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.

Nowhere to go

Appointments, appointments, appointments; one of those weeks. So when it wasn't raining, and I wasn't busy attending to this, that and the other, it was another week of garden ringing. Fortunately we get some protection from the northerly winds or I'd be scuppered.

Blackcaps are making a show at the moment. I had five new birds through in late October (ringed), two more last week and four this week. Fellow ringer, John, had a whopping twelve during the back half of November. It's no good, I shall have to plant some Fig trees!

First male Blackcap of this autumn

I don't think that I've caught two Collared Doves in a week before; both were hatched earlier in the year - and that may explain it, 'cos the regular adults know how to avoid getting caught (or how to get out!). There has been an influx of Blackbirds locally but the Redwings and Fieldfare groups seem to have passed on, leaving the odd bird or two to the residual food. A pleasant surprise was a small party of Siskins that came to the feeders. Four were caught as they tried to escape our terrier, with a lone bird calling from the top of the apple tree.

Siskin under-tail coverts (adult)

This week saw 16 species, with 36 new birds plus 18 re-captures.
Collared Dove 2 - both young birds (from the spring?)
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit 8 (3)
Great Tit (2)
Coal Tit (2)
Long-tailed Tit (2)
Chiffchaff 1 - almost certainly an abietinus
Blackcap 4 - 2x 1CY plus 1 adult female and a 1CY male, 
Blackbird 4 (2)
Robin 1 (3)
Dunnock 2 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 2 (1)
Goldfinch 5 (1)
Siskin 4 - all caught at once
Bullfinch 2 - both young females

Wintering Chiffchaff

          Young Robin 'with the hump' on a cold day

Must go and make 'best use' of this sunshine, today!

The next two days

Two more mornings were spent down in the water meadow orchard (21 & 22 Sept). The Friday was cloudy with the wind easing and Saturday was brighter with the wind picking up again. Altogether, we had 33 new birds with a mere 3 recaptures.

Under-tail coverts of Grey Wagtail (1CY)

The red-letter bird on day 1 was another Grey Wagtail; the rest of the cast comprised mainly of 'King Harry's, a pleasing return to autumn ringing. With a small Mipit passage going on, I 'tape lured' two specimens, both 1CY birds with short (UK) wing lengths.

Simultaneous shedding of greater coverts in juvenile Goldfinch (late Sept)

Day 2 was less successful but we handled yet another Song Thrush and our first Goldcrest of the second winter period. However, the star prize 'today' was to be a 3F Reed Bunting, yet another 'new for year' species. 

The full count was as follows:
Goldcrest 1 - adult male
Chiffchaff 2 (1) - new birds both adults
Blackcap 2 - both males
Blackbird (1) - aged '4M' Aug 2011             
Song Thrush 1 - another juv
Robin 1 (1)
Dunnock 2
Grey Wagtail 1 - 1CY
Meadow Pipit 2 - 1CY

Contrast between greater and primary coverts - 1CY Chaffinch

 Chaffinch 3 - 2 adults & 1CY
Greenfinch 4 - all juvs undergoing PJ moult
Goldfinch 13 - no adult birds!
Reed Bunting 1 - a small imm. female

I spent the next week with our caravan up in NW Norfolk, enjoying the noisy Pink-feet and the swirling Knot flocks! ... and meeting friends and family of "her indoors", my partner Jenny. [I should say she spends much of her time in the garden or walking her dog, so a bit of a mis-nomer!!!]

Autumn passage

This last week we have noticed that autumn passage seems to have got under way down here. This doesn't mean to say that some passage, especially of warblers, has not been going on for the last two months, but merely that some other species are now being heard, seen and caught. Newly trapped birds have been showing evidence of laying down fat for their onward migration, most likely across the English Channel (La Manche for you francophiles).        

Not a lot of ringing has been done this week but the birding has been interesting. There was an influx of Swallows on Saturday, with much feeding over the meadows. Fortunately, the other half of the hay meadow (across the stream) was cut and left in winrows on the same day. This must have exposed or disturbed much of the insect life that the hirundines then exploited. Where the birds went to roost is a mystery, but it may have been in an area of willow and tall Himalayan Balsam to the north of where we usually ring. The birds were certainly apparent early on when I set up for a session on Sunday.

Swallows 'resting' between feeding bouts on the HT overhead cables.

