Lamsdell Bird Ringing and Wildlife Blog: Garden 23

Friday, 31 December 2010

Garden 23 - 31 Dec 2010

Whilst I still suffered in true male style with the flu, Denise had a few brief sessions in the garden, either with a potter trap or a 20ft net which due to the cold weather was more or less watched constantly and birds removed straight away, though the snow went quite quickly and today was a balmy 9c. Siskins have come in small numbers, and whilst one capture on 30/12 was one of our previous years birds, X380147, a 4 male, previously rung on 7/3/2009 as a 5 male. The foreign ringed male did not put in an appearance.

Siskin - X380147

Totals were:

23th - Blackbird (1)

26th - Dunnock (1), Blackbird (1), Song Thrush (1), Great Tit (1), Goldfinch (5) and 2 re-traps.

27th - Dunnock (1), Robin (1), Song Thrush (1), Blue Tit (4), Great Tit (2), Coal Tit (1), Goldfinch (2), Siskin (2) and 3 re-traps, one a Blue Tit V461478 originally ringed on 23/6/2007 as a 3J.

29th - Goldfinch (1)

30th - Woodpigeon (1), Blue Tit (4), Long-tailed Tit (2), Goldfinch (4) and 3 re-traps, including the Siskin mentioned above.

31st - Blackbird (1), Blue Tit (2), Great Tit (1), Goldfinch (5), Greenfinch (1), Siskin (3) and 1 re-trap.

A wander around Thorney CP on the 26th produced a good sighting of a Bittern in thin reeds on the ice, a fly over Little Egret, a Buzzard moved around the trees by the lake and a drake Red-crested Pochard on one of two small open areas of water.

Bittern

Afterwards Denise took a wander around Hardings Row Nature reserve.

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.