Lamsdell Bird Ringing and Wildlife Blog: Chobham Common

Saturday 1 July 2017

Chobham Common - 30th June 2017

A return to Chobham for the morning, trying to catch the Dartford Warblers. The population has increased dramatically, so much so that they have failed to show any interest in playback at any time this year. We decided that the only way to catch them would be to watch for regularly used routes that cross paths and cleared areas, and set and move low nets, otherwise our effort would be little better than catching birds that randomly happened across our nets.

We used three nets today in a total of ten different individual locations.

5M Stonechat

Two ages of feathers within the primaries/secondaries

5M Whitethroat

Totals: 7

Stonechat - 1
Dartford Warbler - 4
Whitethroat - 2

About us

Chris and Denise Lamsdell

We have both been birders for about 40 years based in South Bucks near the West London reservoir complexes.

Since September 2021 we have been based in North Norfolk. We have done our bit of twitching in the past, but with other priorities this has become a much reduced activity with a preference for seeing new birds where ever our travels take us.

We both have been ringing since 2005. Our local group was the Runnymede RG while based in Buckinghamshire. Since moving to Norfolk we have started a new group called The Iceni Bird Monitoring Group, aimed at increasing public engagement through colour ringing projects on Black-headed Gull, Turnstone and Lapwing. We ring at several sites including Sculthorpe Moor, Sandringham Estate, Deepdale Farm and also monitor bird populations for the Norfolk Rivers Trust. We do ringing at home and support with foreign projects when opportunities allow. Chris also has an interest in Butterflies and Dragonflies and contains his limited photographic skill to them.