January
What a way to start the year with a big bird sat on your lap! Well Jack wasn't complaining when we caught a mute swan at Rother Valley Country Park on the 2nd. It was an early start before members of the public arrived and it was good to begin the New Year with two new species for myself - a canada goose and a coot. Altogether we caught 7 coots which was more than the group's total for the whole of the past few years.
The following day it was off to Ousledon, near Ladybower and we experienced our first snow of the year as we drove over. Although we caught well over 50 birds the majority were controls, but it was good to see the site which had caught some interesting birds during the end of 2007.
On our way back we stopped off at a bridge just outside Hathersage to erect a dipper box that Jack had made. As we walked through the River Derwent I fully expected one of us to end up lying in the water. Fortunately, despite the fairly fast flow of the water only Jack ended up with wet socks. Geoff explained that the dippers had had their nests washed away in the hole they had used under the bridge during the past couple of years from excessive drainage water. Hopefully, this box will provide a safer alternative.
Due to the early kick off between Wednesday and United I had to stay in the garden to ring and was rewarded with a male sparrowhawk! Even while putting the nets up it flew within a metre of our heads. I thought that we had missed our chances of catching it but within the hour I flew out of the kitchen to make sure that it didn't escape out of the net. Sparrowhawks had been catching birds in the garden for the past few months and although a great sight, feeding birds had certainly been on the decline so it will be interesting to see now whether the sparrowhawk decides to go elsewhere.

February
The first ringing session of the month saw Richard and me at our regular ringing site Doe Lea. A perfect sunny morning was made even better when we caught over 30 birds including another sparrowhawk, a couple of treecreepers, 3 siskins and a beautiful retrap male yellowhammer.
Although we managed one other good session at Doe Lea during the month high winds meant that we didn't manage to get out as much as we would have liked and when we did, we had to abandon on one occasion at Fairholmes as the nets were billowing so much. But there's always another time!

March
During early March high winds, especially at the weekends, were still a problem. I was in danger of having withdrawal symptoms so decided to put a couple of nets up in the garden one Sunday. What a good decision! Within 30 minutes, caught in the net nearest the feeders and the house was a male lesser spotted woodpecker. One of the highlights of bird ringing is catching something totally unexpected and this was certainly a surprise. Having lived in the house at Norton for over 25 years I had never even seen a lesser spotted woodpecker in the garden and now one was in my hand. I called Richard who lives less than a mile away and he was soon round so that we were able to get some pictures. It continued to be a worthwhile morning catching over 20 birds including, jay, bullfinch and goldfinch.
On the 24th I watched 4 waxwings feeding at Cutthorpe between 6 and 8am. The next day Richard and I set off early to try and catch these beautiful birds. What a frustrating hour. The birds came so close to the net, but they managed to fly just over, around it and even parallel with it. At least we had spectacular views of them feeding less than a couple of meters from us and although we were disappointed when they flew off not half as much as the birdwatchers from Leicester who arrived less than 5 minutes after they had gone! When we told them that we had spent over an hour trying to catch them they came out with the unusual reply of "Oh, so you practice the dark arts...." As Richard said I think we're a bit too old to be mistaken for Harry Potter and Ron Weasley!

April
Again, a very quiet month. Richard and I managed to fit in quite a bit of bird watching in-between the wet days but only managed one ringing session at Smeekley. This is an area of open woodland near Holmesfield. The site has been ringed before but probably not for the past 8 years. We had spent one Saturday morning clearing some net runs but there is still plenty of work to do. I picked Richard up early in the morning, despite him complaining about possible pneumonia with aching limbs, possible chest infection and sore throat, known as a common cold to most people, and had four nets up without many problems. Unfortunately, we were hardly ran off our feet and finished the morning with 10 birds, including a couple of chiffchaffs and a jay.
Also in the month we had an evening out at a site near Ladybower erecting nest boxes for Pied Flycatchers which we know breed in the area. Hopefully, these will prove to be a success and result in a good number of pulli being ringed around June time.

May

This was a busy month with some varied ringing. It started in a great way by ringing two tawny owl pulli from a nest box at Doe Lea. Jim Alder and Alan Heeley, Derbyshire Countryside Rangers, met me after work with ladders to bring down the young. You can’t ever tire of looking at such great birds and after a few photographs the birds were quickly ringed and returned to the nest. Jim had contacted me in April to let me know that after only 3 days since cleaning out the box the female had laid its first egg.

