New life and better weather

The garden could do with some rain after this run of fine, warm weather that we have enjoyed. This welcome state of affairs is not always conducive to our ringing efforts though, as it has served up two of the three detrimental elements, namely full sun and stiff breezes (the third being moderate to heavy rain).

It has been 17 days since I reported in last and during that time many more young birds have fledged and are busy finding their way in life without their parents being there all the time. The grown-ups have also started re-nesting and at least one Robin and one Blackbird pair are on eggs once more. The gaping of more tiny mouths is expected shortly.

Some new species for the year have been ringed and some "old friends" have been tempted into the nets and an old trap that I dug out.

Male Pied Wagtail first ringed as a juvenile on 12-12-2012

Juvenile female Greenfinch, one of two ringed

Fledgling Dunnock, one of four trapped

2CY female Common Redstart, a locally common breeder 

John and I usually manage to catch around four Redstarts between us in our gardens each spring. The dates can be as early as mid April or as late as June.

The results of two weeks limited ringing in the garden.

Rook 1 - female didn't quite make it safely off the bird table

Blue Tit (3) - a young female and 2 older males, one born 2010, the other is that or older

Great Tit 7 (1) - a new pair and 5 offspring, the other a brooding female

Chifchaff 1 - a new 2CY male (that was singing against the 'resident' male)

Blackbird 5 (5) - 4 youngsters and a new, mature male; 2 mature males, a female and a "new" 2CY pair were recaptured. We know we have 3 pairs nesting.

Robin 3 (5) - 3 new and 4 re-trapped juveniles and a "dad".

Redstart 1 - 2CY female (above)

Dunnock 4 (3) - 4 new fledglings plus 2 males and a female

House Sparrow 3 (3) - 2 barely fledged and a new male plus 3 females coming to millet to feed their young in nests in the nearby industrial estate buildings

Pied Wagtail (2) - a probable pair that feed on the lawns. Up to 6 birds present, 1 unringed female.

Chaffinch 1 (1) - first 3J (juvenile) of the season and a 2012 male

Greenfinch 6 - 2 juvs, 3 males and a 2CY female in egg 

Goldfinch (3) - all old males from 2011 and 2012

Siskin 6 (1) - 4 females and 3 males, all nesting locally

Bullfinch 2 (1) - a new pair and a re-trap male, all 2CY

15 species, 40 new, 28 re-traps.    [2CY = in second calendar year, i.e. "maiden"]

Still having a mix of bad days and good days; shingles starting to ameliorate at last.

A disaster befell us, too. We noticed that there weren't any tadpoles in the pond. There had been a thousand or more wee ones previously. The pond was a very dark green with lesser duckweed on the surface - but no taddies. Either there was no food or insufficient oxygen or the one night of frost might have done the damage. You know who got in and drained it, scrubbed it and re-filled it with rainwater from one of the butts.

The empty and clean pond

Bye for now!

Summer's set fair?

Well. We hope it is going to be a good summer, with plenty of warm sunshine and enough rain not to spoil things but enough to keep the garden/veggies growing. Nice and average will do. And that would also suit the birds during their breeding season.

With the recent sunny weather, coupled with a cold easterly breeze, and maximum garden temperatures (in shade, around 2pm BST) in the high teens, and topping 20C on a couple of occasions,  the birds have melted away. From time to time, one or two turn up for food, either for themselves or for hungry chicks, and forget where the (two) nets are. Some strangers have also paid us a visit; we showed our gratitude with a unique gift of a BTO/Porzana crafted bracelet.  

A late Chiffchaff that was caught was thought to be newly in. Identified as a female (on size), she had no signs of a brood patch and her tail was very abraded and faded, pointing to a bird that was hatched last year. Our two males had been "giving it some wellie" the morning she was caught, trying to out-do one another. I wonder who won her favour?

Miss Chiffchaff HCE511

Post mortem on last week (no birds were harmed in the making of this list (or any other)):

Great Spotted Woodpecker* 1 - adult (6) male on the fat balls

Blue Tit (2) - 2 different aged males

Great Tit (1) - adult (6) female with "the wrinkles" 

Chiffchaff 2 - incl. a (2CY?) female with an unmoulted tail

Blackcap 1 - 2CY female

Whitethroat* 1 - 2CY with a partially moulted tail

Wren 1 (1)

Blackbird 2 (2) - two new males and the pair from over the hedge

Robin 6 (4) - mum, dad and all 8 offspring; out-and-about from 29th April

Dunnock (3) 

House Sparrow 3 (3) - low fliers; new birds = males, oldest first ringed Dec 2011.

