Eggs well before Easter

The current mild weather we are experiencing seems to have triggered some birds to start to nest. There are usually reports of the odd Collared Dove or Woodpigeon nesting early but now things are speeding up. The Nunnery Ringing Group have found Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Blackbird and Wren nests so far, whilst a Song Thrush and Blackbird sitting on eggs are the only ones so far that have progressed past the nest building stage.

On the 10 January the South Notts Ringing Group thought it would be a good idea to check their Tawny Owl nest boxes before the nesting season started and discovered a Tawny Owl sitting on 4 eggs. This is very early and the group didn't hold much hope for a successful nest but last week they ringed the only chick that was produced.


The Nest Record Scheme database shows this to be the joint earliest nest record ever! Joint with two other records. On the ringing database we have four chicks ringed in January from the 1980s, six ringed in February and quite a few in March but none before the 5th. Most records of chicks ringed are near the end of March. (This information only includes electronic records).

The Tawny Owls we are following on the BTO website laid their first egg on 26th February and the female is now sitting on three eggs.

Thanks to Jim Lennon for letting us know and to Herbert & Howells for the photo.

Nunnery Nest News - update

After our previous post about the Nunnery ringing group nest recording, Dave Leech realised that we were perilously close to recording our 1000th nest since the group began monitoring in 2006!

This milestone has now been reached with a Blackcap nest (below) found by Rachael Portnall, about a metre off the ground on an ivy-covered wall in The Nunnery garden.

Blackcap and Chiffchaff are the first of our migrants to lay eggs as they winter in the Mediterranean Basin and therefore have a shorter return journey than most. The first brood of Chiffchaff at The Nunnery hatched on Monday and will be ready to ring at the weekend.


We don't have that many nest boxes on the reserve so a large proportion of those recorded by the group are open nesting species, such as thrushes, wablers, finches and buntings - these records are particualrly valuable as the total submitted to the Nest Record Scheme have been declining in recent decade. Other nests that have been recently found on the reserve include Skylark with a clutch of four (above), the first ever eggs of this species recorded here, plus several incubating Whitethroat and more Linnet on eggs.


Some recent news from the BTOs Tawny Owl nest box which we previously reported: the ringed chicks are now 'branching', this is a term used for chicks that leave the nest and wander around the branches before they can fly.



Thanks to Dave Leech for the photo.

Nest records are escalating at the Nunnery

The Nunnery Ringing Group have been busy this spring, finding and monitoring nests of the local thrushes, Robins and Dunnocks but things are starting to move up a gear.

As you can see from the pins in the map below, we have already found quite a few nests this year from all over Thetford, the majority located on the BTO reserve (the long strip running south-west from Thetford). Many of these nests have progressed to the nestling stage and some are just about to fledge chicks, including several Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Dunnocks and Chaffinches.


And it's not just the resident species that have begun to nest - our short distance migrants are getting in on the act too. While it might seem like they've only been back for a few weeks, we have already found one female Chiffchaff sitting on six eggs (below), with several more busy building. Not far from our site, another BTO staff member has found a Blackcap already laying its first clutch. If the weather stays warm and dry, you can be sure that the long distance migrants won't be far behind.


Thanks to Dave Leech for the photo of the Chiffchaff nest.

Owl Action on the Nunnery Reserve

During the winter, Paul Taylor and the Nunnery Fisheries team have been hard at work making and erecting nesting boxes, in the hope of attracting owls and Kestrels. This is allows us to complete nest record cards for the Nest Record Scheme and to ring the young birds and possibly their parents too.

Yesterday we completed our first inspection of these boxes, with some interesting results. The first box had a roosting male Barn Owl (we were of course armed with the appropriate schedule 1 licence) and while attempting to sort out the ladder for the second box a Tawny Owl emerged to see what was going on. This bird was sitting on 3 eggs (below) so fingers crossed for 3 lucky ringers when these chicks hatch. Hopefully this nest will follow the progress of the nest the BTO is monitoring.


By this stage we were in a very positive frame of mind but we actually had mixed results. The next Kestrel box had sticks and feathers inside and another owl box was full of sticks, which were probably the work of Jackdaws. Then while also trying to find a Long-tailed Tit nest and failing, the next owl box was empty.

The next two owl boxes produced a Squirrel family and 3 Barn Owls roosting. Hopefully these Barn Owls will start to lay shortly. We were impressed though with the raptor tally for the day, Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Kestrel fly over and the first Red Kite in Norfolk for Dave Leech.

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.

CES completed for another year

We have just had our last CES (Constant Effort Site) session of the season and are looking forward to seeing how this year compares to previous years.

Each year, on our last CES session we organise a 'CES breakfast', where members of the Nunnery Ringing Group and BTO staff who are not ringers get together and celebrate the completion of 12 visits. As an added incentive Susan and Paul Waghorn provide us with a fabulous breakfast after the nets have been taken down.

On this last CES session no less than 50% of the catch were Bullfinches (although this was actually 3 birds). Whitethroat, Reed Warbler and Wren were also caught and a September Swift was seen flying over one of the lakes.

Once all the data has been submitted from all of our CES projects from around the country we will be able to see if it has been a good breeding season or if this was a localised phenomenon (Rye Bay Ringing Group post).

Thanks to Susan Waghorn for the photo.