January is always a very quiet month for ringing at Flamborough, as the weather is often too windy to put up our nets, luckily we have resident ringers able to catch birds in their gardens with other methods such as walk-in traps and whoosh nets.
All our ringing sessions bar one this month were carried out in Flamborough gardens, 13 sessions were held over 4 sites. This resulted in catching 65 birds of 10 species, 44 of these were newly ringed birds. 21 birds were re-traps, including a Blue tit re-caught in the garden were it was ringed as juvenile in July 2020. Re-trapping birds that we have ringed helps build a picture of their longevity and distribution.
The most commonly caught birds being Blackbirds and Starlings, the headland often holds good numbers of both these species over winter, with our resident birds being joined by migrant visitors.
The highlight of the month was a single Stonechat caught at South Landing beach.
Work has continued on our CES site with members of the team assessing the ringing ride layout, cutting new rides and carrying out maintenance ready for the season ahead.
