Sauntering up to the Summer Solstice

This post covers the three week run-up to the longest day.

Things are busy in the garden - grass to manage, hedges to cut, borders to weed, soft fruit to pick, black-fly to purge, vegetables to tend, water and harvest, and so it goes on. At least the new potting shed is finished and the greenhouse glass repaired.

The birds have been busy too, mostly feeding their young on either natural food or that which I have provided. So far this year, I have gone through 120kg of SFH, 25kg of suet, 15kg of 'finch seed' (fine stuff) and 10kg of dried mealworms. Haven't counted the packets of sultanas! And dread to think of the cost, too. However, time to replenish stocks!

From now on, the amount of bird-food that I will be putting out will drop off considerably, allowing the birds to return to their natural diet in the countryside/farmland/housing estates. Come November, when the fog and first frosts should appear, I will start feeding more heavily. I find that the greatest demand is either during periods of snow or lengthy frosts and immediately prior to and during the breeding season. By easing off, usually by putting out food just the once 'early doors', the birds are driven to follow their natural instincts for the rest of the day. This weeds out "the chaff from the straw", leaving the fittest to make it round to next year's breeding season. 

For Goldfinch aficionados, have a look at Peter Alker's blog here; you might want to tear out the id pages from Svensson after reading this.

Now for some pictures of very young birds that have been caught recently. With still a lot of growing to do, especially of their flight feathers, it's a marvel that they manage to fly so strongly. We quite often find them high up in the nets.

recently fledged Greenfinch

juvenile House Sparrow about to join the world

unusual growth bars on a juvenile Blackbird

juvenile Nuthatch

And some not so young birds.

breeding Herring Gull (argenteus) at least 8 years old

primary wing moult in a 1st year Collared Dove
(hatched early in the year, probably early February)

A really good total for the time of year - often we are away for a week in June, so the fact that we weren't this year might have helped!

200 new birds and some 40 birds from previous.
Herring Gull - 1; a beautiful adult in moult
Woodpigeon - 0; couldn't get to it in time!
Collared Dove - 3;
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - 2; a pair busy provisioning their young from the feeder
Jackdaw - 1; a youngster
Rook - 1; a too enthusiastic female
Blue Tit - 16 (1); a male from November 2011 (4M)
Great Tit - 12;
Swallow - 3; a first brood about 10-12 days old
Long-tailed Tit - 19 (3); all in one go!
Blackcap - 4 (2); mum & dad first, then four youngsters
Nuthatch - 1; a juvenile was an unexpected first for the garden (doesn't breed in our tetrad, a 2x2km grid square)
Wren - 2;
Starling - 5;
Blackbird - 13 (4); two birds from autumn 2013
Robin - 13 (5); our old female yet again (born here in spring 2011)
Spotted Flycatcher - 2; a pair caught together late morning on the 7th, another first!

male & female Spotted Flycatcher, June 2015
(not separable on plumage)

Dunnock - 11 (4);
House Sparrow - 32 (8); oldest a 2012 youngster
Pied Wagtail - 1; "old peg-leg", an adult (3cy) back in July 2012
Chaffinch - 6  (2);
Greenfinch - 28 (2); the real surprise - lots of new young birds
Goldfinch - 22 (8); just 3 adults - that were all male
Siskin - 5;

Over the half-way mark (750) for new birds this year and hopefully about ten more species to get as well, going by previous years. Nothing's  guaranteed in this game though!

PS. I buy much of my bird-food in bulk direct from the importers/processors/wholesalers to reduce costs. It is stored in plastic dustbins to deter the Wood Mice.

Summer sunshine

The weather has been good to us; just one morning when we had a heavy shower that brought 11mm in one hour before breakfast. Our garden thermometer has measured a max of 23C to 29C in the shade before 2pm every day since last time.

Following on from the sad tale of the other two Herring Gull chicks, I can report that the third one managed to fledge successfully last week - not before I was able to ring it when it was in the throws of mastering flight. They normally spend two/three days practising when it is possible to throw a towel over them and pick them up.

