A wintery month

Well, we thought it was cold for us! The temperatures yo-yoed up and down from day to day, hitting minus 7 and plus 12 at night and daytime maximums between plus 4 and plus 15. Compared to some, we got off lightly. Something tells me it's going to get worse later this week with strong winds adding to the dismay.

Since Boxing Day, exactly one month ago, I have managed to ring 115 new birds of 21 species. A couple of birds stand out: another young Black Redstart was somewhat of a surprise and a male Blackcap in its 5th calendar year made a return visit to the bird table. 

Juvenile Black Redstart number 2

During this period, there have been seven other species in the garden which haven't found their way onto the 2015 capture list (yet); Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Magpie, Redwing, Rook and Sparrowhawk.

Immature female Blackcap (winter)

I have a new trainee who is taking a year out from his studies at Bangor Uni. to earn some money and get some hands-on, too. He's certainly got the hang of wing measurements and 9 times out 10 gets the same as me - and I'm known as a 'long-winger' [cut the jokes out there, you lot]. Charles shows promise.

The complete list is as follows, subsequent captures omitted:
Woodpigeon 1
Collared Dove 2
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit 5 (5) - X105976 is a 2010 (male) bird
Great Tit 1 (3)
Coal Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit 8 (6) - mostly paired up, incl. a pair of birds ringed by JW in November 
Blackcap 3 (2) - X105790 had evaded capture in previous 2 winters
Wren 1 (2)
Starling 3 - the females this time
Blackbird 2 (5) - 7 local birds but only ever see 4!
Robin 2 (8) - 10 birds! Mostly paired up with minor sparring at times. 5 were retrapped 2x. Female L890601 was a 3J back in early summer 2011.
Black Redstart 1 - 
Dunnock 2 (8) - also paired up and singing. Y482086 is a 2011 female or earlier
House Sparrow 9 (9) - 15 of these were males!
Pied Wagtail 1 (2) - Y482785, a male from the 2012 broods
Chaffinch 2 - starting to appear, so more to come?
Bullfinch 2 (2) - retraps were both 2012 hatch year males
Greenfinch 6 (2) - after an autumnal dearth, a sudden influx; 2 adults sent over by JW
Goldfinch 60 (36) - 58 males, 36 females, (2 un-sexed); 81 immature birds & 12 full adults (3 un-aged); 3 males from 2012 broods.
Siskin 2 (1) - the retrap was ringed as a 2CY female in March 2013
Note: JW's garden is just 2km NE of mine; it's also 4x the size! 

Another fat pig

Now, a different sort of red bird spotted from the bedroom window. Unfortunately, unable to lift off with live prey this time.

Devon Air Ambulance - 24 Jan 2015

To B or not; 2 B.

We were informed at Conference that RIN had upped the ring size to be used on all Dunnocks and Yellowhammers to B. Of course, I then had to catch two Dunnocks when I got back and duly obliged by putting on the new ring size, ahead of the official email from Thetford that came yesterday.

The weather has almost forced a complete shut-down, it has been so awful. Squally winds have been the culprit and we're not out of it yet - Monday promises a right hooligan of a storm. Any road, I have managed to keep up the general monitoring of the garden birds by being prepared to open and close at short notice!

Visiting Mrs. Magpie

Now the good news. Number 1 surprise was an adult MAGPIE in the net with a ring already on, that no-one locally owns up to. Then came notice of a "virginal" male SISKIN that I caught in February being recaptured in Kent during April (that's 290+ km east of here); not had one from that direction, although we used to get a lot of east-west movements in Surrey. Thirdly, I re-caught a male BLACKCAP (for the fifth time) that I originally ringed in January 2012, then trapped again in January this year; it's probably one of those central European breeders that comes west in winter instead of moving south like 'normal' Blackcaps. It just happened to be in the net early one morning with THREE others.

Mr. "I'm back again" Blackcap

Goldfinches featured highly again. I've handled 418 different birds this year so far, with 77 same-year recaptures. L890862, an adult male, has succumbed to my SFH charms five times (should know better); he was a 3J in September '11. Two birds, both males, were ringed consecutively on 17th March '11; also, both of them were caught together on 14th inst. Two of the re-trapped Long-tailed Tits were ringed in early 2011 as well.

To cut to the chase:-
Magpie - 1 control
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit 3 (3)
Great Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (12)
Blackcap 2 (2)
Blackbird 3 (1) - no real "biggys" yet
Robin (2)
Dunnock 2 (3)
Goldfinch 22 (15)
Totals - 32 new, 41 retraps, 10 species

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my (Christian) readers and I extend the best of Solstice and Seasonal Greetings to those who are not.

PS. The young cat has hurt her front leg and is confined to barracks - so that's one logistical problem sorted!

