Under Rydon Hill

Spoke too soon

2012-01-27T17:40:00.008+01:00

Denise got her Siskins back and I got my Goldies.

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 'King Harrys' dominated. The others were made up of 5 birds, all of different species.

The third Bullfinch of the week was a splendid adult male (Euring 6) and a second Blackcap, this time a new male (Euring 5)

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.

Just lately

2012-01-24T14:51:00.013+01:00

Just lately we have been getting the usual and not unexpected high winds and rain. The average rainfall for both December and January hereabouts is over 5 inches (13 cm), with it dropping off month by month until a low point in July, when day-time and night-time temperatures are at their highest, too.

This has put a stop to all ringing for a while, but, ever one for a quick jaunt, I was able to get in a morning's netting in the garden on Monday before the return to inclement weather again. First up was a female Blackcap that has taken up residence locally for the winter. I actually caught her twice and it seems that she is putting on circa 0.2g of mass net every hour - and losing approx. 2.0g on average every night. A male, possibly un-ringed, gives the Camellia a daily "once over" for breakfast. I do put out soaked sultanas on the bird tables for the Blackcaps, Robins and Blackbirds, which they eagerly visit in the early mornings. There are also other (male) Blackcaps visiting, but they are not as regular in the garden or just passing through.

The short list of 6 species was as follows:
Blue Tit 2
Great Tit 1
Blackcap (1)
Wren 1
Goldfinch 2
Bullfinch 2

The Great Tit was an adult male as shown by his shiny bib and lack of contrast in the wing, more especially the primary coverts. They are not as common as Blue Tits, which outnumber them by more than 2.5:1

A winter speciality is the Bullfinch which comes visiting during December and January to have a good peck at the buds on the apple trees; from late March, when the trees blossom, they come back and attack the flowers just at bud-burst and later as the "applings" form. The rest of the year they tend to stay away.

We did go and look at a wetland site in multi-ownership in the Brue Valley one afternoon last week when it wasn't raining [that didn't stop it blowing a gale, though]. I suspect that it will be a spring site when the ground [peat] will have dried out a little. Later on in the year, the site is grazed by cattle, horses and goats, so autumn ringing will be out, me thinks. I couldn't help noticing some very large holes and deep ditches criss-crossing the area, making access tricky. There wasn't much cover either so net sites will be limited - that's if the owners let us on! It definitely has potential for a small range of species, i.e. acros and sylvias, but in good numbers. While we were there, we clocked 1,000+ Wigeon and the best part of 50 Pintail.

Garden bird-watching amuses us for much of the day (what it is to be retired, eh!) and this week we noticed 6 Dunnocks, just half the number that we know lives with us. Goldfinch numbers have not built up, nor have the Siskins, but they are still out in the fields in good numbers along the alder lined watercourses. The Herring Gulls are prospecting, or, more correctly, standing guard over last year's nest. We have Black-headed Gulls just for a couple of months; departure will be the beginning of March. The single Dipper that flies across in the very early mornings is now accompanied by a second bird. That means we need to get the new nest boxes deployed asap.

While we wait for the next break in the weather, I will amuse myself with the antics of others by surfing here and browsing the related blogs. It's also pleasing to see the younger generation of UK ringers enjoying our hobby and continuing some of the work we began many moons ago and starting up other, new projects in addition. Hooray for youth! [Long lost in my case. Ha ha.]

Tails. You Loose.

2012-01-12T22:00:00.003+01:00

Felt very much like it this last week. It has been very mild for the time of year - up to 14deg C! believe it or not. It's been like that for three weeks now. The wind has come and gone, making netting a bit hit and miss. The main problem has been the utter lack of birds, presumably because they are still finding food in the countryside and their calorie expenditure has been minimal (if they keep out of a draught at night). I did see a Siskin today, though, and the Dipper flies back and forth every morning at sunrise. The next four days may well present the birds with a different scenario - namely, FROSTS! and low (6deg C ??) daytime temperatures. The feeders have been cleaned and refilled ready.

The main excitement has been another Blackcap, this one an adult female. I include its portrait below and that of its diagnostic, wide and rounded tail feathers.

The most surprising, if only for their colour, were two male Bullfinches together at the end of the orchard. They were probably after plundering some of our apple buds.

The other significant event occured when two of the four or five Redwings stripping the last of the Holly berries, from the 'big un' out front, fell into the net. One was a immature bird, the other an adult, whose tail, wide and rounded like the adult Blackcap's, is also posted below.

And so to the grand total of all my efforts in the garden since the last blog post - it hasn't really been worth going over the meadows as they remain very wet under-foot.

Goldcrest (1) - an adult male
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Long-tailed Bushtit 1 - must be an 'incomer'
Blackcap 1
Wren 1 - an adult female
Blackbird 1 (2)
Redwing 2
Robin (2)
Dunnock 1 (5) - that makes it 12 different "Shufflewings" in the garden in the last month
House Sparrow 1
Goldfinch 2
Bullfinch 2
12 species, 13 new, (11 retraps), over five of the last nine mornings.

What a difference ...

2012-01-03T16:11:00.008+01:00

... a day makes - or an inch of rain overnight.
Checked the meadows and almost all net lanes are under water.

Confluence by redundant cattle sheds - no Dipper today (or Heron or Egret)

Running full and fast below the bridge

A bit wet! - normally can't see the stream at all.

I wouldn't have been able to get to any of the other net rides anyway, on foot even. The silted-up, former watercourses were now flooded, too. giving the impression of a braided stream.

A surprise start

2012-01-02T23:59:00.001+01:00

Ahead of the gales and heavy rain, I got in a couple of 2012 morning stints in the garden. The weather was on the limit for netting since the wind was from a 'bad' direction, that is straight along the road and through the neighbours back gardens. That meant little shelter and blowing nets but not enough for them to end up in the shrubs/hedge/fruit trees.

There was a strange light, with bright sun at times and heavy black clouds rolling in from the sea just skirting us. Eight hours produced 8 new birds and 6 re-traps. A pair of these returnees were Long-tailed Tits. The presumed male I ringed way back last January and his consort was a juvenile when first trapped in July. The Robin was a local fledgling also in July and the 'young' male Blackbird has been around for the last three months or so. The already-ringed Blue Tit had bred hereabouts and was safely sexed as a female; the other three were all juveniles (from now aged as 'Euring 5' until the breeding season), part of a roving winter population and of unknown origins.

So to the surprise.

It was only a few weeks ago that I noticed a pair/two Grey Wagtails flying west over the garden. During the summer, I quite often encountered one or two down at the meadows but never caught one despite those intentions. Today's (Monday) was a young female but whether it is a locally bred bird or "a grockle" from "up north" or Scotland , we shall probably never know. In the second photo, you can just make out the two generations of tertial feathers.

[ Apologies for the poor performance - the light conditions were awful and I didn't have time to mess about].

Here's the list. With gales and heavy rain on the agenda for the next three or four days, I won't be adding to my 2012 score for a while, although a certain trainee is urging me to get out at the weekend.

Blue Tit 3 (1)
Long-tailed Tit (2)
Blackbird 1 (1) - a new 6 male
Robin 1 (1)
Dunnock (1)
Grey Wagtail 1 - new species
Chaffinch 1 - a 6 female
Goldfinch 1 - a 5 female
Sparrowhawk 0 - a male in full pursuit of 2 Collared Doves, it ricochetted near the pole and was away (the 2nd bird in the garden today, the other a female)

We'll see, whether or not we get out soon.

Summat's up!

2011-12-31T20:32:00.009+01:00

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

2011-12-28T09:06:00.008+01:00

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?

2011-12-19T18:03:00.013+01:00

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

2011-12-14T17:19:00.011+01:00

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

2011-12-12T06:00:00.011+01:00

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

2011-12-06T15:04:00.009+01:00

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!

I'm Finnished again

2011-11-29T23:40:00.017+01:00

Just got a Blackbird recovery through from one of my 'C' ringers [EDG] who now operates the main site I worked for over 20 years.

It was ringed by my trainee [DTH] as a 3M (1cy male) with 1 ogc, a wing of 135mm, a weight of 112g at 08:00 [GMT] on Wednesday 9th December 2009. This was the one of two birds out of four 'continental types' that we managed to extract and ring, two "doing a Houdini". See http://ivelringinggroup.blogspot.com/2009/12/rain-has-stopped.html for a read of the session. It was found dead 653 days later on 23rd September 2011, at a place called Vistarna, Soderudden, Korsholm, Finland, some 1775km NE of Priory Country Park, Bedford.

This is my furthest recovery for a Blackbird (although I have had a Kestrel from much further north in Finland). I had another Blackbird from the same site found freshly dead at Vaxjo, Kronoberg, Sweden in 1993, 1117km ENE with a duration of 566 days; this was ringed in January as a 5F and found 18 months later at the end of July.

Of general interest is the latest DEFRA publication on The wildbird population changes in Britain from 1970-2010.
See http://t.co/NeLHPMno

Might be able to put the nets up again on Tuesday next (according to the Met. Office)

Water on tap

2011-11-29T17:58:00.007+01:00

A week has gone by and the weather does not improve. As I write, it's blowing half a gale outside and raining to boot. This means two things - I haven't caught much in the way of birds and the kitchen refurbishment has moved on and we now have the water reconnected. The cupboards are also in and primed and the worktop is on and useable. Right now, it's time to tile! plus another coat of paint after the evening meal has finished.

I was Shanghaied by David Ballance to attend a meeting of the Exmoor Bird Monitoring Project at the National Park's offices in Dulverton. Who should also be present, representing the Devon atlassing team, but Paul Madgett, an old friend from Bedfordshire now living in Braunton. Going there, I took the scenic route (main roads & River Exe) and viewed the autumn colours of the Beeches and Hornbeams towering over the road. Returning cross-country over the tops, I was held up for a while by a farmer and his flock of ewes. Such are the joys of Exmoor.

Back to the bird-ringing. In a word, "Duff". Three snatched moments at dawn while the wind/rain had abated yielded a mere 6 birds, of which 5 are garden 'residents' - Blue Tit (2), Long-tailed Tit (1), Blackcap 1 [a 1cy male], Blackbird (1) & Robin (1). This is the 6th Blackcap in as many weeks.

Now a couple of progress photos to shew that I've not been slacking the rest of the time.

We are getting there and apart from a few finishing touches (gloss coat and varnish, knobs and some external plumbing) it should be a working kitchen again before I leave for the BTO conference at Swanwick (Derbys) on Friday.

Water, water everywhere

2011-11-22T13:22:00.016+01:00

Another 10.5mm of rain yesterday mid-morning 'til dawn today. Kybosh on the ringing, what with the kitchen job in hand. However, I did sneak out before the rain yesterday for 8 birds:
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit (2)
Blackbird 1 (1) - both 3Ms with dark beaks & 131mm wings [that's big for round here, most of the time]
Dunnock 1 - another adult bird!
Robin (1)
Chaffinch 1 - a 4F

Also managed a late afternoon sesh today with a different set of species and 8 birds:
Woodpigeon 1 - a rather plump [555g] male that eats all my mate's bird-food over the road & spends most of its day in his leylandii
Coal Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit (3)
Chiffchaff 1 - with 'brown' legs & most likely an abietinus
Dunnock 1
Goldfinch 1C - origin may be fairly local, ring on left leg is a giveaway.
[It was local - ringed as a 4F, 3yr 8mth 3days ago, 2km to the west]

The first pic below shows the true colour of the Chiff but does not shew the bright yellow on the bend of the wing. The second was taken with artificial light. For those with an interest - E6, wp 3/4/5, 2=8, wing 63.5mm, wt. 9.4g, F35.

Kitchen refurb. well under way. Threw up another problem - the main stop tap doesn't close completely. Looks like the replacement of the lead main will now have to go on the agenda earlier than we thought.

Old Speckled Hen

2011-11-20T15:45:00.016+01:00

Well, this is her!

Went out this morning in the company of a potential trainee, Liz, a veteran of the Italian, Maltese & other campaigns. It was the usual set-up for this time of year, a 60' at net1 (closest to the gate) and later, net2 40' that used to catch anything on the move. Today, net2 obliged with 3 Dunnocks, but, hey ho, 2 of these were new. One of them had a "yellow" eye-ring, which I presume was a collection of "eye-lash mites", similar to the one we humans have feasting on us. Any offers of a diagnosis?

The weather was fairly abyssmal, dank and breezy. I picked up Kingfisher, Dipper, Chaffinch and Green Woodpecker on call in the gloom, none of which graced the nets. As we were clearing away, one of the Lotti flocks that was approaching the net burst into sound; the cause, a Sparrowhawk across the end of the net behind young Liz's back. We also had the company of a very large and friendly grey gelding. At one point it checked out the net lane, but it's surprising the effect a thin white guy-line has in turning horses away. [The paddocks are marked out with just two thin white tapes]. It liked the BTO apple very much - excellent crunch!

The day's total was 17 birds of which 14 were ringed and 1 was a local control.
Blue Tit 4
Great Tit 1
Blackcap 1 - a 3F
Wren 2 juvs
Blackbird (1) - ad male of recent origin
Dunnock 2 (1)
Goldfinch 3 - all adult birds
Siskin (1C) - from last winter (early March)

A first glimpse of Liz - holding her first female Blackcap. More of her will be divulged as time goes by!
How many more Blackcaps are there out there? One a week at present and no real targetting effort.

It pays to ALWAYS check both legs, especially when a mate rings on the left and yourself on the righ!
[I did remove the later one].

This mild weather

2011-11-18T07:39:00.014+01:00

... continues here in the south-west. One day the fronts track up from France and it rains heavily and then the wind goes easterly and we're bathed in bright sunshine one minute and under a cloud blanket the next. When you wake up the next day, it's all round to the west with hill fog and drizzle. When the wind clears the murk, the leaves are being shaken off the trees. Such is a ringer's, hard life hereabouts! you just have to cope and get in a few hours when you can.

Any road, I have been fortunate in that the garden has been protected from the worst of the wind this week. The meadows were unringeable as the nets sites were all vulnerable to the wind on any one day. A couple of achievements this week have been the capture of bird species No. 40 for the 1km grid square, the spotting of No. 76 and the ringing of No. 1500 this year.
The Grip - it rejected the pencil in favour of my fingers!
"I'm watching you, mister" [Magpie age 3 (1CY)]

As you may have guessed by now, species number 40 was a juvenile Magpie. They are not very common round here (I suspect they get shot fairly frequently) but there is a successful pair on the outskirts of Watchet which I often see from/at the meadows.

I also caught the first Greenfinch since August, an adult female. They are now very scarce here during the summer months and I suspect their breeding numbers in the area are low, that is until you get closer to the wooded slopes of Exmoor.
Another species that I have not been catching is the Goldfinch. The local breeders (in my tall, front hedge) know full well where the nets are in relation to the feeders and make sure they don't get caught too often.
Understudy for 2011 Goldfinch No.289 or new ring No. 1500

The last "exciting" bird I caught was another Blackcap. This is the fourth in four weeks (an adult female, an adult male and latterly two 1CY males). The only month this year when I haven't caught one of these is, ironically, May, always thought of as one of the better months for overall numbers.
So, as usual, to the totals for the first three days this week (Mon-Wed) . 16 new birds and 14 retraps of 14 species. All the retraps were birds of the year; the only adults were 2 new Blue Tits, a male Blackbird, both new Robins, the male Chaffinch and the female Greenfinch
Magpie 1
Blue Tit 3 (2)
Great Tit (1)
Coal Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (5)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Blackbird 3 (1)
Robin 2 (2)
House Sparrow 2 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 1

Yesterday was shopping in the county town for groceries and materials/fittings for the refurb. Today and the next few days will be non-ringing days; first, it's rip the kitchen out and then varnish the insides of the cabinets before they go in, tomorrow is the BTO/SOS Garden Birdwatch day conference and Sunday is getting the old tiles off and sealing any mdf., i.e. make a mess while the 'good lady' is away in Norfolk. Fingers crossed I'll be able to get the nets up sometime towards the end of next week if the weather holds fair ... and if we get the new kitchen finished.

Sunshine!

2011-11-12T21:19:00.006+01:00

After six days of inclement weather - and 14mm rain Friday evening - the sun came out, just, at dawn today, Saturday. The tops were shrouded in cloud and the hill fog was creeping down the north facing slopes. Fortunately the brightness stayed with us and the south-east wind was light, if not in the best direction.

I ventured to the water meadows, a very soggy water meadows with the stream running brown and high. I stopped barely 50m inside the gate to avoid getting stuck and proceeded to erect just the one 18m net in the newer part of N1. to say the least, it was a peculiar morning with very little movement at lower levels, i.e. with the slightest hint of being interceptable by my net. The water was high enough to stop the very big grey (horse) from crossing the stream today.

As usual, the thrush family were the first to venture out on the look-out for their breakfast. The Blackbirds hereabouts have wings some 3mm shorter than those in the east and even shorter than northern birds. We're still waiting for their arrival. Then a long wait before I intercepted the first tit group, which included a flock of Lottis that normally hang around my garden. An hour or so later, another group that contained the Lotti flock I associate with this end of the meadows site (there is a third that tends to concentrate downstream, only coming as far as the orchard and N2).

