditions for mist-netting. This weekend we were greeted by a chilly north-westerly which made ringing difficult at the north end of the reservoir. We were hoping that we would get some shelter from a tall tree line near the point but as it turned out some nets were still prone to the breeze coming from across the water. At the opposite end of the reservoir, the feeding station nets and a few others were looking good but once again there were hardly any birds around this area.
A Sedge Warbler extracted from the nets on the first round was found to be a BTO control. This species seems to be all around the reservoir this year and is already one of our most numerous warblers along with Common Whitethroat.
Whilst the trainees were busily ringing, Mick was eyeing up a Reed Bunting carrying food for its young. When it disappeared into the undergrowth he was out of his seat and located it easily when it
re-emerged. Three small young were promptly ringed by one of the trainees. Three hours later Mick had found another Reed Bunting with five young and these were also ringed. We never had the opportunity last year to ring Reed Bunting Pulli due to the adverse weather conditions so two broods ringed already this year is a bonus.
The Willow Warbler chicks in front of the bench were still on the small side for ringing so they were left for another few days along with a second brood, again found by Mick!
As the day went on the sun came out and the breeze calmed down but by then it was time to take the nets down and check the nest boxes in the nearby wood.

New/retrap
Wren - 0/2
Dunnock - 1/0
Blackbird - 1/6
Song Thrush - 1/0
Sedge Warbler - 4/8
Reed Warbler - 2/0
Lesser Whitethroat - 1/0
Whitethroat - 3/3
Garden Warbler - 0/8
Blackcap - 1/0
Chiffchaff - 2/1
Willow Warbler - 1/3
Blue Tit - 0/2
Tree Sparrow - 1/0
Chaffinch - 0/3
Bullfinch - 1/1
Reed Bunting - 0/2

Some interesting retraps were a 7yr old Blackbird, 3 yr old Whitethroat, 4 yr old Garden Warbler and 6 yr old Chaffinch.

Nestboxes are experiencing a mixed success. So far, Blue Tits are averaging 8.5 chicks ringed per box whilst Great Tits are only averaging 6.25 per box. Some broods, although alive, were found to be cold to the touch. Whilst ringing nestbox pulli, we would expect to see some adults waiting to gain access to the box to feed their young. This year we stood at many boxes where there were no adults around which would indicate that they are travelling further distances to find food.
Tawny Owls have failed to breed again this year. Perhaps the result of Grey Squirrels or food availability or both. Jackdaws have occupied three boxes. One of these attempts failed due to predation but the other two had young at FS (feathers short) stage and all  five young were ringed. Stock Doves are still incubating in one box.

Pulli ringed:
Blue Tit - 103
Great Tit - 50
Reed Bunting - 8
Jackdaw - 5

It was an early start and a late finish so well done to everyone involved!

PS......We have to do it all again next week!

Adam.