Liquorice "hors de combat"

nmbx

Sixteen days of dark

Hi again. We are nearly at the point when the evenings (theoretically) start to get lighter! I'm a SAD old git! and won't be waking up properly until mid Feb. Such is life.

A bit low on pics but I either forget to take one that will illustrate a point I want to pass on, or forget to get the camera out. [It's only a Fuji compact]. Ringing, or, more correctly, id in the hand is not always as straight forward as some will have us believe - nor as difficult as a few sceptics would either. The exchange of photos of "good" and "bad" birds can but help the less experienced to learn a bit more and avoid pitfalls.

Male Goldcrest - orange crown just visible

Ringing at home was a bit hit and miss, partly because of the weather and also because I was away 'up country', delivering Xmas presents, seeing old pals elsewhere and attending the 80th BTO Conference in north Derbyshire (mainly ringing, of course!) BUT, it's been good when I tried with just the two (semi-permanent) nets. I cleared the leaves twice and talked to the trees - but they didn't listen.

Immature female Goldfinch
with retained median/greater coverts

The biggest hit were the King Harrys (Goldfinches) which have only just started coming to the feeders in any number. 

Immature female Goldfinch
that has moulted all its coverts

They brought a few Siskins with them, too. The Redwings and Fieldfares are still taking berries but the occasional one sits in an apple tree, picking at the apples that are still left hanging on, up there where I can't get them. 

Redwing

My efforts up to the 11th succeeded in catching:

Collared Dove 1 - f.g. female

Goldcrest 1 (3) - 3 males

Blue Tit 5 (6) - birds of the year, except for 2 first-time breeders

Great Tit 1

Coal Tit 1 (2) - 1CY's

Long-tailed Tit 19 (5) - 16 together in one net!

Blackcap 7 (1) - the re-trap was feeding up for 'the off' (F1>F4)

Wren (2)

Blackbird 10 (1) - 4 adult females, 5 imm. females, 2 imm. males.

Fieldfare 2 - ad. male & 1CY female

Song Thrush 1 - adult

Redwing 1 - immature bird (123 wing)

Robin (3)

Dunnock 1 (1)

House Sparrow 2 (2) - caught during a chase (3 males!)

Chaffinch 3 - females, 2 adult

Goldfinch 59 (16) - 75 different birds, oldest from March 2011 and its first recapture; of the rest - 21 adults, (10 males, 8 females, 2 unsexed), 54 immatures, (25 males, 25 females, 4 unsexed); the females were prevalent in the earlier catches.

Siskin 3 - all adults

NB. I've taken out all the same period re-traps from the figures to give some idea of the number of birds present/ passing through. I always do this and put the recapture totals in brackets after the newly ringed birds.

Adult male Fieldfare 

Waiting for a surge

Adult male Kestrel - July

Ten birds between two trainees - but what quality! The above adult male Kestrel was a site 'ringing tick', even though the pair is visible around the area all year. He was in heavy moult (MS=31) and not expecting his way to be barred by a mist net.

More quality followed two hours later, when the Green Sandpiper that has been around for three or four days 'collided' with our net over the river. Normally the bird flies well over our heads, constantly calling, dropping in to feed out of sight.

An old friend of mine, Tom Kittle, wrote a paper on this species for R&M back in 1975. The weight of our bird coincides nicely (at 69g) with his graph and it could easily put on 10-15g before it leaves the UK for a wintering spot in the Mediterranean basin or Africa, even as far south as Cape Province.

Green Sandpiper - retrices (July)

The full list for the morning consisted of 7 species: Kestrel 1, Green Sandpiper 1, Blackcap 4 (1), Whitethroat 2, Wren (1), Blackbird 1, Robin 1. The Whitethroats were a breeding pair, the re-trapped Blackcap a breeding female first caught as a juvenile at the beginning of July 2011 and one of the new Blackcaps was also a breeding female, this time a bird hatched only last year. Everything else was a juvenile. A kingfisher escaped from the top shelf of the net over the river and a Dipper passed underneath. Win some, lose some.

A single net in the garden the following day yielded 7 birds, including a 'strange' Long-tailed Tit. As it was ringed on the left leg, I am assuming it's one of John's from the far side of the village,>2 km in a WNW direction. The rest:- Blue Tit starting PJ moult, a juvenile Long-tailed Tit in full moult, a locally bred young Chiffchaff, two second/third-brood young Dunnocks and a retrap 2CY female Pied Wagtail.

We'll wait and see what next weekend brings.

Turn-over

This week's blog stretches over both the old and the new years, and goes from the 364th day, last Saturday, round to the 4th (yesterday) of the current year. The weather, meantime has settled down, although the skies have remained 'grim' with a heavy overcast. As you can see in the side-bar, I ended the year on a measly 1224 new birds, added to by 517 recaptures of some of these birds and ones from the previous year and 10 of other peoples, although not from that far away (all to the west).

