Spoke too soon

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 14 'King Harrys' dominated. The others were made up of 5 birds, all of different species. [Blackcap, Bullfinch, House Sparrow, (Blackbird), (Dunnock)]

The third Bullfinch of the week was a splendid adult male (Euring 6) and a second Blackcap, this time a new male (Euring 5). There's still another un-ringed male out there, and remaining 'slippery'.

The weather is predicted to be cold - good for attracting birds in to the feeders - but the windspeed is set for Beaufort 5, too much for mist-netting. I'm not baited up to be able to set the whoosh. we'll just have to wait.

Just lately

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.

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 ...

... 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

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.