2013 EOY at last.

This is a bit late, but it will have to do. I've retained my 2014 garden ringing efforts, which have started, for another posting, due sometime after the builders have left and the water's back on. Very inconvenient but needs must.

So, back to the task in hand.
Day 1 - just shy of 54mm of rain! All-day rain at that. And gale force winds.

Day 2 - Christmas Eve; got to get the turkey, bloke-shopping, etc.

Day 3 - Christmas; another 26mm of rain once the frost had cleared.

Day 4 - visitors. Open the net; anything to get away!

And so it went on - rain, wind, drudgery, nip out and catch a couple of birds during the quiet spells (there was a target to reach, after all). Let's just say, it was big on re-traps.
As you will have seen on the TV News, the Somerset Levels & Moors are well flooded and several villages cut off - unless you have a boat!

Male (darker/brighter) & female Siskins - December

Blue Tit 2 (4)

Great Tit (2)

Long-tailed Tit (1)

Blackcap 2 (1)

Wren (1)

Blackbird 2 (1)

Robin (2)

Dunnock 1 (2)

House Sparrow 1 (2)

Greenfinch 2 (1)

Goldfinch 5 (3)

Siskin 2 (1)

We regularly get double this number of species in the garden every week; it's just a matter of setting my mind to attempt to catch some of them (but many are too high).

Hatch-year male Blackcap with more than the
usual amount of brown crown feathers

The TOP TEN newly ringed birds for 2013 were:

Goldfinch 377 - makes this No.1 bird 35 short of 1,000 in just under 3 years here.

Siskin 176 - up from 10th= place

Blackcap 124 - non-mover

House Sparrow 90 - up 3 places from 7th

Blackbird 86 - non mover 

Greenfinch 81 - down 2 places from 4th

Chiffchaff 76 - down 2 places from 5th=

Willow Warbler 74 - up 7 places from 14th

Blue Tit 62 - down from 2nd place, falling 7 places

Chaffinch 49 - down one from ninth

These ten birds account for almost 80% of my new birds. Of the 44 species handled, there were seven species where I only caught and ringed a single specimen last year.

The Dippers, Kingfishers and Little Egrets were still utilising the local stream where I ring in spring/summer, even during the current heavy discharge.

The Doniford in full spate (not full flood). Dec 2013

Usually, January provides an influx of new birds. We'll just have to wait and see.

To B or not; 2 B.

We were informed at Conference that RIN had upped the ring size to be used on all Dunnocks and Yellowhammers to B. Of course, I then had to catch two Dunnocks when I got back and duly obliged by putting on the new ring size, ahead of the official email from Thetford that came yesterday.

The weather has almost forced a complete shut-down, it has been so awful. Squally winds have been the culprit and we're not out of it yet - Monday promises a right hooligan of a storm. Any road, I have managed to keep up the general monitoring of the garden birds by being prepared to open and close at short notice!

Visiting Mrs. Magpie

Now the good news. Number 1 surprise was an adult MAGPIE in the net with a ring already on, that no-one locally owns up to. Then came notice of a "virginal" male SISKIN that I caught in February being recaptured in Kent during April (that's 290+ km east of here); not had one from that direction, although we used to get a lot of east-west movements in Surrey. Thirdly, I re-caught a male BLACKCAP (for the fifth time) that I originally ringed in January 2012, then trapped again in January this year; it's probably one of those central European breeders that comes west in winter instead of moving south like 'normal' Blackcaps. It just happened to be in the net early one morning with THREE others.

Mr. "I'm back again" Blackcap

Goldfinches featured highly again. I've handled 418 different birds this year so far, with 77 same-year recaptures. L890862, an adult male, has succumbed to my SFH charms five times (should know better); he was a 3J in September '11. Two birds, both males, were ringed consecutively on 17th March '11; also, both of them were caught together on 14th inst. Two of the re-trapped Long-tailed Tits were ringed in early 2011 as well.

To cut to the chase:-
Magpie - 1 control
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit 3 (3)
Great Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (12)
Blackcap 2 (2)
Blackbird 3 (1) - no real "biggys" yet
Robin (2)
Dunnock 2 (3)
Goldfinch 22 (15)
Totals - 32 new, 41 retraps, 10 species

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my (Christian) readers and I extend the best of Solstice and Seasonal Greetings to those who are not.

PS. The young cat has hurt her front leg and is confined to barracks - so that's one logistical problem sorted!

Liquorice "hors de combat"

nmbx

Sixteen days of dark

Hi again. We are nearly at the point when the evenings (theoretically) start to get lighter! I'm a SAD old git! and won't be waking up properly until mid Feb. Such is life.

