2020 Report A summary of bird ringing in south Nottinghamshire in 2020 Edited by Pete Leonard, Kev Hemsley & Jim Lennon We are volunteers who study the birds of south Nottinghamshire. If you want to know more about bird ringing, you can either contact the BTO (01842 750050) for an explanatory leaflet or go to its website https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/ringing SNRG Group Secretary contact details: Kev Hemsley, 07986 433 615, [email protected] SNRG blog: http://southnottsringinggroup.blogspot.co.uk/ Please note – at the time of writing (March 2021) pandemic restrictions still make it very difficult for us to take on trainees, but don’t let that put you off getting in touch, just be prepared for delays. Cover: Goldcrest (P. Leonard) 2 Contents Editorial .................................................................................................................................... 5 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. 5 Contact details ......................................................................................................................... 6 Website .................................................................................................................................... 6 Membership ............................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction and 2020 Overview .............................................................................................. 7 50 years of SNRG .................................................................................................................... 10 Attenborough Nature Reserve............................................................................................... 14 - Tern and gull chicks .......................................................................................................... 16 Attenborough Nature Reserve – Sand Martins ..................................................................... 17 Summer Sites ......................................................................................................................... 21 - Holme Pierrepont ............................................................................................................. 21 - Ramsdale Park Golf Centre .............................................................................................. 26 Nest boxes ............................................................................................................................. 29 Nest boxes on NWT nature reserves ...................................................................................... 32 Winter Sites ........................................................................................................................... 37 - Sutton Bonington ............................................................................................................. 37 - Brackenhurst Campus ...................................................................................................... 40 3 Garden ringing at Sibthorpe in 2020 ...................................................................................... 42 Recoveries & Controls............................................................................................................ 45 Little Owl chicks, Vale of Belvoir, 28 May (P. Leonard) 4 Editorial Perhaps not since the foot-and-mouth outbreak of 2001 have our activities been disrupted as they were in 2020 by the coronavirus pandemic. As I type, we are still living under restrictions and it seems unlikely that we will be back to any sort of normal operations for a while. Jim’s account of garden ringing gives a good flavour of the year - a strange one indeed to be reflecting on our fiftieth birthday. Members will hopefully enjoy the slice of history at the beginning of this report. My thanks, as ever, to Kev and Jim for all their input, and also to Tom and Phil for their contributions. Pete Leonard, March 2021 Acknowledgements The group would like to extend their sincere thanks to all the landowners who have permitted us to operate on their property when it was possible. We thank the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust for their continued co-operation and in particular we would like to thank Michael Walker, Chris Kennedy, Pete Stanyon and the staff of Attenborough Nature Reserve. We would also like to thank Joseph Greenfield at Nottingham University, Ramsdale Park Golf Centre and Louise Gentle and Simon Taylor of Nottingham Trent University. Thanks also to all the members of the public who have reported our birds. Lastly, many thanks to all the group members who have contributed to this report. 5 Contact details For further information about South Notts Ringing Group, please contact the Group Secretary, Kevin Hemsley [email protected] Website For the latest news on our ringing activities, visit our blog: http://southnottsringinggroup.blogspot.com/ Membership Below is the list of members for 2020. Abbreviations refer to permit class. Alexander Phillips (C) Kevin Hemsley (S) Pete Leonard (S) Amy Dennett (T) Lewis Aaron (T) Peter Stanyon (T) Christian Boix-Hinzen (T) Linda Lowndes (C) Phil Carter (C) Cliff Butterworth (A) Liz White (A) Richard Williams (A) Duncan Hooton (C) Louise Gentle (C) Sarah Raymond (T) Gary Goddard (S) Maria Scullion (T) Sue Lakeman (T) Geoff White (C) Mick Pearson (A) Tom Shields (C) Holly James (T) Mick Thompson (A) Trish Horlock (helper) Jim Lennon (S) 6 Introduction and 2020 Overview Pete Leonard This was the group’s fiftieth year of ringing, though celebrations were somewhat dampened by the effects of the global coronavirus pandemic. Government restrictions began with a full lockdown on 23 March and restrictions of one sort or another remained in place for the rest of the year. Garden ringing was permitted throughout, and then through the summer and autumn we were able to venture further afield. However, there were still limitations on the number of ringers and training became impossible whilst social distancing was required. 2020 was another warm, wet year: the third warmest and sixth wettest on record. However, it was also the eighth sunniest and therefore remarkable for ranking so highly in all three variables. It was a very wet start to year with widespread flooding in February and again towards the end of the year. Then it was as if a switch was flicked in March, and the sunniest spring in living memory began with seemingly endless days of blue skies. The ground, which had been a bog in the first two months of the year, rapidly turned rock-hard and this undoubtedly affected the breeding success of species such as Blackbirds, which had great difficulty finding worms and other invertebrate prey. Although many of our usual surveys had to be abandoned, the group still managed to ring 4957 birds of 56 species. A glance at the totals sees typical garden species making up a large proportion and a welcome boost came in the autumn with a significant influx of Lesser 7 Redpoll. The 913 birds ringed represent about a fifth of the birds ringed this year. Several resident species and particularly tits were caught in good numbers during the first winter period, suggesting a good breeding season in 2019, though this success was not repeated in 2020. Chiffchaff was the only warbler that appeared to have a notably good year, though several others were trapped in average numbers. Nest box checking was thwarted by the pandemic in the early part of the season, but it was clear that Barn Owls and Kestrels had a terrible year nonetheless. Lesser Redpoll, Holme Pierrepont, 28 September 2020 (K. Hemsley) 8 And a silver lining to the clouds of the pandemic appeared in Jim’s Sibthorpe garden in the form of a female Black Redstart – the first to be ringed by the group and, we think, only the second ringed in the county. Recoveries reported during the year included exchanges with Denmark, France, Ireland, The Netherlands, Norway and Poland. Although none were ringed during the year, Cormorants from previous years continued to generate good data and one Kestrel underwent an unusually lengthy dispersal. Naturally, Lesser Redpolls provided many records and a single Coal Tit recovery left us with as many questions as answers. The oldest bird reported was a Black-headed Gull from 2008. Black Redstart, Sibthorpe, 12 April 2020 (J. Lennon) 9 50 years of SNRG Kev Hemsley December 2020 saw the 50th anniversary of the South Notts Ringing Group. Little did anyone know back then that the group would still exist in 2020, or indeed that our ringing operations and any celebrations would be so heavily affected by a global pandemic. The group evolved from the Ornithological Society of the Fairham Comprehensive School in Clifton, which was headed by teacher (and ringer) Humphrey Dobinson. Some of the students showed so much interest and commitment that at the end of 1970 Humphrey suggested the formation of a ringing group. This was accepted and the group held its first meeting on 5 December 1970. The minutes of this meeting are reproduced below and you may notice that some of the names still appear on our current membership list! The minutes are a little unclear, not because of age, but because they were produced on a manual typewriter and then copied on a Banda machine (some younger readers may need to Google these to discover more). Initially the group was called the South-West Notts Ringing Group but later