18th May 2011 - First Juvs and More Nests

Yes, more nests!  Starting this week with a Pied Wagtail nest under the eaves of the house next to my Leith Hill office, then a further trip to Warnham LNR to do more Blue Tit nestboxes.

I have been watching a nest of Chiffchaff at Village Greens Farm Shop in Ockley and they were finally ready for ringing.  So, on Sunday (15th) met up with Louise and Gary to ring these and a quick trip around the Jackdaw boxes on Etherley Farm, where four nests were now also ready for ringing.  Another box containing three chicks were still too small and will need a later visit.

For the rest of the day, Gary and Louise were trying to develop their nest finding skills in the woodland and around Leith Hill Tower.  Finds included a Great Tit nest in a tree tube, a Treecreeper nest, two Blue Tit nests (including one by one of the top windows of the Tower), two seperate female Chaffinch carrying food, a pair of Whitethroat carrying food and a female Firecrest carrying food!  Unfortunately, none of these were ringable until right at the end of the day another Chiffchaff nest was located and were perfect size for ringing!  I was on car park duty and whilst visiting the car park in Forest Green I stumbled upon a beautiful Greater Butterfly orchid (above and below).

Another two hour Monday morning netting session on Duke's Warren was rewarded with a catch of 15 new birds which included 11 Siskin of which six were my first juveniles of the year.  Although Siskin cannot be sexed at this age there certainly seemed to be two plumage differences, the first pale and more grey (below top) and the other bright and yellow (below bottom).  If anyone knows different please let me know!

The only addition to my garden ringing this week was a new Collared Dove that I caught in a potter trap on Saturday.

Birds ringed:
Pied Wagtail - 4 nestlings
Blue Tit - 59 nestlings
Dunnock - 1
Siskin - 11
Chaffinch - 1
Whitethroat - 1
Chiffchaff - 10 nestlings
Willow Warbler - 1
Collared Dove - 1
Jackdaw - 12 nestlings