First off, my presence made three Roe Deer skitter off to the next field, where they would not be able to see me because of the tall hedge. Birdwise, I was greeted by a squealing Water Rail that shuffled across the narrow end of the grass to spend the morning in the wet ditch the other side of the metalled trackway. About 80 Starlings made their way west in 5 groups between 09:30 and 10:00. I could see the local 8-bird, Herring Gulls' club perched on a factory roof beyond the railway station, but their 'wailing' was drowned out by the noise of a diesel loco that ran non-stop (while stationary) for over 90 minutes. A white, farmyard goose accompanied a Canada on the next field and was joined lated by a similar coupling. About 10 Mipits made their was leisurely southwards, a slightly different direction than the "main push".

Two flocks of Goldfinch were working the Alders. One consisted of 20 birds, the other 10. Joining them from time to time were small parties of Siskin, of which there are about 40 all told in the immediate area. There were one or two Goldcrests around but the three Chiffs seem to have moved on.

With the second batch of tits, I caught both Goldfinches, and, right at the last knockings, the second, this time unringed, Song Thrush.

A pleasant morning at a pace that would have suited a trainee.
Blue Tit 1 (2), an adult and 2 1CY's
Great Tit 1, a 1CY male
Long-tailed Tit (8), 2 distinct groups
Blackbird 1, adult male (above)
Song Thrush 1 (1), both Euring age3 (above)
Robin 1 (1), both adults, with 4 tiny spots on their greater coverts
Goldfinch 2, both age 3, a male and a female on rictal bristles
Total: 7 new (13 retraps)

Let's hope for some fair weather from now on; it might mean colder nights and improved catching! See you again soon, and thanks for dropping by.

Inevitably

2011-11-06T16:40:00.005+01:00

Having chopped out a 'new' ride, I thought I might as well use it. Getting on site some three-quarters of an hour before sun-up, I soon had 2x 40' in action. Making a jaunt round this spot, I also realised that I could still use the original 40' site if I opened up another 40' closer to the stream. This latter combination might be suitable for a whole morning session in spring and summer when I neede to make use of the shade from the trees to obscure the netting.

Any way, back to the matter in hand. Nets set and a Kingfisher flew right over the nets in the half-light. Two thrushes 15 minutes before sunrise got me started. Then it was a lengthy period counting the Siskins going to and fro. Two of the four Little Egrets returned from the beach, no doubt moved on by early morning dog walkers at high tide (currently only 6m, so plenty of beach left exposed). A Water Rail squealed in the stream and later a Moorhen skittered off. Four Magpies flew across the field followed shortly after by one of the male Sparrowhawks. Two Grey Herons got up and moved to other fishing spots; the stream is still running high after the recent rains. [86mm in 10 days].

There were several small flocks of Siskins busy in the Alders, accompanied by some Chaffinches, but well above net height. Half an hour after sunrise, a mixed flock, mainly of tits, came my way. Eventually they reached the clump of willows, Alder and Hazel where the nets (N1) are situated. Out of this crowd I caught and ringed all my other captures bar one. An hour later I was surprised to find a fine male Siskin in the net, one that hadn't managed to follow his feeding party. The first of many this winter? I watched, hopefully, three different Chiffchaffs utilising the trees in this area. All were calling noisily but nothing would tempt them down to net level. As one of my favourite birds, I'll try for them another day soon.

Male Siskin, Nov 2011, Euring code 4.

All in all, 12 birds, and a good mix.
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit (1)
Great Tit 1 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (2)
Blackbird 1
Song Thrush 1
Robin 1
Goldfinch 1
Siskin 1

By 10am, the sun was very bright and the NW wind had picked up, not just blowing the nets but dumping lots of leaves into them as well. Pack up time!.

While we wait

2011-11-04T15:17:00.011+01:00

While we wait for the weather to improve and the majority of the leaves to descend to the ground, out of harms way, I thought it might be a fitting time to recap on the year so far. To this end, here follows a list of the top twenty species that I have ringed so far this year.

1. Goldfinch - 290
2. Blue Tit - 264
3. Chiffchaff - 150
4. Blackcap - 127
5. Blackbird - 117
6. Great Tit - 105
7. Long-tailed Tit - 104
8. Greenfinch - 94
9. Dunnock - 67
10. Brambling - 52

That amounts to 77% of all the new birds ringed by me thus far.

11. Robin - 49
12. Chaffinch - 48
13. House Sparrow - 47
14. Siskin - 42
15. Willow Warbler - 31
16. Wren - 27
17. Whitethroat - 25
18. Coat Tit - 24
19. Goldcrest - 17
20. Meadow Pipit - 14

These 10 species account for another 18.5%, leaving a mere 4.5% to cover the other 23 species. Of those 23 species, eight have only 1 bird ringed against their name, the rest averaging five apiece.

Somewhere between 8 and 9 should come Manx Shearwater but they were all birds done at the RSPCA hospital at West Hatch. [See blog of Sept. 11th.]

Depending on the weather, and more especially the temperatures both here and on the continent, the finch and thrush totals could well move around a bit before the year's end. At this moment I am anticipating ringing the 1500th bird within my home 1km grid square before mid-month. Meanwhile, we wait.

PS. I did knock out an 80' net ride now that the veg. is shrinking, to supercede the current 40' Net 1 alongside the stream. It should prove a better proposition and still catch the Dippers and Kingfishers as well as the tits and finches!. Other net extensions to follow over the winter, thanks to a brush-cutter and high pruners.

Prunesville

2011-10-29T14:08:00.007+02:00

Not much going on in the ringing line but plenty of other activity. Have tried my best to catch a few birds the last two days but the weather conspired against me. Friday it was relatively calm (for coastal West Somerset) but mighty sunny, with a brilliant, clear light - piss poor for disguising the nets. Today the forecast was all wrong; the S/SW gentle winds promised were in fact moderate SE at ground level thats blows into all my net lanes, followed by some rougher weather mid-morning. It was also our coldest night so far this autumn at +1C.

The most noticeable thing over the two days was the steady increase in Starlings, most heading west to the hills (Exmoor, Bodmin, Dartmoor). Parties increased from the earlier 10-25 to a more vigorous 40-150, and I counted over 500 in the space of an hour from 8:00 to 9:00 (we're still on BST/CET until tonight). Other birds around this morning included a Green Woodpecker, a Little Egret, a Raven, the usual 100+ each of Rooks and Jackdaws, a resident party of ~20 Siskin augmented with twice as many passing over, 5 Skylarks, at least 3 Meadow Pipits, a Grey Wagtail, several Moorhen and a couple of squealing Water Rails in the stream bed (which has steep sides and not the best place to try and trap them). There were several Blackbirds scattered around the site, going by the noise as they exited their roosting spots; so far, no collective roost. The Black-headed Gulls are now back and some 150 joined the local Herring Gulls across the fields.

It wasn't all bad - if you exclude the UK ringers' "bread 'n butter" of Prunella modularis

Birds caught:
Blue Tit 1 (1) - both birds of the year
Coal Tit (1) - a bird of the year
Long-tailed Tit (1) - a fully moulted juvenile
Blackcap 1 - adult female (above)
Wren 1 - adult male
Blackbird 1 - juv female, shorter wing = local??
Dunnock 2 (2) - a male from last March and ...

Nothing doing tomorrow as I've got to cut the hedges (interferes with net guys so the whole set-up has been taken in for now). The next window of decent opportunity looks like a week away. Maybe the thrushes will have arrived by then? Slik er livet

A new 'crest

2011-10-26T15:03:00.000+02:00

The weather has been awful of late; we have suffered strong winds which have precluded any ringing with nets and yesterday the skies delivered 24mm of rain to the village. And so, this morning I was not hopeful of catching anything at all. It was quite a surprise to find out that the skies had cleared over-night and the temperature had fallen to +4C.

I opened up the two 18m nets an hour before dawn in the hope of a thrush or two - no such luck. Shortly before sunrise I started to recapture some of the small passerines that roost in the garden hedges. An unringed Blue Tit came for a meal of SFH but found the mesh in the way. On its release, I double-checked in case it found its way back to the nets (this seldom happens, by the way) and was surprised to see another small bird exactly where I had taken a Wren out earlier.

Well, well. A garden tick and a self-caught one, too. Although I have ringed quite a few at coastal bird observatories over the years, I have never had one drop into a net on one of my own sites. Calming down a little, I took the following shots.

I should have stopped and thought before pressing the shutter! Unfortunately, I got a little too close, even with the macro, and should have used the zoom from further away on such a small subject. Never mind; live and learn.

The rest of the day was bright and sunny so not alot of activity around the feeders or the apple trees. Tomorrow is forecast for more persistent and heavy rain, but on Friday, we should be able to ring in some farm crops on the edge of the Exmoor National Park.

Over the last week, small parties of Starlings have been winging their way west, towards the moors, consisting of between 15 and 30 birds. Never more than three parties in a day, but hen my view is limited. I shall have to check out 'The Levels' for the large roost that will form there (as seen on TV!)

Today's garden tally, evens; 4 + (4):
Firecrest 1
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 1
Wren (1)
Dunnock (2)
House Sparrow 1

C'est la vie!

No stripes, no cigar

2011-10-17T14:25:00.008+02:00

... but there is supposed to be a Yank (Semi-P) 50 miles up the road on the Brue. Ringing has again been slow due to the weather. Down here we've had stronger winds from the soth-east, not a good direction for 'traffic'. Saying that, when I was out tempting fate last Thursday, I did have my first Fieldfare in the orchard by the stream; none since. A few Mipit stragglers passed over in ones and twos, the four Little Egrets were 'on the patch' and were spooked by a Red Deer hind, in turned spooked by 'us' (me and the dog, Cerise). A couple of passing flocks of Siskin eventually amalgamated in one of 28-30. before flying SW over the village.

I haven't heard or seen any Redwings but one or two new male Blackbirds have arrived/stopped off. They look alot cleaner than our local juveniles and, all bar one, congruously with the shorter wing-lengths of the 'south-western locals'. Goldcrests have returned after a two month absence and the Coal Tits are noisesome again. The thing that is most noticeable is the number of Blue Tits coming to the garden orchard. On trapping, these are mainly birds that were ringed at the end of the winter or immediately post-fledging, none having been seen since they obtained a BTO ring.

I found a dead Badger at the end of the road. It was clean and had no marks and may have been a true road-kill; you can never tell round here as some unscrupulous farmers leave them beside the road to look as if they died an accidental death. Two days after, I noticed a couple in a Landie carefully picking it up; why they wanted it, I do not know, perhaps to just remove and bury it.

Apart from the Mipits, there has been a strong passage of Skylarks, probably a couple of hundred every morning. there have also been the odd day with a trickle of 'alba' and grey wagtails. No Robins or noteworthy thrushes yet. Today, another Sparrowhawk - only I was on the wrong side of the net at the time and it rolled out and back the way it came. Bugger. The Bullfinches are now out and about in the hedgerows, talking of which, this year's poor crop of Blackberries is almost over. Must admit, I enjoyed two suppers of blackberry and apple pie with ice cream this weekend though!

To catch up, birds ringed from Thurs. to Sun. -
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 14 (5)
Coal Tit 2 (2)
Long-tailed Tit (9)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 2
Song Thrush 1
Robin (1)
Goldfinch 3 (1)

As the WSR comes to the end of the season (trains stop from November to February, apart from Xmas specials) there are no scheduled trains on Mondays and Fridays. This allows 'driver training' on both steam and diesel. This often means a mix of wagons made up especially for the "new" drivers under instruction. Below, and three fields away, is one such, a GWR mixed goods behind a more modern diesel loco. [Looks like a Class 33]

20 years apart

2011-10-12T22:31:00.000+02:00

Ringing here at the moment is turning out to be a tad on the slow side. This is due to the weather, which is just a shade too windy to be safe down at the water meadows' open orchard. Whilst workmen have been doing various things to the house, I have managed to trap a few birds with a 60' in our orchard which is sheltered to some extent, depending on the wind direction.

Garden birds:

Collared Dove 1
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 2 (1)
Great Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (2)
Blackbird 1
Goldfinch 1
Total: 6 (4) of 7 spp.

The autumn migration of thrushes and finches doesn't seem to have reached us here yet in West Somerset. At the weekend, I know that numbers of Redwings and a few Fieldfares showed up inland in East Anglia. Tonight is a full moon and the wind is turning south-easterly and light and it is expected that there will be an influx of migrants from the continent under these starlit conditions.

Talking of which, 20 years ago today, I also went ringing, this time in a 2 acre plot within the country park that I was destined to work in some time later. This also turned up 7 spp.

Wren 1 (2)
Blackbird (3)
Song Thrush (1)
Robin 3
Dunnock 3
Bullfinch (1)
and the the big surprise, a Radde's Warbler.

This was the first, truly inland record, a previous bird having been caught just 6km from the coast, where as we were 110km from the Essex coast, 130km from Cley and 150km from Great Yarmouth, all likely points of entry.

We have had to take down the last of 3 conifers which were extemely close to the house. This means that we won't be having Coal Tit and Goldcrest singing outside our bedroom window any more. There are pine and spruce trees over the road in a friend's garden, so they won't disappear altogether.
Going ...
Gone!

We have been having some wonderful sunrises lately and I leave you with just one of them.

Saturday Awayday

2011-10-09T10:01:00.007+02:00

I travelled up to Buckinghamshire again for a session in the New Wood. As well as Dave S, I was joined by trainee Andrew W, who normally rings with Mick A'C in the wood to the east. The two woods are very similar but that is not surprising as ours was modelled on the semi-ancient one next door. The main difference, apart from age, is that more Hawthorn (of both types, English and Midland) has been incorporated into the New Wood.

The weather was not over conducive for a large catch since the wind was at the top end of acceptable and the cloud cover was 'solid', with not the slightest hit of some sun. A little of the latter might have helped "excite" the birds. It was raining when we got up - not what the Met. Office ordered! The catch was mostly what one would have expected at an 'in-between time', with the summer birds all gone and the winter birds not arrived here yet.

During the morning, we managed to catch and ring 29 new birds and recapture a further 6.

The others found the young male Goldcrest exciting to handle which took the shine off the female caught soon after.

Me, I liked the young, male Chiff that was still undergoing a heavy PJ moult at so late a date.

Four Bullfinches was as good as this time last year but we wait to see if we will be able to ring 14 in November as we did last year.

Blue Tit 7 (2)
Great Tit 3 (2)
Long-tailed Tit 11 (2)
Goldcrest 2
Chifchaff 1
Wren 1
Bullfinch 4

Hopefully, we shall find a window of opportunity during the first half of November for a final visit of the year. With the weather and rest days against us, we (EN & DS) have rung up a total of just 70 new birds ringed (and 7 re-traps) of 18 spp. against last year's totals of 231 new plus 60 r/t of 28 spp. In November 2010, a single visit brought in 88 birds. Fingers crossed!

At last!

2011-10-07T21:47:00.005+02:00

This week has been somewhat of a transition, from 'poor' to 'signs of improvement'

Having said that, the weather has not been conducive for ringing as the wind has been strong and gusted 50mph for most of one day.

Monday's early morning session yielded the ordinary garden birds that nest hereabouts, the only adult bird being a retrap Goldfinch from last April.

Today's quick morning session produced a retrap juvvie Blackbird and 8 Goldfinches, including 2 adults. This is the first day that the Goldies have been at the feeders apart from at first light when "the locals" nip in for a pre-foraging top-up, avoiding any net that may be open. At last, this must herald the start of the winter programme of garden ringing as opposed to wind-swept outings to the water meadows.

Total for the week (so far):
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Coal Tit 1
Blackbird 1 (1)
Wren 1
Dunnock 1
Goldfinch 7 (2)

I'm doing this in Aylesbury, 150 miles from home, as we are ringing the New Wood in the morning and I've got to keep on top of these Cs & Ts!

MP8

2011-09-26T13:15:00.009+02:00

No, not a mis-print, MP3 = MP 13 last week. Did manage to get out early, even though the winds were a bit stronger than I would have liked. The sun also becomes a problem from 9am (currently) on a site without much cover and what there is is in the wrong direction for any 'shade'.

The week-end's ringing resulted in 28 birds of which 4 were re-traps. 11 species were caught, one of which was new for this sub-site. I have caught a Treecreeper in the garden at the end of winter last, but it was a pleasant surprise to get one working the willows and alders along the stream. Maybe there are more, who knows?

Things have certainly slowed up just recently and we are back to more 'resident fare' such as Dunnock, Robin and the tits.

Today's "Prunes" were the 25th/26th ringed in just a relatively small area here.

But for the moment, there are some late migrating Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs still to be caught, plus, with the help of a 'tape lure', the Meadow Pipits which are now well and truly on the move through here. I just love that cryptic head pattern from above. As for the 'luring', I suppose that I caught roughly 10% of the birds passing overhead; a bit of a guess, but I think about every other one that ventured near the net(s) did not feel the urge to get ringed but flew off after a couple of minutes to join the cavalcade south.

Rest of the week: for 'the meadows' excl. 21/09's birds
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 1 (1)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackcap 2
Treecreeper 1
Wren 1 (1)
Blackbird 1
Robin 1 (1)
Dunnock 2
Meadow Pipit 11
Chaffinch 2

Total 24 (4), 11 spp.

It won't be long now before the thrushes descend upon us; I am hoping to 'harvest' a few before the clocks go back, as the meadows may well become a 'bit of a birding desert' over the winter, especially as far as small birds are concerned.

Congratulations to the newly wed Mr & Mrs L. Barber.

Scratchin'

2011-09-21T17:37:00.008+02:00

I've had an increasingly severe itch that needed scratching over the last few rainy days! Today positively oozed better weather. I awoke early to overcast skies, little wind and NO rain; we've had well over 40mm lately. Gathering my skirts up, I proceeded down to the water meadows at first light - which is getting to a more reasonable hour, but we are still on BST.