On day 1, after recapturing a 5F Blackbird of likely continental origin, and a 6F Goldcrest that's been hanging around since the summer, followed by a 5F Blackcap, another bird sent courtesy of the European Union, that seems to avoid the two others of the opposite sex, I finally got to put my first ring on a new bird.

Inevitably it was a first year King Harry (actually a Princess Harriet).

Voila!

No.1 and in the lead - Carduelis carduelis (5F)

14 species for the period, made up of 35 newly ringed birds and 17 doing the rounds for a second time or more. Lots of "young" birds.

Collared Dove (1) - a miracle! [they don't usually get caught twice!]

Goldcrest (2) - possible a pair bond

Blue Tit 1 (1)

Coal Tit (2)

Long-tailed Tit 6 - a third roving flock

Blackcap (2) - the two 'permanent' 2CY females

Wren (1) - ringed as an adult female, first winter period last year

Blackbird 6 (3) - surprise bird of the week; why?

Robin (1)

Chaffinch 5

Greenfinch 2 - both "1st years" (now 2CY)

Goldfinch 13 (3) - top spot again

Siskin 1 - a 5F

Bullfinch 1 (1) - another new male and a 2010 female

Checking through the Blackbirds' wing-lengths, the following is noticeable. There were two males with 'continental' lengths, 138 & 137 mm, and the other a northern UK or 'near continental' size of 134 mm, with which I was more familiar in East Anglia. There were two females with "long" wings, 136 & 134 mm, two 'intermediate' at 131 & 130 mm, and the final two with the more expected wing-length of 128 mm for local birds. Some of our local females are as short as 124 mm, so these last two were on the "big" side. All the new birds were rather "speckled" on the breast, i.e. with pale edges to the body feathers, suggestive of migratory birds.

The last couple of days have turned mild, temperatures at night being more reminiscent of January daytime figures (8-9 deg C). Whether this will inhibit birds from seeking out and using the feeders, time will tell. Some birds are striving to get into breeding condition and breeding plumage. At this time of year you're quite likely to "acquire" a few body feathers, especially from Dunnocks, as they go through a pre-nuptial moult. I sometimes wonder if these birds are not being a bit premature, but I suppose they'll survive.

My little helper ("Amber" - Lakeland x Border)

A very happy, fortunate and mega-birdy New Year to you from   Cardew Ellis

  

Another flood over

I meant to say " another week over", so there.

1CY controlled Coal Tit

The flooding that occurred in the early hours of Sunday has subsided and those affected in the village have finished mopping up but are a long way from getting back to normal. The worst affected had three feet of flood water in their downstairs accommodation. However, I know of one family that has had to move out altogether in the interim; there may be more. Our plasterer could be in for a hectic period once the dehumidifiers are out.

Part of Robert Street, post flooding

This week has been characterised by cloud, 56 mm of rain and a stiff breeze for the first half, and then frost, sunny mornings and light winds for the remainder. Both these conditions have rendered bird ringing a little on the adventitious side, grabbing a few hours when the weather and temperature allowed. Nevertheless, I have managed to ring 30 new birds, including two chance Blackcaps, and recapture a further 20 birds of just 12 species.

The two first year female Blackcaps [30-11-12]

We have had two flocks, totalling at least 20 birds, of different Long-tailed Tits through the orchard. They were on the same day, about three hours apart. The unfortunate few were 'low fliers'. Two of the re-traps were first ringed here in mid March and early June last year. But, two other birds were first ringed by neighbouring ringer, John, at the end of January 2011. Both these birds, accompanied by two of mine, have a long re-trap history of passing between our two sites, which are approx. 2-3 km apart at opposite ends of the parish.

The orchard list (Sat - Fri; 5 sessions)

Collared Dove 1 - an immature from this spring

Goldcrest (2) - includes the adult female

Blue Tit 6 (2) - 4 of the new birds were adults, the rest 1CYs

Coal Tit (1 control) - 1CY bird - Y0874nn - ex Quantocks?

Long-tailed Tit 7 (5 + 2 controls)

Blackcap 2 - both weighty imm. females

Blackbird 3 (2) - all young birds

Redwing 1 - a lone adult, 1st this autumn

Robin (4) - there are at least 8 birds about

Dunnock 2 (1) - 

Greenfinch 3 - all females

Goldfinch 5 (1) - 4 new adult males and 2 juv males

Male Greenfinch (Nov)

As a matter of interest, over the last month (November), there have been at least 38 different Goldfinch in the garden, 35 different Blue Tits, 19 Blackbirds and 15 Greenfinch, as these are the numbers that I have trapped. We never see that number of birds, of course.