A further couple of ringing occasions at Doe Lea produced nothing spectacular though there was an interesting retrap of a willow warbler. It was first ringed there on 31/5/06 and caught again last year on the 26th of May.

On the May Day Bank holiday I went for a walk with my wife Wendy around the Smeekley site just to have a look at the bird life. It was a very hot afternoon and although I knew adders were in the area and had warned Wendy who is petrified of snakes, I doubted that we would see one. I knew I was wrong when some uncontrollable screaming started from in front of me! The noise disturbed the female adder that disappeared from view before I had time to get the camera out. I then reassured Wendy that there would be no more because we were now walking back through the woods in shaded areas towards the car, wrong! Within five minutes there was another female happily lying in a small clearing enjoying the sun, this time I did manage to take a hasty picture before it retreated.

During May I ringed in the garden on three occasions but never caught particularly big numbers, although 4 bullfinches, a starling and a woodpigeon certainly made it worthwhile. Other ringing included Smeekley and a couple of hours at Fairholmes before the weekend visitors arrived when 30 birds were caught including a tree creeper and a siskin.

At the end of May Richard, Sean and I went to help Geoff with his constant effort site at Williamthorpe. Unfortunately the weather deteriated and we made the decision to stop ringing and move onto Carr Vale in the hope that the hirundines were down. A good decision as we had a really successful time catching over 150 birds mainly made up of swallows, swifts and house martins. However, there was one pleasant surprise a yellow wagtail a bird I hadn’t handled for many years.

June

The majority of the ringing this month consisted of pulli. A warm Thursday evening was spent checking the nest boxes at Hagg Farm which Richard and me had erected in April. We were pleased that some were occupied, like the brood of Pied Flycatchers below, but we were a little early and only managed to ring one brood of 5 Blue Tits in a box. This was also the night when Richard and I thought we might be locked in Glossop Police Station! We were trying to locate a Pied Wagtails nest near the school residential centre. To get a better view we moved so we were in some bushes looking back at the centre. I don’t imagine it looked good when a group of school children started pointing at us with our binoculars which would have appeared to them were staring right at their window! We decided to give up with the wagtails nest and explain our actions to the teacher who fortunately believed us. Just as well, when we later told Geoff that we might have needed his support to provide a character witness, he told us that he wouldn’t have been able to help!

The 7th of June we were back at Doe Lea but it was surprisingly quiet. We caught less than 20 birds but this included four species of warblers one being a retrap garden warbler which was ringed last year in July. Afterwards we arranged to meet Geoff at Whittington to try and locate a little ringed plovers nest. After some careful watching we found a lapwing with three young, although we later found another member of its brood. Finally, we managed to spot the little ringed plover feeding its young. While Richard and me kept our binoculars focussed on the bird, Geoff ran from the car to try and catch it. Despite its superb camouflage he managed to spot the young squatting down amongst the gravel. We quickly ringed it and left. A few days later Geoff did return and find another member of the same brood.

On the 9th we returned to Hagg Farm to ring the young in the nest boxes which would be hopefully at the correct age. We were well rewarded, ringing 22 Pied Flycatchers from 4 boxes and 15 Blue Tits from three boxes. The evening was rounded off in style with great fish and chips from Bradwell. Well worth a visit.

I also returned a few days later to ring another brood of 6 Pied Flycatchers which were too young to ring before. 28 Pied Flycatchers from the first year that we had tried at Hagg Farm which hopefully will increase the next year as Richard and me are planning on putting up at least another 15 boxes ready for next breeding season. Fingers crossed now that eventually we will get one recovery.

The 19th of the month saw a visit to an old friend Mike Waering at Shottle near Belper. Over thirty years ago I had been with Mike on an expedition to Colonsay in the Hebrides and still have fond memories of the trip ringing my first sea birds and catching a storm petrel in a Force 9 gale! We went with Mike to a nearby house to ring some swallows. Then Mike spotted a further nest and assured Geoff that the female was sat on young. I was more than happy to let Geoff climb on the half finished roof to investigate. After lifting back the roof felt there was a nest but only eggs at this stage. Oh well, I’m sure Geoff will have benefited from the exercise.

