A Dunnock from Norway... No way!

The Dunnock is not one of those species that you instantly think of as a winter/passage migrant but we have just been in contact with Sophie Barker from the Holme Bird Observatory which has caught a Dunnock that proves we do get them.


This bird was wearing a Norwegian ring, ED22017 which was originally ringed on the 9th August 2010 as a juvenile near Kragero, Telemark in Norway by Norwegian ringer Hans Inge Nicolaysen.


View Dunnock from Norway in a larger map

This is actually the 18th Dunnock from Norway to reach our shores, the last one was back in 2006. Interestingly only 3 were ringed as adults, the rest being juvenile birds. So the next time you see a ringed Dunnock in your garden don't assume it was ringed just around the corner!

Thanks to Sophie and Hans Inge Nicolaysen for the information and to John Harding for the photo.

Dunnock doing time in Denmark

At this time of year Dunnocks are in full breeding mode. We have found a few nests here on the BTO reserve so far this year with their amazing sky blue coloured eggs. The vast majority of Dunnock recoveries we receive are of birds that haven't travelled very far.

Livermere, Suffolk - John Walshe

We sent a report to John Walshe recently of a Dunnock that he had ringed at Livermere, Suffolk, (pink point on map) as a young bird on 31 Oct 2013 which had hit a window... in Denmark (red point on map)! It was found on 12 Mar 2014 at Braband So, Aarhus. Luckily it was only stunned and was later released back into the wild.

John writes:
"Looking at the BTO's online reports pages for Dunnock, there have only been 35 reports of BTO ringed Dunnocks found abroad and this is only the 2nd to Denmark. I've ringed nearly 4000 and only ever had 19 recoveries, never more than 2km from place of ringing."

Dunnock at Livermere- John Walshe

John continues:
"Dunnocks are the perfect illustration of the same species, with the same DNA that can behave different in different parts of their range. Scandinavian Dunnocks are forced to move in winter to escape the cold, whereas birds in the UK have no need to, in our milder climate. If the gulf stream was suddenly turned off and the UK gets colder in winter, could our Dunnocks become partial migrants like more northern birds?"

A Dunnock from Norway... update

Hot on the heels of the Norwegian-ringed Dunnock in Norfolk another has turned up in Suffolk. On 9 October at Orfordness, Suffolk, Landguard Ringing Group caught a Dunnock with Norwegian ring ED17532. They have been catching unusually high numbers of Dunnocks at Orfordness this month, associated with good numbers of Robins and it is tempting to think that many of these have been of Scandinavian origin.


Thanks to Mike Marsh and Gillian Stannard for letting us know and also David Crawshaw for the photo (Landguard Ringing Group).

Spring encounters of the bird kind

You will be glad to hear that we are now reaching the 'tail end' of the auk wreck that has effected thousands of Puffins, Guillemots and Razorbills up and down the country (posted previously). We are still however receiving reports from the various ringing schemes involved, showing the great distances these birds can travel during the winter.

Collared Doves have been known to make large movements occasionally and one such bird travelled south from Fair Isle, Shetland all the way to Halkirk, Caithness (238km) to end up being killed by a cat on the 06 April. Reports of interesting movements of Chaffinch include two Norwegian ringed birds, one killed by a cat in Powys and one to be found fresh dead in Wiltshire both found in mid March. At a very similar time a BTO ringed Chaffinch from Lincolnshire met his end in Norway after not seeing a window in time.

Chaffinch - John Harding

Windows were also responsible for 2 BTO ringed Dunnock recoveries of note. One was the 11th record to Norway (again ringed in Lincolnshire - 1721km) and the other was the 2nd ever Dunnock to be found in Denmark (ringed in Suffolk - 744km).

The BTO migration blog and BirdTrack is currently showing a good influx of spring migrants at the moment with species like Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Swallow, and with this comes encounters with ringed migrants. A Sussex ringed Chiffchaff for example (ringed in September 2013) met its end on its return migration when it was found dead in someone's kitchen in Spain (928km).

BirdTrack reporting rate of Chiffchaff

We have also received our first report of a returning Osprey, to the Glaslyn Osprey Centre near Porthmadog, Gwynedd. This bird was identified by a video camera placed near the nest during the winter. It was originally ringed as a chick at Rutland Water in 1998 in a brood of three.