I put a 60 in the balsam rack and another in the apple trees. With the assistance of a 'Chiff' tape, I caught a Blackcap in the Balsam. Wise thought - and switched the tape to Blackcap ... only to catch a Blackbird. I'd had enough of that by now so put it on to Mipit. Good timing as there had been about 14 birds pass over in the last half hour. Another 14 went over in the next half hour, too, but those that cared to stop, sat on the HT wires some 50' above the net, mainly for a rest, it turned out!

Decided to move the MP3 to the orchard net in frustration. No birds of any sort were moving through the veg.; they were just passing over at some height, even the local stuff like Dipper, Grey Wag and Green Sand! I was scratching to catch anything at all, to say the least. The wind was getting up and the nets were in full autumnal sun by now.

Bingo! A Mipit in the bottom corner! Run, run! Species 37 for the square. Yippee!
I did catch another one and a second Blackcap as well. Hard graft for 5 new birds.
One of the young Mipits (Meapi) had a wing of 85 and had moulted its median coverts, whereas the other had a shorter wing of 77 and had not moulted any of its flight feathers yet. After a couple of hours, I had counted 48 Mipits over, all heading SW for the Brendons, which is the easternmost part of Exmoor and generally around 200m ASL. This is the first noticeable movement of the autumn.

Meadow Pipit. Euring age 3 after PJ moult.

Other birds on site (not previously mentioned) were Green & Gt. Spot Woodpeckers, a couple of Pied Wags and c.18 Swallows on the move with 3 House Martins in tow. I did hear one Chiff; perhaps they have moved out, providing they weren't 'drowned out'. A couple of Chaffinches might be the vanguard of some finches from "oop nworth".

Getting autumnal

2011-09-16T15:12:00.000+02:00

The leaves are beginning to turn on the trees and the mornings, apart from being darker, are colder and with a dampness in the air. Ringing has been hit and miss with a couple of early morning garden sessions and, likewise, a couple on the water meadows. The winds have had a southerly component, so not alot of 'joy' in the nets. Nevertheless, it's all 'good stuff' and grist to the mill. I am still on course for 2,000 new birds for the year for the 1km square where I live.

Garden birds:
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 1 (1)
Coal Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 2 (2)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackbird (1)
Robin 1 (2)
Goldfinch 6

3J female Goldcrest, mid Sept. On passage?

Down-along-the-stream birds:
Goldcrest 1
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 12 (2)
Blackcap 6
Wren 1
Robin 1 (2)

Whilst processing a Blackcap on day 2, I noticed that 3 Chiffchaffs had gone into net 2 all of a sudden. Turning back to the job in hand, out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a Woodpigeon heading that way. Lo and behold, it hit the 40' net at full tilt - and out sprang the 3 Chiffs! What a b*gg*r!

Other birds seen - 3-4 Buzzards wheeling over the house and the meadows (the local pair and their off-spring), very few Swallows now, just the 1 local family brood and small parties south every now and then, the local House Martins, a couple of Great Spots, a Green Woodpecker (red-letter day!), a family party of Magpies with still reliant (begging) young, a Green Sand, the first 3 Mipits of the "winter", a lone Sky Lark south, a flock of perhaps 2 dozen Goldfinches (yippee!) and 4 Little Egberts (that I managed to photograph in the tree overlooking the ford; the closest I got with my 'teeny-weeny' camera was 60-70m)

Between Irene and Katia

2011-09-11T11:57:00.017+02:00

Apart from the beginning of the week, when we had strong winds, the weather has been a mixture of sunshine and showers for the greater part. This has hampered any attempt to ring. However, I did manage to catch a few in the garden and some others down the water meadows during quieter spells.

The garden yielded 14 of the new birds spread over two days and the water meadows saw 8 new birds on the Wednesday and 13 new birds on the Friday, aka "dawn raids".

Below par, the week's total was 35, (3):
Sparrowhawk - 1; juv male
Blue Tit 2 (1)
Great Tit 2
Chiffchaff 4 (1); the r/t was first ringed as 3JJ on 14/08
Blackcap 4; all with F10
Wren 1 (1)
Robin 1
Dunnock 3
Goldfinch 17; 5 adults & 12 juvs

The Goldfinches have found the feeders again, thanks to the wet and windy weather, after the summer "lay-off".

On the Friday, I got a call to help out at the RSPCA centre at West Hatch. There had been a serious 'beaching' of 600+ Shearwaters on the Welsh coast on 06/08 and 07/08 at Newgale Sands on St Bride's Bay (Pembrokeshire). It was suspected that they were this year's youngsters from Skomer that had recently abandoned their burrows.

Some of the washed Manx Shearwaters ready for release (unringed) into the English Channel.

Also see here for a close up of one of the birds we ringed

Denise and I went that evening and after I had showed her how to form a 'Fcoe' ring we got on with ringing the first few. First bird out was already ringed! We cleared one pen and then went home. Early the next day we returned. There were about 400 birds that had been washed and fed that the RSPCA wanted ringing. A slight hiccup - 500 'Fc' rings were still in the post from the BTO. This time we took Karen and 4 ringers from Chew RG (Mike, Steve, Paul & Ed) also came along. Once they had all been shown how to apply the rings, we got going.

Before the postie arrived, we made do with 'Es' rings which we then "squashed" into a more elliptical shape for those birds whose tarsi were <7.0mm. Birds with larger legs had the remaining few 'Fcoe' rings that I had made up the day before. When on a coffee break, the postman arrived and we were then able to continue ringing all the remaining birds with 'Fcoe' rings. By the end of the day, we had ringed approx. 390 shearwaters between us.

Ed Drewitt (C) in the "wash room" with a juvenile Manx Shearwater on his lap.
Ed, originally from Epsom, is our budding local TV and Radio star.

A rewarding, if tiring day, and not without a few scars.
PS. I also got to ring a Fulmar.

Reposting from Pembroke Birds, Sunday 11th Sept.:

L-R Sarah , Annie and Bob ringing shearwaters prior to release.

The picture is of Sarah Allen assisting Annie and Bob Haycock, ringing shearwaters prior to release from the Stena Europe just off The Tusker Rock Lighthouse. The waters were relatively sheltered there and there were also concentrations of Manxies nearby.
It seemed that all of them were very healthy and of an optimum weight for migration (at between 350 and 400 grammes) . No need to feed them, no need to clean them and they were certainly as waterproof, as they were ever likely to be. There are no guarantees but local experts Jean Haines and John Hayes had kept them calm and unstressed until we picked them up and got them on the ship. They were certainly fit and feisty, as our fingers bore the marks of their indignation at the indignity of being handled and ringed but this was minimal. They all flew off safely and we can only hope the brief interruption to their migration south will be the first of many more circumnavigations of the Atlantic.
In Calmer conditions and without the threat of continued storms we would have released them earlier from the ship, but our decision to wait until we reached the lee of the Irish mainland and Tusker Reef seemed to be confirmed by the number of birds already taking shelter there.
The next few stormy days will be a trial for many more migrating birds, lets hope not too many more will end up on the beaches but if they do, With Stena's Help and the expertise of local people we will do our best to get them back to sea as soon as possible. It was great to be a small cog in a team that worked together to help our birds, thanks for all the messages of support! Thanks too to Sea Trust Volunteers Barbara Davies who had to travel back to Burry Port in the early hours of the morning and Jessica Creak who filmed the release on her i-phone!

Black and Blue

2011-09-04T18:29:00.000+02:00

Got in some "quickie" ringing over the weekend. First up, I was able to get down to the meadows and set just the one 60 foot. Caught 10 birds (before summoned back for breakfast) of which 8 were Blackcaps with zero or ESF30 fat plus a young Dunnock and a retrap juv Great Tit. Had to turn my attention to the garden whilst being 'civil' to our guest for the rest of the time. Resulted in 7 Blue Tits, a very young Wren and recapture of a Robin and a Dunnock. The monsoon season is upon us with 6mm last night and more as I write. The forecast is for much more to come. Just what we want to bugger up our autumn catches during southward migration.

Sixteen years ago ...

2011-09-01T13:09:00.006+02:00

Sixteen years ago, well, actually, 16y 3d ago, was the last time I ringed any Swallows on my own rings. The last handling of the said species was three years ago, to the day, on the BTO Gibraltar Point ringing course in 2008. Trainers just assist with the extraction so I doubt if I got round to ringing any.

Before being dragged off to Morrisons for the weekly shop, I shot down to the newly cut and baled meadows and put up four single panel nets. The day was much sunnier and a lot less windier than yesterday, when the hirundines were flying very low and reaping the benefit of the recently disturbed insects. I waited until I heard a Swallow calling over the garden as they are generally late risers hereabouts and then spend the post dawn period at some height, catching arial insects.

However, I persevered for about an hour from 8 o'clock. Typically, two of the four nets, Jap of course, now need repairing as one or other of the strings has come adrift. Out with the 'superglue' some other time! One bird did get caught but, as it was travelling down-wind, it made the effort as I approached closely and flitted. Ten minutes later, an adult male flew into the wind - and the net - and became the 36th species ringed at the site.

So, there you have it! Craving satisfied!

Badgers' birthdays all at once

2011-08-31T16:21:00.005+02:00

This was the scene that greeted me this morning. I was rather late as we had been over Exmoor yesterday and I'm not as fit as I was 50 years ago - when I thought nothing of wandering up and down those hills and valley sides all day.

I set a couple of 60's; one was in the usual place in the orchard and the other through a bed of Himalayan Balsam (Impatiens). It was a fairly fruitful session with 15 new birds and 7 retraps, covering 9 species. I packed up after 2 hours as the tractor came in to maxi-bale the hay. It did encourage the Swallows to fly low - alas, my single panels were still in the chest of drawers!

Scoreboard:
Kingfisher (1) - juv fem.
Blue Tit 5 - most were too high over (thank God)
Great Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 1
Chiffchaff 1 (3) - r/ts from 6th, 14th & 29th.
Blackcap 4 - no retraps & only 2 with any fat [1 with F30]
Sedge Warbler 1 - a juv, naturally
Blackbird 1 (2)
Goldfinch 1 (1) - juv & ad. male r/t

Meanwhile, the Badgers have been "making hay". Much new bedding has been snitched from the nearest swath and bundles of it were apparent close to all of the many entrances to the (summer) sett.

As the rollers on the harvester now have 'crimpers' these days [it crushes the grass, opening the waxy case and allows quicker drying] it was no surprise to see the baler behind the tractor today, 2 days after the cut. This activity made me pack up whilst they were baling the two eastern meadows; it wouldn't be long before it came over my side of the stream. By lunch-time, most of the bales were already off-site and safely in store for the sheep and horses.

Other birds around the site - 4 Buzzards, Green Sand, 2 Heron, Dipper, 80-100 Swallow, 6 House Martins and 2 Little Egberts.

Wet & windy Bank Holiday

2011-08-31T14:31:00.009+02:00

The weather was very un-seasonal for the August Holiday weekend. On the Friday, it rained - over half an inch's worth (13.5mm). On the Saturday, we had heavy showers on and off throughout the day and on Sunday they only lasted for the morning. The sun appeared but a cold wind sprung up at the same time.

So, I got the forecast about right but, nevertheless, I was able to get in some ringing in the garden at times, mainly by switching nets. I was already resigned to a 'nul' weekend because of the forecast, on top of putting up visiting relations.

Surprise, surprise; it turned out quite fortuitous.

The garden capture list:
Sparrowhawk 1 - post-juvvy female
Collared Dove 1 - a female pushed in by two romantic males
Blue Tit 1 (2)
Blackcap 1 - a fat-free young male
Sedge Warbler 1 - an early morning surprise
Wren (1)
Blackbird 2
Robin (3)
Dunnock 1
House Sparrow 1
Greenfinch 3 - all juv juvs

A surprising mix - 12 new + (6 r/t) of 11 spp.

On the Monday, I was able to get in a couple of hours down at the meadows straight after first light. More ringing was not possible shortly after eight o'clock as the wind shifted round to a point east of north, affecting the nets. The fields had still not been cut for hay when I was there, but "her indoors" said they were being cut in the afternoon when she walked her dog along the track. Just as well since the Purple Moor Grass had been 'Buff Moor Grass' for a couple of weeks now.

The meadow capture list:
Dipper (1) - a juv first caught a month ago, now with a brown 'waistcoat'
Chiffchaff 4
Blackcap 3 (1)
Dunnock 1
Greenfinch 1 - another youngster
9 + (2) of 5 spp.

The young finches are around at last; a sign of better days to come in the garden at the feeders, perhaps.

Rain, rain, go away!

2011-08-26T18:20:00.012+02:00

It has been a week of showers - and Wednesday and today, quite heavy, and almost continuous, showers. More tomorrow and the day after with the wind increasing, too. A better picture might emerge for Bank Holiday Monday. During the better weather days this week, it has been impractical for me to do any ringing as I needed to concentrate on the house and garden chores.

I have managed to catch bits and bobs in the garden when not otherwise occupied with workmen etc. and also have been able to set a net for a couple of hours at the water meadows, with one in the orchard and another couple on the bank directly opposite.

Robin - bird-of-the-year after completing PJ moult

At this quiet time of year, ringing wise, in the garden, I procured the following: 3 new birds and 4 retraps -
Great Tit (1)
Blackbird (1)
Robin 2 (1)
Dunnock (1)
Goldfinch 1

Down at the Doniford Stream, things have been a little better, as one would expect during autumn migration. Even considering that the early morning was 'cold' and I had to pack up by half-eight anyway, I managed just 17 birds. Just as well, really, because the rain crept up and then decided to stay for the day.

Chiffs predominated; all youngsters, one of which I first caught a month earlier.
Chiffchaff 7 (3)
Blackcap 2
Blackbird 3
Wren 1
Chaffinch 1

Chiffchaff - hatch year female having finished PJ moult

No idea when I will be able to make it down to the meadows again - visiting relatives from my and Jen's dad's birthplace descending on us next week.

For friends and family - our new gates (well, 2 new sets and 1 refurbed).
We are now, hopefully, terrier and, maybe, badger proof.

Bucking the trend!

2011-08-21T09:45:00.015+02:00

Spent Friday and Saturday in the Aylesbury Vale (Buckinghamshire). Friday afternoon was all about Barn Owl boxes, while Saturday was mist netting the 'new wood'.

We visited a farmer whose land is down to grass at Long Crendon where we knew there would be chicks of a ringeable age. As we approached the box, we could see two chicks looking out with the parent bird looking over their shoulders. As the ladder went up, she took flight and left the field, crossed a neighbour's arable field and settled in a shelter belt where she could watch us. There were 6 chicks in this box, all were ringed.

Next we looked at another box where a lone bird had been seen roosting. This turned out to have 2 Stock Dove chicks in residence. Maybe the owl that had been seen was the male and father of the chicks we had just done.

Off to Waddesdon for a quick check on another box that had eggs the last time it was checked. Seven more chicks, 5 of which were ringed, the other two were 'runts', the youngest being quite small and likely to be "a picnic" for one of its older siblings.

Then to check on a box that was robbed of its eggs six weeks ago by some workmen on a huge building site. To our surprise it contained eight (8) youngsters, three of which were big enough to ring, three more looked healthy and could be ringed in a week or so, and two more that were only a few days old. The male had flown off when we entered but the female sat tight and we were able to ring her, too.

In the evening we went out and set and furled a line of five nets along a north-south ride in the wood some 12 miles away. Before dawn, we had those nets open and set about adding five more in favoured places. Our one disappointment was a "non-stick" adult male Sparrowhawk, but the wind had got up by then and it found its way out easily.

Adult Lesser Whitethroat in fresh plumage (mid-August)

After five hours on site, (the wind got up ahead of some squally weather putting paid to any more catches), we had had 12 species and 48 birds, of which 6 were recaptures.
Dave, trainee Keith and myself rated the LESWHs 'the deal of the day'.

Blue Tit 7
Great Tit 6
Marsh Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit 6 (3)
Chiffchaff 6
Willow Warbler 4
Blackcap 2
Lesser Whitethroat 4
Wren 1
Dunnock 4
Goldfinch 1
Bullfinch 1 (2)

Post-juvenile male Blackcap (mid-August)

Next to this wood, they run sheep. At present, the closest field had tall grass in it and about forty fat lamb rams. Mid-morning we disturbed a group of birds feeding on something, a carcass perhaps, that we could not see. This group consisted of 2 Red Kites, several Magpies, a couple of Crows, an adult and a juvenile Buzzard and a Raven.

I am hoping to get back to the site in September for the late departing warblers and again in late October for the early winter thrush movement. There shouldn't be any accidents on the M5 by then as the summer visitors - human type - will have also departed, shortening my journey time!

Yes!

2011-08-15T16:52:00.007+02:00

Following on from yesterday's blog and session by the stream, I decided to set a mist-net across the stream this morning for a couple of hours from shortly after dawn. I needed to return home early as the contractors were coming to finish the roof before it rained, and so I was prepared for just a short spell.

There was a distinct absence of Swallows today; there had been gatherings of 50+ over the last two days but this morning just two solitary birds making their way south. Likewise, I did not hear the young Dippers, wagtails or sandpipers. The only bird of note was a Raven.

I did, however, recapture my first Kingfisher, a young female, 30 minutes after setting up. Whilst walking the site with my dog, Cerise, I noticed a large party of Lottis and warblers making their way along the stream edge, moving upstream towards my net. I guesstimated that there were at least 19 birds in this group. Thankfully, some of them passed over the water, while others stuck to the bank. I had just got to the last of the seven birds when a short sharp shower ensued. Thankfully, my car was parked just 20 yards away.

