Not summer, anyway.

It's been a funny old four weeks since I last blogged about bird-ringing. Although I've been able to ring most mornings, the impending Christmas rituals and the presence of a plumber in the bathroom has frustrated my efforts to present this piece to the world.

Over this period, I handled 22 different species. Let's look at some of the more interesting ones.

1CY Blackcap, male

5CY Blackcap, male.

Notice the juvenile, dark brown, crown feathers admixed with the black ones, acquired during the post-juvenile moult, in the young (1CY) male Blackcap above. The lower Blackcap is in its 5th year. It has a much broader, big alula feather than the young bird. The bird itself has an olive-grey mantle compared to the olive-brown of the young bird. Overall, it's a "neater" bird.

Adult Grey Wagtail, showing the broad primary coverts

Under-tail of adult male Grey Wagtail

This Grey Wagtail can be seen most days either on the rocks down at the stream or flitting around the rooftops of the nearby houses, the coach garage, Travis Perkins' outlet or the railway station buildings. It was a complete turn-up to catch it in a net in our orchard instead of a net across the stream.

The downside of being a ringer - Blue Tits!

1CY Siskin, showing the 3 white-edged, unmoulted, greater coverts

Below is a shot of an unusual Greenfinch. It has 5 primary coverts with grey tips, indicative of an adult male. Further inspection shows that the outer 5 primaries (the outermost is tiny) are somewhat different from the inner five. The yellow of the outer edge is brighter on the "adult" feathers. This bird had done more than the usual post-juvenile moult; a few youngsters do moult out primaries 6 and 7 and rarely 8. I have never seen primaries 6 to 10 moulted in sub-adult Greenfinches before.

1CY greenfinch with primaries 6-10 replaced

I now know that the local population of Dunnocks equals or exceeds 14 birds at the moment. One bird, a juvenile, had "emigrated" from neighbouring ringer John's place about 2 km away. They have all put on weight lately, some 3 grams heavier than during days with longer daylight. One adolescent bird has acquired these rather unsightly growths on its feet but it doesn't seem to affect it at the moment.

Cysts on the feet of a juvenile Dunnock

We now come to the "results page". Two new species for the year were caught and ringed in the last week. The cummulative totals, excluding multiple re-traps, are as follows:

Sparrowhawk - 1; young male.

Collared Dove - 1; this year's, male on size.

Jackdaw - 1; this year's, female on size. A new species for 2014.

Goldcrest - 4 (2); five were males.

Blue Tit - 14 (7); six were adults, three of which were new.

Great Tit - 2 (7); two were adults and one of those was a new male.

Coal Tit - 1 (1); both 1CY birds.

Long-tailed Tit - (6)

Chiffchaff - 1; 3rd week of November. None since.

Blackcap - 11 (1); one adult, plus a "control" not seen since February 2011.

Wren - (3); one adult female, ringed two years ago.

Starling - 1; adult male. A new species for 2014.

Dipper - 1; a full adult. 

Blackbird - 5 (4); just one "near continental" type.

Redwing - nil;

Robin - (5); all 1CY, except a female ringed as a juvenile in July 2011.

Dunnock - 4 (10); oldest bird was a female from January 2012.

House Sparrow - 5 (11); just five females.

Grey Wagtail - 1; an unexpected adult male found in the bottom shelf.

Chaffinch - 5;

Greenfinch - 14 (1); 9 male / 6 female. Five adults, 

Goldfinch - 91 (44); incl. one 'control', ringed by a neighbouring ringer.
        There were 2 adults from 2010/11 winter, 1 from 2011/12, 4 from 
2012/13  and 6 from last winter.

Siskin - 2; both in the last week of November, none seen/heard since.

With the Christmas holidays now upon us, I should be able to make the most of two potential trainees and get in a few sessions down at the meadows, by way of a change.

There's always the chance of another new species for the year still. Just look what turned up in neighbouring ringer's garden on the 4th December!

Dartford Warbler trapped by John Webber (C)
An addition to his garden list!

The nearest site to see them used to be over 10 miles to the west. What next?

Two weeks on ...

... and we had 46 mm of rain in 5 hours. That's the same as the ten year average, all on the first day of the month! More thunderstorms have ensued since. Anyway, back to birds and the last 18 days.