A window was the likely cause of a Lincolnshire ringed Oystercatcher death in Norway (733km) but more positively, several Irish ringed Oystercatchers have been seen in their breeding grounds in Iceland (1519km).

2015 nesting season underway by New Year!

Dave Leech writes:

For many BTO nest recorders, particularly those monitoring Barn Owl repeat breeding attempts well into the late autumn, it feels like the 2014 breeding season has only just drawn to a close. However, the respite is brief – while we seek shelter from the biting winter gales, the avian community is gearing up for the coming spring.

The Met Office have recently announced that 2014 was the warmest year on record in the UK and this winter has certainly been mild if, as most bird ringers will point out, a tad windy. Mild weather at the start of the year can certainly stimulate opportunistic singing, and I’ve already heard Great Tit, Wren and Dunnock in song within walking distance of my house in southwest Norfolk; nest recorder Mark Lawrence has been listening to the reedy warbling of the latter since early December on his patch in Devon.

Dunnock singing - Liz Cutting

While the nestling diet of these birds is not necessarily conducive to early breeding, species able to take advantage of soil invertebrates are less limited by food availability and may breed opportunistically at the end of winter, particularly around human habitation where temperatures are artificially raised and bird feeders provide additional sustenance. Nest recorder Mark Lucas has already reported his first clutch of Robin eggs in North Yorkshire via Twitter, found on the 9th January, beating the earliest record submitted to the BTO Nest Record Scheme by a fortnight. A pair of Mistle Thrush breeding in a Glasgow park were also flagged up on Twitter, the young having fledged in the last week.

Mistle Thrush nest - Herbert and Howells

Some birds couldn’t even wait for the New Year to start the 2015 season. RSPB warden Doug Radford was told of a Moorhen on eggs in Cambridgeshire in mid-December which had hatched by Christmas, and we’ve also received reports of Grey Heron laying at the start of the month. Not to be outdone, the BTO’s own Nick Moran stumbled across a brood of small Mallard ducklings on the 12th December at our reserve in Norfolk.

Mallard with ducklings - John Harding

While these examples demonstrate birds ability to respond to windows of opportunity, they are all anomalies. The data collected by BTO volunteers for the Nest Record Scheme over the past 75 years tells us that the main Robin breeding season kicks off towards the end of March, while most Moorhens start to lay from the beginning of April onwards.  Grey Herons are early breeders (Table 1), but laying doesn’t typically start until mid-February, with Raven generally the next species to follow in any number, then Tawny Owl, Collared Dove and Magpie at the very beginning of March.

BTO data have played a key role in demonstrating the advance in avian laying dates in response to the warming climate, as summarised in the recent BirdTrends report, and it is vital to ensure that this monitoring is ongoing. So, if you’re looking for a New Year’s resolution that furthers your knowledge while also giving something back to the conservation effort, why not make 2015 your first year as a nest recorder?

Table 1. Top 10 earliest UK breeders as calculated using Nest Record Scheme data for the period 2000-2009. Dates shown are the fifth percentile of the laying date distribution. Note that some early breeding species (e.g. Long-eared Owl, Crossbill) are excluded due to very small sample sizes.

Half time update for CES

Andrew Harris & Roger Kiddie write:

After a trial year in 2012, we started two dry scrub Constant Effort Sites (CES) last year at the RSPB Northward Hill reserve. In 2012 we did the full 12 visits at one of the sites and seven visits at the other. The results from 2013 showed that adult survival was 37% down, but productivity was 23% up from 2012.

This year we speculated that with the mild winter, adult survival for resident birds would be up but we had no idea what the numbers of returning migrants, mostly Sylvia warblers, would be. We hoped that with a better breeding season than the last two years, productivity would also increase.



We have now completed the first six visits at each site. We have had 244 adults compared with 202 in 2013, showing a 20% increase. Residents have increased from 100 to 112 and migrants from 102 to 132. The species showing the largest increases are Dunnock (20 to 30), Blackcap (26 to 47), Wren (9 to 17), Lesser Whitethroat (10 to 19) and Chiffchaff (15 to 19). Whitethroat are the only species whose numbers have decreased (37 to 34).

