It's National Nest Box Week!

It is National Nest Box Week (NNBW) this week and our wild birds are starting to think about the coming breeding season. This year is the 20th year of NNBW, which aims to encourage everyone to put up nest boxes for birds and to raise awareness of their needs ahead of the breeding season. While our migratory birds are preparing for their journeys back to Britain and Ireland for the summer, lots of our resident species are already singing to affirm their territory, finding a mate and choosing a nest site.


Tiny Blue Tit chicks thinking food has just arrived. Photo by Lee Barber

Around half of all households feed birds, so while food can often be plentiful, the lack of suitable nesting sites can be a problem. Putting up a nest box can therefore provide a welcome boost for some species. Blue and Great Tit are the most-frequent users of nest boxes but there is an amazing variety of species that use boxes, and by providing a suitable box, you could encourage them to set up home in your garden. House Sparrow, Nuthatch, Starling, Swift, Stock Dove, Tawny Owl and Kestrel are among the species that need suitable nesting sites and providing a box could really help them and some of our other declining red or amber listed species. For more information on what boxes are suitable for which species, click here.


Tawny Owl chicks waiting for the next delivery of food. Photo by Lee Barber

When buying a nest box, one of the most important features that I look for is a removable lid. This aids cleaning the box at the end of the breeding season (cleaning can be done between 1st September - 31st January) but most importantly it means that the contents of the nest can be recorded. BTO volunteer Nest Recorders around Britain and Ireland record the number of eggs, fledglings and the outcome of nesting attempts, providing a wealth of information on how our wild birds are doing every year. Nest recorders are provided with a code of conduct to make sure that the nest is checked in the safest possible way, so valuable information is gathered without affecting the birds.


BTO nest recorder checking on a Blackbird nest. Photo by Lee Barber

Nest cameras are a very popular choice and this also means that you can record the contents without even leaving your living room. They are particularly useful for boxes which are usually placed quite high or are difficult to get to, like Tawny Owl and Swift.

So far this year we've only seen a few birds inspecting our boxes at BTO HQ in Norfolk. Nest recording isn't just about those species that use boxes though; there are already a few Collared Doves sitting on eggs and we've also seen a brood of Egyptian Goose goslings paddling up the river. It's only a matter of time before we find our first Blackbird nest of the year and then the tit species will start building. It's a very exciting time!

Egyptian Geese are one of the earliest breeders. Photo by Lee Barber

For more information on becoming a nest recorder, check out our Nest Record Scheme website.

Bearded Tit bails out of Scotland

The Bearded Tit is a very handsome bird and their call can excite many a birder when it's heard 'pinging' across the reedbed. As a Schedule 1 species, Bearded Tits are one of 88 species specially protected in the breeding season. Between 800-1,000 Bearded Tits are ringed every year in Britain by qualified bird ringers. Being fairly sedentary they make a good study species, particularly for the Retrapping Adults for Survival scheme (of which there are currently three active projects), but they can be frustrating as groups of Bearded Tits are occasionally prone to flying straight up into the air and disappearing into the distance.

Male Bearded Tit. Photo by Graham Catley

The map below shows some of the movements of Bearded Tits that have been recorded within our Ringing Scheme. As you can see, the majority of movements are from their stronghold in East Anglia to the near continent.


Colour of location: Ringed in Britain and Ireland, Found Here; Ringed Here, Found in Britain and Ireland

We have just heard from our colleagues in the Norwegian Ringing Scheme that one of their ringers has recently (16 Oct 2018) caught a Bearded Tit wearing a BTO ring! This is only the second recorded movement of a BTO-ringed Bearded Tit to Norway.

This bird was ringed as a juvenile by the Tay Ringing Group on 24 June 2018 at one of their regular sites and reported from Norway less than four months later. It is likely this bird would have been travelling in the opposite direction to the thousands of other species that would have been leaving Scandinavia on their way to spend the winter with us.

The map below shows the ringing and finding locations of some of the Bearded Tits ringed by the Tay Ringing Group; the bird reported from Norway was the Group's longest-distance movements to date for this species. The red pins show the ringing location and the blue pins the finding location.

For more information of the movements of Bearded Tits and some interesting recoveries, check out the BTO Online Ringing & Nest Recording Report.

New Curlew recoveries from Poland

Mike Smart (on behalf of the Curlew Forum) writes:

The current BTO map of Curlew recoveries shows (out of nearly 1,800 recoveries of this species) only two movements between Britain and Ireland and Poland, both rather old, one in either direction, as follows: 

FV42986 - Adult ringed on 09.08.1978 at Camel estuary, Wadebridge, Cornwall, found long dead on 23.07.1979 at Drawski Mlyn, Poland 52.52 N 16.06 E.

