3 years and 10 days

That's how long I've been ringing this site in West Somerset. And yesterday I ringed my 1,000th Goldfinch here.

During that time, I have had one recovery (outside a 15km radius of here, within which there are 4 local ringers) and that went 435km NNW in 7 weeks to County Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

I also have a pending control; a November bird bearing a French ring.

This works out at somewhere around £100 worth of rings for each of these two birds. It's one of the reasons we do this (to get these long-distance movements), on top of the other information that we gather, which helps to understand how populations behave (fluctuate) and what may be driving that.

Happy New Year - from the Wet Country

Two thirds through the month of January and we've aleady had 125 mm of rain on top of the 176 mm that we had in December between the 15th and year-end. That's a FOOT of the wet stuff in 5 weeks! Four dry days, that's all! Rant over.

Dawn. "Sh1t - the rain it cometh ... again!"
(looking SSE at dawn, 08:20)

EOY "paperwork" sorted and submitted; permit renewal, ready for posting, lost in the upheaval of decorating our large, rambling hallway; downloaded another copy; plumbers replaced our corroded water main; didn't win the Lottery; need to, to pay for rings.

Nevertheless, I have managed to open the main net through the old part of the apple orchard on the odd occasions, if only for a couple of hours. Getting on for 80% of the catch of unringed birds  has been finches coming to the feeders. Mine have four feed outlets and this is just as well because the bottom pair clog up pretty quickly when it rains heavily. I am for ever having to take them in, clean them, discard the 'soggy stuff', dry the decent stuff (in the microwave), and refill them. Good job I don't pay top whack for my SFH and have spare feeders to boot.

2CY male Greenfinch with renewed P6
(the wide & bright yellow one)

2CY female Bullfinch with 4 ogc
(they all have 4 this year; last year it was 3)

Last year, in January I caught 29 new Goldfinches, and 32 the year before. In 2011, when there was snow on the ground, I ringed 131. This year, although wet, looks as if it will surpass the two previous years; fingers crossed. This January there are many more females utilising garden feeders than males. So far, it happens to be 72.5% females (to 27.5% males [one un-sexed]) or roughly 3 to 1. This is a reversal of what one would expect, certainly in East Anglia, where the females abmigrate, leaving the males behind. From a study I did in Bedfordshire the males "out-shone" the females by some 4 to 1 in January, and females only surpassed males at feeders in June/July/August, during the period that young were fledging. Perhaps this winter abmigration is not just to France & Iberia, but, whenever conditions are much milder than normal (such as we've been having recently) substantial numbers decide to remain in the South-west. [I'll look at previous years here and report back]

Adult female Goldfinch
(probably 4 years old - note broad, rounded PC)

Back to business - here's what has been achieved so far this month.
Blue Tit 2

Coal Tit (1)

Long-tailed Tit 2 (3)

Blackcap (1) - male, first caught on Xmas Day (17 days)

Wren (1)

Blackbird 2 (2) - new birds were both 2CY males; re-traps = semi-resident, young females

Redwing 1 - adult weighing 68 g, fat 10

Robin 2 (1)

Dunnock 3 

House Sparrow 1 (1) - "a couple" 

Chaffinch 5 - 5F, 5F, 6F, 6F, 6M

Greenfinch 4 - all 2CY, single female

Goldfinch 30 (11)

Siskin 4 - all 2CY, singleton male

Bullfinch 5 - all 2CY female

Totals = 61 new & 21 re-traps of 15 workaday species. No more recoveries to hand just yet.

May 2014 bring a steady flow of happiness to my fellow bloggers - plus a few, gentle surprises. Take good care.

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