Pied Wagtail (1) - male first caught as a 2CY last August

Greenfinch (1) -

Goldfinch (3)

Siskin 2 - a breeding pair from nearby

18 new, 21 recaptures, *= NFY species

Newcomers for the 2014 list:

No.27 - Gt. Spot Woodpecker (6M on primaries)

No. 26 - Common Whitethroat (5(f) on eye colour, etc)

The wind has changed direction and is now a force 4 sou'wester. We are expecting to see our first Swifts returning over the village tomorrow ahead of a front that will bring rain and showers for the rest of the week. A Cuckoo was seen/heard on 27th April on the outskirts of the village and we have/had a brood of 6 ducklings on the stream. 

I'm still only netting in the garden as I'm still fighting off the latter stages of "the shingles". Feels like I've been shot in the shoulder. Arghh!  I'm also off back to Bedford for a couple of days, so little chance of any ringing this week and consequently the next blog will be mid-month.

PS. Swifts arrived early morning on Monday 5th. 
PPS. Stu, a friend up the village, has also had young Siskins and Dunnocks being fed in his small garden last week. 

First come, first served

Well, at least ringed!

Between chores, in the middle of the day on Friday, the first juveniles of the year were caught and ringed.

Number 1 was a male Blackbird with black tail feathers. [Females have a dark brown tail]. He was "a bonny lad" but has a little more growing to do. 

Next up was Number 2, a short-winged Robin (66 mm) with its primaries still showing the remains of their sheaths. I hesitate to suggest this may turn out to be a female

Then we did it all over again - another male Blackbird and a longer winged (male?) Robin from the same broods (taken from the same net).

The Robins parents were a female ringed as a juvenile last year, while the father was ringed as a juvenile in 2012. I suspect the Blackbirds parents are the 2CY birds breeding in my neighbours hedge as the older pair, both having bred before, are somewhere at the bottom of the garden, most likely in the tall leylandii hedge belonging to another neighbour. Laying took place in the last few days of March.

Next up? Will it be Siskin, Dunnock or Goldfinch? The race is on. Outsiders are the Greenfinches that are probably two weeks away, going by the development of their brood patches.

Experienced ringers tend to age juveniles by their very soft plumage, much of which they shed during the post-juvenile moult, which they reach when (about) three months old.

Half Term

It is ten days since the last posting, during which time the children have been off school, Easter has come and gone, the wind has got up and we have had our first rain for two weeks. Goldfinch migration has slowed during this time, but, not with standing, some of the local birds are nesting with at least one pair feeding small young. The same must be true of the Siskins as well.

Euphorbia

Last year (2013), Willow Warblers dominated my ringing effort at this time. The cold weather brought the birds down to the ground looking for insects in the lawns and gathering what pollen there was. The first port of call was undoubtedly, the Euphorbia plants of which we have a good supply. The warblers were mostly caught in single panel nets placed an the lawns/mown grass; 74 in three weeks. As you can see from the table below, this year is different, the birds passing high overhead in the fine weather that has lasted for two weeks.

Species                                                    New birds                 Pulli         Retraps               Total

             Woodpigeon                                       0                       0                       3                       3

             Collared Dove                                     1                       0                       0                       1

             Goldcrest                                             3                       0                       7                     10          

             Blue Tit                                              11                       0                     10                     21

             Great Tit                                             5                       0                       3                       8

             Coal Tit                                               0                       0                       2                       2

             Long-tailed Tit                                    2                       0                       8                     10

             Chiffchaff                                          12                       0                       2                     14

             Willow Warbler                                   1                       0                       0                       1

             Blackcap                                              8                       0                       4                     12

             Wren                                                   4                       0                       3                       7

             Blackbird                                             7                       0                     22                     29

             Redwing                                              2                       0                       0                       2

             Robin                                                   6                       0                     23                     29

             Dunnock                                             7                       0                     27                     34

             House Sparrow                                 11                       0                       8                     19

             Pied/White Wagtail                             2                       0                       2                       4