EN02280 - First year bird ringed on 25.08.2009 at Borety, Lichnowy, Poland 54.07 N 18.52 E and colour ring read on 26.10.2010 at Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate.

The ringing or finding locations of both these birds were close to the Baltic coast, with the birds in Poland in July or August, which suggests that they were on migration from northern or eatern breeding sites to wintering areas along the Atlantic or Channel seaboards in England.

A new national Polish Curlew project, which aims to encourage breeding populations in nine sites across the country, has shown that movements between Poland and Britain and Ireland are more frequent than the old recoveries suggest. The project involves work in river valleys in nine different areas of eastern Poland, where there is collaboration with farmers to avoid destruction of nests and eggs by agricultural activities, artificial raising of chicks in aviaries (‘head-starting’), marking of young birds with colour rings and inscribed flags and the use of satellite markers to record migration routes taken. Lots of extra information is available on the excellent Polish website at www.ochronakulika.pl; (‘Kulik’ is Polish for Curlew); for the English version, just click on the Union Jack.


Release of a satellite-tagged bird on the breeding grounds in Poland. Photo by Dominik Krupiński

The work in Poland has already borne fruit: at least five of the birds marked with colour rings and satellite tags have been recorded in south-east England this autumn: the latest is a bird with a yellow flag M78, ringed in Poland on 14 July 2018 and sighted at Chichester Harbour on 28 September 2018 (see picture below). Another Polish-ringed and satellite-tagged female called Nina has been a regular visitor to Porchfield Cricket Club’s ground, on the Isle of Wight. The map below shows the route taken by one of the satellite-tagged birds.


Polish-ringed Curlew with flag in Chichester Harbour. Photo by Dominik Krupiński

Route taken by a satellite-tagged bird from Poland to southern England

In fact the Poles are clearly carrying out all the actions to encourage breeding Curlews that have been discussed at a series of recent meetings in the British Isles and Ireland – the first in Ireland in November 2016, the second at Slimbridge in February 2017, the third in Wales in January 2018 and the latest in Scotland only recently, in September 2018. Such meetings are crucial, in view of the Eurasian Curlew’s current status on the UK and International Red Lists, and there is indeed an International Species Survival Action Plan under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), which recently held a meeting in Scotland.
 
For details of all these meetings and much more on breeding Curlews in lowland Britain, see the Curlew Forum website at www.curlewcall.org.

And, as if all this was not enough, another recovery of a British-marked bird has just been reported:
FA95802 - adult ringed on 14.12.2015 at Usk estuary, Newport, Wales and colour ring read on 19.04.2018 at Trzyrzecze, Brzozówka Valley, NE Poland 53.31 N, 23.10 E.

This bird was seen and recognised from its colour rings (Black on the left tibia, White over Orange on the right tibia, plus Orange over White on the left tarsus as a marker for all Usk birds) from 19 to 26 April 2018 (see picture below). Note that this bird was recorded not in autumn near the Baltic coast (like the two previous recoveries), but far inland in northeast Poland, close to the Polish border with Belarus, by observers from the Polish project. It had been ringed by a BTO team studying possible effects of tidal lagoons on the Severn estuary near Newport in winter 2015/16. The first reaction was that this bird was perhaps on its way to breeding areas in Finland, but it now seems much more likely that it was a bird preparing to nest in eastern Poland.


Black White Orange Colour ringed Curlew in Poland in April 2018. Photo by Dominik Krupiński

So, it suddenly appears that, whereas we previously thought there was little exchange of Curlews between Poland and Britain and Ireland, there seem to be much more numerous exchanges between breeding grounds in Poland and wintering grounds in southeast England, with the occasional bird going to winter as far west as Wales; and the two older recoveries mentioned above may well have been of Polish nesting birds, rather than migrants from further north. Many other Polish-breeding birds go further down the Atlantic coast to western France where, as reported at the AEWA meeting, there is still an open season for shooting Curlews: 7,000 Curlews were shot in France last winter. 
Further records of metal- or colour-ringed and satellite-marked Curlews may throw even more light on the situation, so please keep looking out for those engraved leg flags.

And a post-script:

It so happens that another bird from the December 2015/January 2016 catch on the Usk estuary has recently been reported (in May 2018) in Finland; there are very many recoveries, according to the BTO map, of British-ringed Curlews in Finland (an enormous 128), or of Finnish-ringed birds recovered in Britain and Ireland (an even greater 238). Given all those movement of Curlews between Britain and Ireland and breeding sites in Finland (and for that matter Sweden too – there are 86 recoveries in Britain and Ireland of Swedish-ringed Curlews and 40 recoveries in Sweden of British-ringed Curlews), surely some of the Finnish or Swedish birds must get recovered in Poland on their way to the Atlantic coast breeding grounds? A check of the Finnish and Swedish ringing atlases, (data kindly provided by the Finnish and Swedish ringing offices), and……  quite crazy results: there is not a single recovery of a Finnish-ringed Curlew in any of the states of the north-eastern Baltic – neither in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Poland; all, but all, of the many ringed Finnish Curlews (17,000 birds ringed, nearly all as chicks) migrate along the western (Swedish) Baltic coast to Denmark, then move on to winter along the Atlantic seaboard, mainly in the UK and France. The same is true of Swedish-ringed Curlews; no recoveries whatsoever in the eastern Baltic. Extraordinary that there should be such different migration routes for birds wintering in the same area! More research is needed to find out why!