42 day old Herring Gull chick

The garden nets have been moved around a couple of times, with one always in the bottom of the orchard. The sun has meant an early start and an equally early finish by ringers' standards. With more racks cut out down the meadows by yours truly between garden chores (sweaty work), we were able to give that a couple of goes, too. The net runs have never exceeded 180' at either site so far, giving a max. of four nets operated.

A problem at this time of year, especially if ringing very early or very late in the day, is the possibility of catching, inadvertently, a bat. I did just that and, after disentangling it from the net, I left it to come to its senses on the potting shed door.

Small bat (Pipistrelle?)

I was lucky enough to re-catch the juvenile woodpecker in the garden again. As you can see from the photograph below, "it" (still unable to sex the bird) had just begun its post-juvenile moult. The photo shows the contrast between a new, red, adult under-tail covert and the pink juvenile ones.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker

 "Fairmead" - 113 birds of 17 species, 72 new, 41 retraps (+10 re-handlings): the vast majority were young birds. I haven't caught any Jackdaws this year (yet), but there were >105 sitting on the roof the other night.

Herring Gull - 1, 41 day old chick about to fledge (see above)

Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - (1), the previous juvenile, just starting its first partial moult

Magpie - 1, first juv we've ever caught here

Blue Tit - 9 (4), juvs plus one r/t 2CY moulting female, r/t adult male in heavy moult

Great Tit - 5 (2), juvs

Long-tailed Tit - 1 (5), juvs & 1 r/t adult female

Wren - 2 (1), juvs, probably males (on size)

Blackbird - 10 (1), 8 male & 2 female juvs plus a new 3CY+ male

Robin - 3 (4), 4 juvs, 2 r/t females, 1 r/t male

Dunnock - 3 (3), 2 r/t females, 1 r/t male

House Sparrow - 10 (9), 6 males (1 new), 4 females, the rest = juvs

Pied Wagtail - (3), adults

Chaffinch - 1, a lone 3CY+ male

Bullfinch - 6 (2), 2 new females, 2 new males, 2 old males, 2 juvs

Greenfinch - 4, all males, 1 male 2CY

Goldfinch - 7 (3), 1 r/t male, 1 new male, the rest were unsexed juvs

Siskin - (2), a possible pair

Meanwhile, down the road, our species make-up is profoundly different at this time of year. I got the most enjoyment from re-catching the adult Dipper (below) that was ringed as an adult in May last year. This time it was actively moulting, as can be seen if you study the picture closely. Visible are the contrast between old and new primaries, a row of, as yet, unmoulted median coverts and some new, black feathers appearing in the crown. 

3CY+ Dipper in active moult (mid July)

"Egrove" - 50 birds of 14 species, 42 of which were new birds; all juveniles except where indicated.

Kingfisher - (2),

Blue Tit - 1,

Long-tailed Tit - 4 (1), r/t adult female

Chiffchaff - 4,

Blackcap - 18,

Adult female Blackcap in active moult

Garden Warbler - 1, a sign that they breed 'on site'

Garden Warbler in wholly juvenile plumage
(note the pale grey collar present in the species)

C. Whitethroat - 1, a 3CY+ female with a good brood patch

Wren - 3 (1), inc. a 2CY r/t male

Dipper 1 (1), a 'this year's' young bird and territorial male in full moult (above)

Blackbird - 2 (1), a new 3CY+ female

Song Thrush - 1, the first for the year

Robin - 2, 

Dunnock - 3 (1), only 1 juv, the rest adult males with pronounced cloacal protuberances

Goldfinch - 1 (1), the r/t was an adult male

I don't split the ages of adult Goldfinches into 2CY and 3CY+ at this time of year (May - August) as differentiation in feather age is nigh on impossible. All adults revert to Euring age class 4 anyway after the moult is complete since they all have new flight feathers.

Well, that's that. The contractors are coming in to mow the rest of the hay crop this coming week which should enable us to visit more of this longitudinal site. I will report back when we have some more news to share with you.

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!