Salthouse Garden - 30th August 2026

 A second try near the coast after autumn migrants had been seen, went rather better than the previous day and much better than we expected. We managed 56 birds, and rather too many were Blue Tits, but we were very pleased to capture 3 Pied Flycatchers. They each appeared in different nets and at least two of the three were certainly heading East. We saw a fourth un-ringed PIEFL as we packed up so it seemed that the birds seen further West over the past few days are steadily making their way along the coast, slightly inland.

The first Pied Flycatcher that's been caught at an Iceni BMG site.

We've not caught a Piedfly since we last ringed in Cyprus a few years ago, 

so the reference books were useful.

4M Pied Flycatcher

3F Pied Flycatcher

Juvenile Lesser Whitethroat

Total: 54 (2)

Blackcap - 10
Blue Tit - 27 (1)
Chiffchaff - 7
Great Tit - 2
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 1
Pied Flycatcher - 3
Robin - 1 (1)
Wren - 2

Morston - 9th September 2025

 We took our chance to get nets up at the coast. The wind had calmed and any unusual birds that may have been around when flycatchers were popping up along the coast a few days before were long gone. We were surprised to find it rather quiet when we arrived and there were very few captures until around 8'o'clock when we started to see birds feeding along the ditch and in the bramble clumps.

There appeared to have been an influx of Dunnocks and Robins, as there are usually few Dunnocks about and this is the first time we've recorded or even seen Robin there.  Top species was Chiffchaff and a Stonechat and two Reed Buntings were marked for the respective darvic marked projects.

3M Reed Bunting

Thanks to PWL & LC for completing our team of 4.

Total: 38 (2)

Blackcap - 5
Blue Tit - 6
Chiffchaff - 11
Dunnock - 8 (1)
Reed Bunting - 2
Robin - 3
Stonechat - 1
Whitethroat - 1
Wren - 1

Morston - 5th September 2025

 The wind's from the wrong direction for vagrants but our departing summer migrants are skirting the coast so we gave this lovely site within a stones throw of the beach a go with PWL.

The bulk of the catch were migrants with Whitethroat making up just under a third of the catch including a somewhat tardy adult. Blackcaps outnumbered Chiffchaff just, and 4 new Stonechat have us thinking that these are also possibly birds on passage. Linnets, Dunnocks and Wrens represented the resident birds and a Cetti's Warbler was a real surprise, unlikely to have been bred there or nearby and probably on the move.

Adult Whitethroat

Juvenile Cetti's Warbler

3M Stonechat

3JP Stonechat

The winter bird feed crop is coming along nicely.

Total: 33 (2)

Blackcap - 6
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 4
Dunnock - 3 (1)
Linnet - 3
Stonechat - 4
Whitethroat - 9 (1)
Wren - 3

Morston - 28th August 2025

 Spent the morning in fields by the coastal wall, with LC, trying to catch departing migrants. Chris has thought for a while that birds move to the coast, then make their way east before making the flight to the continent.

It looks as though he's correct as in contrast to the 2, 3, or less Whitethroats we've been getting inland we captured 15 with many more seen in the bramble bushes.

3O Whitethroat, Fat 4, Muscle 2, weight 19.4g

Juvenile Stonechat marked for the Natural England project.

A wind affected catch, but an enjoyable morning.

Total: 27

Blackcap - 2
Blue Tit - 6
Dunnock - 2
Stonechat - 2
Whitethroat - 15

Gull and Tern ringing Scolt Head, Norfolk - 25th June 2025

Fine weather allowed this session to target young Sandwich Tern, Mediterranean Gull and Black-headed Gull at the colony on Scolt Head to go ahead, and be fitted with darvic rings, allowing data to be collected without the need to recapture birds. Information on survival rates, movements and longevity will be collected by observations of interested individuals for years to come.

The planning for this day started months ago with much preparation to ensure a smooth process on the day. The Scolt Head warden selected the date based on chicks being close to fledging to maximise the chances of birds successfully leaving the colony, weather and good tides to bring the equipment and team over to the colony, also assembling a team from Natural England to support the ringers with the capture and marking efforts.

The team consisted of ringers representing Iceni Bird Monitoring Group collaborating with National Trust and Natural England personnel. All necessary permits, endorsements and permissions to carry out this work held.

Over the course of the day 323 birds were marked with darvic rings. This is the first large scale colour ringing effort for gulls and Sandwich Terns in Norfolk for several years.

The birds will be dispersing from the colony soon and sightings of birds in this project can be reported on  https://iceni.shinyapps.io/sightings/ to get an immediate report history of the bird seen.

The Sandwich Terns have green darvics starting K followed by a second letter then a number in white, Mediterranean Gulls have yellow rings starting 2 followed by 3 numbers in black, and Black-headed Gulls have red rings starting 2C or 2H followed by two numbers printed in white. Full details are on the European colour ring birding website. For colour ring projects details see European colour ring birding

Totals: 323

Black-headed Gull - 112
Mediterranean Gull - 83
Sandwich Tern - 128