The moving flock did me a favour in one respect; I now know where to set an additional net on the bank to intercept a similar movement, if I am just concentrating on birds using the stream at the ford.

Bonus bird of the day - Garden Warbler - my first for Somerset. [Coincidentally, Denise also had her first of the year yesterday, a little way to the west of here]. I am so used to handling these throughout the summer back in East Anglia.

This brings the tally of species ringed to 35.

Kingfisher (1)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (2)
Chiffchaff 3
Garden Warbler 1

Mid-August weekend

2011-08-14T12:25:00.003+02:00

I have managed to cut my way through to a large bend in the stream opposite the orchard. Here's where I now have a 60 foot. I'm hoping it will turn up an Acro or two!

Swinging right, here's the 'orchard' on the other side of the stream.
Another 60 foot goes in front of these apple trees when I work the other side of the stream.

Day 1 was cloudy with patches of light drizzle that were not really a nuisance. As the day before had been getting worse all day, it was no surprise that there was a dearth of warblers on the move now. After all, the rain only stopped just before dawn. It was very noticeable that there was little birdsong until 3 hours after sunrise. Even the Rooks and Jackdaws were slow off the mark this morning. The one bright spot was the 50 or so Swallows that kept coming over. At one point they were joined by some Chaffinch and Greenfinch in persueing, first, a female and, then, a male Sparrowhawk in the opposite direction. Chiffs dominated once again.

Saturday am: 7 (+5 r/t)
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 5 (3)
Blackcap 1; sub-adult female

Sunday was another Chiff day! I put Net 1 up, more in hope than judgement. Net 3, the Whitethroat net, disappointed yet again. At least, yesterday, a Blackbird deigned to attack it at high speed but failed to drop its arrestor hook. The new net was nearly as bad but produced a lovely, fresh-plumaged, juvenile Dunnock in the bottom shelf.

Post-Juvenile Dunnock

All of the other action, prior to 9am, took place in Net 2, the most reliable net of all. If there are birds about, and on the move, this is the one that seems to attract them; and it's only a 40'! The young Blackbirds are, by and large, steadily progressing with their moult into some semblance of adulthood.

Juvenile, male Blackbird undergoing PJ moult

The wind started to get up, so I called it another day over. However, as I went to take down Net 1, it un-blotted its copy-book and delivered five new birds "just like that". (I watched them all go in as I drove up to the field gate). Didn't manage a second Blackcap (there was one 'ticking' nearby), but caught a smashing young Whitethroat; my favourite!

Juvenile Whitethroat at the end of its PJ moult

Sunday am: 19 (all new)
Blue Tit 1; first year
Chiffchaff 11; juvs, 3 of which were growing new tail feathers & 1 ad fem. in full moult
Blackcap 1; sub-adult male
Whitethroat 1 (pic above)
Blackbird 1 (pic above)
Song Thrush 1; moulting juv.
Robin 1; ad male ending moult
Dunnock 2; juvs

Warbler totals - 2011 summer only;
Chiffchaff 93
Blackcap 69
W/throat 20
Willow W. 8
Les. W/throat 2
Sedge W. 1
Reed W. 1

Next weekend, it's off back to Beds. and Bucks. It had better be worth the 50 quid [GBP] or so in petrol. I'm taking my new 2-piece poles with me for a full field trial!

Fair blows the wind for France

2011-08-12T18:29:00.008+02:00

[Edward II, Marlowe, C.]
The weather forecast was turned on its head on Monday. I went out to the water meadows with the intention of catching a few birdies - but the wind had other ideas. All the small song birds were well hunkered down in the 18-30 mph winds off the sea. Not at all like the 8-10 mph "breeze" that was forecast on Saturday; just shows, you have to watch the national and local TV forecasts before you go to bed on the preceeding evening - or you might be getting up, like I did, in vain.

Monday's Strato-Cumulus approaching.

The young Herring Gulls have fully fledged and have taken to stooging around the industrial estate and the locomotive sheds. I counted 195 Canada Geese heading south-east towards the Levels from the direction of Blue Anchor Bay. One of the local Peregrines appeared at low level and rounded the new woodland on the hill to the east and attempted to cut out one of the Jackdaws but it was spooked by his/her friends and all six harried the Peg away towards its home well away over the other side of the valley.

Sum total = nil birds caught.

The following day, Tuesday, I put a 40' net up in the front garden for a while. It was sheltered from the wind and I managed to catch a few birds.

Blue Tit (2); adult & a juv
Blackcap 1; juv
Blackbird 3; all juv, 2 males
Robin (2); adult and juv, both finishing their (different) moults.
House Sparrow 1;
Greenfinch 2; a 2CY & a F juv

Spent the next two days tripping over contractors, potential suppliers and visitors so no chance of indulging in a little net watching!

Today, Friday, I got up fairly early and was pleased to see that the wind had died down. It had, however, switched direction and was coming from the south-west. In the past, it has not been a good direction so I decided to stick with two nets close to each other, amounting to a mere 100 feet. I would have liked to have stayed all morning but I needed to get back to attend to "household activities".

Seventeen was a reasonable haul for three hours patience. I had had to use the "other car" and that meant leaving alot of my gear in my car which was stuck on the drive behind the current contractors' large trailer. Still, I made do and when I returned home had the pleasure of mending these two (Jap) nets where they had come "undone".

So ....
Chiffchaff 9; 2 adult males, the rest juvs mostly PJ-ing
Blackcap 2
Whitethroat 1
Sedge Warbler 1; my first (and only) juv of the season
Dunnock 3
Bullfinch 1; a recently fledged juv

A poor pic of the Sedge but it shows the necklace of spots that only juveniles have.

Today's notable sightings were 2 Little Egrets heading upstream and my first two, ever, sightings of Grey Squirrel (or "tree rats") in the 1kilometer square. Am I still up to "Empire Marksman" standard? One of the two juvenile Buzzards from on the hill was 'mewlling' on the lecky pylon.
I hope to get out tomorrow or Sunday as it seems to be the right sort of time for our birdies to head for France and all points south.
E

Non-stick flying plan

2011-08-06T15:39:00.005+02:00

As well as the three, usual nets, I put up a full height 30 foot across the stream at the ford today. First up was a small wader. It must have brushed the underside of the netting as it call repeatedly but did not fly off with a big kerfuffle. It wasn't the Green Sand. that has been around for a couple of weeks, so it might have been a Common Sand. (most likely at this time). Sometime later I saw a Kingfisher pass safely under. Then a female Goldcrest, mid-stream and top shelf; gotcha!

In between net rounds, I took out a trickle of Long-tailed Tits that had been hanging around in the big Alders just upstream of the ford. Similarly, I bagged a juvenile Chiff and a juvvy Willow Warbler, both in the second shelf (from the top) and more or less centred.

Elsewhere, the orchard net did not produce much; a "Prune", a young Song Thrush and a control, juvenile Chiffy. This had come from neighbouring ringer, John, two kilometers to the west, the first recapture of the many young birds that he has ringed this summer. We both thought that there would have been more birds coming my way, but, alas, no. I have decided to abandon ringing in among the Apples during post-fledging migration time as it seems that more birds can be caught "out in the open" as they approach the trees, maybe because they are on a lower trajectory as they come in.

Net 1 produced little although there were many birds in that general area. One reason for a poor result was having to shut the net early when the showers started as I couldn't keep a close eye on all four nets. Net 2 produced quite a few Chiffs and a miscellany of other species. I could walk backwards and forwards between this net, the ford and the orchard on the other side, passing "the ringing station" without going out of the way. This avoided any problems.

Apart from the Goldcrest, I had a couple of other 'successes'; I caught the first adult Willow Warbler of the 'autumn'. It had, to all intents and purposes, finished its full post-nuptial moult [see below]. The other was my sixth juvenile Kingfisher in as many weeks, this one just as I was about to take in the ford net, all other nets by now in the boot of the car.

Adult, male Willow Warbler, August

Ahead of this, returning from the orchard, net bag in hand, I noticed that the ford net was 'hanging funny'. I couldn't see anything in it, but as I approached, a flapping started and this "large brown thing" rose up and down and eventually got enough lift to dis-engage its feet and fly off over the net. I later saw this female Sparrowhawk hanging around the site of Net 1, where there was alot of twittering, etc. Bloomin' showers!

Twenty new birds in a few hours, dodging the showers, with 7 re-captures; ten species in all.

Kingfisher 1
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 2 (3)
Chiffchaff 8 (1 + 1 control)
Willow Warbler 2
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Song Thrush 1
Dunnock 3 (2)

'D' permit holder

Least said ...

2011-07-31T12:44:00.007+02:00

Sunday's trip was poor; the wind had swung to the south overnight and was stronger than forecast. Nets now in the wrong places, haha! Five new birds and three re-traps for five hours hard graft with four nets (one didn't catch). And the Green Sandpiper decided to fly "the wrong way".

Kingfisher (1)
Chiffchaff 3
Blackcap (1)
Wren 1
Dipper (1) juv in tail moult
Dunnock 1

Have now ringed 221 new birds of 20 species, with 24 re-traps, since I started here, on the water meadows, 5 weeks ago.

Weather forecast not good for the coming week. B****r.

Busy doing nothing

2011-07-29T17:47:00.008+02:00

Wednesday evening, we went to look for Nightjars on Exmoor. At a site where they are usually seen, we put two nets up. We switched the lure on and off and on and off until it was pitch black. Nothing. It was late in the season and the weather has been poor of late so we suspect that the birds left early, after rearing just the one brood during that glorious month of June 2011.

On Thursday, in the garden, it was "the return of the re-traps"; by this I mean that the locally breeding birds and their offspring are beginning to be more conspicuous and can't help falling in the nets just to tease me. I haven't got a full set-up yet, as I need the poles elsewhere. That problem will be solved (with a few blisters and some sticky fingers) shortly. The eventual outcome will be new 24, 2 section poles, enough for 6 nets here and 6 down at the water meadows.

Blue Tit (1)
Great Tit (2)
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 1
Wren 1 (1)
Robin 1 (2)
Dunnock (1)
House Sparrow 1
Blackbird 2
Goldfinch 3 (2)

Total 9 (10)

The aluminium tube for the new poles arrived yesterday - I went to buy a pipe-cutter.

Today, Friday, was a dull day. Overnight the temperature slumped to 16C and hardly picked up from there. None of the water meadow nets did much early on, probably because it was still "dark", but they did "try harder" later.

The stream was the busiest place this morning. Every time I crossed it, I spooked a silent Dipper. Kingfishers were noisy today but not as noisy as a Green sandpiper that dropped in for a quick poke amongst the pebbles. At one point a group of passing Swallows dropped in for a drink and a very quick "wash-and-brush-up". The orchard net (which is positioned on the meadow across the stream) managed to trap a second juvenile Dipper, probably the same one that I kept disturbing.

Juvenile Dipper undergoing PJ moult - head (top), belly, undertail, wing/mantle (bottom).

I kept going until I knew that the young girls from the riding stables would be coming; they do this alot during school holidays. To avoid any problems, I put the dog safely in the car whilst I took down. Sure enough, they rolled up just as I had shut Net 1 and was processing the last birds. Not the best of mornings but all "grist to the mill", nonetheless.

Blue Tit (1)
Great tit 3
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 4
Willow Warbler 1
Blackcap 4 (2)
Whitethroat 1
Wren 1
Dipper 1
Blackbird 2
Dunnock 1
Chaffinch 1

Total 19 (4) and all juveniles. A couple of the Blackcaps were well advanced with their PJ moult but had not put on any fat ready for migration.

Juvenile female (3P) Willow Warbler.

More of a seaside tan

2011-07-23T17:54:00.006+02:00

The weather looked promising. However! It was a cool night with broken cloud and wind from the north. When the nets were up at 5am (BST), there were precious few birds about, just a mewing Buzzard, a noisy Song Thrush, the local Rooks making their way to the tip and the Herring Gulls squawking on the factory roofs. A Chiff hurtled into net 1 ... and hurtled back out again. That was it. The sun was up an hour later and shone brightly, too brightly for my liking. And that cold north wind also picked up, streaming across this flat, open site. Cooked one side, chilled the other.

The beginning of a lovely day - but not for ringing.

Generally, there were far less birds about in the vegetation. Either the majority had moved on in the last night or two, or they had cleared out of the way of that 'evil bastard' that had given them 'a right going over' the other day.

By 10am, the nets were highly visible and starting to blow. It was time to pack up and go home. I did manage to catch 12 new birds and 5 retraps from earlier in the week.

Kingfisher (1)
Long-tailed Tit 2
Blackcap 2 (3)
Whitethroat 3 (1)
Chiffchaff 2
Willow Warbler 1
Goldfinch 2

Weights of the retraps were down a smidgin on last time. A couple of the post juvenile stage Blackcaps were starting to put on some weight but there was no signs of fat deposition as yet.

"Fan-tailed" Willow Warbler - wind assisted.

I intend to look at another piece of 'dead ground' during the week, that will mean going in another way and then being restricted from reaching the rest of the site. It has certain possibilities, especially when the horses are turned out to graze after the hay cut.

Well Chiffed!

2011-07-21T18:08:00.012+02:00

Starting at 5 o'clock, the weather was admirable for ringing, sort of grey at 6 oktas. Not that many birds were awake and moving around searching for breakfast - a Song Thrush was first off the mark, a male just starting its full moult. A Dipper 'purred' overhead and dropped into the stream. Soon there was a smattering of young birds on the wing and falling prey to my three nets, Blackcap, Wren, Dunnock, Chiffchaff and, best of all, another young Kingfisher in Net 1.

Juvenile (female) Kingfisher

Net 2 started well with a family party of Whitethroats but faded after a couple of Chiffs and a Willow Warbler once the sun got up and exposed the netting.

I had set a 60' in a new site among the group of mature apple trees the other side of the stream where it would intercept, hopefully, some birds as they worked their way along the banks of "Policeman's Helmet" [Impatiens glandulifera - a noxious weed much loved by bees and insects] that line the stream. Finally, at about 7 o'clock, it took a good hit with a mix of species. This included a juvenile retrap Great Tit and an adult Blue Tit in heavy moult that was originally ringed in the garden back in mid-March. This net continued to pull in the Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs until I decided to abandon the session as the wind had picked up considerebly.

Back at Net 1, yet another Kingfisher to finish the morning.

After lunch, the wind had ameliorated and I went back to the "Apple net" to see what passed through as often birds move again about an hour or two after sidereal noon. It gave me a chance to sit and watch how the moving birds behaved, with the possibility of positioning a net to intercept them some other day. It turned out to be a good 90 minutes with some new Chiffs for ringing.

The sole juvenile male Chiffchaff of the day

Today's numbers covering 12 species were:
Kingfisher 2
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 2 (1)
Chiffchaff 9 (1) - a preponderance of females today
Willow Warbler 1
Blackcap 7
Whitethroat 6 (1)
Wren 2
Blackbird (1)
Song Thrush 1
Dunnock 2
Goldfinch 1 - my first juvenile of 2011

Total 34 (5)

Makes it all worthwhile

2011-07-18T17:50:00.003+02:00

These bats must also hunt through our study wood which is "very adjacent".

See here

"Large population of rare Bechstein’s bats found on proposed HS2 train route"

E

Thank you, Bob.

2011-07-12T09:13:00.005+02:00

After Sunday morning's session, I entered up the records into IPMR and ran a grand total for "ROU" (here). I noticed that there were 978 new records in the database since I started ringing at my new home, back in mid January of this year. I also noticed that the following day (Monday) would be the end of a 6 month period. Aha - thinking cap on. Could I make the magic 1,000 before the shutters came down on 'my first six months'?

With 24 hours to go, I opened the three garden nets that were already up (100' or 30m). By 2.30pm I had bagged 9 new birds, plus one of the first birds I ever ringed here, a female Coal Tit. That was nice. I started thinking that I needed to get a hurry on, so I decided to take me off, later, down the road to the water meadows. Both sites are in the same 1km grid square.

Just before 5pm, I set up 2x 40' (9m) nets, one at Net site 2, where there was a bit of shade, and the other in the corner of the first field, where the Elm hedge does a dog-leg and it would catch the evening sun. All I had to do was catch 13 new birds. It could be easier said than done. Fingers crossed.

A quick start with 2 Blackcaps and a Chiff in Net 2. Dead over by the hedge. Then something wriggling; a very juvenile Greenfinch which needed careful handling. Half an hour gone. One hour gone. Ninety minutes gone. Sandwich and a coffee. Ah!
Three birds in the net nearest, a Chiff, a Blackbird and a 'pregnant' Wren. Six needed for the magic "one thousand". [ Don't know why I'm getting worked up - I'm not a lister, by nature]. Two more over by the hedge, both Chiffs - and one's already ringed. Damn, five to go!

Another pull on the coffee flask. 7pm. A flurry of interest over in the corner. A mixed flock of Phylloscs and Lottis; now's my chance! It turned out that most went round the back of the far pole (it's a very wide hedge, fenced both sides, with a ditch in the middle). However, the haul did turn up two Chiffs, a Dunnock, a Blackcap with a spastic left leg and one of yesterday's juvenile Lottis. That still left one more new bird needed. Can't be left on 999 now! Busy myself with trimming back a large Willow that is slowly falling over and beginning to block the gateway into the second meadow.

7.30pm. Nothing. All quiet. Feed dog and eat other sandwich.

