New wood, new birds.

This week has been our first chance of going to a woodland site that was planted c.15 years ago. The site is near Springhill young offenders prison in Buckinghamshire on one of the headwater streams of the River Ray.

The wood is 29.5 acres / 12 hectares in extent; it lies NE/SW and is some 600 metres long by 200 metres (180-220m) wide. It is a deciduous planting, a mix of oak, ash and aspen with a good understorey of berry bearing shrubs. There are access rides and glades and several ponds, including a large "in-line" one on the Ray stream.

The owner has asked us to look at the birdlife there and to report on the seasonal changes. This will be a base-line for monitoring the change that will inevitably take place as the wood matures. The avifauna will change with some species being lost and others coming in. It was designed to be typical of the wet woods in the area and the planting selection will mitigate the huge changes normally seen as the wood develops its own character and the canopy closes.

We managed to get some nets up the night before - after the rain stopped! [It rained all day here]. At dawn, we arrived at the farm entrance, let ourselves in the electric gates, and crossed the sheep fields (3 gates!) to the site.

Dave S took some photos of some of the birds we caught as we went along. Altogether, we put up 440' (134m) of net. Only one net did not catch at all. This was a learning experience as we had no previous idea where birds utilised the woodland cover.

In all, we caught and ringed 36 new birds as follows:
Green Woodpecker - a juvenile
Blue Tit 4 - adult male and 3 juvs
Great Tit 5 - 3 adult males and 2 juvs
Marsh Tit 2 - adult and juv
Long-tailed Bushtit 2 - both juvs in full moult
Chiffchaff 4 - all juvs, 3 of them female (males leave first)
Willow Warbler 5 - all juvs, 4 females
Blackcap 1 - juv male
Garden Warbler 1 - juv, "on the move"
Lesser Whitethroat 1 - juv
C. Whitethroat 2 -juvs
Dunnock 4 - juvs
Bullfinch 3 - all adult males, none starting wing moult

13 species, 80% juveniles.

Willow Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Juv Green Woodpecker, Marsh Tit.
 
Other birds that were present but not caught included - Buzzard, Stock Dove, Tawny Owl, Gt. Spotted Woodpecker, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush & Greenfinch. Notable "absentees" were Treecreeper, Robin & Chaffinch. Perhaps further visits this year will bring forth more species.

As for me, I ringed more Willow Warblers here in one day than I have done all year to date!

Back to the future?

A busy few days!

History - Jenny's Mum's dog, Timmy the champagne miniature poodle, had a bad heart murmour. At age 14 (almost) he collapsed on a walk and we took him to the vet. Well, that was it - and we had to make the kindest cut of all. So we were left without an animal in the house. Sunny (wire-haired Jack Russell) had died over a year ago and Layla (Terveuren BSD) had been gone almost three years, both of them after a good and long life for their respective breeds.

Decision time - Last week, we decided that I would get another Belgian Sheep Dog to fill the void. A bit of internet traffic and we set off for the West Midlands - actually South Staffs. After spending an age looking for the place, we eventually made it and were greeted by  a motley of all four types of BSD. Deb, the breeder, was trying to get organised for the BSD annual 'jamboree' at Uttoxeter. The upshot was "Cerise", a 2 year old Terv bitch that had been best puppy. Relieved of my money, the breeder threw in food, micro-chipping and A KITTEN.

Home - we made it by teatime, having got lost and had a tour of Kingswinford, Dudley and Stourbridge! Now to sort out food and toiletting for one and all. The kitten is confined to the large kitchen/diner for the next few months, as she will be having a series of jabs and be spayed. After a couple of inevitable mishaps, she, "Shelley", got the hang of it. Then the mischief started - well not really - just the tearing around and pouncing on things.

Day 2 - That's all well and good, I've got a dog, we've got a cat, but J. has nothing to take for a walk. We just happened to go to the pet supermarket on the other side of town to look at food and prices, not to shop. My eye was caught by an advert for Border Terrier X puppies, so I wrote the 'phone number down. After a good deal of 'shall I, shan't I' from J., she decided to give the lady a ring. Well, J. wouldn't entertain a dog and all the worrying it would get up to when Cerise came into season, so she was lucky that the only puppy left was a bitch. 'Nough said, off we go on Saturday to look at it - and her mother - and her grandmother. Sold. Welcome to our family, "Amber".

Day 3 - I was up very early to go bird-ringing. I arrived home about 1 o'clock, had a light lunch and entered the ringing details into the computer database. By 3 o'clock, we were on our way back to the pet supermarket (which was on the way to the breeder's, anyway) to purchase a carry-case and some other essential bits and pieces. Of course, we (I mean J.) had disposed of many such things as the previous animals had died off. Neverthe less, one happy Jenny as she brought the 'beast' home, even though her pocket was considerably lighter!.

Today - All is hunky-dory.The picture tells the story.

