We're on the move

Things have been a little slow of late, hence the long interval between posts, but there seems to be some movement just recently. Over the past three weeks, my new bird totals have been 17, 17 and 34 - and the weekly species total has risen to twelve.

First year male Goldfinch completing PJ moult (October)

Naturally, at this time of year, Goldfinches have returned to Number 1 spot, with 18 new birds and 9 retraps last week, despite the periods of wind and rain that hamper much of our ringing hereabouts.  I am well over 500 new for the year already - with the main influx of newbies still to come (hopefully) - plus 72 individuals from last year, 14 from 2012 and 7 from the year before, my first here.

First year male Blackcap (October)

Same bird - underside (note the pale yellow flush)

The other tell-tale sign of winter is the catching of Blackcaps; the first (a 1CY male) on the 18th was right on cue, then another (1CY female) on the 22nd and three more since. I checked on the number of birds that were ringed in the orchard last winter (November - mid-March); it came to 22 birds, with two of those returning from previous winters.

Fun shot of a male Goldcrest's crown feathers

Another sign of the impending short days was the presence of a few new Goldcrests. The species breeds quite locally to us and I retrap birds from March to June, but after that it's only the odd new bird until the clocks go back when we then expect some winter arrivals, most likely passage birds heading for the Exmoor forests to the south-east of us. 

The bird that is missing so far - is Redwing. I saw one locally on the 14th and then a flock of 18 on the 25th. There was a major arrival on the north-east coast of England overnight on 28/29th so it will be another week or so before we see them regularly and, hopefully, one or two in the net.

Perversely, we saw a Swallow hurriedly heading south over the house on the 22nd in the late afternoon! Our local birds left ages ago.

The composite list for the last three weeks is: 

[same period retraps omitted]

Gt. Spotted Woodpecker 1 - adult male

Goldcrest 3

Blue Tit 1 (5)

Great Tit 1 (1)

Long-tailed Tit 4 (6)

Chiffchaff 1 - hatch year female

Blackcap 5

Wren 3 (3) - all young birds

Blackbird 2 (3) - just the 1 adult (female), retrapped

Robin (3)

Dunnock 2 (5)

House Sparrow 5 (6)

Chaffinch 1

Greenfinch 1

Goldfinch 38 (18)

118 birds of which 68 were new birds

Immature male Great Tit. Note the large, shiny bib.

One piece of late news - the southern end of the meadows has been fenced off, the horses now confined to the northern section. This means we can put nets up again, not just while the hay crop is growing.