Is that something wriggling, tight to the far pole on the 'sunny' net? Yes! Looks like a Robin! Yes, it was and a 3P, at that, i.e. a this year's youngster coming to the end of its post-juvenile moult and looking resplendant in its 'red jacket'. Thank you, "Bob", - or L890642 as you will be known from here on in!

Needn't have worried unduly as three more Chiffs also went into the same net while I was chatting to the land owner on one of his quick visits, not to see me but to inspect the Willow. I think it's for the chop.

Chop-chop. Back later with more at the weekend.

Top 10 species (of 34) ringed 12-01-11 to 11-07-11:
1 Goldfinch 234
2= Greenfinch, Blue Tit 85
4 Blackbird 77
5 Long-tailed tit 73
6 Blackcap 65
7 Brambling 52
8 Chiffchaff 47
9 Siskin 42
10 Great Tit 40
... and NO Starlings!

One more day ...

2011-07-10T17:39:00.013+02:00

Out at early doors, having set three nets beside the D.Stream last night with the help of the "memsahib" and two dogs. Turned out a funny old day.

Net 1 (nearest the entrance) didn't do a thing until 9.am when it presented me with the first juvenile Willow Warbler of the year.

Juvenile Willow Warbler starting PJ moult (female)

Net 2, near base camp and at the junction of the two meadows, got off to the usual good start and then dried up, only to get going with a late flurry around the 10.am mark.

Lesser Whitethroat undergoing PJ moult

Net 3 is across the long grass and, unlike the other two nets, parallel to the stream in front of a bank of low Alders. It warmed up slowly but ended in a great crescendo of warblers and tits - with another Kingfisher thrown in.

Today's 'top dollar' was Net 1 that only collected five birds all morning; a 30 year quest for a Dipper came to an end with a juvenile male, that eventually flew away (after ringing, natch) whirring like a clockwork toy!

The young Dipper, C.c.gularis

Today's scoreboard:
62 for 18 spp (+ 3 r/t)

Kingfisher 1 - a 3rd juv
Dipper 1 - male juv; a first
Wren 1 - juv
Dunnock 3 - PJ juvs
Robin 2 - PJ juvs
Blackbird 3 - juvs
Song Thrush 2 - 5M & juv
Reed Warbler 1 - juv; another first
Les. Whitethroat 1 - PJ juv
Whitethroat 2 (1) - 2x 5M & r/t 5F
Blackcap 9 (1) - 2x 5F, 5 juvs, 2 PJ juvs, r/t 5F
Chiffchaff 13 - 1 ad male old, 8 juvs, 4 PJ juvs [7x=M,5x=F]
Willow Warbler 3 - juvs, all 'ladies'
Lotti 5 (1) - all juvs
Blue Tit 6 - juvs
Great Tit 2 - juvs
Greenfinch 6 - juvs, even sexes
Goldfinch 1 - almost a 1J

Ye olde speckled hen?

Tomorrow is a special day - more about that another time.
[see "Thank you, Bob"; Tuesday July 12]

Lines of showers

2011-07-08T22:21:00.008+02:00

A poor week from a ringing perspective with lines of showers running off Exmoor towards us and on up this side of the Severn Estuary. Most of these have been in the afternoons, with at least 5mm each day (or one inch all told, old money).

This has meant opening one or two 9m (30') nets when I get up around half-five for a couple of hours until breakfast time or waiting for the afternoon's heavy showers to pass, thereby getting a late bird, usually around nine (half an hour before sunset)

On one of these "wet" afternoons I was taking the dog for a walk up to the farmhouse(s) at Egrove when I bumped into the retired NT manager. It turns out we have a common background at Felbrigg through a one-time forester called Kremer. I digress. There is a wonderful couple of stands of Viper's Bugloss along here and that day we were lucky enough to see a Hummingbird Hawk Moth zipping round several of the flower heads before zooming off at very high speed in a northerly (seaward) direction.

Viper's Bugloss Echium vulgare

Well, the week's 5-day, miserable total of 15 new and 10 re-traps was as follows:
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 3 (1)
Coal Tit 1 - a moulting juv
Long-tailed Tit 2 (6)
Blackbird 1 (1)
Blackcap 2 (1)
Robin 1
Dunnock 1
Pied Wagtail 1
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1

Coal Tit - juvenile starting post juvenile moult

Thankfully the coming weekend looks alot calmer and brighter, with just the odd (lighter) shower. And the village fete on Saturday. Umm.

Down the lane, by one of the old mill sites, is this, the biggest Wayfaring Tree I have ever seen. It has a spread of almost 30 feet (9m).

[Excuse the quality - I blame the weather!]

Not one, but two side-by-side

2011-07-03T14:53:00.009+02:00

Managed to inveigle the "part-time assistant" into venturing down to the water meadows for a spot of pole holding last evening before it got dark. Set and furled 3x 40 foot nets ready for this morning's dawn "raid".

I was operational by 5am when the sun was beginning to brighten the place up. A family party of Ravens came up the valley (the coastal cliffs are barely a mile away) heading for the Quantocks. At 5.30, the sun peeped over the hill and a muffled clanking came from the railway sidings as the fire was raked out from a visiting loco for the start of another day. The grass was wet with a heavy dew. A Tufted Duck flew upstream. The Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were stirring, too.

The next round ( the three nets are widely spaced apart) found a net bent in two with the weight of an "obese" male Woodpigeon; my scales shot to the bottom with a wallop and so a 'dash' was entered in the weight column of my note book. Dark smoke started to issue from the Pacific locomotive.

70000 'Britannia' - due to run as a light engine until it's inspection is completed

A Grey Heron called 'frark' as it lifted from the trees, possible annoyed by the incessant piping of the young, fledgling Greenfinches. After processing a bunch of warblers, it was time to return to the "woodpigeon net". Well,well, TWO Kingfishers, side by side, about 4 inches (10 cm) apart in the middle shelf. These birds were both 'birds of the year' (juveniles, age 3 or HY)

Kingfisher 1, bill starting to show 'red' = female

Kingfisher 2, bill all black & smaller bird = unsexed

On the way back to the ringing table (i.e. boot of the car), 2 Grey Wagtails showed excitedly along the stream, and the first Swallow of the day swooped over the wet grass which was beginning to 'buzz' with Meadow Browns and grasshoppers. The next net also held a 'twosome', namely an adult and a juvenile Song Thrush.
By 8.30, I had reached 30 birds, the hiss of steam started to come from the loco and the local Buzzard was on the wing.

No sign of the Little Egret this morning (seen Friday), just a Cormorant sat atop the electricity pylon. Come 9.30, the engineer had enough steam up to blow the engine's whistle and this also signalled the end of the session for me. Generally a quieter pattern had set in, except for the excited 'chatter of the Linnets, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Greenfinches and Yellowhammers. At least two of these (the first and last) ought to make the totals list before too long.

As it was, 37 new birds and (1) retrap:
Woodpigeon 1 ad male
Kingfisher 2 juvs
Blue Tit 1 juv
Great Tit 1 juv
Long-tailed Tit 2 juvs
Chiffchaff 6 - all juvs., 4 males, 2 fem.
Blackcap 11 (1) - 9 juvs, 2 males + 1 r/t fem
Whitethroat 4 - 3 juvs + 1 fem.
Wren 1 adult
Blackbird 2 adults
Song Thrush 2 - 1 ad. + 1 juv
Robin 1 juv
Dunnock 3 adults

DADs left home

2011-06-29T16:23:00.007+02:00

Neighbouring ringer, John, picked up three of my Long-tailed Tits on Sunday that I ringed as 3JJs thirty days earlier. All three were undertaking their full moult by now and the reason for the 'headline' is my current usage of AA rings DAD7nn; I did wonder what John was on about until the penny dropped, when he sent me an email with the same heading! Movement was a mere 2km as the crow flies.

My weekend was fairly eventful with the ringing of a new species for the garden site, namely a 6F Jackdaw. Just recently, in the last couple of days, the local Jackdaws have banded together, about 200+ of them. Just before sunset, they come over the house en masse and land in the sheep field on the other side of the road/river. In flight, every bird is calling (caw-ing?) until they land and then there is just the odd 'chak' sound until they all take off again for the roost (wherever that is - I must suss it out) with more cacophony.

Jackdaw - 6 (ASY) female [Corvus monedula spermologus]

As to the rest of the weekend, the sum total was:
Jackdaw 1
Blue Tit 2 (2)
Blackcap 2 juvs
Blackbird 2
Robin 3 (all 6's)
Dunnock 1
House Sparrow 3 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch (1)

Chaffinch 6 (ASY) male [Fringilla coelebs gengleri]

Today, despite the forecast of increasing wind speeds, I decided it was time I went ringing at my 'new' site on the other side of the river. Not having been there so far, I needed to do some serious gardening before I could erect any nets. Being mid-season, the vegetation was nearly as tall as myself in the areas close to the river and patches of scrub. One 40' net was up by 06:00 and another followed shortly after. The first of the two nets provided most of the birds as the other was susceptible to the increasing wind speed as the sun rose higher in the sky. Eventually, after 18 birds, I packed up and then set about opening another rack a good few hundred metres away. I haven't really inspected the north end of the site but I think I will be able to have three nets there in suitable conditions (it's in a different 1km square)

So the end result was:
Blue Tit 1 (juv)
Chiffchaff 7 (all juvs)
Blackcap 4 (1 female with BP)
Lesser Whitethroat 1 (female with BP)
Whitethroat 1 (juv)
Robin 1 (6 female)
Dunnock 2 (juvs)
Greenfinch 1 (2CY male)

I'll have to think about getting up at 04:00 again very soon for a second visit!

Summer ain't here yet

2011-06-24T20:53:00.008+02:00

Bit of a funny old week - if the sun came out, the wind tried to follow; if the sun went in, the rain tried its damndest to follow. The birdies didn't know what to do. I don't think I did either. One thing, it was too risky to go down to the water meadow and see what I could catch; some of these showers were really heavy.

Got up nice and early on Monday to see if dawn patrols were any better. Just got the first net up when I caught a brown long-eared bat. Shouldn't have let it chew four "hole extensions" in the 30 foot! Because of the weather's unpredictability, I have operated with a 30 foot or a 40 foot or both for the rest of the week. Monday did eventually divvy up 11 new birds; the odd sessions thereafter found another 17 new birds in the book. Retraps came to 11, mainly young birds recaught a week after they received their 'bling' from me.

Grand total (Mon-Fri):
Collared Dove 1
Blue Tit 10 (2)
Great Tit 3 (1)
Long-tailed Tit (4)
Blackcap 6
Blackbird 5 (2)
Robin (1)
Dunnock (1)
Pied Wagtail 1
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 1

This young PIEWA was traipsing around after its father (presumed) on the back lawn and was being fed tiny flies, spiders and lacewings. My cat appeared on the scene and caused it to abandon lunch and score a direct hit on the 30 foot, second shelf. The cat came in for some ready packaged lunch and stayed for the afternoon in the easy chair.

Many of these young BLUTI have not been out of the nest long. The season here has been a protracted one with fledging spread over three or more weeks. The above shot shows the underwing and the exposed wing bones devoid of feathering for a little while longer. Eventually, usually starting in mid July, these young tits 'of all ages' (from 6 to 10 weeks) will start a body moult where the areas that currently are un-feathered will gain a full insulating covering.

Leaving aside the Blue Tits, the past 5 days have been epitomised by juvenile BLACA and more adult BLABI, this time the turn of the ladies.

Denise, meanwhile, has been inundated with baby SISKI ten miles west of here.

The only sign of summer is the increase in tourist traffic; to that end, a rather special loco is working the line three days a week but will be gone before the schools break up. 'Tornado', a full size replica of the LNER east coast line Pacifics, all of which were scapped!!!

A few more

2011-06-19T18:24:00.003+02:00

Another wet and windy week gone past but a few more birds caught and ringed nevertheless. 26 birds again with 16 new and the rest re-captured.
Another young Robin heralded the second broods now becoming more independent and a retrapped male had a primary moult score of 14 and very little tail left.

Juvenile Robin, second brood, June 2011

A pleasant surprise was two juvenile Chaffinches, one of each sex (on wing length), the first of the year.

Juvenile Great Tit, main brood, June 2011

A better week for juveniles at >70% of the catch; this week's takings -
Blue Tit 5 (2)
Great Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit (5)
Blackcap 1
Blackbird 4 (2)
Robin 2 (1)
Chaffinch 2
Greenfinch (1)

Whilst walking the dog, I bumped into one of the millionaire land-owners hereabouts, and he kindly suggested that I might ring in one of his fields during the summer months. This would suit me fine as it's only a 5 minute walk away. During the winter this long field beside the Donniford Stream - Kingfishers!! - is grazed by horses as their pastures elsewhere become clemmed. The fields round here either contain sheep or horses so there are very few 'proper meadows' like this one.

Meadow at Egrove, June

There are several suitable places, all exposed to the wind, but sufficient for me to be able to choose a sheltered spot or two. Currently it is heaving with Whitethroats, one of my favourite target species.

The Donniford Stream, June.

Thirdly, I now have to get to grips with "Windows 7 Pro", and ultimately install IPMR and then transfer all my files over to the new computer. My X20 has given me good service over the last seven years and I have grown fond of "Windows XP". The number of operating systems I have had to learn since 1966 is getting beyond a joke and I now stay as far away as I can from the intricacies of modern computing.

Seeing a third summer Herring Gull taking on a full adult Herring Gull on our roof reminds me that the Herring Gulls on the factory roof next-door-but-one have raised two chicks; they must have hatched on Wednesday or Thursday when we had showers as this is the first time we've seen them and they look to be about 3-4 days old (seen from our landing window).

Half way to Paradise

2011-06-16T20:52:00.004+02:00

At least the effort of waiting to ring a few finches until after the worst of the snow had receeded last winter has shown some reward.

Today, I had a recovery for a 2CY male Brambling that I ringed on 17th January this year, here in West Somerset. Three months (91 days) later it was controlled the other side of the Kiel Canal in Schleswig-Holstein at a place called Itzehoe. It was re-ringed for whatever reason with a new Helgoland ring [DEW Wilhelmshaven 82091710]. It had moved 918 km ENE towards its eventual breeding grounds, most likely somewhere in a montane birch forest of northern Fenno-Scandinavia or a riverine willow zone in western Siberia.

A good start for the significant recoveries file with a 'hit rate' for the species of 2%. I just wonder what next winter will bring.

Some merit

2011-06-13T10:37:00.009+02:00

Funny old week with the weather so changeable even it didn't know what it was doing from one moment to the next. Yesterday (Sunday) was different, with a howling gale and steady rain night and day ("wet stuff" amounted to 18mm).

A few birds were caught, by 'a few' I mean 26, of which 16 were new. The adults versus juvs turned out to be 50/50, so we are not yet into the hatch-year mega-season. [Then I would expect around 80% juveniles in any one session]

This week's on/off effort produced:-

Blue Tit 4, only 1 juv
GreatTit 3, all juvs, all in the net together
Long-tailed Tit (5), originally ringed 2 weeks earlier when the had shorter wing lengths
Blackcap 1, a juvenile, the 1st this year (above)
Wren 1, another ad. male
Blackbird 2 (2), 2 new juveniles plus 2 males
Robin 1, a juv
Dunnock 1 (1), both ad. males
Goldfinch 1 (2), getting difficult to sort into 2CY or older
Siskin 2, a pair at the nyger feeders (below)

On the nyger theme, somebody needs to import or make the finch socks that they use in the US of A; I think they might prove to work better than our current 2 types of tube feeders.

That one's for the train buffs out there. This weekend a "diesel gala" was held on the West Somerset and this 'Warship class 42', manifestly sporting battleship grey (actually, the undercoat, as it's undergoing a BR livery re-paint), was photographed entering Williton station with the signalman taking the token. "Onslaught" was built at Swindon in 1961 and is one of two survivors, having been de-commisioned in 1972 in favour of the heavier and more powerful 'Western class 52s'. An example of the latter, D1010 "Western Campaigner", is based at the DEPG depot at Williton but is badged up as D1035 "Western Yeoman".

Rubbish, but ...

2011-06-05T17:46:00.009+02:00

Rubbish just about sums it up! Lousy week's ringing, thanks to clear skies, northerly winds and, today, murk and a stiff north-easterly. Think I'll have a stiff one myself.

"Wot we got" - 11 new & 15 r/t

Goldcrest (1) r/t male from March
Blue Tit 1 (1); a new juv
Great Tit 2 (1); all juvs
Long-tailed Tit 1 (2); all juvs
Chiffchaff (1) the 5M
Wren (1) the resident male - again
Blackbird 3 (3); new juvs & retrap adult nesters
Robin 1, another juv
Dunnock 1 (2) a juv & the orchard pair
House Sparrow 1, a fem with BP
Chaffinch (1) nesting female from March
Goldfinch (2); an M & a F from Jan
Bullfinch 1, a 'full on' male

There's still alot of birds either on eggs or tending young, either for the first time or for the second. After all, it's only the first week in June; time yet for many more youngsters to take to the wing. The top ranking off-spring caught so far have been the Robins, Blackbirds and, in the lead, the "bumbarrels" or "feather-pokes" [Long-tailed Tits].

One of these latter juvvies has five outer primaries pure white but only on its right wing.
(See poor photo below)

There was some good news from Ed, my 'C' ringer, who is undertaking one of my long-running Constant Effort Sites back in Bedfordshire. He caught Blackcap N344841, which I originally ringed as a 2CY male in mid-June 2004, 2580 days prior to this last capture. It was recaptured in '06, twice in '08 in different places, and then in '09. At just shy of 7 years (it will be 8 years old by now), it is the oldest Blackcap in the group's 20+ years existence.