Ferrari takes on Scousers

"The Ferrari F1 team fired their entire pit crew yesterday." This announcement followed Ferrari's decision to take advantage of the British government's 'Work for your Dole' scheme and employ some Liverpudlian youngsters. The decision to hire them was brought about by a recent documentary on how unemployed youths from Toxteth were able to remove a set of wheels in less  than 6 seconds without proper equipment, whereas Ferrari's existing crew could only do it in 8 seconds with millions of pounds worth of high tech  equipment. It was thought to be an excellent, bold move by the Ferrari management team as most races are won and lost in the pits, giving Ferrari an advantage over every other team. However, Ferrari got more than they bargained for! At the crew's first  practice session, not only was the scouse pit crew able to change all four wheels in under 6 seconds but, within 12 seconds, they had re-sprayed,  re-badged and sold the car to the Mclaren team for 8 cases of Stella, a bag of weed and some photos of Lewis Hamilton's bird in the shower Many thanks to my Lancastrian buddies! E

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Bucks Barn Owls

A shift across to the neighbouring county. The District Council for Aylesbury run a Barn Owl project. This covers a large area of agricultural land, mainly to the west of the town.

The scheme will monitor up to 150 boxes, many of which have been made for us by the inmates at Springhill Prison. To date, we have 50 boxes "occupied" by pairs. Some are in trees ...

... some are in barns ...

... and some are in disused buildings.
 

Yesterday, we visited five spread out sites. At two sites we were able to ring the young and at a further two sites we had to leave the young as they were far too small and were almost "down-less". What we were able to confirm was that the birds are now caching a lot of mice and voles.

So far this season, the total numbers of birds caught has been seven adults plus one control and 19 young, split into 5 broods of two and 3 broods of three.

 AVDC Conservation Officer Paul's first fondle of a Barn Owl chick.

One place we went to has had Barn Owls nesting there for over 25 years. Below is just one of two large heaps of guano on the floor. The female in this box also 'whit-washed' me on her exit!!

 The delay in breeding this season is likely to be as a result of the weather. Firstly, the cold snap in February probably stopped the birds getting into breeding condition. This they have managed to do as the weather warmed up. However, the dryness of the period from March to June has retarded some of the vegetation growth that the small mamal populations rely on for their breeding. Finally, the rains have come and everything now looks 'fine and dandy' for a later than usual breeding season. Let's hope that we don't get a long period of unsettled, i.e. poor hunting, weather.

As the team has been going round to the various landowners, several other nests have come to our attention en passant. The other nests where we have been able to ring the chicks so far are: - Buzzard 1, Kestrel 4, Stock Dove 3, Collared Dove 1, Little Owl 1, Tawny Owl 4, Green Woodpecker 1, Swallow 5, Robin 2, Spotted Flycatcher 2, Jackdaw 4, House Sparrow 1. We have picked up a new mist-netting site, too.

 

A stop-go week

The heat has been affecting cable broadband. We are about 4.5 cable miles from the exchange and heat affects our "box" up the road. And there's been alot of traffic, what with schools off and all those sporting events. It's been difficult to download photos on blogs/websites straight off, having to resort to right-clicking instead.

I'm typing this without a toolbar showing- so it's a bit hit and miss [Fixed it!]. Bird wise, only 5 spp this week, all in the garden. Gt. Tit 2, both 3Js
House Sparrow 17 (6), just the 2 adults as a 3 in Sept '08 and 3J in Jly '09
Chaffinch 1, 3J male
Greenfinch 1, a 2CY female with BP
Goldfinch (1).

The local pair of Blackbirds have decided to set up home in the apple tree, 5m away from the back door. She's been busy tearing off bents from my untidy (wildlife friendly) borders.

Temperatures have been in the upper 20s, top score 32C, by day and from 14 to 18C at night.

Leaking pipe in the d/s toilet cost £20 and the patio door jammed due to an "unwound rod" on the shoot bolt system (got it open 3cm before it stuck and it wouldn't go back either).The problem for me was, heavy rain was forecast for Monday coming; another £20 relieved from the back pocket. At least the bloke turned out on a Sunday between the Grand Prix and the footy final.

Sunday (today) was Barnacle goose round-up; it didn't go quite as anticipated. For a start the birds were on the "other lake".

 The pre-round-up 'huddle'

Off we go to find the geese

T

The flotilla passes by.
Ten canoeists and some of us 'pushing' from the bank soon had them penned up. I looked after the retraps. Still 139 retraps and in the region of 150 new birds plus 2 Greylags and 7 Canadas wasn't all that bad. (done my bit - just waiting for newly ringed totals, etc)

Ring (darvic C/U) taken off - had slipped over the bird's foot. 

The bird's foot can now heal after this unusual occurrence.

Ed got a ringing tick or two. 26 birds (Bargos) flew and 2 stayed put on an island. 10 Crossbills over north.

Ed married this Canada Goose

Retrap birds - '03 - 42%, '04 - 46%, '05 - 59%, '07 - 82% of the original number ringed
7 years old + = 11 birds
7 years old =6
6 years old + = 22
6 years old = 1 (ringed very few young)
5 years old + =32
5 years old = 36
3 years old + = 36
3 years old = 0 (no young ringed - parents and broods escaped)

Next stop - an old dirty loft for Swifts!