LOCAL PATCH
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Dippers
Over the winter on my patch, I have been keeping tabs on the population of wintering birds, particularly Dippers which I have really enjoyed photographing. There has been a ringed bird most of winter, and from my photos I managed to read the full ring number. I managed to get in touch with the ringer, who processed the bird in the nest near Wild Boar Clough in 2019.
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Ringed Dipper
Went for a walk round my patch at the weekend, and was pleased to find a singing male Dipper in the woodland. Even more exciting, after taking some photos I realised it was ringed! After taking a closer look at some of my picturess, I can see the last few digits look like R771, but there many be another number after that. My ringing trainer rings Dippers in the nest down at Lathkill Dale, so it’s possibly one he’s done. We think young Dippers come to our local woodland after being pushed off their breeding site by the adults, and come here to proclaim a territory. Unfortunately there are very…
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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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Sparrow and Blue Tit pics
These are my first photos taken with the new camera (a Nikon COOLPIX P900) that I got for my birthday. We’ve also got a pair of Blue Tits nesting in our box in the privet and the first occupants we’ve had. We hear the chicks cheeping for food and they should fledge soon. Unfortunately there’s no way of opening the box so hopes of ringing the brood have been dashed until next year if they use it again. At least the male is one we ringed in December last year.
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Ringing in the garden
Yesterday we spent the morning ringing in our garden with our trainer Geoff. We were kept quite busy with a pleasing 24 birds, mostly consisting of Blue Tits. We caught 21 Blue Tits, 1 House Sparrow and 2 Coal Tits. The Blue Tits were about evenly made up of 4’s and 3’s. The male House Sparrow was a very smart individual. It was the first male House Sparrow I’ve ringed and our garden is the only site where we’ve ringed the species. The Coal Tits were both 1st calendar year birds. The majority of the Blue Tits caught yesterday may have…
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Local patch
Our house borders a local nature reserve in the Peak District. My patch is a really nice area with a variety of habitats including rough grassland and deciduous woodland so a really good place for wildlife. Over the 4 years we’ve been here, we’ve recorded around 70 bird species and over 200 moths. I regularly set a Skinner Moth Trap in the garden which I’ve started this year and we’ve had some great species including a Vestal which was the 4th record for Derbyshire! This year I’ve also started doing butterfly surveys on site, and the totals go to the county recorder. I will post here with pictures of birds…