             Chaffinch                                           25                       0                       3                     28

             Greenfinch                                         32                       0                       9                     41

             Goldfinch                                          301                       0                   155*                  456

                                                                                                       (* of which 74 are NFY birds)

             Siskin                                               128                       0                     31                    159

             Lesser Redpoll                                   3                       0                       0                       3

             Bullfinch                                               9                       0                       6                     15

                           Annual Total:                      580                       0                    328                   908

The period has also been taken up with the final, rigorous checking of the 2013 national database for errors and omissions that involved hunting through pages of data. The net configuration, meanwhile, was reduced to a lone 60' (18m) between the mature apple trees, where the trays and feeders are permanently kept. The start of this period also saw clear skies by day and night and the feeling is that many birds have passed over us and across the Bristol Channel, making landfall in south Wales, going by the latest reports coming from the ringers there.

The trickle that was left amounted to:
Goldcrest (2)
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Blackcap 3
Blackbird (1)
Robin (3)
House Sparrow 1 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 3 (3)
Goldfinch 21 (8)
Siskin 3
Total - 33 new birds, 19 recaptures of 10 species.
In a week's time, when migration will be almost over, our attentions will turn to the species that frequent the water meadows. Weather permitting.

A big push north

For some time now, in fact from about the 28th of last month, the Goldfinches have been coming through in noticeable numbers. It becomes apparent when the unringed birds start to carry an "abnormal" fat load compared to birds which are with us for most of the year. The other noticeable effect is that one tends to trap them from midday onwards until a couple of hours before sunset. Birds that are re-trapped during their stay are putting on 0.7-0.8 grams a day. Conversely, immediately after dawn and prior to dusk are when the "locals" pop in for their SFH - and you won't catch them if it's a bright day!

Easily sexed Goldfinch - a female
(reduced red above & below the lores)

Having said that, the only other birds that one is likely to catch are returning juveniles, especially males. Caught as 3Js, perhaps more than once, and unsexed at the time (it's dodgy sexing juveniles; it's too easy to get 'caught out' later), I can only presume that they must have migrated some distance, if only to the south Devon or Cornish coast, to see out the coldest time of the year. The toughest time is right now, when any seeds are in short supply except weed seeds on tilled ground. But soon relief will come with the many dandelions currently flowering.

Nice turn-up - a male Lesser Redpoll

On the non-ringing front, the Robins, all three pairs, have young in the nest and are raiding the bird table like no tomorrow. One pair must be nearing "chucking out time"! The Blackbirds appear twice, sometimes three times, a day, indicating that they are still sitting. The Bullfinches must also be nesting as the females have been replaced by Joseph coated males. The Chiffchaff, whose "spring" is running down, is still parading ours and the other local (tall) hedgerows. It's a job to say what the Dunnocks are up to as there are so many individuals present here, but I suspect they have laid or are laying.

Weather wise, it was wet and breezy at the beginning of the week, then warmer and drier for the next three days, before reverting to cloudy with a cold wind. Today (Sat) the Swallows have been moving through, going west, plus a singleton House Martin. More Blackcaps have arrived but very few Willow Warblers. Ringing has been 'on-and-off', partly because of the need to get on with some gardening while the weather is in our favour. The lawns have suffered badly with the extremely wet weather we endured. 

Thieves at work - two Rooks helping themselves

The Sparrowhawk didn't just have this Collared Dove for lunch;
it also killed a Wood Pigeon the day before

Nevertheless, here's what did get caught in the last seven days (re-traps in brackets):

Goldcrest (3) - local (breeding) pair ... and a spare (male)
Blue Tit 1 - adult female with makings of a brood patch.

Chiffchaff (1) - territorial male

Blackcap 3 - all 2CY, 1 female

Robin (1) - no effort made to catch these as they are all feeding young

Dunnock (2)

Chaffinch 3 (1) - all 2CY, 1 female

Greenfinch 1 (1)

Goldfinch 34 (6)

Siskin (1) 

Lesser Redpoll 1 - 2CY male

Bullfinch 1 - 2CY male

More of these, please - male Barn Swallow

Holy Week ahead. Perhaps get down the meadow/stream if I'm in less agony. Even the owner wanted to know if it was on yet. Hey ho!
[Ed. SFH - sun-flower hearts, the preferred food of many species]