Tits, tits, tits, tits and ...

2011-05-27T22:50:00.010+02:00

A couple of evenings this week I've been able to open 70' of net in the orchard part of the garden. It has been a bit of a Long-tailed Tit fledging period.

So far I have ringed broods of 8, 8, 9, 6 & 8, all with at least two, if not three, adults. I have also ringed the first free-flying juvenile Blue Tit; I haven't yet found out which neighbours have boxes that are used regularly.

Bag of Long-tailed Tits

Handful of (young) Long-tailed Tits

Two site ringing ticks broke up the proceedings - first an adult male Jay (also a garden tick)

... I did let it go ... eventually!

and shortly after, a Mistle Thrush, a species I've not done for a while. This one was a 2CY female with a BP4. They nest over the road and take possesion of our large Holly tree in the autumn come berry time.

Apols for the poor quality - camera on wrong setting. Nice of the Weigela, though!

Forecast is for wind and rain over the weekend. Tonight was only feasible because the wind was NW/NNW and we are sheltered by a belt of trees.

Two-night's tally came to 39 and 9 "passes":-
Jay 1
Blue Tit 2 (1)
L-T Tit 27 (5) + 1 control
Blackbird 6 (1)
Mistle Thrush 1
Robin 2
House Sparrow (1)

Bucks fizz

2011-05-26T21:33:00.008+02:00

Up early this morning to ring at Edgcott. This time we had an electronic key that works! [Last time we tried to enter the farm, (at 5am) the key was duff, and we had to abort]. Hopeful as ever, despite the windy and squally conditions. Had to be somewhere that we could avoid the worst of the weather.

The heavy showers kept off and the wind was not too much of a problem. Having said that, we packed up at the right time - before the showers became more frequent and heavier.

Certain "birds in the net" were obvious for their absence; tits, Blackcap and Bullfinch, for instance.

We only caught three juvenile birds; two juvenile, female Blackbirds, and this wee fella', a Common Whitethroat that must have left the nest a week or so ago.

Two other species were new for us this season, namely Lesser Whitethroat (facing right) and Garden Warbler (facing left).

Going by the eyes and tails, the Lessers were both 2CY males as they had prominent cloacas. The Garden was a female with an immaculate and text book brood patch, that had the edges "stitched".

As we've said before, the wood is normally wet underfoot and is a mere 'stripling' at 15 years of age. As can be seen below, it sits in the flat lands at the head of the River Ray, currently a large area of conservation input stretching down to the outskirts of Oxford.

Todays final tally was 26 new birds in 4 hours and 1 re-trap:
Blue Tit 1 male
Chiffchaff 3 males
Willow Warbler 5 males
Garden Warbler 1
Lesser Whitethroat 2
Whitethroat 5; 3 males + female 'in egg' + juv
Blackbird 5
Robin 1
Dunnock 2 (1)
Chaffinch 1

Dave (him at the wheel of the AVDC vehicle below) ringed the Tawny Owl chicks 3 weeks ago; the other raptors will not be ready for another 3 weeks (approx). Other birds around in the 'drizzle' were - Woodcock, Reed Bunting, Jackdaw (goes with the sheep), Bullfinch, Blackcap, Magpie and Woodpigeon. A small list, but anticipated what with the weather conditions generally (and us not keen on stomping through the whole 30 acres and leaving the nets open). We aiming to go in "mob handed" next time, towards the end of next month. By July, the site will have a new owner but our "rights" are being protected.

Something new

2011-05-20T08:26:00.005+02:00

It seems that evenings are proving to be best for ringing in the garden at present. It also turned up a new species for the ringing list, now moved on to 26 after 4 months.

Almost daily, one of a pair of Pied Wagtail can be seen checking out the moss on the roof tiles and gutters for insects. Yesterday, the female of the pair paid a visit to the short grass and "jumped" into one of the nets on leaving.

A Chiffchaff continues to sing from the tall (40') Ash trees at the rear of the property. I had all but given up anu hope of catching it - sound lures being out of the question during the breeding season. However, a 'young' 5M [2CY male] approached the orchard and must have called and drawn the attention of the resident male because I extracted both birds just 3-4 feet apart. The singing bird headed straight back to its song perch on release, whereas the 'youngster' headed off towards the stream.

13 birds trapped, as follows :
Blue Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit 5 - another part-brood & adult male
Chiffchaff 2
Blackbird 1 (1)
House Sparrow 1
Pied Wagtail
Greenfinch 1 - a 5 female in egg.

Today has dawned with full sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. So it's time to get on with a couple of jobs and not open the nets until tea-time. I don't hold out much hope though, as the forecast is for the winds to go westerly and around the 20 mph mark. That's the disadvantage of being so close to the coast in this part of the country.

The red, white & blue (black)

2011-05-18T10:12:00.011+02:00

A couple of days when the weather wasn't too bad meant a few more birds ringed.

The major event was the capture and ringing of a family party of Long-tailed Tits, eight youngsters and two males, the smaller of which I presumed to be "the helper".

Red eye ring indicating juv & white underside but no blue, just a black & white tail, with lots of chocolate round the edges

Red nape indicating male sex, lots of white here & there with a faint bluish hue to the upper feathers

Two more relative surprises were in store - these took the road of the unexpected. First up was a 6Male [>2CY] Great Spotted Woodpecker that was beginning to look a little the worse for wear, especially the flight feathers, and a smart 5M [2CY] Bullfinch. The GSW, in contrast to the 'Bully', was extremely noisy, calling the attention of the local stray (cat), and I managed not to let it drill the back of my hand as they often do.

Proper red breast with an off-white (gray) wing bar and a steely blue hue to the tail feathers in particular

The tally was 24 new birds and (5) re-captures
Gt. Spot 1
Goldcrest (1), a February bird
Gt. Tit 1
L-T Tit 9 (1)
Blackbird 3
Robin 3 (2)
Dunnock 1 (1)
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 2
Siskin 2
Bullfinch 1

The forecast is for wind and some of that precious commodity, RAIN!!!

Evening all

2011-05-12T12:45:00.000+02:00

The sun and the wind and the showers have persisted. A different tack was called for and it came in the form of calmer winds at the end of the day, or even a slight shift so that the wind came from the north where we are somewhat sheltered by 40' (13m) trees.

The beginning of this week has turned up a small but significant group of birds. The 2CY female Great Spot has been back again, this time in the net after feeding.

GRSWO - 2CY female with old greater coverts and white tips to the primaries

The fully adult Blue Tit pair have been foraging in the apples for a while now and both were caught, separately, on Tuesday. It should not be long before they bring their new offspring to the orchard.

Apart from re-trapping one of the four young Robins, a noisy, and probably unsure, >3CY male was caught and ringed; the last "resident" male was trapped on 14th February. The pair with the fledged young at the bottom of the garden have taken them off in the opposite direction to the one the interloper came and left.

ROBIN - adult male, the "interloper" 958

SISKIN - 2CY female

Three Siskins were caught over three evenings but the most pleasure was had when four 1J (just fledged) Goldfinches turned up close together in a net with one of the parents singing/calling madly by the end of the net. They most likely bred in the front hedge where there is also a second pair.

EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH - age class 1J

11 new and 4 r/t of 7 species:
Gt. Spot. W-pecker (1)
Blue Tit (2)
Robin 1 (1)
House Sparrow 1 (incubating female)
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 5
Siskin 3

Sun, wind & rain

2011-05-09T12:10:00.004+02:00

Last week saw a progression of all three across this part of the county of Somerset.
First it was sunshine wall to wall and from first light. Then the winds started to pick up and veered from NE to SE. As they did so, the cloud began to increase and then the thundery showers began, with the winds now at F5 (or gusting 30 mph).

That makes ringing almost impossible in the garden. However, I did manage a few birds, more by accident than with any real endeavour (good old Morse!). Monday last was the only day that ringing took place and I succeeded in catchin 6 and ringing 5. Later in the week, i was lucky enough to 'pick up' a fleshly fledged Dunnock and another of those young Blackbirds that were provoked into fledging last week by a cat [presumably the stray that looks like a patchwork quilt].

Collared Dove 1
Blackbird 3
Robin (3)
Dunnock 1
House Sparrow 1
Greenfinch 1

After 5 weeks without any rain, we have now had 25mm (1 inch) in 48 hours and the temperatures have fallen back to 9C (48F) at night and to 17C (63F) by day, which is more normal for the time of year. The blossom has gone, the trees are in fresh leaf and the grass is growing like the clappers.

The orchard, Fairmead, in early May

It looks as if I shall have to wait until Thursday before I get a weather window for opening the nets again.

All quiet

2011-05-01T17:19:00.005+02:00

This last week has been characterised by moderate winds from the north-east, warm daytime temps. and many sunny days and nippy nights. As the week progressed it got gloomier but still no rain to freshen things up. Definitely not ringing weather. Just as well as I was busy away from home. I did, however, hope to get some ringing done in a Bucks wood - but the electronic key would not open the gates.

As it is, I got in a couple of hours this morning at dawn. Fortuitous really, as the weather turned quite stormy later (wind and dark clouds, no rain - yet!). Not much to report barring I re-caught all four Robin chicks and their dad. The youngsters are much bigger although still not fully grown, with wing lengths 10mm greater than last week. All have lost their "chubbyness" but maintain a reasonable weight. It looks like 2 males and 2 females going by their sizes.

I also caught (by hand) a 1J Blackbird after a cat provoked early fledging, this bird having decided to come into our garden from the dividing hedge while the rest of 'his' siblings went the other way. Our young Lakeland Terrier turned 'pointer', kindly cornering it for me.

Rubbish totals:
Collared Dove 1 ad fem
Willow Warbler 1 ad fem (above)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 1 (1)
Robin (5)
Goldfinch 1 ad fem

Nowt

2011-04-25T19:56:00.003+02:00

Gave up and furled after a female Sparr hit the '20' and wriggled free before I could get on her. No other birds "caught". As I will be away for the next few days, no garden ringing until the week-end. The wind's all wrong and NE, so it's no great worry. Stay tuned.

5 - 1

2011-04-22T17:15:00.007+02:00

No, not the Canaries vs Tractor Boys result, but the number of new birds ringed and the number of new species for the site. Although an Ipswich supporter (my mother's family were rooted in Suffolk, even if they started off somewhere in Norfolk 'round Wymondham), I wish Norwich well in their aspiration to return to the Premiership (even if they ran all over us).

In the pre-dawn, came the newbie - a Sedge Warbler. Obviously fresh in, it carried little weight (9.8g), fat (0) or muscle (1-2). Also caught in the gloamin', at the other end of the orchard, the third youngster from the brood of Redbreasts in the bottom hedge. Shortly therafter, a 2CY male Blackcap and then a run of re-traps. Much later came a Goldfinch and then, to finish, the first Song Thrush in three months.

Father Robin followed soon after his offspring, the Coati and Blabi waited until breakfast, with both Blueies, a pair of 6's, busy elsewhere until elevenses.
Blue Tit (2)
Coal Tit (1)
blackcap 1
Sedge Warbler 1
Blackbird (1)
Song Thrush 1
Robin 1 (1)
Goldfinch 1

That's all folks; now to finish off those Hot Cross Buns!

They're off!

2011-04-20T21:53:00.009+02:00

At first light, it was in the net along the hedge, up from where they were nesting. No.1 fledged Robin of the year. Later in the day, I caught another, which was even smaller than the first. Another pair are still feeding young in the nest, away from the netting area, but it won't be long before they're off, too. In between feeding his scattered brood, the male finds time to defend his territory with song.

Another phenomenon is the number of new Blackbirds already ringed this month, twelve. In the previous three months, I caught and ringed 24. The majority are males and some 2CY birds are looking the worse for wear, much as this one below, where the tail feathers have broken off along the growth bars. At some stage in its young life, it (he) must have missed a meal or two.

Another female Blackcap was seduced into the garden by the singing male in the 'Robin hedge' at the bottom of the garden.

Blue Tit 1
Willow Warbler 2
Blackcap 2
Blackbird 4
Robin 2 (2) - the r/ts were both of our territorial males
Dunnock (1)
Goldfinch 1

Not so perfect ringing weather as you might think. The skies are blue with just a hint of high cloud at times, the temperature ranges from 1C at dawn to 22C in mid-afternoon, the winds are light but predominately from the north-east - which suits Arctic Terns and House Martins ... but I don't have a step-ladder big enough to flygg them!

Away day

2011-04-18T18:13:00.014+02:00

Decided to forego ringing in favour of a day out. Took ourselves off to Brean Down with the dogs. The weather was dull at first, becoming hazy later during the morning.

By the time we left (about sidereal noon) the temperature had reached 20C.

That's "Weston-super-Mud" in the background!

There were plenty of summer migrants about; there must have been in excess of 100 male/singing Willow Warblers. Close behind on Number 2 was Whitethroat. Conditions have been favourable in the last couple of days for migrants to cross the Channel and they have pored in!

Common Whitethroat (c) Edward D Green

A fair few Chiffchaffs and plenty of Meadow Pipits were seen/heard and several pairs of Linnet gave Jen a year tick. All the while we walked the two kilometres along the lower (ha, ha) path, Herring and Lesser Black-back Gulls glided into the bay towards the River Axe, making full use of the updraughts. A year tick for me was one of my favourite birds, the House Martin, 'prritting' above the gulls.

The Bluebells were coming out and will be at their best next week-end (Easter) but the Cowslips (below) were in full bloom, often surrounded by violets.

After watching two Tree Pipits and three spanking male Stonechats, we arrived at the fort, which has an interesting history.

This was built in the middle of the 19th century, along with three others [Steep Holm, Flat Holm & one on the Welsh coast], to defend the Bristol Channel against invasion by the French. On the return walk, we only heard one of the three Grasshopper Warblers that we had picked up on the way out to the fort. As much as we stared at the vegetation (bramble, naturally)....

There was a secretive one in here, honest.

... we could not clap eyes on any of these little buggers, partly because of the steep terrain that made viewing low vegetation difficult.

Grasshopper Warbler (c) Edward D Green

We finished off our 2 hour walk with a nice mug of coffee and a lump of coffee and walnut cake at the National Trust cafe.

Some surprises

2011-04-16T15:07:00.003+02:00

A slow, but steady, week so far. We were promised better winds but the light southerlies did not materialise, just a very light and variable breeze yesterday. Even today, when we were promised southerlies, the wind is in the north-west, off the sea.

I did manage a few birds, though, but not as many as last week. However, a couple of surprises were in store.

The Goldcrests are either nesting in our one, remaining conifer, or the one on the other side of the road junction. This female was the first of these for a month.

The Siskins also returned after a month's absence; I caught 2 of 2 Friday and 1 of 2 on Saturday (today). The latter was a breeding female with an engorged and wrinkly belly. Her partner stayed calling from above the net.

Total catch - 38 birds. The 'King Harrys' still dominate the catches with every third new bird another Goldfinch.
Goldcrest 1 female with BP
Blue Tit (1)
Great Tit (1)
Willow Warbler 3 - all females
Blackcap 2 - 1 of each
Wren (1)
Blackbird 6 (3) - a new '6 male' looked as if he was working hard (see below)
Robin (3) - 2 brooding females
House Sparrow 1
Goldfinch 12 (1) - mainly migrants carrying fat
Siskin 3

There was a C.Whitethroat singing loudly this morning two doors away! And the male Sparrowhawk came straight down the middle of the net lane and over my head later.

Some more ringing

2011-04-10T13:30:00.001+02:00

Just the weekend this week. I returned from holiday to bright, warm sunshine and a good breeze. Still, it didn't stop me catching a few birds, most of them early on in the day. I was hoping to catch a few Phylloscs but the weather was too fair. Apparently, last Saturday was the big day hereabouts; neighbour John caught 11 new Chiffs and 34 Willies! I did manage a couple of P.trochilus though

The buds and blossom on the apples are developing fast, so it was no wonder that I trapped a pair of Budfinches.

Early doors on Saturday, I trapped my fattest yet, 2CY, male Blackcap with a weight of 21.6g [ESF 40, M2]; only one female 'browncap' was caught.

So, I ended up with 47 birds as follows:
Blue Tit 1 (3)
Great Tit 2
Willow Warbler 2
Blackcap 7 - mostly 2CY males
Wren (1)
Blackbird 2 (2)
Robin 1 (2)
House Sparrow 2
Chaffinch 2
Greenfinch 4 (3)
Goldfinch 10 (1)
Bullfinch 2

It is very useful being able to ring in our good-sized garden (old part of the orchard). Between coffees, I need just 12 minutes to unfurl all 5 nets (170' or 51m). What's more, I can keep an eye on them from my study.
I notice that the Sycamore is in full leaf, even if a bit limp yet, and the Alder and Elm have a 'green flush', while the Ash is coming into flower. The Speckled Woods are doing their dance in the dappled sunshine beneath the apple trees, which the hoverflies are busy pollinating.

Some hols

2011-04-08T18:47:00.012+02:00

I have been away in NW Norfolk for the last week, ostensibly to bring the caravan back. I did manage some bird-watching - by taking the dog for a walk mornings and evenings around the Coastal Park - and clocked up over 70 species. A brief ringing session on the Sunday with Trevor Girling produced just 2 birds, a Chiff and a Wren.