Early on Sunday morning (ca.7am) 54 CANGOs (les Bernaches du Canada) moved quietly south, presumably to Hawkridge, or even Durleigh, Reservoir. About one hour later, a noisy flock of 73 Canadas returned from that direction. Had they come across a shooting party? Another hour later and over 100 returned, split into six parties of approx 20 each, from the direction of Blue Anchor/ Dunster Beach. What was going on?

Including a few hours netting in the garden, the total for the week reached 14 new birds and 9 retraps of 10 species; not a lot, I know, but the result of a poorer than usual season. Trainee Lizzie was unable to come this weekend but has promised to turn up one day this coming week before I disappear to NW Norfolk for some incoming "Pinkies", etc..

Great Tit (2)
Coal Tit 2 (1)
Chiffchaff 1 (1) - with fat10
Blackcap 2 (1) - 2 males with fat10, female fat25 (ESF)
Blackbird (1)
Robin 1 (2) - new bird had fat10; migrant?
Dunnock 2 (1)
Meadow Pipit 1 - on migration, fat20
Chaffinch 4 - on migration, all fat10
Goldfinch 1


The Meadow Pipit photo clearly shows the pronounced 'tooth' on the (3) juvenile median coverts and the inner greater coverts with their 'indentation' compared to the outer ones that have a more diffuse margin.


One of the other migrants, a 1CY female Chaffinch.

The retrap Blackcap was originally ringed here on 10th July last year as a 3J male. All the other recaptures are, not surprisingly, of this years juveniles.

I am hoping that the hay will be baled today, [it was teddered - that means we can drive between the rows instead] so that I can attempt a ringing session in the 'orchard' and set a tape up for some more Mipits!

          
This is the second of these to be found moving across the lawn this month.

For better or for worse?

Another week and four more sessions out of the way. Just the one was with any seriousness as the weather is still not very conducive for ringing down at the meadows. The garden remains dead in daylight hours, although some of the bird food is disappearing, albeit slowly. Just one highlight - a Nuthatch flew from front to back. The Tawny and Little Owls have started calling again, so winter's on its way.

On the 4th it was 6 new birds of 6 species, including a Swallow and a coal Tit. On Saturday the 8th, we had 220' of net up in good weather after a front had gone through. This was to be the best day with 10 new and 3 retraps. The following two mornings were on the windy side and ringing was curtailed after a couple of hours. Nevertheless, 5 new Chiffs plus 1 on the Sunday and 4 new birds of 4 species plus 1 already ringed entered the ringing book.

The 25 new birds and 5 recaptures (in brackets) were as follows:

Swallow 2

Blue Tit 1

Great Tit (2)

Coal Tit 1

Long-tailed Tit 1

Chiffchaff 5 (3)

Blackcap 6

Wren 1

Blackbird 3

Robin 2

Dunnock 2

Greenfinch 1

Twelve species is a good spread for this time of year.

Staring skywards during moments of inactivity or refreshment, bird-watching produced a Hobby, a Wood Sand, the following day 2 Common Sands and on the last two days a Green Sand that is likely to remain for two or three weeks. Sorely tempted to have a go for this one night, now that I've found a spot to set a net. There have been the usual family of not very shy Buzzards, two/three Grey Herons mooching about, a mini vis-mig of Chaffinches and the local 6-family pack of Swallows entertaining me/us as the sun shows over the hill.

To put this year's rotten conditions in context, I checked over the database for monthly totals. Last year in June I worked the site for just the last week and processed 22 (all new) birds, whereas this year, in a full month we only managed 17. July figures are 223 and 18 respectively, August 131 and 33, and already in September we have achieved 67 compared to a full month last year of 79. We might have to call a drought soon as we've only had 1mm of rain so far this month!!! Our only problem at the moment has been the stiff north-west wind that gets up far too often.

Female Chiffchaff completing PJ moult (Sept) 

Juvenile Swallow (Sept)

Juvenile female Blackbird prior to PJ moult (early Sept)

Next suitable day looks like Friday. Will report back again after next weekend. 

Down on the meadows - at last!

Today we managed a session with 4 nets down at the meadows, staying within the home 1km square. We will move into the next 1km square (north) after we have had a session on the other side of the stream in the orchard and by the ruined mill. As yet, it is too early to catch much since the trees are only just beginning to flush green, the nettles are a mere 8-10cm high and the "policemans helmet" has also just germinated, showing its first pair of leaves.

The 9m net over the stream produced a new, 3CY or older, male Kingfisher at first light.

Full adult male Kingfisher

The 18m net further downstream (but not over water) caught a pair of 2CY birds later, the male of which was first caught last August, but was trapped alongside a different 2CY female just 10 days ago - a bit of a flirt or rejected in favour of another?