Next it was back to the farm which Mike’s son owns. Mike decided to drive through the willow, which is grown as fuel for power stations, to check out any bird life. Having being driven with Mike on normal roads it can be a hair - raising experience, off road it can be even scarier! It was summed up well by Geoff saying ‘Mike had never lost his boyish sense of humour.’ Despite encountering some interesting terrain there was little bird activity and it was on to Mike’s daughter’s farm to ring some young kestrels. These were nesting in a box attached to a tree but there was no need for ladders, we had the luxury of being lifted up on a platform of one of the farm machines, it definitely beat ladders!

I managed to get out ringing with Geoff and Paul Hooper at Bakewell sewage towards the end of June. For our efforts we were well rewarded catching over a hundred birds in the morning mainly of swallows, house martins and sand martins. For some reason sand martins had always eluded me before but catching 30 of these great birds seemed to be a good way to make up for this.

July
A couple of visits to Doe Lea during the month were reasonable but didn’t produce the number of warblers I was hoping for. The star bird was a rather wet looking lesser whitethroat which was the last bird caught on the 5th as heavy rain brought an early finish to the session.
I put a net up in the garden twice during the month which produced over 30 including starlings, goldfinches and house sparrows, which was well worth the effort.
The most productive day of the month was on the 31st when Jack, Sean and I went to Palterton Sewage Farm. Again the session was brought to an early close by the wet weather but not before we had processed nearly 50 birds. Most of these were chiffchaffs from a 30’ net next to a hawthorn bush covered with aphids.

August
Although a two week holiday to Portugal and a bird watching trip to Norfolk meant less time for ringing, the school holidays allowed me to get out ringing on a few occasions, mainly with Geoff.
I was keen to ring the River Derwent near Hathersage to help a PhD student from Sheffield University with his studies on dippers. Khaled Etayeb is colour ringing dippers in an attempt to monitor their territories and to establish whether urban territories are just as good as the rural ones, and are they only occupied by younger and more inexperienced birds, and how do they cope with the levels of disturbance?
Although I had seen this bird in the hand I had never actually ringed one. Our efforts in putting a net across the river were rewarded when a kingfisher and dipper were caught within the hour. I was surprised just how powerful the dipper was, although considering it spends its’ time swimming under fast flowing water I shouldn’t have been. A further two dippers were also caught downstream which was a very successful day for the study.
Other ringing sessions included the CES at Williamthorpe and a visit to Fairholmes Visitors Centre. As well as the usual tits and chaffinches it was good to catch a number of siskin including the young male juvenile pictured.
Ringing on my own patch included a visit to Doe Lea with Richard. I was really pleased to see that he had remembered the stove and cooking utensils etc. when I picked him up ready for the bacon butties he had faithfully promised to cook. Within a couple of miles of the site there were a few expletives from Richard when he realised he had brought everything, except the bacon! Of course I never mentioned bacon butties throughout the morning on more than about fifty occasions. Fortunately the bird ringing proved more fruitful than the butties with around 25 caught.

September
Richard and I made another visit to Smeekley in the hope of catching something unusual on the fringes of the moorland. Although 3 chiffchaff and a willow warbler were caught the only other notable sighting was another adder basking in the early sun. Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera with me when we stumbled upon it.
For actually handling numbers of birds the last two Saturdays of the month will prove pretty hard to beat. On the 20th I went with Geoff to Ramsley hoping to catch good numbers of meadow pipits. We put up 3 nets to form a triangle and placed a loudspeaker in the middle with meadow pipits calling. Good numbers of pipits flew into the triangle and were subsequently caught when we went to check the nets. A tape lure was also used for redpolls and over a hundred were caught.
By the end of the morning we had caught 180 birds with not a retrap in sight! The following Saturday I picked Richard up early to get out to Ramsley for 6.00am. Despite howls of protest from Richard about the time, needing night time vision binoculars etc. it was worth it to see a fantastic sunrise. The day kept on getting better – over 230 birds were ringed of which 212 were redpoll. It was quite incredible to watch birds fighting to get into the nets! No sooner had Geoff cleared them and brought the birds to be ringed to the car than they were almost full again. Over the past month Geoff has ringed 912 redpoll at Ramsley with just a single control!

Sunrise at Smeekley