Sheringham sea front - 26th December 2023

 The weather has been impossible for ringing with very windy conditions that only seems to ease from time to time at which point rain is quite likely. We managed to get out for a short while for fresh air on the 26th and joined so many others walking the esplanade at Sheringham. It was interesting to see a few of the beach huts worse the wear from recent high tides, also a Purple Sandpiper briefly on the large rocks adjacent to the promenade, dodging all the people and dogs on the beach.

There were also some 25 or so Turnstone including our very own JAC.

JAC continues to take free handouts at Sheringham.

We couldn't find any marked gulls but they were very mobile, being continuously moved on by walkers, dogs and bathers on the busy beaches.

Black-headed Gull 2C19 resighted - 19th December 2023

 On the 19th December a report of 2C19 came through. We were very pleased to receive this observation as there had been none since the bird was caught in one of our garden mist nets coming to food on 6th June 2022. The bird was adult and probably a local breeder. We had resorted to garden catching when we did not attempt pulli catching of breeding gull colonies due to the presence of at Avian Influenza.

2C19 reported by Bob Haycock

All of our summer ringed gulls have moved westerly, whether to the north or south. This gull winters at the most westerly location reported so far, Pembroke castle in Pembrokeshire on Mill pond. 

Duration: 561 days Distance: 417 km Direction: 252deg (WSW)

2C19, Ringed 6th June 2022

Pembroke Castle.

Deepdale Farm (after dark) - 16th December 2023

 A last minute attempt using the thermal imager after seeing 4 Woodcock close to the road while driving to the morning's ringing session for the 7:30am meet. DKH had also seen some so it seemed there may have been an influx of birds.

It was a dark and windy night, and in the three or so hours at Deepdale at least 7 Woodcock were seen, and one captured. There were also several Skylark, again one caught. There was one Jack Snipe but it evaded CL. 

Woodcock

Skylark

Total: 2

Woodcock - 1
Skylark - 1

Orion taken on my nocturnally challenged camera

Baconsthorpe, Castle Wild Camp - 16th December 2023

 Plans to ring at the Stanhoe orchard were cancelled when the weather forecast changed to show rather too much wind for the open site. A last minute change was made to Castle Wild camp and even there with the wind gusts stronger than forecast, some nets were less than ideal.

There was a sheltered area through the centre of the site and two doubles, over half the nets up, were placed here. There were very few birds on site and the despite the unmistakable sound of shooting from nearby there was no influx of birds moving away from the hunting areas. All nets were down by midday with only 7 birds for our effort.

Total: 5 (2)

Blackbird - 2
Wren - 1
Goldcrest - 0 (1)
Blue Tit - 1 (1)
Coal Tit - 1

A farm in North Norfolk - 15th December 2023

 A day with some nice birds, although fewer than we hoped. There were birds around, but our nets were not in the right places. Areas within the wild bird crop for extra supplementary feeding were taken advantage of, but a rather flattened crop due to recent heavy rains and very strong winds that keep occurring meant that double panels would have been better within the crop - and we hadn't bought any, not expecting to need them.  We did at least manage firsts for DKH and OHK in the form of Yellowhammer and Reed Bunting and also the first Blackbirds we've been able to catch at the site.

4M Yellowhammer

A retrapped Blue Tit was shown on DemOn as having been ringed as a nestling in May, so we await details of where it has come from.

Team of CL, DKL, DKH, OHK

Total: 22 (3)

Blackbird - 2
Robin - 2
Dunnock - 5
Blue Tit - 7 (3)
Reed Bunting - 4
Yellowhammer - 2

Stanhoe Orchard - 6th December 2023

 Our first visit to the orchard and the number of windfalls seemed to be well down on previous years. The owner confirmed that most of the trees had not produced the normal amount of apples, and that many thrushes had been in feasting on the fruit during the earlier spell of cold weather, when the wind had been too strong to ring there.

There wasn't a great deal of activity and only 18 birds were processed. These were mostly caught between 08:30am and 10am before the hedge trimming started. The list reflected the mix of species present.

3F Starling

3M Linnet

4F Green Woodpecker

4M Green Woodpecker

3F Fieldfare

Total: 18

Green Woodpecker - 2
Fieldfare - 1
Redwing - 3
Great Tit - 1
Starling - 7
Chaffinch - 2
Goldfinch - 1
Linnet - 1

Mute Swans, Hoveton Bridge - 2nd December 2023

 A rather later than planned session for Mute Swans (after the first date in early November was cancelled in part due to flooding in the area). MR (lead of the East Anglia and South East Mute Swan project) drove up from Hertfordshire and DKH and RAR joined CL and DKL for their first experience of  swan capture and ringing.

Flooding continues in some areas of the Broads so checks for swans at Ludham Bridge and Potter Heigham drew blanks with many birds dispersed on to the surrounding flooded fields. All processed birds were found at Hoveton Bridge where the water level was higher than usual, permitting birds to be captured off the water in addition to those that had come out onto the bank. The session resulted in 32 new birds being marked with one additional already ringed bird getting a darvic. Six other birds with darvics were resighted and recorded.

The team at work

Totals: 32, 1 (6)

Mute Swan - new 32
Mute Swan - recapture 1
Mute Swan - resighting 6

Thanks to all of the team and to the Broads Authority who are helping to fund this work. Data collected from the ringed individuals that have succumbed to Avian Influenza is showing that young birds have been hardest hit. Young adult birds fair better than youngsters but not as well as the most mature individuals. This information would not be available without having precisely aged birds that have been ringed in the past. 

A Black-headed Gull with a larger than usual metal ring was also seen. It was possible to see that the young gull had a number starting 37, so not a UK issued E ring.

                    The address is just possible to ascertain as the start of Vogeltreks... Arnheim.

Over the winter we will try to return and find this Dutch ringed gull to read the ring. Birds are frequently extremely site faithful. If we could catch it, that would be even better. We could mark with a darvic and also deal with the existing ring that is not fully closed.

Baconsthorpe, Castle Wild Camp - 1st December 2023

 The weather forecast was a little off today with lower windspeed than we were expecting. We would have chosen another site that is less sheltered had we known but as it turned out the capture of a Firecrest made us pleased to have tried this site in spite of us all getting frozen as we took the nets down.

3M Firecrest

By 10:15 when this photo was taken we were quite concerned about the heavy cloud heading in our direction. A check on the Weather24 app confirmed incoming snow followed by rain. The nets were all pushed up first but the snow started as we took down. 

We caught no birds after about 10'o'clock so 25 new and 2 retraps wasn't too bad. Team consisted of CL, DKL, DKH and for the first time OHK. 

Total: 25 (2)

Blackbird - 8
Redwing - 6
Wren - 0 (1)
Robin - 0 (1)
Goldcrest - 6
Firecrest - 1
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit - 2