Another new 2CY female Kingfisher - note the amount of red on the lower mandible.
Compare the browny-green tinge to the head feathers with the bright blue of a full adult.

It wasn't a day for numbers as the season is only just beginning. One bird that did fall prey to our nets was an male Chiffchaff that had been ringed last July as an adult. It was one of 13 Chiffies that day and was caught 2 hours before the 3JF (juvenile female) that was controlled at Icklesham (E. Sussex) in mid September.

The returning adult male Chiffchaff - with 'pollen horn'

Including a short, unproductive "go" in the garden yesterday, we added the following to the year's total:
Kingfisher 2 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (1)
Chiffchaff (1)
Wren 1 (3)
Dunnock 1 (1)

At the moment, we are catching more Wrens and Long-tailed Tits that we have done for a while now, just as they are getting down to choosing potential nest sites.

One of 3 2CY Wrens caught this week. Note abraded tail and contrasting flight feathers

The only other things of note were 3 Redpoll spp. in the Alders that moved off north and the finding of quite fresh Otter spraint in one of the more secluded net rides.

Supplementary: I went back and took a picture of the Otter poo the following day; it had dried out quite a bit in 24 hours. Here it is.

Chiffin'

After having seen a Chiffchaff looking for insects/spiders on the side walls of the 'river' bridge on Sunday, and then hearing it or another in full song 100m further up the lane yesterday, it was my pleasure to ring one in the garden today.


As expected, it was a male (with a wing of 62mm) and it was carrying little fat at 8.0 grams. It had obviously been feeding up fairly recently as it had what we call "pollen horns" (see photo). Some of the nectar that the bird has been collecting from the flowering trees and shrubs sticks to the minute feathers around its upper and lower mandibles, producing this effect. Nectar is a good and quick source of sugars which the birds convert to fat to power their migration flight. It would, most likely, have obtained this 'horn' in northern Spain or south-west France before making a concerted push to arrive here in England yesterday or today.

Many ringers have reported catching their first Chiffchaffs in the last two/three days.

Good things come in twos.

It's been much of a muchness since my last blog. Somethings are moving, some others have gone and yet more are to arrive.

I have managed to ring in our small orchard on the even days of the week from sunrise 'til 10-ish, by which time the sun has risen quite a way and spotlighted the net(s). It has been steady and pretty reasonable for a small set-up like we have here. Things will improve as soon as we are able to return to the meadows, once the willows and alders sprout their leaves. But I'll probably catch a Chiffchaff in the garden before that happens.

2CY female Siskin

Noticeable was the pairs of Greenfinch that I caught every day. One day I was blessed with a male and female Siskin in the net inches apart, only the third and fourth of the year so far. Another day, three Goldfinches - although we had just had a cold, cloudless night. Not the local birds, since they all know the way to approach the feeders containing sunflower hearts and seldom make a mistake.

2CY male Siskin

Another duo, this time of female Blackbirds, found the short net across our small shrubbery. So far this winter I have ringed or retrapped 25 male Blackbirds, but, with these two, just 13 female birds. There's something going on here but, as yet, I have not fathomed it out. There are also twice as many 2CY birds as full adults (Euring class 6) of both sexes, which is about par for this time of year - if the previous breeding season was a good one.

So, this week's tally comes to 18 new (&9 r/t) of 11 spp.:
Woodpigeon (1) - a very fat male!
Great Tit 2
Blackcap (1) - the long-staying female from the New Year
Blackbird 2 (3)
Robin (2)
Dunnock 1 (1)
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 6 (1) - r/t was originally caught in mid-Jan 2011 as a 6M
Goldfinch 3
Siskin 2

However, the week didn't end there.
My new trainee was back from Cuba and wanted to brave the colder air. So, in order to get a feel for the impending spring, I set four nets in one of the meadows the night before. We didn't bargain for the weather, though! Fog had been forecast most mornings but there had been no signs of it in the village, but we could see it capping the top of the Quantocks. Today proved otherwise; dense, wet FOG, hanging on the nets that I had put up the night before. We were right cheesed off but stuck it out. Just as well we did, because our first "hit" was a pair of 2CY Kingfishers, the male being one I ringed here last August when it still had 'brown legs'. They were busy all morning defending their territory downstream of the bridge, once released.

2CY Kingfishers - male above, female below

The rest of the session was rather rubbish, as one would expect in the circumstances but it did give us a chance to have a 'recce' prior to the season kicking off. 8 VTOL Redwing departed at first light, a Song Thrush sang non-stop for 4 hours and a Dipper 'buzzed' through. As I was packing up, a hungry Chiff was hunting spiders in the cracks of the stone walls beside the bridge.