The met. people are forecasting more heavy rain for the beginning of next week. Hey ho!

Rainshine

That just about sums up the week just gone, week 44. We've had an inch of rain (25 mm), heavy at times, with several rainbows visible. The low sunshine, when it's been there, has been very brilliant. So, all in all, a scourge as regards the nets, which have alternated in their usefulness by being highly visible, blowing like mad or full of autumn leaves versus hanging limp and full (I use that word loosely) of birds. I haven't reached 1,000 new birds for the year yet and the meadows have become 'out of action', now that the horses are back in for the winter. Their persistent inquisitiveness puts the nets and themselves in danger.

As it happens, the week wasn't a complete disaster. Birds were on the move as the temperatures dropped close to freezing. There wasn't an evident overnight passage at all that I could determine, just a steady trickle some mornings as the skies brightened up.  The Robins sang to greet the day. Another week like this one and I will just surpass the 'magic' 1,000 new birds for the year.

Eurasian Robin

The species tally was a pleasant spread of 14, contributing to 41 new and 7 re-captured birds over five of the seven days. Nothing out of the ordinary but nice to see the LTTs making an appearance. There are still some "summer migrants" about, but these could well be the "wintering type" from across the continent.

Male Blackcap - winter

Goldcrest 4 - all males, 2 of which were adult (age class 4)

Blue Tit 6 (3)

Great Tit 1 - adult female

Coal Tit 2 - 1 adult bird, probably male

Long-tailed Tit 5 (1) - r/t was one of the 1st birds caught on the site

Chiffchaff 1 - long-winged adult male (4M)

Blackcap 2 - both 1CY males

Wren 1 (1)

Robin 1 (1)

Dunnock 1

House Sparrow 3

Chaffinch 1 - adult female

Greenfinch 1 - adult male

Goldfinch 12 (1) - 7 new birds were adults

Overhead, we find the early morning Starlings travelling off west to some unknown feeding ground or other, shortly followed by a squad of Black-headed Gulls in from the coast. Neither of these species are common during the breeding season. The Herring Gulls have found reinforcements to fill the gap left by the Lesser Black-backs that have long since moved to warmer winter quarters. The Mistle Thrushes have taken up sentry duty on the two berry laden Holly trees and a Nuthatch is calling from the lane.

November Goldfinch - completing moult, carrying a tick

Domestically, we have been 'off-line' for much of the week (half-term) and without a land-line all week. The telephone company (BT) came yesterday and spent all morning renewing the line (which was broken in two places) into our property and, subsequently, our broadband speed has jumped twofold now that the hub also has a direct connection.

Allez oop

Despite the weather it has been a good week in most respects. I have been able to do some ringing every day, though Tuesday only saw 1 new Blue Tit in the bag before the wind got up.           

The garden produced 96 new birds (10, 1, 16, 11, 12, 26, 20) and 13 recaptures of 10 species using one 60' in our small orchard. Thursday morning at  Highbridge meadows yielded 21 new plus 3 re-traps including a new species, Grewo, originally from Five Bells, a couple of km to the north-west. There was a passage of Chaffinches but no Mipits or Swallows. Saturday at the meadows saw the temperature down to 0C with clear skies and just 4 new AA rings plus 2 re-traps. 12 Jays moved overhead from the direction of the Crown Estate (mainly coniferous) towards the Quantocks (large tracts of deciduous) at 08:30 and 4 Meadow Pipits took an interest in the "tape" but decided to avoid the net and moved on. Just 2 lone Swallows were seen hastening south. There was a noticeable increase in the number of Siskin feeding high in the Alders, which coincided with their attraction to the garden feeders.

Siskin - male 2CY (October)

*** Birds trapped at the meadows = 25 (4):
Green Woodpecker - control
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 4
Long-tailed Tit 7 (3)
Chiffchaff 5
Wren 1
Blackbird 1
Robin 1
Dunnock1
Chaffinch 4

The main event at the house was the number of Goldfinches that appeared from Tuesday onwards. Until now, it has just been the local birds - that know their way around the feeders without getting caught too often.

1CY Goldfinch - After PJ moult

1CY Goldfinch - During PJ moult

 *** Birds caught at the house = 96 (12) [excludes any same week re-traps]
Blue Tit 10 (6)
Great tit 3 (1)
Coal Tit 8 (1) - 2 adults
Chiffchaff 2 - both 'long-winged' @ 64mm
Robin (3)
Dunnock 1
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 59 (1) - a dozen adults, F=M
Siskin 10 - influx Fri/Sat (6/7th Oct); 8 adults, 2 juvs

Coal Tit - 1CY

Just thought that I'd show some "rear views" for a change. I will be going to be away from the village for much of the next two weeks and therefore ringing at the house will have to be snatched "as and when". However, my pliers will be in use elsewhere!