Welcome to the LDV NNR ringing blog, this blog is designed to share the experiences, findings and tales from a group of dedicated ringers. We specialise in conservation orientated research projects, largely focusing on wildfowl, waders, owls and birds of conservation concern, in and around the Vale of York NNR's.

NB - Whilst the purpose of this blog was initially designed to cover our nationally important wildfowl ringing activities, it now also features wildlife and work posts, explaining how we manage the NNR for both wildlife and people.

For daily sightings please visit our Twitter account: https://twitter.com/ldv_nnr (@LDV_NNR)

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Friday 8 June 2012

31/05/12 - May summary

Well it’s not been a great month for the target species on the floodplain due to the flooding - it’s been a combination of either the birds not being present as a result of the flooding and/or us not being able to get to them. But we’ve had some good quality birds following a refocusing of efforts - helping us understand how other birds use the NNR’s, the Lower Derwent Valley, Skipwith Common and surrounding areas too.

We’re now on 759 wildfowl for the year, but just 27 from this month - 25 Mallard (all pulli) and 2 breeding Wigeon. Along with the Barn Owls and Tawny Owls that we’ve done ourselves, Dave has been busy on Skipwith Common and surrounding areas, so between us we’ve managed 40 Barn Owls (38 of those were chicks), 9 Tawny Owls (8 chicks, 1 adult) and Dave ringed the first broods of Kestrels last week (5 chicks).

A few other noteable species for the month - 27 Swifts, 2 Cuckoos, 2 Wheatears, 8 Jackdaws and 1 Woodlark.

One of 27 flicked Swifts

Two of the 38 Barn Owl chicks ringed this month

It’s definitely been a month for quality, and it's been especially good for birds from the nest - along with the usual Blue Tits, Great Tits and Tree Sparrows that we’ve done from the small boxes, we also found a nest of Wrens in one of the artificial House Martin nests. We ringed 5 chicks from a clutch of 6 (one dead). Only 160 pulli Wren were ringed in the UK during 2011 so it was a most pleasing find. Below is a table summarising the main species ringed within the LDV this month and the running years total.

                                              May             Year
WATERFOWL






Grey Heron 0
10
Mute Swan 0
2
Greylag Goose 0
3
Brent Goose 0
1
Shelduck 0
78
Wigeon 2
114
Teal 0
281
Mallard     25 (pulli)
245
Pintail 0
5
Gadwall 0
4
Moorhen 0
11
Coot 0
4
Little Grebe 0
1




WADERS






Whimbrel 0
2
Snipe 0
24
Jack Snipe 0
1
Ruff 0
1
Redshank 0
2
Lapwing 2
3
Oystercatcher 1
2




RAPTORS/OWLS






Red Kite 0
1
Tawny Owl 9
11
Little Owl 0
1
Barn Owl 40 (+2 RT)
40
Kestrel       5 (pulli)
5




PASSERINES






Skylark 0
4
Woodlark 1
1
Corn Bunting 0
20
Wheatear 2
2
Jackdaw  8
8
Mistle Thrush  1
1
Wren       5 (pulli)
5




NON-PASSERINES






Swift 27
27
Cuckoo 2
2
Stock Dove 1
1





131
923


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