GT = 5 new (&5 r/t)
Kingfisher 1 (1) - new female
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 1 (2)
Wren 1
Dunnock 1 (1)
... and the nets are in the airing cupboard - along with my boots!

Here's to Spring! [summer-time starts in a fortnight!!!] I expect it will arrive with gales and rain! [I'm usually an optimist] We'll see!

Water, water everywhere

Another 10.5mm of rain yesterday mid-morning 'til dawn today. Kybosh on the ringing, what with the kitchen job in hand. However, I did sneak out before the rain yesterday for 8 birds:
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit (2)
Blackbird 1 (1) - both 3Ms with dark beaks & 131mm wings [that's big for round here, most of the time]
Dunnock 1 - another adult bird!
Robin (1)
Chaffinch 1 - a 4F

Also managed a late afternoon sesh today with a different set of species and 8 birds:
Woodpigeon 1 - a rather plump [555g] male that eats all my mate's bird-food over the road & spends most of its day in his leylandii
Coal Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit (3)
Chiffchaff 1 - with 'brown' legs & most likely an abietinus
Dunnock 1
Goldfinch 1C - origin may be fairly local, ring on left leg is a giveaway.
[It was local - ringed as a 4F, 3yr 8mth 3days ago, 2km to the west]

The first pic below shows the true colour of the Chiff but does not shew the bright yellow on the bend of the wing. The second was taken with artificial light. For those with an interest - E6, wp 3/4/5, 2=8, wing 63.5mm, wt. 9.4g, F35.




Kitchen refurb. well under way. Threw up another problem - the main stop tap doesn't close completely. Looks like the replacement of the lead main will now have to go on the agenda earlier than we thought.

This mild weather

... continues here in the south-west. One day the fronts track up from France and it rains heavily and then the wind goes easterly and we're bathed in bright sunshine one minute and under a cloud blanket the next. When you wake up the next day, it's all round to the west with hill fog and drizzle. When the wind clears the murk, the leaves are being shaken off the trees. Such is a ringer's, hard life hereabouts! you just have to cope and get in a few hours when you can.

Any road, I have been fortunate in that the garden has been protected from the worst of the wind this week. The meadows were unringeable as the nets sites were all vulnerable to the wind on any one day. A couple of achievements this week have been the capture of bird species No. 40 for the 1km grid square, the spotting of No. 76 and the ringing of No. 1500 this year.
The Grip - it rejected the pencil in favour of my fingers!
"I'm watching you, mister" [Magpie age 3 (1CY)]

As you may have guessed by now, species number 40 was a juvenile Magpie. They are not very common round here (I suspect they get shot fairly frequently) but there is a successful pair on the outskirts of Watchet which I often see from/at the meadows.

I also caught the first Greenfinch since August, an adult female. They are now very scarce here during the summer months and I suspect their breeding numbers in the area are low, that is until you get closer to the wooded slopes of Exmoor.
Another species that I have not been catching is the Goldfinch. The local breeders (in my tall, front hedge) know full well where the nets are in relation to the feeders and make sure they don't get caught too often.
Understudy for 2011 Goldfinch No.289 or new ring No. 1500

The last "exciting" bird I caught was another Blackcap. This is the fourth in four weeks (an adult female, an adult male and latterly two 1CY males). The only month this year when I haven't caught one of these is, ironically, May, always thought of as one of the better months for overall numbers.
So, as usual, to the totals for the first three days this week (Mon-Wed) . 16 new birds and 14 retraps of 14 species. All the retraps were birds of the year; the only adults were 2 new Blue Tits, a male Blackbird, both new Robins, the male Chaffinch and the female Greenfinch
Magpie 1
Blue Tit 3 (2)
Great Tit (1)
Coal Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (5)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Blackbird 3 (1)
Robin 2 (2)
House Sparrow 2 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 1

Yesterday was shopping in the county town for groceries and materials/fittings for the refurb. Today and the next few days will be non-ringing days; first, it's rip the kitchen out and then varnish the insides of the cabinets before they go in, tomorrow is the BTO/SOS Garden Birdwatch day conference and Sunday is getting the old tiles off and sealing any mdf., i.e. make a mess while the 'good lady' is away in Norfolk. Fingers crossed I'll be able to get the nets up sometime towards the end of next week if the weather holds fair ... and if we get the new kitchen finished.