Male Blackcap - Adrian Dancy

With the mild spring / early summer, juvenile numbers have been significantly up on last year (115 to 297) showing a near 160% increase. The most obvious increases have been in Blackcap (16 to 87), Wren (1 to 19), Robin (9 to 23), Dunnock (17 to 31), Blackbird (4 to 25), Blue Tit (25 to 48), Great Tit (6 to 19) and Long-tailed Tit (3 to 8). The only species obviously down at this stage of the season is Chiffchaff (19 to 16).

We are aware that our data aren’t representative of all the CES projects nationally, but we are encouraged by what appears to be happening on our site. We have 98 years’ worth of ringing experience between us but until 2012 we had never been involved in CES ringing. We have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we feel it is good discipline both for us and our trainees and are happy to contribute to one of the BTO’s target ringing projects.

The joy of garden nesting

BTO Scotland’s Steve Willis and BTO Northern Ireland’s Stephen Hewitt share their passion for monitoring garden nests and pass on some tips for how to get involved in this rewarding activity.

NOTE: If you are new to nest monitoring and want to record the progress of a few garden nests and nest boxes then Nesting Neighbours is the ideal interface - it’s simple to use and provides some really nice feedback on how other people’s nests are doing too. If you already use Demography Online (as a ringer or Nest Record Scheme participant) then please continue to do so, signing up to NRS if necessary. The data from both systems go into the same underlying database and contribute to the statistics. These schemes collect information on breeding success which helps us to understand the impacts of factors such as climate change and food availability on the number of young produced, and the influence this then has on population trends. Participation is therefore very valuable as well as rewarding. Scientific studies have shown that, as long as observers are careful and follow the BTO's Code of Conduct, making several visits to a nest to record the contents does not increase the probability of it failing. It is completely legal to look inside a nest in England, Scotland and Wales as long as you do not touch the contents and the species is not included on the list of scarce protected birds. If, like Stephen, you are in Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland, you must apply for a licence prior to monitoring a nest of any species. A separate licence is needed for photographing nests.

Steve: Since the Covid-19 lockdown, like many people I’ve been working from home. My home office has a view out over the garden, and I started noticing a female blackbird regularly visiting a particular evergreen shrub in the shade of a big holly tree. It looked like she was building a nest! I was aware of the Nesting Neighbours project and I wondered if I should give it a go, though I must admit I hadn’t done any nest monitoring before. A chat with Stephen (who is an old hand and infectiously enthusiastic) had me sold! I had a read of the guidance pages and then went out to take a look…


The Blackbird nest is in the coniferous shrub in the centre of the picture (Steve Willis).

The nest was about one metre off the ground in a dense coniferous shrub so to look down into it I needed to very carefully move a few small branches apart. Peering inside, I could see four beautiful speckled blue eggs! It felt like such a wonderful privilege to be getting such a close view. The female was off the nest at the time but I could hear the male singing somewhere nearby. I beat a hasty retreat and watched from the kitchen window. Reassuringly it wasn’t long before the female returned. I visited the nest again a few days ago - five days after my first visit - and this time the female was sitting tight, obviously incubating. I think I’m getting the hang of it!

I’m under strict orders from Stephen to follow the breeding attempt through, whatever happens. Nests fail naturally for a number of reasons, including predation, and this is a regular occurrence with early thrush nests. Information from all breeding attempts is important, not only the ones that succeed.

These Blackbird eggs are a beautiful speckled blue, but the colours can vary a bit (Steve Willis).

When I’m not doing various bird-related things, I enjoy a bit of woodwork, and although I already had one nest box up in the garden, I was inspired to make another out of some odds and ends. Here’s a short video of the build process. I might have put it up too late for anything to use it this year, but fingers crossed! If you want to have a go at building your own, the plans are here!

Stephen: Steve’s right, I am an old hand (though not that old, Steve!). I first got into nest recording about eight years ago when encouraged by the then BTO Northern Ireland Officer Shane Wolsey and Carl Barimore from BTO HQ. In a normal year I make regular visits to local patches in County Armagh. I absolutely love the process of searching for nests, tuning in to the subtleties of bird behaviour, song and call, and getting to know the types of places that different species favour. Every nest I find gives me a wee buzz and following a breeding attempt through to fledging is very satisfying! Of course it doesn’t have to be tricky at all - if you have tits nesting in your bird box then ‘nest finding’ is very straightforward!

