Lamsdell Bird Ringing and Wildlife Blog: Bletchingley

Sunday 1 December 2013

Bletchingley - 30 November 2013

It's almost a year since we visited our friends in Bletchingley with nets, poles etc., but today was the day we'd arranged to try a catch and we took JHH and Alison to lend a hand. The garden is fed regularly and if anything, there are even more feeders than before. We have had some sizable catches in the past so we were expecting a lot from the two 40s, a 30 and a double panel 60 metre net.

There was hardly a minute when there wasn't a bird awaiting extraction. The team worked well with Alison scribing and two people ringing most of the time. JHH got a chance to compare lots of individuals from the same species, found out a bit about the benefits of ringing in natural light and processed her first Starlings and a Ring-necked Parakeet. Between 9am and 2.30pm we managed 172 birds including a few from previous years and Blue Tit T089789, a string known to have been issued to a local ringer and probably used in 2008 or 2009 going by the results on a previous recapture. Many thanks to Ralph and Pat for their wonderful hospitality.

Starling - 3 male

Ring-necked Parakeet - 5

Totals: 162 (10)

Ring-necked Parakeet - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 3 (1)
Blackbird - 2
Dunnock - 5
Robin - 2
Blue Tit - 94 (6)
GreatTit - 28 (3)
Starling - 2
Goldfinch - 13
Chaffinch - 12

About us

Chris and Denise Lamsdell

We have both been birders for about 40 years based in South Bucks near the West London reservoir complexes.

Since September 2021 we have been based in North Norfolk. We have done our bit of twitching in the past, but with other priorities this has become a much reduced activity with a preference for seeing new birds where ever our travels take us.

We both have been ringing since 2005. Our local group was the Runnymede RG while based in Buckinghamshire. Since moving to Norfolk we have started a new group called The Iceni Bird Monitoring Group, aimed at increasing public engagement through colour ringing projects on Black-headed Gull, Turnstone and Lapwing. We ring at several sites including Sculthorpe Moor, Sandringham Estate, Deepdale Farm and also monitor bird populations for the Norfolk Rivers Trust. We do ringing at home and support with foreign projects when opportunities allow. Chris also has an interest in Butterflies and Dragonflies and contains his limited photographic skill to them.