Many thanks to Polish colleagues Dominik Krupiński and Jerzy Lewtak, and to the Finnish Ringing Office.

How long do Red-throated Divers live for?

Dave Okill of Shetland Ringing Group writes:

On  26 April 2018, Mick Mellor was doing a routine Beached Bird Survey for SOTEAG (Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group), when on Urafith beach, North Mainland, Shetland he found a freshly dead Red-throated Diver (RTD) that had a ring on it. He carefully noted the number and emailed me when he got home. 

Not remembering the number, I started to look back through old, almost fading, files and I found that I had ringed it as a large chick on a small remote lochan not far from Nibon, North Mainland, on 27 July 1985. At well over 32 years old, this individual was an old bird. Looking at the BTO longevity records, the oldest-known RTD was a bird ringed in Hoy, Orkney in July 1986 and last caught at the same location in April 2015, 28 years, 9 months and 7 days later; our bird clearly beats that by some margin! Searching through North American and other longevity lists, it seems that our bird is probably the oldest RTD yet recorded anywhere.

Ringed Dead Red-throated Diver, Urafirth Beach, Shetland. Photo by Mick Mellor.

As well as demonstrating essential information on migrations, movements and dispersal, ringing also gives us the ages of different species; both the average age and the maximum age of the oldest individuals. Longevity records usually creep up slowly, so an increase in the maximum age of RTDs by four years is a notable leap. I suspect that divers are long-lived birds and this record will be well beaten in time.

The ringing site and the finding place are only a few kilometers apart and it is likely that this bird was a male returning in spring to nest in its natal area. Male divers return to breed close to the area where they fledged; females disperse widely before they breed and Mainland-ringed females have been found many kilometers from their fledging loch, up to the North Isles and as far as Orkney. Orkney females have also been found breeding in Shetland.

Red-throated Diver. Photo by Manuel Schultz/BTO.

Over the years our bird will have traveled widely but we only know two points in this bird's life. To help us understand divers better, JNCC are promoting a project to discover what divers are doing, especially on their wintering grounds, now especially important with the proliferation of vast off-shore wind farms which displace wintering and moulting birds from their traditional areas. Birds from Orkney, Shetland, Finland and Iceland will be investigated.  

Editor's note: all recoveries of ringed birds help to further our knowledge, so if you find a bird ring, please report the details at www.ring.ac. 

Retail ringing

After undertaking years of training, bird ringers are in a privileged position to be able to catch birds. The information gathered through ringing is used to help answer some of the big questions in ornithology, such as why populations are changing and what routes birds take on their migrations.

Ringing often brings ringers into contact with people who know nothing about bird ringing, and commonly have little contact with birds, other than those in their garden. This is a great opportunity to educate and enthuse the public about the lives of birds, ringing and the BTO. Most of the time, bird ringing is encountered through television programmes like Springwatch, a ringing demonstration at a local nature reserve or even the ringing demonstration at the Birdfair, but occasionally it can be seen in the most unexpected places.


Rutland Birdfair ringing demonstreration. Photo by Sam Franks.

With the permission of the landowners, ringing sessions are held up and down Britain and Ireland; in supermarket car parks (for Pied Wagtails), city streets (Waxwing), waterways (swans and geese) or on the sea front (gulls and waders). Colour rings or flags are frequently used to identify birds that are ringed without the need for ringers to catch them again. This has the added bonus that anyone (not just ringers) can report colour-marked birds (see here for instructions on how to report a sighting of a colour-marked bird), as long as the species is known and the combination is read correctly.


Waxwings enjoying the berry bushes. Photo by Jeff Baker

Occasionally, perfectly healthy birds do get into trouble and end up in places they don't want to be. If they are lucky, the bird identifies the exit and promptly flies out, but sometimes this doesn't happen due to the nature of the building (a large warehouse or a shop with automatic doors for instance). This can lead to store alarms having to be left unset, which has implications for their insurance and can be stressful for the owner. This is where a ringer's ability to catch birds safely can be invaluable.