Here’s a Song Thrush nest that I found. Note the hard, dry inner lining (like chipboard). The holly berries round the rim are a bit unusual, but apparently thrushes do occasionally decorate their nests (Stephen Hewitt).

I’d really encourage anyone who is considering garden nesting to give it a go. It is hugely enjoyable - absolutely - but remember you’ll also be collecting priceless information. By recording the number of eggs, fledglings and the outcome of nesting attempts, volunteers are helping to reveal how our wild birds are doing every year.

Many people start with a box, and monitoring these is straightforward if you have a nest box camera installed or if the lid can be removed. Just check the box every five days or so - easy! Before opening the box, give it a gentle tap to let anything inside know that you are coming, and then lift the lid just enough to see inside. Make a note of what you can see but take care never to touch eggs or chicks - if there is a bird incubating then simply replace the lid and come back later to count the contents. There are guidance notes here which give more detail.

If you enjoy nest monitoring (and I’m sure you will!) I’d really encourage you to ‘graduate’ to open nests, too. They are easier to find than you might imagine. You can sit quietly and watch the adults like Steve did, or carefully search trees, bushes and ivy. There are few things that compare with the thrill of pinpointing an open nest. Peering into a Dunnock’s nest at five recently-laid bright blue eggs takes some beating and provides vital information to help us understand how well this amber-listed species is breeding!


A Dunnock nest found by Stephen, near Lurgan, Co. Armagh in 2018.

Nest monitoring is a fantastic way to learn about bird behaviour, too. You’ll get to know the characteristics of each species, and you might notice differences between pairs. A particular male might have a characteristic song, with repeated phrases or mimicry. Some males sing throughout the breeding attempt, even whilst carrying food (male Blackcaps sometimes sing quietly while incubating!), whereas other males go very quiet once paired. Female behaviour can be interesting, too. They sometimes seem agitated when their eggs are about to hatch, giving repeated alarm-calls, even when seemingly undisturbed.

Nesting also throws up interesting questions; for instance why do female Song and Mistle Thrushes sometimes decorate the rims of their nests with berries and petals (see photo above)? And why would a female Whitethroat choose one of the decorated nests built by her mate, only to remove the decoration before laying?

Typically I monitor around 100 nests each year (my record is 117!) and for that reason I submit my data via the Demography Online interface. If you’re monitoring more than about twenty nests per year then this is probably the way to go, but for a smaller number of nests the Nesting Neighbours platform is ideal.

So there you have it - garden nest monitoring is really rewarding, hugely valuable, and you’ll learn a lot about ‘familiar’ birds through doing it. Go on - give it a go!

CES ringers finally get a lie-in

Greg Conway writes:

As the breeding season draws to a close, so the hundreds of dedicated ringers who run the 120 Constant Effort Sites (CES) scattered across Britain and Ireland can start to relax and recuperate after a summer of early morning starts. As they use the same mist nets in the same places each year to catch the birds, the information they collect tells us about changes in numbers of adults and juveniles over time, so abundance, breeding success and survival can all be measured, making this one of the most valuable ringing projects.

Target species include many of our long-distance migrants (e.g. Reed Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler) plus resident scrub species such as Wren, Dunnock, Blackbird and Robin.

The CES scheme started in 1983, so ringers have just completed the 29th season and will soon be focussing their attention on getting all their data to BTO HQ ready for analysis. The results of the most recent CES analysis can be found on the species pages here and the preliminary results from 2011 will be available later in the autumn. These will provide the first indications of abundance and breeding success of birds nesting this summer, helping to assess the potential impact of yet another harsh winter.

Early indications suggest that a number of migrant species have returned in greater than usual numbers. However, despite an early start to the breeding for many species, prolonged periods of cool and wet weather, particularly in the north and west of Britain and Ireland, were associated reduced breeding productivity levels.

A big thank you to everyone whole has help with CES this year and those ringers who have already submitted their data.

Thanks to Dorian Moss for the above picture of Lucy Yates and Kate Risely for the top picture of Nick Moran.

Eggs not made of Chocolate

Nest recording is in full swing here at the Nunnery. The main species being recorded are Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock and Song Thrush, the latter of which are being found in very healthy numbers. Mallard are also very busy with the number of eggs varying from 8 to 23!

A nice brood of healthy Blackbirds were ringed by Rachael this morning, below.


