What's doing? Not a lot!

It has been a tad breezy down this way lately, what with the wind coming from the north-west down the Irish Sea. Although that means the old orchard net is sheltered somewhat, the new orchard net (the orchard is new-ish, not the net) does billow a bit at times. Just have to keep an eye on things, that's all. 

August is the month of the House Sparrows. This year seems to have been a good one for them. A few more and it'll be a 'ton-up'. All youngsters, of course; you won't catch a wily adult hitting the net very often, or even a second time offender amongst the teenage ranks!

Birds of some interest (that means I don't catch them very often) this period include another Collared Dove (makes three this year), a Woodpigeon, a Sedge Warbler, a Garden Warbler and the eleventh Pied Wagtail of the year.

Juvenile Garden Warbler
[note the grey collar]

Juvenile Sedge Warbler
[If it was an adult, it would be very abraded] 

Woodpigeon
[Always fascinated by the shape of their iris]

Altogether, there were 16 species and 63 new birds that were ringed. Ten species also had re-traps, amounting to 31 percent of the tally. This is pretty normal for me and this type of general ringing. Its the same with the Constant Effort Sites programme with which I was associated for many, many years. On the other hand, some ringers/groups target certain species at particular times of the year and their re-traps tend to be year-to-year  controls and a lot less as a percentage of their overall, annual totals. They usually make up for it with many more recoveries!

To the chase! All juveniles unless indicated otherwise.

Woodpigeon 1 - adult

Collared Dove 1 - adult

Wren 3

Dunnock 2 (2)

Robin 8 (2) - r/t adult female 1 year old

Blackbird 2 (2)

Sedge Warbler 1 - only one so far this year

Garden Warbler 1 - a second bird in two weeks! Scarce around here.

Blackcap 3 (1)

Long-tailed Tit 2 (10) - 2 r/t adults, 1 year & 2 years old

Blue Tit 10 (4)

Great Tit 1 (3)

House Sparrow 12 (2) - a new, adult male!!

Chaffinch 1

Greenfinch 1 (1)

Goldfinch 13 (3) - a new ad. male, 2 r/t ad. females, 1 of them caught 967 days ago (December) as a 1CY  

Juvenile Robin undergoing PJ moult 

Juvenile Robin at the end of PJ moult

Juvenile Blue Tit nearing the end of PJ moult

Juvenile Blue Tit - renewing old greater coverts unevenly
[notice that the alula & primary coverts are "original"]

It's 'Pony Week' - so all efforts, ornithological or horticultural, confined to the garden this week. I might be able to do something in the meadows after that, provided the remaining horses/ponies are more interested in grazing than seeing what I'm up to.