I did manage to find the first Ring Ouzel early one morning (Sat 2nd), but missed the Gropper found by David Roche on the 5th.

Jenny has had a caravan here for many years and it was sad to leave and become just a "tourist pitch".

It was handy for the beach, dog walks and birding, not forgetting Hunstanton.

We were up there one day during high tide and the Turnstones, about 40 of them, were all feeding on the grass beside the road.

Whilst there, we had the obligatory dinner dates with old family friends, where the wine flowed. Next door is "Sandies", the local pub. Sandie was born in Luton Hoo and worked on the caravan site before taking over the pub.

The coastal park and the inner sea wall was were Jen and I first went for a walk after we had known each other for about a month (on the internet). We will always think of PFG, pink-footed geese, when remembering the area since the fields hold many after dusk; in fact, there were 250 there this week and they might remain for another 6-7 weeks yet before the last migrate north.

One historic event was about to happen; the flood siren was disconnected and siren itself was due to be 'recycled' and the post removed.

Another milestone - but will the new electronic notice boards that replace it be effective? Will everybody ensconced in their 'vans/chalets be aware of the notice on the inner sea-wall if they don't venture out?

200 up

2011-03-31T17:12:00.008+02:00

... in eleven weeks and now is the time for a break from ringing for a few days. That's my girl! The 200th Goldfinch (this year) appeared in the last net as I was taking them in before a short holiday. Just as well you have to open a furled net to gather it up into the bag! A record shot of X105900 below.

A reasonable couple of days this week with 25, now 26, new birds ringed and 10 re-traps.
Blue Tit 2 (1)
Great Tit 1
Chiffchaff 4
Willow Warbler 3
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Robin (2)
Dunnock 1 (1)
House Sparrow 2
Chaffinch 1 (1)
Greenfinch 3 (1) + 1 local control
Goldfinch 7 (2)
Siskin 1

Two decent sightings this week - a Peg high-over west from the garden (more usual to see it on the south side of the village) and a Kingfisher carrying a fish away from the Doniford Stream, presumably to "the wife or kids" somewhere upstream.

The first non-wintering Chiff was caught on the 13th, the first non-wintering Blackcap (see below) was caught on the 22nd (our female is still present), and the first Willow Warbler on the 27th.

I positively expect the garden to have changed appearance when I get back - the daffs and primroses are at their best now and the blossom on the fruit trees is only just emerging. Here's to some more beautiful sunrises and equally fortuitous catches in the early morning stillness.

Sunrise over the Quantocks yesterday.

Evens

2011-03-28T19:19:00.005+02:00

A day with a good deal of retraps today, and 14 birds all told. Half were retraps, something I'm not used to as yet.

Blue Tit (1)
Chiff 1
Willow Warbler 2, both males
Robin (2)
Wren (1)
Chaffinch 1 (1)
Goldfinch 3 (2)

This was the first recapture of the tit, the 2 Robins were ringed on the first day, both having been caught 8 times now (this year). The male of the pair of Chaffinches was first ringed 70 days ago and the cock Wren not until the end of January, since when I have recaught him twice in a week.

The apple trees are beginning to blossom and turn light green. That should help disguise the nets!

Follow me on Twitter - @cardewellis - no, I can spell; it's a pun!

One of the Goldfinches (the latest, no.196) was carrying alot of fat [ESF 45]; it weighed 21.2 grams and made straight for the feeders on release. Obviously still on its travels.
I've told Phil it's on it's way. [310 km N] Ever the optimist!

Some migrants

2011-03-27T09:21:00.012+02:00

Rubbish pic of male Willow Warbler caught first thing on Sunday.

A bitty week when I have had other commitments. This didn't really affect the ringing as there was little movement of the "target species" - i.e. the birds that come through the garden. I don't think I've much chance of catching Linnet, Sand Martin, Meadow Pipit or Wheatear in the orchard, all of which are pushing through the area at the moment.

Another new species for the garden - 5M/2CY Bullfinch.

A second Willy followed soon after the first. A male Blackcap on passage was trapped on Tuesday and a new female on Sunday; the "winter resident" female was re=trapped on Friday. All of these migrants were in good condition (fat & muscle scores).

The 38 birds ringed this week (and 10 re-traps)were:
Great Tit 2 (1)
Chiffchaff 1
Willow Warbler 2
Blackcap 2 (1)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 3
Robin (1)
Dunnock (1)
House Sparrow 1 (2)
Chaffinch 1 + 1 new fem. with 'scaly leg' not ringed (2nd this year)
Brambling 3
Greenfinch 8 (3)
Goldfinch 14
Bullfinch 1

And for the railway buffs, a shot I took today of the oldest surviving GWR loco in private ownership [Cotswold Steam Group]. The Churchward designed 2-8-0 No.2807 emerged from the Swindon works in 1905 and had a working life of 58 years.

Bridgewater Bay NNR

2011-03-26T14:03:00.006+01:00

A walk with the Somerset OS led by Jeff Hazell (ex Londoner) in murky conditions turned out OK and the company was terrific; about a dozen of us, from beginners to old hands. I took my dog along as she is very "clingy" at the moment (in the last week of her season).

High tide was at 11:10 and now subsided after the equinoxial high to a moderate 8.7 metres.

Birds seen (Wall Common): Little Grebe, Cormorant, Little Egret (5 or more), Grey Heron, Mute Swan (pair nesting), Brent Goose (15, 3 dark-bellied), Shelduck (100+), Mallard, Buzzard, Red-legged Partridge, Pheasant, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, Knot, Dunlin, Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone, Lesser Black-back Gull, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Skylark (masses singing), Sand Martin (several parties through), Meadow Pipit (again a fair few), Pied and White Wagtail (3 of the latter), Dunnock, Wheatear (smart male), Blackbird, Chiffchaff (3 singers), Great Tit, Magpie, Crow, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Linnet, Reed Bunting. I also saw a Yellowhammer, my first for the year, just before I arrived at the rendez-vous (they all seem to bugger off from us here in winter).

500

2011-03-22T20:10:00.003+01:00

It almost passed me by, the 500th new bird at Fairmead. The ring was given to a 5F Brambling at 5.30 pm on Monday 21st. This intermediate target was achieved in 69 days - and I've not been able to ring all day every day. At present, it's about 8 new birds a day, with Goldfinches approaching the 200 mark.

Some Solace at the Equinox

2011-03-20T14:17:00.000+01:00

A better week brought about by better weather and some welcome sunshine - for much of the time! The best day in the garden was today, Sunday.

The "semi-resident" female Blackcap spent much of each morning feeding away in the Camellia, now in full bloom (see last week's blog entry); this pissed off the pair of Robins and the result was a draw.

I played about with the nets and the feeders, trying to find the optimum layout in the orchard. Ever hamstrung by the badly cared for and mis-shaped apple trees (nobody thought of reducing the top growth), there are now 4 nets instead of the 2 that worked well when I was able to ground feed the Bramblings and Chaffinches.

The highlights were a male Goldcrest, a second straight forward collybita Chiff (most likely the one that sings from the trees in Union Lane, 5 doors away), a couple of moving Siskins and a 5M Brambling with a very low weight, fat and muscle score that must be on the move, too.

Wing detail of said 2CY Bramblefinch.

Here then is the list of the 16 species handled over the last seven days:
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 3 (1)
Great Tit 2
Coal Tit 1 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 3 (1)
Chiffchaff 3 **see below**
Blackcap (1)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 1 (2)
Robin (2) - nesters from other gardens
Dunnock (1)
House Sparrow 3
Chaffinch 1
Brambling 1
Greenfinch 6 (2) + 2 local movers (2km)
King Harry's 12 (5)
Siskin 2

***Stop Press*** Have just caught second Chiff, this one with a wing of 66m, [e6,wp4/5,2=8] with a weight of 13.3g, fat 35, muscle 2; has to be another abietinus.

This weekend is the Spring Gala of the WSR (West Somerset Railway). Just a couple of pics from yesterday.

SR 30777 "Sir Lamiel" [4-6-0 King Alfred class] tender first, passing cleared signal for Williton down platform.

'Brit' 70000 [4-6-2 West Country Pacific] starting up the incline from Williton station to Stogumber. Almost the same view from our bedroom.

Williton station in the early morning sun.
Notice the newly refurbished footbridge ex Trowbridge that was returned and lifted into position by the contractors, TEMA, on Wednesday 16th. Not much ringing done that day. Just need to fit the wooden steps and find £20K for the roof and lighting!

Some movement

2011-03-13T22:15:00.009+01:00

Firstly it was the wind in the NE that put a stop to a decent catch, then it swung SW and upped a gear. If it hadn't been for the wind, the grey skies with fleeting sunshine and the odd passing shower might have produced something ringable.

The latter half of the week saw me back in Bedford on family business, before moving on to Aylesbury. We had arranged an early spring ringing session in the 15 year-old wood we are looking at. The skies were clear, the sun beamed down, the wind got up and we were dead in the water. All we had for our troubles were 2 male Goldcrests.

It wasn't all bad as we saw a Woodcock fleeing from one net, 3 Jays "laughing up their sleeves/axillaries", a Tawny keeping a box warm, various tits defending clusters of boxes and, up with the Kites, Sky Larks singing their little hearts out in the blue skies, out performing the 'hiss' of a "SqueasyJet". Two early starts and well over 400 miles driven in 36 hours. Almost home, I saw an adult male Hen Harrier flying alongside (not quite) the car as I crossed "the levels". I slept soundly last night.

Back home for the whole of the last day of the week, and with the day starting grey and damp with a promise of a clearance - it was 'nets up' sharpish. Shortly thereafter the sound of a Chiffchaff singing in the early sun along Union Lane at the back of us perked me up. Then, behold, one in the net. This individual's characteristics of long wing, 2=7, black-black legs, full colouration and minimal abrasion puts it within the realms of abietinus. Overall it turned out to be the best day of the week.

Now a few mundane images of mundane birds that turned up this week.

Having had the nets up for a shorter time, the week's total was up slightly on the previous two. 19 birds ringed and 11 species handled as under.
Blue Tit 1
Coal Tit 1 - first since mid-Jan
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 1 (new)
Blackbird 1 (1)
Robin (2)
House Sparrow 6, after a 6-week gap
Chaffinch 2
Brambling 1 (& a 2nd male avoiding the nets today)
Greenfinch 3
Goldfinch 3
Nine weeks in and I'm almost at the 500 'new birds' mark.

Other signs of spring included several bumblebees, Brimstone butties, primroses and the Camellia in full flower now.

No sign of tadpoles hatching yet; perhaps another week?

Some signs of spring

2011-03-07T11:03:00.007+01:00

These two "luvlies" are billing and cooing on our chimney every morning. They are just one of the four or five pairs hanging around the small industrial estate between us and the railway. It can get quite noisy when they are joined by one of two pairs of Collared Doves on the electric wires, a pair of Jackdaws and the nazal twang of the Greenfinches. It is all part of the celebration of spring which cannot be far away now. [First Bluebell in the garden this morning]

Ringing has been very slow with the north-east wind blowing the nets and keeping the "feels like" temperatures close to freezing. This is completely different in a friends garden which is on a west facing slope, protected from the current wind and also benefitting from the sunshine more than we do.

The dominant species this week was Greenfinch; a male and female 'second years' from this week are in the photos above. Just 13 birds ringed but a total of 10 species handled over the seven days.
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 1 (1)
Robin (4)
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Brambling 1
Greenfinch 6
Goldfinch 1
Siskin 2

If you multiplied these totals by 10, you would be close to the numbers of bird ringed by my two nearest ringing neighbours. C'est la vie. Welcome to West Somerset! (Thanks, Denise).

And, finally, down the lane at the back of us, the Rooks are extremely busy refurbishing last years nests and building new; 12 pairs/occupied nests counted this morning.

Not every thing is spring-like yet. The Hazel catkins are fully elongated but the small red female flowers have not yet burst; the same goes for the Alders. There were 7 Redwings on the (now unoccupied) sheep field by the Doniford Stream and I also picked up a Little Egret, a Gt. Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Bullfinch and a Buzzard during my short walk with the dog. There are still some Bramblings around, with a loose flock of 9 flying over to roost.

Some changes

2011-02-27T12:55:00.008+01:00

This week has been 'garden week' with major changes to the ringing site.

Before

Nearly down

Garden designer doing some pondering

With the two conifers out of the way, I was able to plant 10 apples, a cherry and a pear in the rest of the orchard to compliment the existing trees and extend the cover for the nets. Of course, I had to try out potential future layouts, just to make sure. All this kept the actual ringing (well, nets up and ready) to a minimum this week.

To prove it, albeit at a slack time of year, here are the totals:
Sparrowhawk 1 (new)
Blue Tit 3
Wren (1)
Blackbird 5
Robin (2)
Dunnock 1 (2)
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 1
That makes 14 new and 5 retraps, covering 10 species; the Sparr now takes us to 21 spp. since mid-Jan. Now just need a few migrants to up the totals.

Spring can't be that far away - as the above, lonely Camelia flower hints at.

Some 40 percent

2011-02-21T11:22:00.005+01:00

So far, I have managed 30 ringing sessions (of varying length) at the new house. Every day bar one I have ringed a new Goldfinch Carduelis carduelis; 8 birds were ringed on the blank day (Jan 31st) of 6 species but no King Harrys put in an appearence.

To date, 162 new Goldfinch have been trapped and ringed, which is exactly forty percent of the all-up total, the other 60% being spread over 19 other species.
Goldfinch was also a characteristic of my previous house where they formed 26.5% of the ringing total over seven years.

Some tourists

2011-02-19T18:20:00.012+01:00

10:40 am and passengers are awaiting the first departure of the year from Williton Station, just a couple of hundred yards/metres from home. The station canopy has been completed and painted, but only just in time. The bases for the overbridge are also finished and the (new) fencing reinstated; it will be November now before the refurbished bridge is lifted into place. This week, the council also took out the unsafe footbridge at Watchet, which will also be replaced during the November closure.

The West Somerset Railway 2011 season got underway on Saturday 19 February. One surprise is the rostering of a visiting locomotive - GWR 4-6-0 no 7812 "Erlestoke Manor" - which will work one of the two steam trains. No 7812 started work by hauling the 10.25am from Bishops Lydeard facing Taunton. Here she is, tender first, entering the station.

"Erlestoke Manor" will continue starting each morning with the first train from Bishops Lydeard, until the Spring Steam Gala. This morning, pulling a full compliment of carriages (inc buffet), it was packed with folk off to Minehead, possibly Butlins, as next week is half term. We did the obligatory waving.

GWR 2-6-2T no 5553 works the Minehead diagram and was the first to arrive at Williton and exchange tokens, seen above before the Manor class loco arrived. There will be four trains a day in each direction 'all this week' (except Monday & Friday) and I look forward to hearing them even as far away as Washford and Sampford Brett.

On the birdy front, I had a flock of 150-200 Siskins together with 20-30 Goldfinch in the Alders along the Doniford Stream between High Bridge and Egrove; they were disturbed by a car coming up the track. I did manage to catch and ring a pair of these diminuitive finches this morning, too. Should be able to catch more of these when the Alder seed runs out sometime next month.

Other news - we have frog spawn in our tiny pond, spotted when fishing out a dead, bloated frog that had four males hanging on to it.

Slowsome

2011-02-17T14:55:00.007+01:00

The weather has picked up in one sense - more sunshine - but dropped down in another - more rain. One minute the wind is in the north, only to veer to the south overnight and vice-versa. Most days we have been blessed with two out of three - wind, rain & clear skies - and we shan't be turning the central heating off just yet. This switching of the wind direction is a pain in the orchard as I need to adjust one or other of the poles to prevent the top shelves snagging on the upper branches of the apple trees.

In the meantime, the daily catches have been diabolical; for the winter finches, the temperatures are "too high" (any frost dissipates quickly) and they stay on the tops (<300m) or disperse towards "home". [Not a bad thing in itself as the latter could lead to a recovery or two.] The garden is alive with birdsong that heralds spring; Chaffinch Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Blackbird, Jackdaw and the three tits, Blue, Great and Coal. However, spring itself has not arrived, nor have the Chiffs and Blackcaps which I hope will grace our humble abode in the coming month. In exchange for this, they will, of course, be lumbered with a metal anklet courtesy of the BTO.

Since the last posting, I have managed very few birds even though the two nets have been open most days. We have had the pleasure of both the male and female Sparrowhawks through the garden, if that's got anything to do with it.

Another Robin (the 7th) was a bit of a surprise as I thought I had caught all 4 males that sing from their songposts in or within earshot of my garden and the two females that belong to the top and bottom hedges of the garden. This was another male; had it been displaced from somewhere else, had it out manoeuvred one of the four or was it just passing through?

Anyhow, 17 birds of 8 species in 6 days - painful! Nine of them were Goldfinch, keeping up the tradition of making up almost half the new birds this year. 2 Brambling (both '5'females), 1 Robin (6M), 1 Lotti (4F), 1 Blue (5F)& 1 Great Tit (6F), 1 Greenfinch (5F) and 1 Siskin (5F). So it looks like last year's birds are now in the ascendency. A bit like August, me thinks. I wonder what they do in Australia. After all, a bird hatched in November is in its second calendar year come Jan 1st! [They do the same with horses, don't they - all have their birthdays on Jan 1st].

Been to the opticians and ordered some new, improved spectacles. Should be able to identify those gulls soon. (Rolls about laughing!) Bound to be something rare down on Doniford beach. Don't hold your breath!