We don't usually receive many nest records for Crossbill, a species that can nest as high as 20 metres up in trees. As well as being difficult to monitor, Crossbill nests are specially protected, so recorders must obtain a Schedule 1 Licence before looking for them.

Five nest records were collected for Crossbill last year, and the highest annual total ever was 15 records in 1985! This year, however, Mark Lawrence and Sorby Breck Ringing Group that they have already found and completed records for ten nests between them!


Thanks to Mark Lawrence for the picture of the Crossbill nest.

Feeling a bit broody

With winter loosening its grip on the British countryside our bird life is starting to look forward to spring! Here at BTO HQ, we are winding up to a busy nesting season and are searching the hedgerows and bushes for nests.


Egyptian Geese - photo by Rachael Barber

So far this year we have found nests of Coot, Egyptian Geese, Mallard, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Long-tailed Tit, Wren, Collared Dove and Dunnock, with more species being added every day. Each nest will be fully recorded for the BTO Nest Record Scheme (NRS) with nest finders following the NRS code of conduct.


Mallard nest with nine eggs - photo by Lee Barber

Robin nest - photo by Rachael Barber

Several BTO staff and volunteers record nests around Thetford, Norfolk, but how do we avoid recording the same nest? The answer is that we share a Google Map between us, with colours and shapes used to denote the progress of each nest and a note included of who found the nest. After a day of 'nesting' we update the map with our exciting discoveries and this informs everyone of where the nest is, the species, when it was found and at what stage the nest is at (nest only, nest with eggs, chicks, not active). Each recorder will then follow 'their' nests and submit them to the BTO (usually via the ringing group) at the end of the season/nest completion.



Last years nest locations on a shared Google map

Across the country there are some species that have been nesting for some time already including Grey Heron, Raven, Dipper, Stock Dove, Cormorant and Crossbill. The BTO NRS Forum has come alive with reports of nests, includes a Peregrine laying in Woking, Surrey (webcam link), a Woodpigeon squab about two weeks old in North Cornwall and Moorhen, Mistle Thrush and Ring-necked Parakeet with eggs in London. Dippers have full clutches in the Scottish Borders and some chicks have already been ringed in Wales. A Stock Dove in North Norfolk must have fledged by now as well.


 

Blackbird nest - photo by Lee Barber

Nest recording is vital to our understanding of productivity and every nest counts! It is amazing how much difference one nest record can make. By looking at the NRS submission totals, you can see what nests have been recorded previously (2016 records are still being analysed). In 2015, just 24 Goldcrest, 15 Snipe and nine Grasshopper Warbler were recorded in the whole country. Take that down to the county level and you could make a big difference to the totals, especially if you focus on one particular species. Open nesting birds are particularly under recorded because they are generally harder to find, but with a little practice and patience it can be done. Click here to find out how to take part and develop your nesting skills.

Real birds at the Birdfair

Things are now getting back to normal here at the BTO, after the long weekend at the Birdfair (posted previously). There was a nice buzz around the BTO stand in Marquee 3, with lots of people coming to find out more about the work of the BTO and in particular the Nest Record Scheme.

The mystery nest competition went down well. The nests were from Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Willow Warbler, Wren, Blackcap, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock and Robin. Of all the correct answers Mick Sherwin from Sheffield was first out of the hat. Your Field Guide to Monitoring Nests is on it's way.

Mystery nest competition

The ringing demonstration attracted a lot of visitors again this year. A total of 232 birds of 20 species were processed. Some of the notable species being Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Song Thrush and Whitethroat. There were several Reed Warblers caught that had been ringed in previous years, and now have clocked up quite a few miles during their life by going to Africa and back. Once we had processed all the birds, our attention was then switched to ringing people. If you were 'ringed' with one of our wrist bands, check our website to see what happened to you.

Chris Hughes showing the process of ringing a bird

The theme of the Birdfair this year was protecting the world's seas and oceans, so we also had some of our new technologies like geolocators and satellite tags which can be used to study seabirds whilst out at sea.

Thanks to all the volunteer ringers who helped on the ringing demonstration and to everyone who came to say 'Hi' at the demo or the main BTO stand. Looking forward to seeing you next year.

