Summat's up!

Well, with the weather, it is. 14 degC today and 9 degC overnight, too. The Camellia has just flowered, next door's Pyracantha is still laden with berries and there's berries remaining on the big Holly also. Needless to say, there's no birds about the garden; well, feeding any way. There are some singing birds belting it out - Mistle Thrush (as you would expect), plus Song Thrush, Robin, Blue Tit, Dunnock, Wren, even Redwing. I ended December with 63 new birds of 18 species for the month.


My 2011 total for the garden and, for the second half of the year only, for the water meadows comes in at 1600 new birds with 518 retraps, covering 41 species.

New birds ringed here - Sparrowhawk 3, Woodpigeon 4, Collared Dove 7, Kingfisher 6, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2, Swallow 1, Meadow Pipit 14, Pied Wagtail 3, Dipper 2, Wren 26, Dunnock 64, Robin 51, Blackbird 119, Song Thrush 15, Redwing 2, Mistle Thrush 2, Sedge Warbler 4, Reed Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat 2, Whitethroat 20, Garden Warbler 1, Blackcap 135, Chiffchaff 141, Willow Warbler 22, Goldcrest 17, Firecrest 1, Long-tailed Tit 88, Coal Tit 12, Blue Tit 165, Great Tit 64, Treecreeper 1, Jay 1, Magpie 1, Jackdaw 1, House Sparrow 51, Chaffinch 50, Brambling 52, Greenfinch 97, Goldfinch 301, Siskin 43, Bullfinch 8.

I ringed another 200 or so elsewhere in UK, making 2011 a really enjoyable year; but, in contrast, it looks as if 2012 will get off to a slow start, unlike the year just gone. Am going to have to spread my wings a little this coming year by finding new sites closer to the trainees' homes. And, we're still messing around with the house and garden. A big improvement after 12 months - but will it ever be finished I ask myself?

I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, Safe, Prosperous and Enjoyable New Year and I look forward to reading some of your comments on my "ramblings".

Happy Christmas

Managed to "slip in" a session or two early on Xmas Eve and again on Boxing Day, in the garden before the visiting friends and neighbours arrived. Highlight on day 1 was this large adult male "grey bird", as it's known locally.


On day 2, I trapped another female Bullfinch, only the second here, the other five all being males of the species. Incidentally, I have only caught one down by the stream.

Garden:
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Blackbird (3)
Mistle Thrush 1
Robin 1 (2)
Dunnock 1 (3)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 1
Bullfinch 1

The day after Boxing Day, I was due to go to 'Clarks Village, a shopping outlet in Street. But before that, I set a net on the edge of the meadows where there is a wide Holly hedge that I had seen thrushes moving through. I duly got up in the dark and managed to trap 4 Blackbirds, one of which, a juvenile male (below) might have been of continental origins going by its winglength and weight compared to the other three "locals".


Meadows:
Blue Tit 2
Blackbird 4
Robin 1
Dunnock 3

There will be no opportunity for more ringing due to the 'social calendar' imposed upon me - unless a former trainee rolls up for some birdy fun!
[He rolled up - but so did the rain]

More to come?

This could be said of several things at the moment. Rain? My cold? Blackcaps? Xmas cards? Blue Tits? More decorating? Redwings? Whatever!

Any road up, I've managed to fit in a bit of "bird catching". 16 birds covering 10 species since my last blog entry on Wednesday. Not bad - and a new species ringed for the garden/1km 'home' square!

We've had so much rain lately that even our wellington boots have grown webbed feet. The stream has risen even further and, down at the net sites, has begun to undercut the banks in the soft mudstone geology. Will all my racks be there in the spring, I wonder?


One of the pleasing happenings is the appearance of "young" Blue Tits; this is against the recent run of 'mainly adults' that have been a feature of this autumn. You can tell it's a 'bird of the year' by the bleached and un-moulted feathers close to the edge of the wing.


The Blackcaps still keep on turning up. Here is a young male with hell of a lot of "juvvy brown" still left among the 'adult type' black feathers of a male crown. He also had 2 easily distinguished, old (i.e. faded) greater coverts.


On to the new species. We have had between 17 & 23 Redwings toing and froing from the Holly tree and the Ashes. Today I managed to ring a couple of these, one a youngster, the other an adult. These are easily told apart by the tail shapes and the striking white tips in the juveniles to (at least one of) the tertials which cover the closed wing.


A few more birds added to the 2011 totals; it won't be long before we all start a new "countdown" in 2012. I hope to have all my "legal paperwork" done and sent off by the end of the first week in January [It actually goes electronically] together with my permit renewal.

A couple of (half)day's effort realised the following:
Blue Tit 1 (2)
Great Tit (1)
Long-tailed Bushtit (1)
Blackcap 2
Blackbird (1)
Song Thrush 1
Redwing 2
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 3**

**I am looking forward to catching a few more of those King Harry's.
Oh. I forgot. It's gonna get warmer for a bit - and the winds'll pick up to force 5 gusting 6, and I don't want a net in the apple trees again! I'll try and be patient.

Domesticity

Not ringing weather at all! Have a look out the window!


Did manage to do a bit more to the new kitchen in the meantime, however. It just remains for me to varnish the paintwork, knot and paint the kick-board and emulsion the walls, etc. Trouble is, I suspect 'the good lady' will want the larder doing next (I've already done the pantry). Should have bought a new house, me thinks.