Some month

2011-02-11T12:39:00.011+01:00

Today is my birthday and it also happens to be one month since I started ringing at this site. At least I've been able to put one or two nets up this week in between the prolonged rain showers. What a month it has been. Will the next four weeks be as productive? Just praying for another spell of cold weather to entice the Bramblings back in before it's too late.

The 5Male Blackcap with 3 ogc's.
Yesterday teatime, I caught my sixth Blackcap; this one was another 2CY male (Euring 5M) and it had 3ogc (three old greater coverts), the greatest number of retained feathers out of the four other 5M's and the singleton 5F (female). All birds, except one, have had fat scores of 20-35 ESF and muscle score 2. The exception was a small male (wing 70.5mm) with a fat score of 10 and a weight of just 15.8g. This coincided with four nights of sharp frosts (to minus 7C) straight after, so I don't hold out much hope for that individual. The average weight of the other five has been 20.4g (19.1 - 22.3g)

The last four days have produced the following 10 species, in all just 33 new birds: Blue Tit 2, Blackcap 1, Wren 1, Blackbird 2, (Robin 3 r/t, all different), Dunnock 1, Chaffinch 2, Greenfinch 3, Goldfinch 16, Siskin 5. That brings the last calendar month's total to 373.

The top five are: Goldfinch 143, Brambling 44, =Blue Tit =Greenfinch 35, Siskin 23.

Late Extra!! - I've just checked the nets this lunch-time, and, guess what, a birthday present in the shape of another 5M Blackcap (obw - alula feathers retained), making 375 new birds over the past 31 days, and 7 Blackcaps!

Environmental NGOs betray England’s forests

2011-02-06T13:07:00.001+01:00

Environmental NGOs betray England’s forests

Also see http://www.forumforthefuture.org/blog/forest-sell-off?utm

Some week.

2011-02-06T11:06:00.003+01:00

Well, it wasn't. A dearth of birds while the weather was calm and a bit of a rush when we had nine tenths of a howling gale. Good job I had to return to the East and pick up some wildfowl year ticks in the meantime.

A measly 12 new birds - Blue Tit 1, Gt. Tit 3, Wren 2 (a good result there as you don't see or hear them), Robin 1 (where did that come from?), Brambling 2, Goldfinch 2, Siskin 1. Also retrapped a lone L-T Tit and a couple of the resident Dunnocks.

John, another (the only) local ringer, reckons it picks up in April. Can't wait!

Some wind

2011-01-29T17:20:00.008+01:00

A week plagued by windy conditions with some amelioration on a couple of afternoons. Not the sort of weather for putting up mist nets. Lots of birds around early doors, coming in to feed after the frosty nights but, alas, much too windy.

I had to be content with a couple of very late morning into early afternoon sessions. However, it was not a complete disaster as the following list of 11 species shows:
Collared Dove 1, Blue Tit 1, Long-tailed Tit 5 (1), Blackcap 2, Blackbird 1 (2), Robin (3), Dunnock (2), Chaffinch 3, Brambling 6, Goldfinch 10 (1), Siskin 1.

The male above is the 4th ringed in the last 3 weeks and the female is the 1st of her sex to be caught, although she (or another) has been around for about 10 days. Both were Fat3+; all have been last year's birds. Maybe I should have asked to colour-ring them but not having any experience of this area before, one can only learn by one's own experiences. The total of newly ringed Goldfinches now tops 130 for the month; Bramblings 42.

Hopefully, we have two good days to come - before the wind is back ... and we get some rain, both from the south-west, a much, much warmer sector than we have been having.

King of Kings

2011-01-23T15:29:00.005+01:00

The King Harrys' reign supreme at the moment. On my first session of the year, I "controlled" 2 birds (Goldfinch) originally caught by a neighbouring ringer, JW. This week, on his first session of the year, he "controlled" one of mine, that happened to be the first Siskin I ringed in Somerset. Back to the subject - I've now surpassed the 100 mark and these Goldfinches make up almost half of the total catch of a tad short of 300 so far.

I took some close-up photographs but I must have moved a fraction between focussing and releasing the shutter - in other words, they're fuzzy. So, having learnt (hopefully), I had another go.

Shy female? They always seem to droop on me as I lift the camera.
I can see that I need to get a helper/trainee to hold the birds.

Swiftly through the 200 new birds in less than a week; soon be time to order more rings from the BTO. It's either that or the new Norfolk Atlas!

Another 2CY male Blackcap was, like the other one, an early riser coming to the cut-in-half apples spiked onto the orchard apples (naturally). This one was fat 35 for the officianados among you.

We've also had visitors - a large female Sparrowhawk sat in the tall Ash tree at the bottom of the garden, looking straight down along the net run to see if there was any breakfast; it moved away when I had to go out. Secondly, the local Buzzard, the one that sat on the railway line, also sat up a tree, hoping for some dinner. I am now seeing it regularly over the house. Not seen the male Peregrine for a day or two ...

Still catching Bramblefinches, the majority are males (62%) with some feisty individuals among them. 75% of the birds are classed as 2CY. There is a distinct lack of "6F" (post breeding female) birds with just the one so far.

There was a small influx of Greenfinch and Chaffinch towards the end of the week as the temperature rose slightly. I had to let one adult male Chaffinch go unringed as it was "suffering" with the dreaded "scaly leg".

All in all, a good week's ringing (not everyday, I might add)
Wood Pigeon 1
Collared Dove 1 (new)
Goldcrest 2 (new)
Blue Tit 22 (2)
Great Tit 2 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 4
Blackcap 2, both 2CY males, lots of fat
Blackbird 3 (1)
Song Thrush 1 (new)
Robin 2 (2)
Dunnock 2
House Sparrow 3
Chaffinch 8
Brambling 16
Greenfinch 19
Goldfinch 49 (3 r/t + 1 control)
Siskin 11

The real highlight for me was over 100 new King Harry's ringed in less than 10 days.
End of week total was 148 new birds (and 10 retraps) of 17 species, 3 of which were new for the site. I missed out, just, on a Jackdaw in the top shelf! Doh!

The missus spotted a LEO not far off recently, which reminds me I must get out along the coast and look for some Little Owls; they are scarce about here.

Some progress

2011-01-16T19:54:00.000+01:00

First ringing sessions of the year proved quite productive considering that the temperatures had risen markedly with 12C every day this week and the weekend was particularly windy here.

Total of new birds ringed, week ending 16/01/11, in the orchard:

Woodpigeon 1
Gt. Spot. W/peck 1
Blue tit 8
Great Tit 3
Coal Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit 2
Blackcap 1
Wren 1
Blackbird 5
Robin 3
Dunnock 4
House Sparrow 3
Chaffinch 2
Brambling 20
Greenfinch 14
Goldfinch 71
Siskin 4

Controls 2 (2x Goldfinch from 'Five Bells'), Ringed 147, Species 17.

The forecast is for settled weather and lower, more normal temperatures for the time of year. Here goes!

Ready, steady, go!

2011-01-12T21:36:00.000+01:00

The "house-work" on the new domicile is nearly completed and now is time for a little "play". Recently, we've been suffering from low temperatures and a cold (onshore) wind and, to top it all, heavy rain was forecast for today. On rising from the pit, there just happened to be a light overcast with a calmer wind and just the odd intermittent spot of rain; that is, until noon.

I got out quickly and put up a net or two. It threatened rain once or twice but nothing more than a few spits or spots. And it turned out to be ideal ringing weather in many ways, what with the birds trying to get ahead of the game in case another hard spell descends upon us. After all, the period through January and early Feb. is, normally, the coldest part of the year.

We haven't seen, or heard, the Great Spot. for over a month now, but today it fell into the net with the most unholy racket. The bird turned out to be a juvenile female, as can be seen by the old, unmoulted greater and primary coverts.

A couple of Siskins "pop in" to the garden every so often, but there is a small flock of about a dozen down the road over the railway on a fairly regular basis.

Recently, we have seen three male Blackcaps and a female feeding on the fruit (lightly micro-waved apples) we spear onto the orchard trees. I was lucky enough to catch a male bird almost at once.

Number one bird today was my old favourite, the Goldfinch; I nobbled seventeen, spread throughout the morning with the older birds coming early on and the juveniles later.

Second in popularity was the Brambling. Eight birds and all males, both young and old. This represents only about 10% of the birds that were descending on the feed just a few days ago.

So, to the catch total for the morning. Well, I was surprised that it eventually came to 49 new birds. [This is the first time I've ringed in the area]. The list:
Great Spot 1,
Blue Tit 3,
Great Tit 3,
Coal Tit 1,
Blackcap 1,
Wren 1,
Blackbird 3,
Robin 3,
Dunnock 3,
House Sparrow 1,
Brambling 8,
Greenfinch 3,
Goldfinch 17,
Siskin 1,
That's fourteen species, more than I could have hoped for. Now that the rain has set in, (they say it'll be with us for the next three days) I can go back to those little jobs that keep cropping up around the house. I have to get them sorted before the real ringing season starts!

Sudden Oak Death

2011-01-09T14:45:00.000+01:00

Phytophthora ramorum - the two most dreaded words in the woods round here! This disease which originated in the 'US of A' is ripping through the Japanese Larch plantations here in the "west country". It does not affect our native oaks and is, therefore, a mis-nomer in the UK. The main landowner affected is the National Trust which has several holdings on the Quantocks and within the Exmoor National Park

Staples Plantation - from the car park at ST117411

Immense amounts of timber are being felled at the moment to try and stop the disease spreading and it has to be finished before the spring. So much timber is coming out that the saw-mills are over-loaded, so much so, that alot of it will end up as wood fuel. It's like wiping your arse with a fiver (5GBP)!

Just one of the Larch stacks at Staples Plain.

Anyhow, Staples Plain is our nearest access point to the Quantocks. Later in the year, I hope to walk over much of it with the county recorder in order to "get a feel of the place".

Plenty of gorse to look at and moor grassland to wander over in search of nesting birds.
Naturally, I'll be on the look out for ringing sites, too, around the edges, where approach in a vehicle is possible.

40th anniversary Special

2011-01-02T18:31:00.003+01:00

It might seem perverse to many for a railway line to be commemorating the 40th Anniversary of its closure after the Beeching proposals of the 1960’s but that is what happened on January 2nd 2011.

The commemoration took the form of a special First Great Western Diesel Multiple Unit train which left Taunton at 10.40 in the morning and was due to arrive at Minehead at 12.15, returning from Minehead at 15.00 and due into Taunton at 16.37.

Although closed by British Rail in 1971 the Minehead line began to re-open in 1976 and is today the West Somerset Railway, one of the most successful “heritage” railway lines in the country and carrying over 200,000 passengers per annum. WSR trains normally operate from or terminate at Bishops Lydeard, which is four miles from Taunton but it has remained connected to the main line and sees both excursion passenger trains and mainline freight from the national network on an occasional basis. The special train will be both a commemoration of the 40 years since the closure and also the first act in a year of events to mark the 35 years that have passed since the West Somerset Railway story began. The Railway’s annual Spring Steam Gala at the end of March will be built around telling some of the story of the WSR.

While we were waiting for the 'Special' to arrive, a Buzzard perched on the fence, then swooped down on something tiny on the track-side ballast and flew off under the road bridge. It returned a little later and sat on one of the rails under the bridge. Yesterday, I had a fly-by male Peregrine. These now bring my local total to 50 'ticks'. Hopefully this will now grow rapidly since the moving in process is practically finished and I can devote more time to birding and, very soon, ringing again.

Distant view from Williton crossing of PWE gang at "Teddy Bear Crossing"

150 class DMU No.234 approaching Williton

First Great Western DMU stationary at Williton for down token exchange

Cleared Hymek loco 7047 (pulling PWE gang) after up token exchange at Williton

A few days earlier, I treated the family, 4 adults 2 grandchildren and 2 dogs to a round trip to Minehead. A couple of record shots to prove it. And a big hole in the wallet!

My lot as the train approaches

Our 'double-header', 9351 + 88

Flat tyre, perhaps? (S&DJR 88 - "Two Fat Ladies")

Sixty plus

2010-12-24T15:19:00.000+01:00

No, not my age! The number of Brambling now coming to the seed in the orchard. That's a little too far away for me to photograph with my Fuji compact, so I put some seed down beside the path about 30 feet (10m) from the kitchen window. Here they are (well, some of them)

Brambling - Christmas Eve 2010

We're making use of this cold weather to input past records into IPMR (the database system); so far Mike has got it over 76K and I still need to input some early records - now that I've resurrected my old notebooks.

Trunk packed

2010-12-20T21:28:00.000+01:00

The "busy" A39 Trunk road at 2pm on Monday, Williton.

It had stopped snowing for a while. In the early hours of daylight, it came down thick and fast. By late morning, we had had 16cm; the light showers during the afternoon added another 1cm. The traffic was extremely light, partly because the schools had closed for the Christmas recess.

The birds, mostly four species of finch (Chaffinch, Brambling Goldfinch & Greenfinch) kept taking to the apple trees; they were being spooked by something, but it certainly wasn't passing vehicles. The large Pyracantha next door was laden with berries yesterday; by this afternoon, 4 Fieldfare and 4 Redwing, with a little help from one or two Blackbirds, had stripped it bare! I topped up the SFH feeders twice today - perhaps I should ask the government for a bigger pension!

Won't be going anywhere fast in this weather; they predict we've got 2 more days before it gets any better, i.e. warmer. We are luckier here than many - back in Bedford, it's alot colder. He he!

So, for now, it's "A Merry Christmas" to all my readers.

Snoday the 17th

2010-12-17T17:22:00.002+01:00

After a couple of milder days, we woke to a light covering of snow. On and off during the day we had some more snow and then hail around the middle of the day. Tonight, we anticipate some more snow, perhaps 10-20 cms.

Over the last 3 days, I have refilled the feeders with or put out - 7kg SFH, 2kg wheat, 1kg small seed, 1kg peanuts, 1 kg soaked sultanas, 0.5 kg Nyger and 6 chopped-up, wholemeal crusts. There are two large fatball feeders as well.

There have been plenty of birds utilising all this grub; yesterday, I counted 50 Chaffinch at one point before they were spooked by a lorry turning into the industrial estate; there were more uncounted. At least 13 Brambling with 8 males at once, making me think that there could be more than that. 3 BH Gulls is the most in the 4 weeks we've been here. Goldfinch numbers have held up at a max count of 10 at any one time. Yesterday late on, 4 Rooks decided to come down and scare everything for a while. Best in some ways were the 3 Siskin at once, coming to the Nyger; I find these always take some time to locate feeders in gardens, especially away from any conifers (like us). A new addition this week was Song Thrush when 2 birds were driven in by the poor weather - and possibly the sight of some sultanas.

I reckon the birds are eating somewhere around 4kg of food per day, presented either in feeders or on the ground. I can see that I shall have to find a sponsor if this weather carries on much longer!

POSTSCRIPT: Overnight we had 5cm (2 ins) of snow - elsewhere in the county they had up to 20cm.
Got out early and cleared some snow in the orchard and put down fresh wheat and mixed seed for the expected breakfast rush. About an hour later, I did count 15-16 Bramblings feeding in amongst >50 Chaffinches.
Following pic taken 10 minutes after sunrise from the kitchen window.

A cold and frosty evening

2010-12-14T08:22:00.002+01:00

Tonight was the first of the Carol Trains that run for three evenings. One comes up from Bishops Lydeard and the other from Minehead. They meet and exchange engines at Williton. The passengers alight together with their particular brass/silver band and sing carols, the up passengers in the car park and the down passengers on the platform.

We arrived shortly after 7pm, anticipating the first arrival at around 7:30. At first we were told that it would be 7:40 but the volunteer staff soon found out that it would be 8:40. So we sat in the warm 'Waiting Room' with a coal fire and a cup of coffee.

It turned out that the up train arrived before half-eight and before twenty minutes of carols were over, the Minehead train arrived, having been delayed by 10 minutes due to an incident. The engines then switched tracks, ready to pull a different set of carriages back to where they started. It was quite cold by now and we were beginning to feel and so we left for home. It was nearly 10 o'clock before the trains departed; I heard the down train puffing its way up the 1:99 incline to Stogumper from my bedroom as I typed this.

Today's garden birds featured a good number of Brambling again, 8 to be exact, together with 25+ Chaffinch, about 20 Greenfinch (although not all at once) and 8 King Harrys (Goldfinch to you), plus the usual Blue, Great and Coal Tits, Robins, Dunnocks, Pied Wag, Jackdaws, Rooks, Wood Pigeons and Herring Gulls.

Dovedale - End of an era

2010-12-06T20:14:00.002+01:00

From the Ashbourne News Telegraph incorporating The Derbyshire Advertiser and Uttoxeter News dated October 6, 2010.

"Work to start on [Dovedale] foot bridge

"WORK is due to start next week to replace the footbridge [designed by the then young highway engineer, Errol Newman, and made from English Elm] next to the car park at DOVEDALE.
"The existng timber bridge dates back to 1966 and is starting to rot, say county councillors.
"A new bridge has been made to the same design as the old one. [Do my drawings still exist?]
"Work starts on Monday and will take around a week."

Pictures taken in spring 2009 by the original design engineer [me/EN]

The original construction consisted of two sections of Elm beams 42' long and 17" deep. All the boards and rails were cut from the same two trees. The ironwork was all forged locally. The timber cost £800 felled and sawn and the total cost was c.£1200 (pre-VAT). Hundreds of thousands of people have crossed this bridge during its life and the treads have been replaced many times. It replaced a bridge made from two Douglas Fir poles that was rotten in mid-stream.