A bit low on pics but I either forget to take one that will illustrate a point I want to pass on, or forget to get the camera out. [It's only a Fuji compact]. Ringing, or, more correctly, id in the hand is not always as straight forward as some will have us believe - nor as difficult as a few sceptics would either. The exchange of photos of "good" and "bad" birds can but help the less experienced to learn a bit more and avoid pitfalls.

Male Goldcrest - orange crown just visible

Ringing at home was a bit hit and miss, partly because of the weather and also because I was away 'up country', delivering Xmas presents, seeing old pals elsewhere and attending the 80th BTO Conference in north Derbyshire (mainly ringing, of course!) BUT, it's been good when I tried with just the two (semi-permanent) nets. I cleared the leaves twice and talked to the trees - but they didn't listen.

Immature female Goldfinch
with retained median/greater coverts

The biggest hit were the King Harrys (Goldfinches) which have only just started coming to the feeders in any number. 

Immature female Goldfinch
that has moulted all its coverts

They brought a few Siskins with them, too. The Redwings and Fieldfares are still taking berries but the occasional one sits in an apple tree, picking at the apples that are still left hanging on, up there where I can't get them. 

Redwing

My efforts up to the 11th succeeded in catching:

Collared Dove 1 - f.g. female

Goldcrest 1 (3) - 3 males

Blue Tit 5 (6) - birds of the year, except for 2 first-time breeders

Great Tit 1

Coal Tit 1 (2) - 1CY's

Long-tailed Tit 19 (5) - 16 together in one net!

Blackcap 7 (1) - the re-trap was feeding up for 'the off' (F1>F4)

Wren (2)

Blackbird 10 (1) - 4 adult females, 5 imm. females, 2 imm. males.

Fieldfare 2 - ad. male & 1CY female

Song Thrush 1 - adult

Redwing 1 - immature bird (123 wing)

Robin (3)

Dunnock 1 (1)

House Sparrow 2 (2) - caught during a chase (3 males!)

Chaffinch 3 - females, 2 adult

Goldfinch 59 (16) - 75 different birds, oldest from March 2011 and its first recapture; of the rest - 21 adults, (10 males, 8 females, 2 unsexed), 54 immatures, (25 males, 25 females, 4 unsexed); the females were prevalent in the earlier catches.

Siskin 3 - all adults

NB. I've taken out all the same period re-traps from the figures to give some idea of the number of birds present/ passing through. I always do this and put the recapture totals in brackets after the newly ringed birds.

Adult male Fieldfare 

What a week; a few more immigrants from the east

No sooner had I finished the last blog than there was a ring on the doorbell to tell me that my neighbour had hit and killed our cat, "Twix", outside with his van. She is buried under the forty-foot net she used to keep an eye on for me (currently not erected - having a bonfire nearby later).

Half a dozen (or more) Blackcaps have graced the garden this week. There were an equal number of males & females that received some BTO bling, with just the one male being a full adult. Another male had obviously been in some sort of bother since it was renewing a large area of its rump and all of its tail feathers.

Blackcap regrowing UTC & RR

The adult male was identified by its lack of juvenile brown on the forehead, the large outer alula feather, the broad primary coverts and its less pointed retrices (tail feathers). They were all heavier than our summer individuals, probably because they were carrying more muscle, because they certainly weren't carrying much pectoral fat (F0-F1, ESF).

Head of immature (1CY-2CY) female Blackcap showing the
ginger brown cap (Adults (2CY+) are orange tan)

Since last time, we have had (1) heavy drizzle, (2) light rain, (3) strong W'ly winds and showers, (4) very strong N'ly winds and squally showers, (5) strong winds from the NNE (that's better!) with low overcast, (6) the same but cloudy-bright and less wind, then (7&8) two days of frost/sun and light NE winds. My orchard is somewhat sheltered from the worst of the winds when they come from either the NW (tall hedge & line of trees) or the NE (neighbour's house/leylandii hedge tight to our boundary). Towards the end of this period, the sixty-foot net (18m Superfine) was brought into use with good results. 

Down the way, across the meadows and by the stream, there have been Kingfisher, singing Dipper and 2 Little Egrets, with clouds of mainly Fieldfares with a good number of Redwings passing to and fro. A Mistle Thrush has been seen/heard several times on a couple of adjacent apple trees and a Little Owl was calling from a dense Holly. No Chiffys. The local Crow family have been much more in evidence during the colder weather; I suspect their appetites were somewhat heightened. Pheasants (naturalised, not put-down) are in good numbers, with them even venturing into ours and neighbour's gardens. The two local pairs of Herring Gulls, that utilise the roof of the unit visible from our garden, are back together and guarding their respective sites on either side of the ridge. All in all, there has been an increase in both the number of birds and the amount of activity, due, no doubt, to the chilling winds and low, night-time temperatures.

Although I haven't caught any Siskins lately, parties of them have been passing over the garden for some weeks now. They are moving between the various belts of Alder trees (we have four mature ones opposite our driveway) to harvest the seeds. At present, we have just the one resident male Chaffinch and we did see a male Greenfinch the other day, now a scarce bird at this end of the village.