Garden-wise, it's the House Sparrows that have been most in evidence, as they always are at this time of year with this year's youngsters looking for their next meal. They don't go near the feeders, as a rule, but prefer the bird table, either ours or our neighbours. That means I catch them as they cross the open part of the garden, where I don't usually net. There is still an active Blackbird's nest somewhere; both mum and dad collect mouthfuls of suet pellets early doors and scoot off with them.

Cinnabar caterpillars on Ragwort
(click to enlarge)

It's been a very good year for butterflies and moths. We have had many more Cinnabar moths this year and, with a small patch of Ragwort at their disposal, hundreds of caterpillars have emerged. Right now, they are looking for somewhere to pupate.

There has been a lot of Herring Gull activity post fledging, all ages readily coming to the broken up Hovis crusts I deliver. One pair are still attending their nest site, which they haven't used, just played about with a few bits and bobs of rubbish to form a base. The building's owners usually take the old nest away each autumn, as do many owners/occupiers. Still doesn't stop the birds from returning to their allotted spot each spring, though. 

There was a flurry of Swallow activity last week with 26 birds hunting over the garden one evening. Down on the meadows the number of individuals hawking for insects has decreased noticeably. The meadows are fully cut and part has been "mown" ready for the inevitable gymkhana that the owner's sister puts on for her young female riders. The better news is that the owners are going to fence off and gate the southern two meadows (that includes the ford) and resolve to contain the various horses in the larger northern section (that also has a crossing). Most of the site that I use could be available for ringing all year round next year.

Despite various restrictions, mainly on the domestic front, I have still managed to ring 98 new birds this period and re-capture another 26 individuals, (I discard any same period re-traps), of 19 species as under. The list is dominated by juveniles, before, during or after their post-juvenile moult.

Collared Dove (1) - long-winged, adult female of indeterminate age (>4 yrs), with BP
Kingfisher 1
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker (1)
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 6
Great Tit 3 (2) - 2 post-breeding females re-trapped
Long-tailed Tit (3)
Chiffchaff 7 - incl. adult male & female
Blackcap 10
Whitethroat 2 (1) - re-trap breeding female & a new 2CY male
Wren 8 (2)
Blackbird 8 (3) - includes the late breeding female (2x) although I try to avoid her.
Robin 5 (1)
Dunnock 1 (3)
House Sparrow 27 (8) - a new adult male & female
Grey Wagtail 1
Greenfinch 5
Goldfinch 11 (1) - adult male from beforehand

Grey Wagtail - juvenile

Goldcrest - juvenile

Blackcap -juvenile male
Note single, new, black feather emerging above eye

 Today I spotted (pun) my first local flycatchers. They, a pair, were carrying food for some youngsters tucked away somewhere around the old water-wheel site that served Egrove Farm mill. Couldn't stop - other half about to leave for Norfolk.

Off-site I did manage to meet up with two old Beds birding mates (DJO & DK) for a pint and a curry like the old days. Hilarious.

A fortnight later ...

 Time flies when you're having fun. My fun has had to be split between getting the garden back into shape, now that we've had some significant rain, and getting out ringing. Actually, much of my time has been spent in the garden, either strimming and raking, treating the Horse-tail, mowing, light pruning, hedge trimming or ringing some birds.  

The highlights from the latter have been the catching of two parties of Long-tailed Tits. The first contained five new birds, all youngsters under-going a full moult (one of those odd UK species that does this), plus two adults with consecutive ring numbers that were not of my doing. Two days later, I caught four more youngsters, and then, a week after the initial encounter, two more ringed adults, and two juveniles from the original session. It turns out that all four of these adult birds were ringed at the same time, back in late October last year, in friend John's garden the far side of the village (approx. 2 km away)  

So here are the results from an hour or two most days, once the kittens have come in for their breakfasts. There is still not a lot of movement.
Blue Tit 1 (2)

Great Tit 2

Long-tailed Tit 9 + 4 "controls" (see above)

Chiffchaff 2 - local birds?