Weather. More of the same; wind and rain and grey skies. Monday night it blew just a touch and put 35mm of raindrops in the rain guage. We had another 7mm yesterday day-time and that makes it nearly 3 inches so far this month. Tomorrow, we are expecting another storm - or just a gale - depending on where the low pressure track is. Here's a couple of pics of the local stream that runs through the meadow where I ring; normally it's a third the width, ankle deep, gin clear and flowing gently. Not yesterday!



This morning we had "an interlude" and two nets were opened. One might as well have stayed shut. In 2 hours between 9 and 11 o'clock, I caught 8 birds, FIVE of which were - wait for it! - House Sparrows. I can't remember when I last caught five in quick succession, but it must have been post-fledging in my Bedford garden back in spring 2010 or 2009. What's more, two of these were re-traps!

Passer domesticus Male

The new birds were all males and the two females were originally ringed here in January and April. I also trapped a new 1CY female Chaffinch and retrapped an adult Blue Tit and a young Wren.

You have to 'make hay' when the wind dies down in December in coastal Somerset or you might not ring a bird for a month or more.

In anticipation

The weather has been "on and off" lately, with both wind and rain a frequent occurence. However, at times things have quietened down sufficient for a few interludes of ringing in the garden. It just so happens that I managed three sessions over the weekend with fifty/fifty success.

While walking the dog on Friday I came across the first 'big' flock of Fieldfare this winter hereabouts; it contained 28 birds that were feeding on Hawthorn (Crateagus sp.) berries in the lane leading to my meadows site. The following day, 7 Redwing appeared in the Ash (Fraxinus) trees at the bottom of the garden just before dusk. The following morning, a group of them were busy eating their way through the Holly (Ilex) berries on the 15m high tree that adorns our frontage. The missus is worried that they won't leave us any for Christmas decoration!

Is this the beginning of the "winter invasion" that we look forward to, when birds are driven, at last, to feeding in our gardens? Ringers always look forward to birds being attracted to our feeding stations in winter. Trouble is, every third household feeds the birds round here!

Back to the birds caught. As expected many of the new and retrapped ones were birds of the year. A bright male Blue Tit was from last January when ringing commenced, a female sized Robin was also an adult and had only arrived in the garden earlier this month, the Chaffinch, which spends a lot of time under the front shrubbery, was an adult female on tail shape and all the other finches were adults apart from a 1CY female Goldfinch with 2 ogc.


Adult male BULLF; 22nd= species (with COLDO) of 40 ringed by me in ST04

The Greenfinches arrived as a party of 7 birds on Sunday, the first winter 'flock' that I have noticed in the garden to date. The male Blackcap is now the 9th this winter period.


Totals: 13 species, 12 new, 12 re-traps.
Blue Tit 4 (1)
Great Tit (2)
Long-tailed Bushtit (3)
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Blackbird (2) - both male
Robin (1)
Dunnock (2)
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 2
Goldfinch 2
Bullfinch 1

The weather forecast for the coming week is "not good", with the gale force winds due to batter the south of England this time. I hope we don't get the destruction seen in Scotland last week. Fingers crossed.

The morning after the night before

The BTO Conference at Swanwick, from Friday evening to Sunday lunch, was a great success; almost everybody I spoke to enjoyed the variety of speakers that were all showing us how ringing, nest recording and bird-watching can work in conjunction with each other, towards a better understanding of many of our UK species. Not having been "to conference" or attended a ringing course for 3 years (more or less), it was also a time for me to re-acquaint myself with the "goings on" of a large cross-section of my friends and fellow ringers over breakfast, lunch, tea and at the bar. The 4 hour journey home was a constant nightmare in the cold, wind, rain, thunderstorms, low bright sun, spray and darkness on a route I have seldom travelled.

That said, I was eager to trap a few more birds in the garden, the meadows being out of the question under the current weather conditions. It was yesterday afternoon before it was safe to open the nets (a 60' & a 30'). A small catch proved adventitious as did an early morning session today, before the wind increased, bringing the rain and hail with it. The Watchet hill does not give us any protection from a WNW wind; a pity it wasn't more northerly.

The afternoon produced 4 new birds and 3 re-traps - Blue Tit 2 (1), Long-tailed Tit (1), Blackcap 1, Robin (1), Dunnock 1. The Blackcap was a 1CY female with a fat score of 30 (ESF).
The morning saw just 3 new birds and 1 re-trap - Blue Tit 1, Blackcap 1, Robin 1 (1); the Blackcap was a 1CY male with a fat of 10.




How many more Blackcaps will I catch before the year's end? Looking at the first winter period of 2011 and this, I have trapped 15 different individuals so far. In January I caught 5, 4 males and a female that stayed until mid March, and in February 2 males. Excluding the wintering female, there were no Blackcaps in the garden between 11th February and 22nd March, after which I trapped 4 heavy birds before the end of March, presumably all returning birds on passage from further south (i.e. France?). This autumn I stopped catching summer Blackcaps on 24th September and didn't trap any more until the 28th October, when I had a male and a female in consecutive weeks. In November, I have had 3 males and 1 female, and, in this first week of December, one of each sex, as per the images above.

The new Dunnock was a bird of the year on eye colour (and feather shape). It had already acquired the lesions on its left foot typical of "Bumblefoot" (see below) but was otherwise healthy - and weighed in at 23.7 grams.




As friend Phil suggested, I had better get on and finish the kitchen decorating if I am to get a "pass out" to go ringing with the new trainee at the week-end! Toodle pip!