DOWN TO EARTH in The City

Magpie caught and ringed at RSPB woodland - October 2013

Thanks for your help this morning - great start to the urban ringing scheme. Summary for the session: SPECIES NEW RETRAP TOTAL Blue Tit 30 - 30 Chaffinch 1 - 1 Coal Tit 7 - 7 Great Tit 12 - 12 Jay 1 - 1 Long-tailed Tit 5 - 5 Magpie 1 - 1 Nuthatch 1 - 1 Robin 2 - 2 TOTAL 60 0 60 <

Please see below a summary for nest boxes installed within the Selly Oak and Hall Green wards: SITE NAME:  RSPB WOODLAND - CANNON HILL PARK BOXES INSTALLED:10 BOXES OCCUPIED: 1 SPECIES: Blue Tit BOX OUTCOME:  Box failure - deserted at egg stage I was surprised about the number of unoccupied boxes within the above sites and especially for the RSPB Woodland at Cannon Hill. It is possible that increased competition for natural nest sites in the better quality habitats (mature broad leaved woodland) results in the birds prospecting earlier in the year and given the boxes were installed relatively late (February) the hole nesting birds may have already scoped out potential nest sites before the snow arrived. However, the plan is to monitor the boxes for the next two years so the story is far from complete and it is hoped the mist netting exercise will shed more light on general bird density, species diversity and bird turnover rates at each of the study sites.