Ringers across the country regularly step in to help catch the Blackbird in the warehouse, the Blue Tit in the shopping centre or the Robin at the wedding venue (as we have posted previously). Here at BTO HQ, we do not get that many phone calls about birds trapped in Thetford, Norfolk (where we are based), but today was the exception. The caller informed us that: "There is a Robin trapped in Poundland and it can't get out!!!! We've tried everything, including herding it towards the door, but it keeps flying back into the store!".

Robin doing a bit of light shopping in the afternoon. Photo by Lee Barber

Conveniently coming up to lunch time, Lee Barber had the opportunity to nip out and try and release the bird back into the wild. He recounts: it is a strange feeling putting a mist net up in Poundland, with customers wandering around and a Robin flying over their heads, moving mostly unseen. After a quick assessment of the Robin's behaviour and its preferred area in the store, and whilst managing the customers, I quickly put a short mist net up. Within 15 minutes I'd caught the adult Robin, which was promptly ringed and released outside (after a quick health check).

Robin safely in the hand ready for release. Photo by Lee Barber

As this is something that the BTO doesn't do routinely, we must say a huge thank you to all the ringers that we've contacted who have dropped everything to help a bird in need. Some of the locations have been very challenging due to the height of the building, access, and other obstacles in the way, but there is usually a happy ending; sometimes the bird has even left the building of its own accord before the ringer gets there.

The Joy of Nesting Birds

Hazel Evans writes:

This week (14th – 21st February) is the BTO’s 21st National Nest Box Week.  Each year we encourage anyone who is interested, to put up nest boxes locally. I’d like to delve in to some of the different aspects for why this is such a wonderful thing to do, and how we can make the most of them.

The first and most obvious reason is to give birds a place to raise their young. In areas of human habitation it can be harder for birds to find places to nest, so putting up a nest box is a good way to ensure there is somewhere for the birds to use. There are many external factors which may affect the outcome of a nesting attempt, but we can offer them a good place to start. You may also choose to put out some appropriate nesting material in the nearby trees and bushes, or grow some plants to encourage insects. Non-native plants in gardens have been found to be a potential detriment to our local birds, they do not provide as much food, because non-native plants may not be able to host as many caterpillars as native plants, so this may be something to consider.
 

Robin feeding it's young. Photo by John Harding

The second reason why putting up a nest box can be important is monitoring. One of the BTO’s strongest assets is the data it has collected through organising monitoring schemes, and the Nest Record Scheme (NRS) is no exception. Now running for over 75 years, close to two million records of nesting birds throughout the UK have been sent in for over 200 species. This includes data from open nesting birds and nest boxes, both of which are highly valuable. As long as the NRS Code of Conduct is adhered to, we can safely record the progress of nesting attempts by counting the number of eggs and chicks and recording the outcome of the attempt and submitting data to the NRS.

Blue Tit fledgling. Photo by Christine M Matthews

The third reason I value nest boxes very highly, is the intrigue and excitement they can provide. Anyone can put up a nest box and monitor what’s inside it and in turn benefit from watching the behaviour of the birds. Interactions with the natural world have been shown to help relieve depression, anxiety and stress. We are living in a time where it is easy to lose touch with the natural world and many children aren’t getting experiences with nature; having a nest box in your garden is an inspiring way to learn about the natural world. Monitoring nests is not something that should be taken lightly but with the knowledge that the data is going to a good cause, it's something we can experience great joy from.

Now is the time when garden birds are just starting to prospect nesting sites in preparation for the approaching spring, so the sooner you can get a box up the better, whether you build it yourself or buy it from the garden centre. There are many bird species which use nest boxes, so if you have a bit more space then you may want to put up a larger nest box, for a Kestrel or owls.

Once used, it is a great idea to clean out old nests the following winter to allow for a fresh start in the spring. To comply with legislation, nests should only be cleaned out between 1 August and 31 January.

Return of the winter Blackcaps - a geolocator story

How do migratory birds respond to a changing environment? The answer to this question may help us unlock key insights into the mechanisms behind migration, and predict how animals will adjust to future global change. British Blackcaps may provide key insights into birds’ abilities to evolve changes in migration. Blackcaps are now spending the winter in the Britain and Ireland in greater numbers than ever before - a change BTO scientists have linked to garden feeding and warmer temperatures. But what exactly do they gain by wintering here, and where are they coming from?

Blackcap with first geolocator retrieved - photo by Benjamin Van Doren

As previously reported, last year, researchers from the BTO, Oxford University, and Exeter University began teaming up with bird ringers and garden owners across Britain and Ireland to study the Blackcaps that visit our gardens in winter. Last winter, we fitted 36 Blackcaps with geolocators, miniature devices that track movements throughout the year; however, the birds must be recaptured in order to retrieve the device and data, which can be a challenge.

Excitingly, returning Blackcaps carrying geolocators have been seen in gardens around the country since late November. These early successes would not have been possible without the dedicated BTO ringers, Garden BirdWatch participants, and other volunteers who have contributed so much time and effort to the ongoing study.