Cuckoo patience rewarded

Given the appalling weather conditions in April, it’s no surprise that the Reed Warbler breeding season got off to a really slow start in 2012. A team of BTO staff monitor two populations near Thetford, one on the Nunnery Reserve and one at a site near Mundford, collecting data for the Nest Record Scheme and the Constant Effort Sites ringing scheme.

The first egg recorded in 2011 was laid on the 1st May, with many birds incubating by mid-May. The strong headwinds experienced during migration and the reduction in reed growth under low spring temperatures have conspired to delay the 2012 season, however; while the first female started to lay on 7th May, many birds have yet to complete their clutches.

All this must have been very frustrating for the Cuckoos, which have been back and bubbling away at both sites since the middle of April (click here for the latest developments in the BTO Cuckoo project). Their desperation to lay may explain the relatively high parasitism rates of the early clutches, with Cuckoo eggs appearing in four of the nests at Mundford thus far, the first of which hatched on 23rd May.

Before and after – the first Cuckoo egg of the year and the chick shortly after hatching on 23rd May, taking a breather between removing the first and second Reed Warbler eggs from the nest.

The first Cuckoo egg in a Reed Warbler nest at The Nunnery was recorded on the 28th May, a welcome return after a complete absence of parasitism in 2011 (although the warblers may beg to differ) save for a single egg in a Dunnock nest. Cuckoos continue to be very active at both sites so it will be interesting to see whether we can top the total of 12 parasitised nests monitored in 2011.

Thanks to Dave Leech for the pictures and writing the blog post.

A Chaffinch from Lithuania

Chaffinch by Jill Pakenham

Here at the BTO we know a lot about the common species. We are excellent at monitoring their numbers during the breeding and wintering seasons through several of our schemes. The information gathered by thousand of dedicated volunteers is used to help answer the key conservation questions of our time.
The Chaffinch is undoubtedly one of our commonest species, and as is often the case with such species, (take the Dunnock for example), it is easy to overlook them.

BTO ringers ring more than 30,000 Chaffinches each year. 1,402,733 were ringed during the period 1909-2013, and more than 10,000 have been recovered and reported to us in that period.
Many Chaffinches travel to and from the Continent, and even to the Faroes and Iceland! In the winter we are more likely to encounter Chaffinches that have originally been ringed abroad, as they visit UK & Ireland avoiding the harsh continental cold. In the BTO's recovery database there are 15 Chaffinches that covered a distance greater than 2000km, the furthest recorded distance in our scheme is 2362km, as shown in the map below.

T848360 was ringed a Female in 22-01-2006, coordinates 51°35'N 1°43'W (Wiltshire), later Caught by ringer in 31-07-2006, coordinates 60°41'N 32°57'E (Leningrad) Russia. Greatest distance recorded in the BTO database for a Chaffinch: 2,362km 

In the map of recoveries below you can see that the movements of Chaffinches to other countries are most likely to be between the UK and the Scandinavian countries, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, with a few going further east to Latvia, Russia and Lithuania.

Chaffinch: Ringed in Britain & Ireland, Found Here; Ringed Here, Found in Britain & Ireland

This week, we received a recovery of a Chaffinch ringed in Lithuania. This bird was ringed at Ventes Ragas on 30/09/2012 and killed by a cat in Gurteen, Galway on 25/11/2013. It travelled a respectable distance of 1926km and is the first ever Chaffinch ringed in Lithuania reported to the BTO. Before this bird, we have only one other record of a Chaffinch travelling between UK and Lithuania; that was ringed in Kilnsea, England, and later found in the same ringing station in Ventes Ragas, Lithuania.

Vast information on ringing and recoveries of all species in the UK & Ireland and associated maps can be found in the Online Ringing Reports - if you haven't visited yet, take a look!

We have also talked about Chaffinches here.

A Dunnock from Norway... and other places, update

Having reported on 2 foreign ringed Dunnocks previously this autumn I thought that was our lot, especially considering we have only ever had 31 foreign ringed Dunnocks found in this country before.

Its turning out to be a bumper year for this species with new records of 1ER56285 from Sweden, caught by Ian Marshall at Flamborough Head, East Yorkshire and 10980683 from Belgium caught by Keith Bowden near Grantham, Lincolnshire.


The graph above shows just how many foreign Dunnocks have been processed up to this year and how good these recoveries really are.

Thank to Ian and Keith for letting us know about these birds.

