Black Friday

Let the figures speak for themselves. 

It's been amazing seeing all these Blackcaps, mainly males passing through the garden. One was first ringed 2 years ago (3rd July) as a 3J down on the water meadow; the others have been around  for 3-4 days. At the same time, Phylloscs have been moving through, across the grass mainly. Have now sussed how to catch these low-flying/hopping jobs - by putting a single panel down the garden path! As well as the birds below, quite a few others were seen to avoid capture as they moved across the plot. The one red letter bird was Linnet that we have never seen in the garden before.

Chiffchaff 4 (1) - 1 female (on size)

Willow Warbler 8 (1) - all males (on size); one very yellow bird inc. legs

Blackcap 11 (5) - all males except 2

Blackbird 1 - longish winged, 2CY male, 

Robin (1) - 1 of the resident cocks in fine fettle

Dunnock (1)

House Sparrow 2

Brambling 1 - 2CY male

Greenfinch 2 (1)

Goldfinch 1 (1)

Siskin 5 - mixed of ages and sexes

Linnet 1 - adult female (BP2)

36 new, 11 recaptures

Adult female Linnet (3CY+)

2CY male Brambling 

The heaviest Willy was 10.5g (F25 ESF). A Goldfinch was a nice weight at 18.8g (F50), 4g above 'summer norm'. Blackcaps ranged from 16.4g to 22.2g (F35), with most around the 18.4g mark. The Brambling was 27.9g (only F15). Just 2 Blackcaps had a low muscle score of 1.

Willow Warbler, male

We were also graced with 8-10 returning Swallows and a single House Martin. On the buttie front - Peacock, Comma and Small Tortoiseshell. No sign of last week's Small White and Red Admiral.

Right on cue

What a difference a couple of days make.

Willow Warbler, adult male (dark legs)

Chiffchaff, adult male (pale legs)

Over the weekend, things started to "warm up", both on the ringing front and with the weather. At first it was finches and 'semi-resident' Blackcaps, then a little rush of Chiffchaffs together with the first Willow Warbler of the year. The latter was right on cue based on previous years. The next day, there were several of these Willies in the garden, going over the, as yet to be planted, vegetable garden, picking at vegetation between the plots. And the day after, there were even more around, on the lawns, in the apple trees, in the fruit cage. Unfortunately, you can't catch them all unless you turn the garden into a Brescia style trapping station with sound system. The last bunch that I caught all had those pollen horns, caused by sticking their beaks into freshly opened flowers, possibly on the Scillies or near continent the day before.

2CY Lesser Redpoll, male

3CY+ Lesser Redpoll, male

2CY Magpie

Other species that are seldom ringed here did me the honour of getting caught. First up was a fat Woodpigeon, then a 5M Lesser Redpoll followed by a cracking 6M, next a 2CY Magpie and, finally, a fine adult Herring Gull fell into a 20 foot superfine. The damage sustained was minimal, a mere 20 meshes annihilated. Just one more after that, a last year's male Pied Wagtail. Well, not quite. 

Female Brambling

A fellow birder in the village informed me that he still had Bramblings in his garden and one was ringed. He invited me to put a net up sometime soon, before they go. I thought today (Wednesday) would be good, but he had to attend hospital in Bristol. Never mind, a 6F decided to pay me a visit in recompense. With poor weather forecast, a visit to this chap's garden could be delayed somewhat. Watch this space, as they say.

Siskin, adult male

Before we get to the list, I must just mention that, during my walk with the dog yesterday late morning, a large flock of 50+ migrating Meadow Pipits dropped into the empty sheep field. What a missed opportunity (can't be everywhere, worse luck). Just need the grass to start growing vigorously so that the horses (7 yesterday) can be removed to the riding school paddocks, away from my nets.