Blackcap geolocator movements. Blue dot - wintering site.

On 26 November, Glynne Evans recaptured the first returning individual in his Hampshire garden where it was tagged nine months earlier. Preliminary analysis indicates that the bird left Britain at the end of March and spent the summer in France, before returning by early November. But is this pattern the exception, or the rule? And why did this bird decide to come north for the winter when it was already in southern France? We hope to find the answers to these questions and many others - as the project continues.

Garden ideal for Blackcaps - photo by Benjamin Van Doren

Glynne’s GBW garden has turned out to be an exceptional Blackcap site, with a further tagged bird (analysis in progress) being caught in December, as well as two other colour-ringed birds returning from last year, giving a return rate of 25%, so far. We know very little about their behaviour and movements in winter, so any sightings of colour-ringed birds would also help answer these questions. Glynne provides food for Blackcaps starting relatively early on in autumn—could this partially explain their affinity for his garden?

How can you help? 

Do you have Blackcaps visiting your garden in winter? Look out for Blackcaps with colour rings and note the positions of the colours on each leg, or even better, take a photograph. Observers interested in joining the colour-ringing and tracking efforts can contact Benjamin Van Doren at Oxford (benjamin.vandoren@zoo.ox.ac.uk) or Greg Conway at the BTO (greg.conway@bto.org). Gardens with multiple Blackcaps regularly attending bird feeders are particularly valuable. For further information please see Life Cycle, issue 6 Autumn 2017.

This study is a collaboration between Oxford University, BTO, Exeter University and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Germany.

The Barra Sparra

Ian Thompson, Yvonne Benting and Bill Neill write:

We have been colour ringing House Sparrows here in Askernish, South Uist as part of the BTO’s RAS scheme for the past seven years. Because House Sparrows have a reputation as being difficult to catch and retrap, the use of colour rings was a conscious decision on our part. This enabled us to identify the birds individually in the field, but more importantly, it allowed our neighbour to participate in the project by recording the birds that visited his garden.

Female House Sparrow. Photo by Ian Thompson

While the House Sparrow RAS season runs from April – August, we observe and record our birds all year round. Again, the use of colour rings has allowed us an insight into their movements around our islands and this has surprised us as to how far ranging they can be. We now receive regular updates from several observers around the islands, and the birds have been recorded as far north as Balranald, North Uist (46 km) and as far south as South Glendale, South Uist (11 km).

To date, all these movements have been within what is known as “the long islands”, which are all joined by causeways, and none have yet travelled over water. With two birders having recently moved to the Isle of Barra, we began hoping that one of our birds might turn up there.

Recently we had been seeing three unringed birds (two male, one female) amongst our regulars and favourable weather gave us the opportunity to try to trap them. Over a period of two weeks, we trapped and ringed 12 new birds (seven female, five male) and we still had four unringed birds (two male two female).

But, amongst the 12 was a bird we hadn't originally ringed (control)!

After a few enquiries, we found that the bird had been ringed by Mark Oksien earlier this year on 18 September at Garrygall, Barra (see map below). Not only has this bird moved 26 km, this is the first time we have recorded a House Sparrow crossing water to other islands. After such a long wait, this was not the way it was meant to happen. We expected that it would be one of our colour ringed birds turning up in Barra, not the other way round.

As Bruce Taylor, one of the Barra birders commented  “the way Calmac has operated of late, we can rule out ship assistance”.

This House Sparrow has since become known as the “Barra Sparra”.

Note:- None of the 12 Sparrows that were ringed have been seen since.

We had news yesterday (27 Nov 2017) of another sparrow making the reverse trip! A bird I ringed on 7 Nov 2017 (O54) turned up in Bruce Taylor’s garden yesterday (one of the birders on Barra) at Brevig, Barra. It would seem that we have quite a movement of sparrows here in this bout of hard weather.

House Sparrow O54. Photo by Bruce Taylor

Information and regular updates on our project and sightings of our birds can be found on the Outer Hebrides Birds website or by following this link.

Sligo's slippery slope to ringing

Mícheál Casey writes:

I started getting into ringing from reading the metal rings on gulls, particularly Common and Black-headed Gulls. Back in 2004, I read the ring of a handsome Common Gull, and was thrilled to hear back from Hugh Insley about where and when it was ringed. It was a chick (one of a brood of three) which was ringed on 26 May 1997 at Loch Tarff, near Fort Augustus, Highland, which was 400 km from where I saw it in Sligo Harbour, Ireland.

Common Gull. Photo by Mícheál Casey

I have seen this bird at least once every winter since 2004 and have just seen it back for its 20th year this weekend, looking quite fresh for its age.