CES with a difference

As you would expect, here at the BTO we take part in our own ringing Constant Effort Site (CES). This is a nationally standardised ringing project where we put the same nets in the same place at the same time of year. This means that the numbers of birds caught are comparable between years and fluctuations in the numbers of adults and young can be monitored.

This morning was session number 4 for the Nunnery Ringing Group and the weather was set to give us some good ringing and we were hoping for a large catch. It turned out that the weather was fabulous but as usual we didn't get great numbers of birds, but we did get some unusual species.

As you might have seen from Springwatch last year, we have Cuckoo on the reserve laying their eggs into Reed Warbler nests, but we have never caught one. This is not surprising, as in 2009 for example only 34 Cuckoo were ringed (13 of which were ringed as chicks) over the whole country. This morning though we caught a female that hatched last year (aged on plumage charateristics)!


Out of the 31 birds we caught this was the highlight but we also caught some great birds including Reed Warbler, Blackcap, Garden Warbler, Jay and also some recently fledged Dunnock. It is also nice to know that all these birds were caught on a CES session and the results are even more valuable than normal ringing. For more information on CES check out http://www.bto.org/ringing/ringinfo/ces/index.htm

Thanks to all of the ringers that have helped with our CES sessions over the years, Paul Stancliffe for the photo and to Kate Risely for kindly 'volunteering' to ring the Cuckoo.

Nunnery Nest bonanza – Birds Get Busy in Thetford

Dave Leech said:

Braving the slight drop in temperatures after a sunny week, The Nunnery Ringing Group nest recorders roamed Thetford’s green spaces and the BTO reserve in search of breeding birds. Concerns of a slow start to the season voiced by the more pessimistic members of the group proved to be unfounded as the weekend’s activities significantly increased our totals, thanks largely to a star turn by Rachel Portnall who found 12 nests in just two hours on Saturday morning.

The thrushes have really started in earnest now and we’re currently monitoring 17 Blackbird nests, of which two have large chicks, four are on eggs and the rest are ready for laying. We’ve also found three Song Thrush, all currently on eggs (see photo below),

our only Dunnock is likely to hatch mid-week, and two of our three Robins are currently on eggs. Sunday also saw the first Long-tailed Tit egg of the year (see photo below), with several other nests ready for eggs and a couple more being rebuilt after being ripped open by predators (who, being a fortnight premature, received nothing for their troubles). The pigeons are at it too, with two Woodpigeons and two Collared Doves currently sitting, and the Mallards and Greylag Geese on the reserve have also started to lay.

So, now is a great time to check bushes and trees for nesting birds and submit your data to the BTO. The Nest Box Challenge is an entry-level scheme, designed for people monitoring one or two nests in their gardens. If you wander further afield and record larger numbers of nests in local woods or farmland, then you can register for the Nest Record Scheme.

Wintering Rosefinch

Orfordness in Suffolk often seems to generate some interesting 'Demog Blog' stories, including Norwegian colour-ringed Little Stint, Finnish-ringed Turnstone, German-ringed Avocet, Polish-ringed Kingfisher and Norwegian-ringed Dunnock.

Their most recent claim to fame passed across my desk at the BTO (well in my remote office in Cornwall) recently, in the shape of a Common Rosefinch ringed on Orfordness on 20th October 2012 (photo below courtesy of David Crawshaw). This was the second record for the site and was caught in a short net at the same time as seven Lesser Redpoll and a Yellow-browed Warbler in what was a busy day at the site. Remarkably, it was then recaught in northern Belgium (207km from Orfordness) on the very unseasonable dates of 1st and 4th December! Winter records of Common Rosefinch in western Europe are few and far between, so why this bird chose to winter in Belgium is a mystery, but seemed to be doing OK, weighing more than it did when first ringed.

This is only the second BTO-ringed Common Rosefinch to be found abroad. The first was a bird ringed at Fair Isle Bird Observatory recaught two weeks later on the Faeroes, and to be honest most of the records of foreign-ringed birds have been in the Northern Isles. In fact, 1990 was a bit of a purple (or scarlet) patch at North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory (Orkney), with a German-ringed bird recaught there in June 1990 and a Norwegian-ringed bird recaught there in September 1990, just eight days after ringing! The only other was a Swedish colour-ringed bird seen on Fair Isle in September 2011, just nine days after ringing.