Wren 2 (1) - the retrap was a "first brood", the others more recent

Dunnock 4 (2) - all juvs

House Sparrow 7 (2) - mainly incidental to trying for the next species 

Pied Wagtail 7 (3) - the main target species, as they are still nesting nearby

Chaffinch 1 - juv

Greenfinch 3 - moulting male & female plus a 'youth'

Goldfinch 3 - freshly fledged juveniles

Young Pied Wagtail (M.a.yarelli)

House totals = 11 species, 41 new birds, 10 re-traps & 4 'controls'.
Oh! And the Sparrowhawk has been in twice. That's according to the heaps of feathers from two unlucky Collared Doves.

I have also been able to get down to the meadows, twice on my own and once with company. Quantity low, quality high. Birds not caught include two Green Sands, a couple of Dippers, more Kingfishers, several Whitethroats, Swallows and martins and the (three) Little Egrets currently there on a daily basis. Would love to catch and ring a full adult Egret. It has been done!

The Himalayan Balsam is flowering well down by the river and the bees are busy pollinating it, making sure there will be a plentiful supply of seed for next year. The Rose-bay Willow-herb is also coming into flower, a plant I much prefer.

Rose-bay

Today's photos are all from this sub-site.

Young female Kingfisher

Young female Chiffchaff (starting PJ moult)

young Sedge Warbler (fat score 30)

Kingfisher 3 (1) - all juveniles; "and still they come!" (10 so far)

Chiffchaff 7 - all juveniles, mostly males

Blackcap 1 - a 2CY male bird that hasn't started moulting; still breeding?

Sedge Warbler 1 - second bird here this year; fat score of 3 (tracheal pit almost full) and 12.6 grams in weight/mass; "on it's way south to Senegal (?)" This bird could easily put on another 10 grams before it is ready to fly out over the Atlantic in a non-stop flight to West Africa.

Wren 1 (1) - young males

Dunnock 1 - a juv-juv

Grey Wagtail 3 - new species for the year; these were all juveniles

one of the 3 young Grey Wagtails

Farm totals = 7 species, 17 new & 2 re-captures.

There are still plenty of birds to come but I won't wish my life away just yet!
Back soon.

February starts green and gold.

The wintry weather since my last blog has not done much for the art of bird-catching. The enemy has been the strong winds and their friend, the rain.

I made use of this poor interlude to visit family in Bedfordshire and to meet up with Martin Garner and Tormd Amundsen on their UK tour. Not having been to a Beds Bird Club meeting for over two years now, it was inevitable that I would be teased by my many friends of times past, all in good humour. It has been less wet since returning home but, boy, has the wind been a problem combined with the low temperatures. 

The hundreds of thrushes have left the horse paddocks by the river, leaving the dozen or so Blackbirds in possesion and in peace. More recent notable sightings have included a Red Kite, a Green Woodpecker, the Magpies lining their nest (which they built a month ago), a silent Chiffchaff, the usual Egrets and the return of a Grey Heron working the river, now that the waters are receeding. The real "red letter" was a noisy Kingfisher, which, between us, we have only seen once since last April; the floods have created some suitable, if rather soft, banks for a possible nest. Perhaps they will return this spring and raise young again.

Nonetheless, I have been able to open a sheltered single 60', with the 1st and 3rd being the better catching days. Otherwise, it's been grab a couple of hours after sunrise or after lunch - and hope for the best.  During this period, I did manage a "first" for me; I controlled an adult male Siskin, albeit from Denise just 14km to the west under the edge of Exmoor. Previously, I have had just two recoveries, both long-distance, of the species many moons ago, so this was a real bonus. Perhaps there will be more.

Two species took overwhelming precedence, just two others were also ringed, plus a further five species "fell in" as retraps. All revealed now. (All different birds)

Blue Tit (1)

Blackcap (2) - the 'left-leg pair'; the 'right-leg' pair' also present

Blackbird (1)

Robin (2)

Dunnock 1 (2)

Chaffinch 2 - 'big' birds

Goldfinch 21 (3) - 50/50 on age; 20 male, 4 female (significant).

Siskin 21 (1) - 73% were 2CY; 12 males, 10 females

Bullfinch (2) the 2 adult females, both showing the beginnings of a brood patch

New = 45, recaptured = 13

2CY male

The ratio of Goldfinch males to females at this time of year falls in line with previous work I have done on the species in a different part of the country. Three of the four females were full adults. February seems to be Siskin catching time, while new Goldfinches should feature heavily until the end of April (mean egg laying date 27 April).

3CY Female