Portfolio of this Common Gull. Photo by Mícheál Casey

I emailed Hugh when I decided to move on from ring-reading to training as a BTO ringer and I remember the reply well. He said it will add a lot to my birding, but it will also take away some of my enjoyment of birding, as my enjoyment of every bird or group of birds seen will be diluted by....."now how could I catch that?". He was partly right, but I have gained so much more than I have lost overall.

Common Gull. Photo by Mícheál Casey

This bird has a little way to go yet to break the longevity record of 27 years but hopefully it will keep returning to Sligo Harbour for a few more years to come; Mícheál will be waiting!

If you are able to read the ring of a gull while it's stealing your chips or just loafing around on the beach, please report it to www.ring.ac. You will be sent all the details on the bird and your record will help build a more complete picture of its movements.

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).

Who gives a hoot

Occurring throughout England, Scotland and Wales the Tawny Owl is well known, especially during the winter when their territorial calls can be heard during the night.

The Tawny Owl is amber listed, i.e. a species of medium conservation concern due to recent population declines. Surveying this species can be difficult, but studying them is easier due to their readiness to use nestboxes. Ringing the adults and their chicks, as well as following the progression of the nesting attempt (nest record), provides very useful information to help interpret population changes.
 


Adult Tawny Owl. Photo by Rachael Barber



Adult Tawny Owl with a more grey plumage. Photo by Lee Barber

The number of Tawny Owls ringed each year varies considerably; in the last five years the number ringed has ranged from 920 to 2,748 birds. The number ringed also varies by county, with ringers in Northumberland topping the list with an average of 183 birds per year. This is followed by Lincolnshire (107), North Yorkshire (100), Nottinghamshire (92), Norfolk (81) and Cumbria (81). Around 80% of the birds ringed each year are chicks. Ringing chicks enables researchers to follow an individual throughout its lifetime, providing vital information on where birds move to and exactly how long they live.


Tawny Owl chicks. Photo by Lee Barber

For most of the recoveries the BTO receive, the cause of death is unknown, but for some the cause of death is clear. Being hit by a vehicle is the most reported cause of death for Tawny Owls, followed by train casualty and drowning in artificial water containers like horse or cattle troughs. This doesn’t mean that 66% of all Tawny Owls die from vehicle strikes, however. Birds killed by vehicles are inevitably more visible than a bird that dies of natural causes in the middle of a wood. Also, as most of the birds that are reported are from areas with high concentrations of people, these are more likely to be reported when found.

By recapturing ringed birds, licenced bird ringers are in the privileged position to be able to gather information on the presence and condition of Tawny Owls that are alive and well. Last year one of our ringers re-caught a Tawny Owl that was originally ringed as long ago as 2003. This bird was ringed as a chick and re-caught in the same place (Kielder Forest, Northumberland), so the exact age of this bird is known (13 years). A bird ringed in 2004 at Rowlands Gill in Tyne and Wear which was also caught during 2016, that was an adult (at least 1 year old) so she could have been much older. It would have been doing very well to break the longevity record of 21 years 10 months.

Unlike some other owl species, Tawny Owls doesn’t generally travel very far or cross large bodies of water, so their distribution is restricted to mainland Britain.  Due to this behaviour we have had no foreign recoveries in the history of the BTO Ringing Scheme.


Tawny Owl chick about to be ringed. Photo by Lee Barber

I have received one recovery while working at the BTO, of a ring found in Iceland (without a bird) which was originally put on a Tawny Owl chick. This was an amazing record so (as with all our recoveries) some investigation followed. Unfortunately, this wasn’t quite as amazing as we’d hoped as we had a previous record that this bird had already died. The ‘used’ ring was put on a binocular strap for safe keeping after reporting. Some years later the finder was on holiday in Iceland when the strap broke and the ring was lost, only to be found later by someone else who reported it to the BTO via www.ring.ac.

The vast majority of data from ringing and the resulting finding of dead birds can provide an amazing amount of information, so if you do find a ringed bird please report it via www.ring.ac.  As a thank you, you will receive the information on where and when the bird was ringed.

Nest Recording Taster Day, Glamorgan

‘Fledgemore’ is a new nest recording group in Glamorgan. Established in 2015, its members (Andy Bevan, Trevor Fletcher, Dan Jenkins-Jones, Wayne Morris and Graham Williams) have only been nest recording for a few years but, as well as finding and monitoring their own nests, one of their ambitions is to increase the number of local recorders contributing to the BTO’s Nest Record Scheme (NRS). They’ve written this blog about one of the ways they’re doing that.

Nest recorders will tell you that finding and then monitoring nests for the NRS is one of the most challenging, exciting and fulfilling experiences in birding. There’s something new to learn every year, there’s the thrill of finding a new nest and there’s the satisfaction in knowing that you’re gathering vital data for the BTO’s Ringing and Nest Recording Team that will inform birds’ long-term conservation.