Adult male Blackbird

With just one net in our tiny orchard, the main effort has been over the last four days. However, here are the combined totals for the last 9 days (re-traps & controls in brackets):

Goldcrest 3 (1)

Blue Tit 5 (3) - includes a non-local control [D609...]

Great Tit (2)

Coal Tit (1)

Long-tailed Tit (4)

Blackcap 6

Wren 2 (1)

Blackbird 7 (3)

Redwing 1

Robin 1 (3)

Dunnock 1 (2)

House Sparrow 3

Goldfinch 32 (3) - includes a controlled, French-ringed bird [6685...]

Goldfinch with French ring

Total = 61 new, (21 re-traps) & (2 Controls); 13 species

"Non-standard" adult male Goldfinch
[golden-red cap finishing 'before the eye']
(on bill, nasal hairs, yellow on P6, wing length, number of discs on tail, CP)

The barometer is reading high at 1040mb. The forecast is for the temperatures to return to normal by the end of the week and for some more rain come the weekend. Suspect there will be two or three duff days until a front approaches (unless it goes sub-zero; fat chance!)

Influx of East Europeans (and other immigrants)

It is still quite quiet here (mid-November). A couple of days ago I noticed a large number (~200) of Redwings and Fieldfares on the grazing meadows a short distance down the road. Prior to that, we had only noticed small flocks made up of 5-15 individuals, feeding in the hedgerows as they moved through the area. Normally these sheep/cattle fields play host to a flock of over 100 Jackdaws and c.50 Rooks, as they seem to be "full of worms" and invertebrates throughout most of the year. 

We have had almost a foot (285 mm) of rain in the last seven weeks and the birds that rely on the local streams moved out as the levels and flow speed increased. They either went to shallower parts upstream or to the sea (which is less than 2km away). The stream is slowly returning to more normal winter conditions (fast, almost clear & 40-45 cm deep) and the Dippers and Kingfishers have returned but not the Grey Wagtails. The Dipper is even singing from a favourite perch. 

I have had to bring the feeders in and clean them and also dry the seed (in the micro-wave) before refilling. [I do discard that which is going off.]  The damp had gotten into them with the almost daily downpours. Saying that, I've not had to top them up very much either. The Collared Doves have eaten the most, but they take the SFH from the bird tables. I am trying out some suet pellets alongside my usual winter fare of mealworms (for the Robins) mixed small seed (for the Dunnocks) and soaked sultanas (for the Blackcaps). Here are two of the latter "immigrants".

Female Blackcap (above) and a male (below)

The Lottis go on the fat balls, as do the woodpeckers, and the finches utilise the Nyger & SFH almost exclusively. We also have very many windfalls, thanks to the insect pests, and some of these apples will find their way down a thrush's throat, while the Chiffs and 'crests pick their way through the lichen and next year's buds.  

Young female Gt. Spotted Woodpecker with brilliant red under-tail coverts

 Since my last blog-posting, I have caught and ringed 33 birds and recaptured a different 31 birds that altogether cover 16 species.

Totals from 28/10 to 16/11; recaptures in brackets (no duplication)
Gt. Spot. Woodpecker 1 - a young female
Goldcrest 5 (1) - a sign winter's on it's way

Blue Tit 5 (5) - that's much better! Was getting withdrawal symptoms!
Great Tit 1 (3) - an old pair & a young pair?
Coal Tit 1 (1) - a male & a female, so probably "teen-age newly-weds"

Immature male Coal Tit
Note large black bib and 4 OGCs

Long-tailed Tit (9) - one "oldie" from Jan 2011
Blackcap 3 - all over 19.5 grams but little fat.
Wren 1 (2) - why do we only catch them in half-light?
Blackbird 3 - not long-winged individuals but not "ours"
Redwing 2 - an adult & an immature
Robin (3) - "the pair", plus a new, young female
Dunnock (4) - just one bird of the year
House Sparrow 1 - female
Chaffinch 1 - adult female
Greenfinch 1 - an adult male; no others seen!
Goldfinch 8 (3) - one new adult, the rest = 1CY

Back view of immature female Goldfinch
Note white discs on RR5&6 only and pointed tail

We have been promised some colder weather in the coming week, which may possibly turn up some more birds. I expect to see many more Fieldfares, in that case. Today was the coldest day we've had since the very beginning of April, with a max. of 8 degrees Celsius. Long-Johns weather!

PS. The East Europeans in the title could well be the Blackcaps. They may well be from southern Poland, the Czech, Slovak or Hungarian Republics, or slightly nearer, i.e. eastern Austria or Bavaria. [See page 532 of the Bird Atlas 2007-2011 for their current winter distribution]