Vulgarity, babies and a mess

We now know the official April rainfall figures for this area; Liscombe, which is about 8 miles to the west, got 274mm that also happened to be 3.17 times the normal (long-term average) for the month. It was the wettest place in England.

Back to ringing. The weather is still affecting things but one 'good' thing did happen. It drove the Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) from up the village to search a wider area for food for their recently hatched young. As a consequence, I managed to grab a male and a female that took to visiting our bird table for some tasty sultanas. This brings the number of species caught here in the last 16 months to 45.

Sexy 6F Starling

 In between the belts of rain driving down from the north or up from the south-west, the nets have been opened early mornings if a dry spell occured. Many of the captures have been adult retraps but, at last, some of the young are now on the wing - if a little short in that department! 

Juvenile male Greenfinch

Juvenile Goldfinch

As well as Greenfinch and Goldfinch, I have also had young Blackbirds; the fully fledged Siskins were already around some two or more weeks ago (3rd week of April). This time last year, I was also ringing 3J Robins and Dunnocks, but I fear that the awful weather may have "sunk" their nests, complete with eggs or downy young.

Blackcaps are still on the move; you always know this by their restlessness in the hand, accompanied by much 'squeaking'. The other day, one of these happened to be re-growing most of its retrices (tail feathers); it must have had a 'near miss' with either a predator or someone else's trap or net!.

Blackcap growing new tail feathers (early May)

Moving further afield (all of 400m), the meadows are still frightfully wet and most net runs are 'out of bounds' due to the height and speed of the water passing down the stream. Some sites are still cut off by the waters, either the depth or the strength of the current. A couple of very recent photos of two of the productive net sites, mainly aimed at riverine species.  

Rectangle = 60' net site 3a; C = current eroding channel

Rectangle = 30'net site; F = ford under 1m (3') of  flood water

So, a meagre total this week amounting to 38 birds handled:
Blue Tit (3)
Great Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 1 - fem
Willow Warbler 2 - both fem
Blackcap 2 - both 2CY
Wren 1 (1) - a nesting pair
Blackbird 1 - juv
Song Thrush (1) - mum
Robin (1) - dad
House Sparrow (1) - brooding fem
Greenfinch 3 (1) - inc. juv
Goldfinch 8 (5) - inc. juv
Siskin 3 - inc. nesting pair
Bullfinch (1) - after 2CY male   

I might be able to get some ringing in before we depart for a short holiday in Dorset and West Sussex. We'll see.