There has been a welcome increase in the number of nest records submitted from across Britain & Ireland in recent years. An increase that has been reflected in the totals from our home county of Glamorgan. Up until 2006, barely 100 records a year were being sent from here to the BTO. In 2015, that figure had risen to almost 800. But, when we scratched beneath the surface, we found that there were no more than eight or nine birders regularly contributing nest records from Glamorgan. We’re sure other regions have a similar situation.

Blackbird chicks close to fledging at Rudry (Photo: Dan Jenkins-Jones)

If you’re new to nest recording you can learn a lot about how to find and safely monitor the nests of various species from books and online articles, but nothing beats a first-hand experience in the field with other nest recorders. This is how we learnt to find our first nests and it gave us the leg up we needed. With this mind, we trialled a ‘Nest Record Scheme Taster Day’ at Rudry Common, north of Cardiff, in 2016 in an attempt to increase the number of local recorders and put the Scheme on a more sustainable footing in the county. Despite having no more than five seasons’ nest recording experience ourselves, we felt we had sufficient knowledge to be able to share the basic skills with newcomers and to hopefully enthuse and encourage them to take up nest recording. Five birders took part in that event, two of whom are now members of Fledgemore with 130+ nest records gathered between them so far in 2017! Encouraged by our experiences of this ‘Taster Day’, we held another at Rudry on 14 May this year.

Taster Day 2 started with a short indoor session where we presented the participants with their free hazel ‘tapping stick’ and ‘mirror on a stick’, kindly donated by the Rudry Common Trust and both essential tools of the nest recorder’s trade, which they learnt to use during the day. We introduced them to the NRS Code of Conduct, to some basic nest finding techniques and then we were soon out in the field for six hours of ‘nesting’.

Using a mirror on a stick to examine nests (Photo: Graham Williams)

Seeing a bird’s nest which contains eggs or chicks can be that spark which ignites an individual’s fascination with nest recording – especially if it’s a nest you’ve found yourself. To ensure we’d be able to provide that experience, Trevor recced the area in advance of the event and found a nice variety of nests to show everybody.

We spent the morning working through woodland, finding a number of nests: a Blackbird nest with chicks close to fledging; an active Goldcrest nest and, later, a predated one; Great Spotted Woodpecker with chicks; Song Thrush and a Wren on eggs; a Woodpigeon nest which had sadly failed at the chicks stage; a Blue Tit in a nestbox and Coal Tit and Great Tit with chicks nesting in natural cavities, both of whom enabled Trevor to show off his skills with an endoscope. A number of old nests were found too, which are useful in showing participants the likely places to look for nests in future.

Two of the participants trying out the art of ‘tapping’ for the first time (Photo: Andy Bevan)

Late morning, we left the woodland and moved out onto to Rudry Common in search of a suite of different species. A Linnet nest in gorse, which contained chicks a few days before the Taster Day, was sadly empty, probably lost to predation. Nevertheless, it enabled the participants to get a feel for where to find their own Linnet nests in future. A beautiful Long-tailed Tit nest with chicks, also in gorse, was up next, followed by a well concealed Meadow Pipit with four eggs.

The highlight of the day for most was probably a Willow Warbler nest with eggs, described by one participant as a ‘nest on its side’. It’s such a simple, yet beautiful, construction and superbly camouflaged. Finding one is always a thrill, and yet, with the right fieldcraft and knowing how the female’s off-nest call will help you, finding a Willow Warbler nest can be quite easy.


Willow Warbler nest on Rudry Common (Photo Dan Jenkins-Jones)

Best of all, some of these nests were found by the participants, either by ‘watching birds back’ to their nests or, on one occasion, a Blackbird on four eggs was found by gently ‘tapping’ suitable habitat with a hazel stick which gently flushed the sitting bird. Finding these nests and recording their contents generated a lot of excitement amongst us all. For the participants, it proved very quickly that they could find their own nests, and for us as leaders it was great to be able to show that the tips we’d shared with everybody actually work!

The day was rounded off with another short indoor session where we shared information on how to plan nest visits and what information to gather at the nest: egg or chick counts; nest location and habitat; chicks’ feather structure; the nest’s ‘outcome’ etc.  Finally we ‘crowned’ Tara, one of the participants who found three nests as the ‘New Nest Finder of the Day’. Tara went on to justify her crown by returning to Rudry Common immediately after the event to try and find a Garden Warbler for her Year List, and found another Willow Warbler nest on her own!


