The weather has not been very conducive for ringing but the garden can be sheltered under certain conditions. This has been just so this week and I have been able to supervise the nets for half a day at a time. The resident "boys and gals" (a group of 12-13 Goldfinches) are still roaming from the meadows to my garden (for that read Holly and Birch) and on to the recreation ground, behind which we looked at an alternative house. Basically, they are following the "river" [ it's only about 6 feet (2m) wide at most!]. They do the circuit two or three times a day, spending much of their time "twittering" as a 'family group' in the tops of the mature trees. The birds that I am now catching are "incomers".
Before I moved to Somerset, I studied the Goldfinches in my other garden over a number of years. It was evident that the number of female birds that used the feeders was low in winter and increased as the breeding season progressed, culminating in a peak during the main moult, i.e. August (juveniles were excluded). Here is the graph I produced.
A similar situation is on-going; 10 of the birds caught so far this week have been Euring 5 males, 1 a 6M, 2 were 6F's and 1 a 5F. This very small (non-statistical) sample makes the females 21% of the total trapped.
Other species have been caught, but the 14 'King Harrys' dominated. The others were made up of 5 birds, all of different species. [Blackcap, Bullfinch, House Sparrow, (Blackbird), (Dunnock)]
The third Bullfinch of the week was a splendid adult male (Euring 6) and a second Blackcap, this time a new male (Euring 5). There's still another un-ringed male out there, and remaining 'slippery'.
The weather is predicted to be cold - good for attracting birds in to the feeders - but the windspeed is set for Beaufort 5, too much for mist-netting. I'm not baited up to be able to set the whoosh. we'll just have to wait.
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