Barn Owls - 21st June 2024

 A run around about a third of our barn situated boxes brought three with owlet families, including one with 5, then two recaptures of adult birds leaving the box or barn. There were of course the empty boxes, some with pigeons and even one box that has dropped to the floor since last year.

There was also an unexpected bonus at the end of the day, almost tripped over and picked up by hand, a young almost fledged Oystercatcher. Brood in the same farmyard as last year.

Recaptured (female with 3 owlets)

Adding the colour code

Oystercatcher C00

Totals:

3 boxes containing 2, 3 & 5 young Barn Owls all of a ringable age.

2 recaptured adult Barn Owls

1 Oystercatcher (age 1)

Sculthorpe Moor - 21th June 2024

 A morning at the Hawk & Owl Trust, Sculthorpe in the beavers' enclosure. We were able to make 40 captures, of 12 species, including a second Grasshopper Warbler at the site this year, two Marsh Tits that were also colour ringed and a nice selection of young birds.

Male Grasshopper Warbler

3JJ Marsh Tit

Nature's engineers have been building dams, flooding the woodland and are even affecting the paths through the site so wellingtons are now a regular requirement.

Total: 35 (5)

Blackbird - 2
Blackcap - 7
Blue Tit - 5 (1)
Chiffchaff - 6 (2)
Dunnock - 1 (1)
Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Great Tit - 4
Jay - 1
Marsh Tit - 2
Robin - 2
Willow Warbler - 2
Wren - 2 (1)

Baconsthorpe - Castle Wild Camp - 20th June 2024

 A good morning at Castle Wild Camp out with a nice smattering of youngsters on the record sheet, several returners or remaining adults and even a Blue Tit and Jay already with primary moult underway.

One of two probable sibling Whitethroat that required direct return to the bush they had probably leapt from - note short tail length

Female Jay, BP5 and main moult 2220000000

Totals: 25 (7)

Blackbird - 0 (1)
Blackcap - 1
Blue Tit - 2
Chiffchaff - 5 (1)
Dunnock - 4 (4)
Jay - 1
Great Tit - 1
Robin - 3
Whitethroat - 5
Wren - 3 (1)

Barn Owls and some bad swan news - 19th June 2024

 A day firmly split into a good morning and bad afternoon.

Started the day with a trek across Hawk & Owl Sculthorpe Moor, to check barn owl box 2 where the adults have been very busy bringing food to the box during daylight hours. We expected either a decent sized brood or young very close to fledging (in which case it would probably have been too late to ring them).

Pleased to find 4 healthy owlets in the box.

The three young in box 1, already ringed, have now moved to sitting on top of their box and all seem well on the way to fledging.

Seven young Barn Owl from the reserve is quite an achievement considering our concerns for their food supply after so much of the reserve was under water during the late winter and spring.

The afternoon brought news of an injured swan at Selbrigg Pond. We knew immediately that it would be Scarface, a mature cob that has held that territory for some years and is very protective of his group.

https://x.com/nthnorfolknews/status/1803431320997208160?s=48&t=gH6jY7Z_bzkC6mGp3yMDfw

He was found yesterday afternoon with puncture wounds in his neck. To our knowledge there are no new cygnets this year, although there were still three female offspring remaining from last year when we visited last. The wound appears to be the result of a dog attack and to his credit none of his family showed any signs of injury.

Hopefully the antibiotics being administered by East Winch RSPCA will be successful and Scarface (as a result of a bill injury caused by a fishing hook) that also carries an orange darvic 4FTF, will return to Selbrigg Pond in a few weeks.

Flagged Turnstone JAU sighted in Netherlands - 16th June 2024

 Turnstone JAU was ringed at Eccles-on-sea on 28/01/2024. There was a sighting at Sea Paling at the end of March.

Photo by observer Andrew Bourke

A further sighting on the 16th was from Ijmuiden, Netherlands in a flock of 63 (presumably non breeding birds).

Photo by observer Hans Schekkerman

Continuing thanks to all observers that find and report project birds.

Barn Owls - 3rd June 2024

  A look at the CCTV monitored box at Sculthorpe started us off with three healthy chicks and a full grown female that was unringed.

Unringed female, but as the chicks here are usually ringed where is she from?

Asynchronous hatching produces chicks at differing stages of development

Females are usually darker than males across the mantle

Next onto a farm where the BTO had been asked to find someone able to check the boxes.

Here the first box held a single chick with two adults. The adult male, first out of the box, was captured and ringed but the female escaped.

The second A-frame box had no chicks, but a female already carrying a ring. DemOn advised that she had been ringed on 3rd July 2014. Details of the location are awaited.

Two boxes for Little Owl were checked but both boxes were crammed full of sticks and require cleaning out over the winter in preparation for next year. The adults were seen at the first box, possibly with young above the accumulation of three or four years of use or having moved into the tree where the box is sited.

Deepdale Farm -2nd June 2024

 A ringing demo to support Leaf Farm Open Day at Deepdale Farm. We were a little worried that the keen wind may affect catching but had 5 birds during the time that we had visitors with plenty of information to tell regarding ageing indicators, breeding condition and a few permanent residents. All went very well, with a Lesser Whitethroat our 'best bird', although our visitors loved them all! There were no young birds during their visit, but a family party of Great Tits caught just as we were taking down swelled our total to 14. 

Lesser Whitethroat, 4F with BP3

Totals: 8 (6)

Chiffchaff -0 (1)
Dunnock - 1
Great Tit - 5
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Robin - 0 (2)
Whitethroat - 2
Wren - 0 (2)