Tara was crowned ‘Nest Finder of the Day (Photo: Rob Williams)

An enjoyable day all round and we’ve heard from some of the participants that they’ve already been finding their own nests. Fingers crossed that some, if not all of them turn out to be fully-fledged nest recorders in years to come. And of course, we found some new nests on the day to add to our own monitoring for the Scheme. The BTO is keen to encourage ringers to contribute data to the Nest Record Scheme and, where possible, we are revisiting nests to ring pulli to further contribute data to the Ringing and Nest Recording Team. 

We’d highly recommend other nest recorders hosting similar events in their own regions to build up the numbers of local recorders. You definitely don’t need years of experience behind you, you’ll introduce others to a fascinating aspect of birding, help the Nest Record Scheme get even more records and you’ll enjoy every minute of it.

Bus pass boys at the beach

Allan Hale writes:

The “Bus Pass Boys” are a group of birding pensioners, two of whom are ringers. We make regular visits to Great Yarmouth beach in Norfolk to read colour rings on Mediterranean Gulls, some of us since 1999 (when we didn’t possess bus passes!). Our first birds are on site from about mid-July and most are gone by mid-March.

Mediterranean Gull at Great Yarmouth. Photo taken by Allan Hale.

We have identified nearly 100 different Mediterranean Gulls that were ringed in 10 different countries. They have originated from Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, Britain & Ireland (only two), The Netherlands, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia. There have been multiple sightings of many of these gulls (click here for a complete ringing scheme overview of recoveries for Med Gull). Many valuable life histories have been identified, with some of the birds mentioned above having also visited Spain, Portugal and The Azores.

Some of our Mediterranean Gulls have been shown to reach a ripe old age. Two of the birds we have seen this winter were originally ringed in 2001, one of them already three years old when ringed.

The BTO were impressed with our efforts and they suggested in 2013 that we should have a “joint venture” to try and cannon net some of these birds and fit them with British colour-rings. Very few Mediterranean Gulls are ringed in Britain so we took this as a challenge! Our aim was to add to the pool of ringed birds at Yarmouth and to further understand where these wintering birds originated. Maybe British breeding birds are there – we just didn’t know.

Stunning summer plumage Mediterranean Gulls. Photo taken by Irina Samusenko.

It wasn’t as easy as we had hoped. It is well known that Mediterranean Gulls are more intelligent than the people trying to catch them (most are also better looking!) At time of writing we have caught and ringed 46 Meds and had 'our' birds seen in The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Poland. We have also establish that some British-breeding Mediterranean Gulls winter at Great Yarmouth.

Last week we received notification of a sighting of one of our birds that was truly spectacular. The bird had been ringed at Great Yarmouth on 22 November 2015. It was seen on the beach until the end of February 2016 then disappeared for the summer. It had returned to the beach by the end of November 2016 and remained until at least 18 February 2017. Remarkably it was next seen 15 April 2017 at Trostenetskij Rubbish Dump, near Minsk, in Belarus. ‘Our bird’ was apparently paired with a colour ringed bird ‘red PKU6’ which was ringed in Poland.

'Our bird' (right), enjoying some delights in Belarus. Photo taken by Irina Samusenko

This represents the first British or Irish Mediterranean Gull that has been reported from Belarus and it is the most easterly sighting of any of our Mediterranean Gulls.

To report any ringed or colour ringed birds please go to www.ring.ac.

Little Owls in Lincolnshire

Anecdotal reports suggest that some species have started breeding early this year. In this post, Bob Sheppard provides an update on the Little Owls he monitors in Lincolnshire:

Little Owls readily take to nest boxes, particularly in old farm buildings. The box design I use is important as it mimics a hole in a tree. My father designed the box back in 1998.

A very big clutch of Little Owl eggs. Taken by Bob Sheppard/Alan Ball.

In the past nineteen years our Little Owls have increased as more boxes have been installed and we now have 80 pairs breeding. We monitor the adults for the Retrapping Adults for Survival scheme as well as submitting records to the Nest Record Scheme. In late April/early May, my colleague Alan Ball (who works with me to monitor all the boxes every year) and I catch all the adult females at the boxes (males are rarely caught in the boxes). The females are very site faithful and so we often retrap the same birds for several consecutive years. We then make a follow up visit to ring the chicks.

Little Owl struggling to sit on all those eggs. Taken by Bob Sheppard/Alan Ball.

This year we have found eggs during the first week of April which is very early indeed for Lincolnshire. Clutches of four are the average but we do find quite a few fives, including three already this season. Six egg clutches are not unknown and we once had a seven! The egg-laying season is unusually staggered this year; in several boxes we have heavy females yet to lay. Recoveries are rare (see online reports) but we meet lots of old friends as we open the boxes.

Ed - For more information on the details of Little Owl biology, see our BirdFacts page. Lincolnshire holds the record for the highest number of nest records of Little Owl (77) in 2016, with Norfolk following quite a way behind (14). For the 2015 results of any species click here.

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.