My efforts in the garden resulted in:

Herring Gull 1

Woodpigeon 1

Magpie 1

Coal Tit (1)

Chiffchaff 12 (1)

Willow Warbler 11 (1) - the retrap was taken by a cat some 300m west & released

Blackcap 6 (3) - new birds mostly males (1 female on Monday)

Wren (1)

Blackbird (3)

Robin 1 (3)

Dunnock (1)

House Sparrow 1

Pied Wagtail 1

Chaffinch 1 (2)

Brambling 1

Greenfinch 2 (3)

Goldfinch 5 (2)

Siskin 6 (1) - just one heavy one, male @ 16g fat4 musc3

Lesser Redpoll 2

That's 19 species, 52 new birds with 22 retraps.

The last bird that I caught turned out to be the first female Chiffchaff of the year - just three weeks and one day after trapping the first incoming male Chiff.

As an interesting aside, the percentage of all birds that are retrapped in Somerset is 29%; this is reflected in my own figures here in the village. Fellow local ringers are already approaching last year's final figures thanks to this spring's "Siskin Fest"; not so here. We go for quality instead!

Stop-start

Torrential rain forecast for the next 48 hours. What will the birds make of that? It's not spring, but it's not winter either. But it is the coldest March for 15 or so years.

It has been a "grab it while you can" sort of week. As it turned out, the species list was one of the longest for some time, meaning summer is on its way, no matter how slowly. We have gone from Brambling to Chiffchaff, coupled with a vis-mig of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails.

Now some pics of the common birds caught lately -

Male Great Tit

Male Chaffinch (3CY+, March)

Male Dunnock

Male Siskin (March)

What's been going on since last week's blog?

Woodpigeon - 1; quite a heavy bird
Collared Dove - 1; number 19 (in 2 years)
Blue Tit - (1); young female starting to get her first brood patch
Great Tit - 1; a new male muscling in?
Coal Tit - 1; new 2CY female
Chiffchaff - 2; both males on wing length (62 & 66 mm)
Blackcap - (1); one of the males now weighing 23 g (fat 40)
Wren - 2 (2); 3 (noisy) males and a new '3CY+ lady'
Blackbird - (3); inc. 3CY female with a good brood patch
Song Thrush - 1 (1); new young male and an experienced female
Robin - (2); the 3CY female (hatched here) had a well developed BP
Dunnock - 2 (3); lost count of how many are around the garden hedges
House Sparrow - 1; male
Chaffinch - 3; 2 ad. females & ad. male - all UK on wing length
Brambling - 2; both females, both fat 20
Greenfinch - 1; opposite sex attracted by the displaying male?
Goldfinch - 1 (1); probably not locals (they know the routine!)
Siskin - 24 (2) +2C; 'prolific' - following the current, national trend.
Total captures = 61 of 18 spp. = 43 new + 18 re-traps/controls

Season's first Chiff; heavily abraded male

2CY Siskin; old secondaries, 1 old tertial, old outer tail

Female Brambling - mid March

Although we are having heavy rain with little let up, the weather is far worse further north, in Wales and north-west England. Perhaps their snow will drive the birds south briefly towards us. Perhaps it won't. We will have to see. Find out next week.

Finch fest

The weather has been awful. 44.5 mm of rain so far this month after 139 mm in January. Everywhere locally is sodden. A couple of days without rain saw the river go down and almost lose its colour. So it was a pleasant surprise to find a Dipper sitting on the bank by the old weir, singing. This is my first sighting hereabouts since the end of April last, when four chicks sat on my neighbour's wall, waiting to be fed by the parents. Next day we had THAT RAIN. And that was that!

Six (6) Little Egrets have been working the meadows and the horse paddocks for a while now. Occasionally, they are all together but they are more likely to be scattered over the site, which is extensive, and are often "invisible" to me from the lane/footpath. The problem is that when the meadows dry up, they will all be accessible again on foot but less inviting for the Egrets. Three of them have hung around in previous summers, so there is always the chance that they may decide to breed here. Four of the six now have nice plumes, so here's hoping!

