• LEARNING TO RING

    Colour ringing Twite

    Had a great morning in September at Dove Holes Quarry colour ringing the Twite which breed there.  Twite are a small brown finch and their breeding range is very restricted in the UK. We met Jamie Dunning on site at 7:30 am, by the time he had already made the first catch in the whoosh-net, which was a mix of Twite, Linnet and Goldfinch. They were extracted and brought back to the ringing station to be processed after the whoosh-net was re-set ready for firing again. The Linnets and Goldfinches were just fitted with metal rings but we fitted the Twite with plastic colour rings and a metal ring: metal…

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  • LEARNING TO RING

    Sand Martin pulli

    In July, I met up with Kevin Bower in the centre of Sheffield to ring some Sand Martin pulli!  They were in an artificial nesting bank on the edge of the River Don.  Apparently this is the first year the birds have used the bank, and previously Kevin had ringed 19 birds this year.  We ringed 9 that day, one brood of 5 and one of 4.  Really nice birds to see in the hand and a ringing tick for me.

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  • LEARNING TO RING

    Owl and Kestrel ringing

    Back in June, I spent an enjoyable morning with Chris Lilley, Ava Teasdale and Eleanor Wilkins checking large boxes in the Sheffield area. Overall, we ringed a total of 3 Little Owls, 5 Barn Owls (the runt of the brood was too small to ring) and 5 Kestrels.  Some amazing birds to see in the hand, and two ringing ticks for me (BO and LO).

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  • LOCAL PATCH

    Mandarin Ducks

    Went down to Sherbrook Woods on my patch this morning in the hope of seeing/photographing Mandarin Ducks or Dippers. At the far end of the wood I was pleased to find 16 stunning Mandarins, the first here this winter. The males are amazingly colourful birds and always nice to see! They aren’t native to the UK but to South-East Asia and China and were brought to this country in the 18th Century, and escaped from wildfowl collections in the 1930s. Managed to get a few photos but quite difficult with branches in the way and they were quite skittish. Other birds we have had in Sherbrooke in pervious winters include…

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  • MOTHS

    Moth trapping 22/09/2019

    Macros 2 Large Yellow Underwing 1 Angle Shades 1 Setaceous Hebrew Character 1 Lesser Yellow Underwing 1 Common Marbled Carpet 1 Mouse Moth (NFG) Micros 2 Agonopterix heracliana 1 Garden Rose Tortrix (NFG) Total 7 macros of 6 species, 3 micros of 2 species making 10 moths of 8 species. 2 NFG

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  • MOTHS

    Moth trapping 14/09/2019

    Macros 11 Large Yellow Underwing 4 Lesser Yellow Underwing 1 Centre-barred Sallow (NFG) 1 Dark Marbled Carpet 1 Angle Shades 1 Garden Carpet 1 Small Square-spot (NFG) Micros 1 Agonopterix aranella Total 20 macros of 7 species 1 micro of 1 species making 21 moths of 8 species. 2 NFG

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  • MOTHS

    Moth trapping 08/09/2019

    Macros 8 Large Yellow Underwing 6 Lesser Yellow Underwing 1 Garden Carpet 1 Spruce Carpet 1 Autumnal Rustic 1 Common Marbled Carpet 1 Dark Arches 1 Rosy Rustic 1 Dark Marbled Carpet Micros 1 Agonopterix aranella Total 21 macros of 9 species 1 micro of 1 species making 22 moths of 10 species.

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  • MOTHS

    Moth trapping 05/09/2019

    Macros 11 Large Yellow Underwing 4 Lesser Yellow Underwing 4 Autumnal Rustic 2 Angle Shades (NFY) 2 Rosy Rustic 1 Garden Carpet 1 Common Wainscot (NFG) Micros 1 Agonopterix arenella Total 24 macros of 7 species 1 micro of 1 species making 25 moths of 8 species. 1 NFG and 1 NFY

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  • MOTHS

    Moth trapping 02/09/2019

    First trap of September some nice NFG’s Macros 15 Large Yellow Underwing 4 Rosy Rustic (NFG) 3 Common Rustic agg 3 Lesser Yellow Underwing 2 Autumnal Rustic (NFG) 2 Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 2 Dark Marbled Carpet 1 Dotted Clay 1 Sallow (NFG) 1 Straw Dot 1 Square-spot Rustic 1 Garden Carpet 1 Copper Underwing agg (NFG) Micros 1 Honeysuckle Moth 1 Mother of Pearl Total 37 macros of 13 species 2 micros of 2 species making 39 moths of 15 species. 4 NFG

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  • MOTHS

    Arisaig moth trapping

    After Carrbridge we spent 6 nights in Arisaig on the west coast of Scotland. I set the moth trap on 4 nights and it produced some great new species for me. 26/08/2019 Macros 16 Ear Moth agg 13 Autumnal Rustic 9 Flame Carpet 9 Square-spot Rustic 8 Rosy Rustic 7 Dark Marbled Carpet 5 July Highfligher 4 Grey Pine Carpet 4 Barred Chestnut 3 Dotted Carpet 3 Centre-barred Sallow 3 Neglected Rustic 3 Large Yellow Underwing 3 Lesser Broad-bordered Underwing 2 Sallow 2 Orange Sallow 2 Dun-Bar 2 Anomalous 2 Pale Eggar 1 Double-striped Pug 1 Black Rustic 1 Twin-spot Carpet 1 Common Marbled Carpet 1 Tawny-barred Angle 1 Grey…

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  • MOTHS

    Carrbridge moth trapping

    Spent a week in Cartridge, Scotland during the summer holidays, set the moth trap on 4 nights in the garden of our accommodation. Totals: 21/08/2019 2 Square-spot Rustic 1 Rosy Rustic 1 Antler 1 Dark Arches 1 Dotted Clay 1 Plain Clay Total 7 macro moths of 6 species 22/08/2019 Macros 8 Large Yellow Underwing 5 Square-spot Rustic 3 Plain Clay 3 Lesser Broad-Bordered Yellow Underwing 2 Sallow 2 Dotted Clay 1 Antler 1 Rosy Rustic 1 Ear Moth agg 1 Barred Chestnut 1 Common Marbled Carpet Micros 7 Agriphila tristella 1 Bee Moth 1 Eana osseana 1 Argyresthia goedartella Total 28 macros of 11 species, 10 micros of 4…

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  • MOTHS

    Moth trapping 15/08/2019

    A relatively big catch nothing spectacular Macros 67 Large Yellow Underwing 27 Common Rustic agg 10 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing 7 Lesser Yellow Underwing 4 Square-spot Rustic 3 Six-striped Rustic 2 Smoky Wainscot 1 Dun-Bar 1 Burnished Brass 1 Grey Chi 1 Heart & Dart 1 Brimstone 1 Rosy Minor Micros 3 Honeysuckle Moth 3 Udea lutealis 1 Agriphila tristella 1 Scoparia ambigualis Total 130 macros of 14 species, 8 micros of 4 species making 138 moths of 18 species.

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