Interestingly, within the UK, there are just two movements: a bird from Fair Isle to Spurn Bird Observatory (17 days) and from Isle of May Bird Observatory to Orkney (eight days). Bit of a Bird Obs theme developing as well...

Found a ringed bird? You are not alone.

With around one million birds ringed every year it is not surprising that we get quite a few phone calls and lots of emails to the ringing team from non-ringers reporting a ringed bird. We get back to each one a few days later with a report on where and when the bird was ringed, and at the same time let the ringer know that one of 'their' birds has been found.

When you add this to all of the recaptures of ringed birds by our ringers through general ringing, especially structured ringing like Constant Effort Sites and Retrapping Adults for Survival, the value of these reports to conservation is huge. There are many aspects of a bird's life that can be investigated by BTO scientists and academics, particularly when results from other BTO surveys, such as the Nest Record Scheme and BBS, are included in the dataset.

Great example of part of a Dunnock nest record by Christopher Rowe

Most of the non-ringers that report ringed birds just get information on the bird they found and are unaware of the magnitude of records that we process. I have looked into the 40,394 reports that have been sent to us so far this summer (since 29 March 2015) from ringers and non-ringers.

Below is a chart showing the percentage of each species that were found by non-ringers and caught by ringers. Blue and Great Tit are of course the top two, followed by other garden birds. Starling is unusually high due to some great Starling colour ringing projects operating from Essex to Montrose. We have had singles of some unusual species so far this summer including Icterine Warbler, Capercaillie, Ruddy Duck and Great Bustard but these are few and far between.

Finding reports sent in to the BTO so far this summer from ringers and non-ringers. Click chart to enlarge.

The chart below is purely those reported by non-ringers. Considering the recent declines in House Sparrow and Starlings, the reports of them are quite high but this is due to the increased conservation effort and colour ringing projects occurring on these species. Fifteen percent for Black-headed Gull isn't surprising for us as a large percentage of the Recoveries Officers' work is processing colour ring sightings of these birds moving between countries and within our country. There is also a large number of people devoted to gulls and ring reading.

Finding reports from this summer from non-ringers only

Our valued BTO ringers not only ring large numbers of birds, to increase our understanding of our bird populations, but they also recapture large numbers of birds that are already ringed. This accounted for 81% of all the birds 'encountered' and reported since 29 March. These are reported to us using a dedicated computer program and thankfully need less processing than non-ringer reports. Out of the non-ringers reports 78% are colour ring sightings - see below for the top 10 circumstances of the report. Discerning the cause of death can be difficult and these records are represented by the red slice on the chart below.

The top 10 circumstances that led to us getting a report this summer.

See you at Rutland Birdfair

It's that time of year again, when birders from all over the world gather at their 'Glasonbury' - The Birdfair.

Over the years, the Birdfair has raised mind boggling sums of money for bird conservation all over the world. Many wildlife charities attend to help with this cause and promote their charity at the same time. The BTO has attended the Birdfair for many years and this year is no exception, so when you are there, pop over to marquee three (stand 36-38) and say 'Hi'. It would be great to meet our many thousands of volunteers and members and we can let you know what has been going on at BTO HQ recently.

For the Ringing and Nest Recording Team, the pinnacle of the Birdfair has to be the ringing demonstration, run in partnership with the Rutland Water Ringing Group. We're in the same place as previous years, which is next to marquee four and the red car park. Over the years we've had some fantastic birds including Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, Turtle Dove and Nightingale, but it's not all about the rarely caught birds. All the data collected during Birdfair will go into the BTO national ringing database and supplement all the fantastic work done by the Rutland Water Ringing Group.

Ringing demo in action. Photo by Sam Franks

Our main species caught are Reed and Sedge Warblers, some of which have been ringed in previous years, and now have clocked up quite a few miles during their life by going to Africa and back. Once we have processed all the birds, our attention switches to ringing people. If you are 'ringed' with one of our wrist bands, pop over to the BTO stand (marquee three) to find out what happened to you.

Releasing a Dunnock. Photo by Peter Carr (@wildlifePete)

There is a lot to do at Birdfair, but make sure you visit us at the ringing demo and the main BTO stand, as it would be great to see you (we may have a small slice of cake for you too).