6 Little Egrets @ Highbridge

Here's what I been up to, ringing-wise, since this time last week:
Collared Dove 1
Goldcrest (1)
Blackcap 1 (2) - all ladies
Wren (1)
Robin (2)
Dunnock (2)
Pied Wagtail (1) - the club-footed male
Chaffinch 2 (1)
Brambling 1
Greenfinch 10
Goldfinch 16 (1)
Siskin 20
Total 51 ringed (12 recaptures)

Adult male Brambling 

Today has been a pleasant day, if with a cold wind. The forecasters predict another three or four more of bright conditions which may not be all that helpful as there is yet no background of green foliage from the apple trees to hide the net! We shall see.

Bramble Finch

What a week it has been. The weather has been awful, with houses, roads and fields flooded, cars and people stranded, and at least one person dead as a direct result. Over the last seven days it has rained on four days, resulting in 76 mm of rainfall, two-thirds of that on one day, Wednesday. All this accompanied by gale force winds, as signified by our neighbours fence blowing down yesterday. We have had no workmen all week until the sun shone, today.

It was a pleasant surprise to find a spanking juvenile male Brambling in the bottom of the net first thing this morning, only the third time I've been able to open in the last seven days. This breaks another duck for 2012, bringing the species caught by me this year in ST04 to 42, one more than last year.

First winter male Brambling

Later this morning, I retrapped a male Blackbird, ringed as a 1CY in mid-November 2011, that I subsequently re-caught another eight times up to 1st May this year, but not since. As can be seen from the photographs, it has a noticeable brown bar across the median & greater coverts and an admixture of grey/brown feathers on its belly (and a few elsewhere). Has this happened as a consequence of moulting during periods of heavy rain when its diet may have been severely restricted?

Second winter male Blackbird - "stressed" plumage

Half of all the birds this week we managed to catch on Sunday, when the weather behaved itself momentarily. Lizzie's verdict on the morning's ringing in the orchard here was "lovely to be able to come inside and warm up". She's not one for cold weather ringing, but, there again, she had just returned from tramping up and down the mountains in Brescia (Italy) looking for illegal nets, traps and bird-trappers. See here for more on that.

Gt. Spotted Woodpecker (1) - a 4M from mid-Sept. down on the meadows

Goldcrest 2 (2) - 3 young males & an adult female

Blue Tit 8 (4) - 3:1, 1st years: older

Great Tit 2 - 1CY birds

Coal Tit 3 - 2 of which were adults

Wren 1 (1) - a new adult

Blackbird 3 (1) - (see above)

Robin (1) - a 'juvenile' from June still here (female?)

Dunnock (1) - from 11/11, last 'seen' end of March this year

Brambling 1 - first of the year!

Goldfinch 5 (1) - the r/t was a young bird from Sept. on the meadows

A total of 11 species, 25 new birds plus 12 re-traps.

The weather ahead looks like more storms with high winds and heavy rainfall with alternate days of slightly calmer conditions. Not a lot of hope for much bird ringing there, then. Until next weekend, cheerio and take care.

Williton Station - pm Wed 21 Nov 2012

Half way to Paradise

At least the effort of waiting to ring a few finches until after the worst of the snow had receeded last winter has shown some reward.

Today, I had a recovery for a 2CY male Brambling that I ringed on 17th January this year, here in West Somerset. Three months (91 days) later it was controlled the other side of the Kiel Canal in Schleswig-Holstein at a place called Itzehoe. It was re-ringed for whatever reason with a new Helgoland ring [DEW Wilhelmshaven 82091710]. It had moved 918 km ENE towards its eventual breeding grounds, most likely somewhere in a montane birch forest of northern Fenno-Scandinavia or a riverine willow zone in western Siberia.



A good start for the significant recoveries file with a 'hit rate' for the species of 2%. I just wonder what next winter will bring.

500

It almost passed me by, the 500th new bird at Fairmead. The ring was given to a 5F Brambling at 5.30 pm on Monday 21st. This intermediate target was achieved in 69 days - and I've not been able to ring all day every day. At present, it's about 8 new birds a day, with Goldfinches approaching the 200 mark.