The month of showers?

Come April the weather improved with fewer frosts and warmer, brighter days. Still many more frosts than we normally get in this month, though.

The Goldfinches and Siskins kept pace with each other until the middle of the month when the latter faded away. Also, the first week of the month was noted for a passage of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. I had two "controlled" Chiffchaffs, [HPX & HRC] during the first week and I await the original ringing details (not local). The final Brambling was seen on the 3rd. Blackcaps continued to pass through for most of the month with a few exceptionally heavy birds "that still had hundreds of miles in them". 

Immature male Blackcap that has been feeding on pollen from the many flowers in our garden.
The brown juvenile feathers are just visible under the pollen where the crown meets the bill.

The Herring Gulls are back defending their traditional nest sites. Here is a pic of the first one I ringed here in April 2013; this was taken just recently. The bird is the male and he is at least eight years old now.

"My" Pied Wagtail with missing claws on his left leg visits every morning for his mealworms. He is at least six years old now and nests in one of the nearby factories.

"Peg-leg". Also known as "Long John Silver"

Early in the month, I had a spate of Goldcrests, a pair of which I caught more than once. I wonder if they are breeding nearby? I expect they will be back, if they are somewhere local, as soon as the apples come into flower (late this year - more like Norway!)

April, of course, is when we see the spring passage of both Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. It is also the time when we see the resident Robins (3 pairs), Dunnocks (4 Pairs) and Blackbirds (4+ pairs) foraging around the garden, especially for a few hours after dawn and again in late afternoon / early evening. We have lots of trees, shrubs, herbaceous borders and lawns that can supply them with other things to eat after feasting on my daily 'handouts'. One of the Blackbirds is a "mystery bird" [LE20].

By the end of the month, I had caught my first juvenile Robin, shortly after re-trapping his "papa" in the same net.

Young Robin, shortly after leaving the nest.

Of course, the "bread-and-butter" has been the Goldfinches and the Siskins. On the 8th, I got a shock when I saw four Redpolls all in the net together! That'll be my quota for the year, then!

An immature male Redpoll in breeding plumage.
Some folks like to split these; this would then be called a 'Lesser Redpoll'

Altogether, there were 180 individual Goldfinches that passed from the feeders into the net. How many more there were is hard to judge, but they seemed to be "everywhere" in the orchard. Siskins came in at a respectable 87, but started tailing off mid-month.

Here's the month's tally chart [new plus re-trapped individuals; not handlings.]

Herring Gull - (1)

Goldcrest - 5 (2)

Blue Tit - 2 (6)

Great Tit - 1 (2)

Long-tailed Tit - 2 (3)

Chiffchaff - 12 (2 controls)

Willow Warbler - 16

Blackcap - 22, just 8 females, all later in the month 

Wren - (2), a nesting 'pair' [males are polygamous]

Blackbird - 2 (5 +2 controls), and a ringed male bird brought in to me that had been caught in a rat trap and was still alive! 

Robin - 2 (3)

Dunnock - 1 (3)

House Sparrow - 3 (12), 70% males

Pied Wagtail - 1 (1)

Brambling - 2

Chaffinch - 1

Greenfinch - 3 (5), 

Redpoll - 4

Goldfinch - 161 (19)

Siskin - 79 (8)

Things are certainly slowing down. The winds have been from the north and west which might have something to do with it. Could be time to decamp to the meadows and ring something different. Migration for many is now over - except for a "tasty bird" that I caught this morning. More on that next time, folks.

P.S. I've added some pics to the previous three blogs.

Getting lighter and a tad warmer

Another instalment, this time for March, when the birds start to migrate. The locals, meanwhile, think about nest building. Either way, it means I have to keep on filling the feeders and trays for some time yet. Right now, I'm beginning to think this hobby is more expensive than joining a golf club!

This year, Easter and the beginning of British Summer time coincided (last weekend in March). It also "chucked it down" with rain and the streams were brown torrents again. But back to the beginning of the month.

Initially, I was ringing around a dozen new birds a day, finches, of course. What was nice was the regular arrival of a few Bramblings. This didn't mean to say I caught them every day, but I did manage another 16 by the end of the month. Siskins also became a feature, with 30 ringed in the first week, 27 the next, 23 the week after and another 52 before the month was out. Great! I used to do a lot of these in Kent with my old friend Ron Terry, who "took his pliers to Siskin Central" in 2008.

A turn up was the unexpected Starling on 12th, which upped the year list. We only normally see them when they're feeding young as they are absent around here in the winter except in transit from roost; you need to go onto the moors, to the south coast or, best of all, to the Ham Wall roost on The Levels to see any at that time of year.

Male Chiffchaff, freshly arrived from the continent. The 'mucky bit' at the base of the bill
we refer to as a "horn". This is the remnants of the sticky (Eucalypt) pollen that it
fed on before migrating to the UK, in order to build up its fat reserves.

Just before the end of the month, the first Chiffchaff ended up in the net, a male of course. A couple of Blackcaps before that event were assumed to be winter visitors, but the first "returning" bird was probably on the 29th.

Adult male Brambling; still 6-8 weeks away from gaining a full black head (breeding plumage)

So this was March.
Woodpigeon - 3 (1)
Collared Dove - 1
Goldcrest - 3 (1), the retrap male was caught 4 times, sexes even.
Blue Tit - 4 (4), no real signs of breeding intentions yet
Great Tit - 3 (1 +1 control)
Coal Tit - 8 (1), another "rush" of youngsters before 3 adults on 21st/22nd
Long-tailed Tit - 6 (3), 4 caught together, the rest were singletons
Chiffchaff - 1, male
Blackcap - 3 (1), new 2CY males and a female from the beginning of December
Wren - 1 (2)
Starling - 1
Blackbird - 2 (4), 1 adult pair, the rest are 'first time buyers'
Robin - 3 (4)
Dunnock - 2 (5), all 2CY birds (canny adults know where the net is not)
House Sparrow - 5 (11), mainly foraging males
Chaffinch - 18 (1), just 6 were males (females travel further south in winter, hence the scientific name for "bachelor")
Brambling - 16, 11 males to 5 females, also 11 immatures to 5 adults
Greenfinch - 8 (3), all re-traps and 5 new were females
Goldfinch - 42 (30), 10 were left 'unaged' (abrasion is beginning to take its toll of diagnostic features) and 17 were left unsexed (usually because of "mixed signals" from the cloaca).
Siskin - 132 ( 7 +1 control)

The controlled Siskin had come 707 km from Scotland, near Inverness, where it was ringed at the beginning of February 2014 as a 2CY male. The Great Tit was one of John's, ringed just 34 days earlier. One recovery came through - adult male Siskin ringed in April 2013 turned up in a net near Lockerbie on 27th February this year 439 km north 1048 days later.

"Front end" of a breeding male Siskin

Notable recaptures were of two 5 year old male House Sparrows and two fourth year Goldfinch re-caught for the first time.

That's it; more next month.

Early 2016 - a new year dawns

The new year saw the continuation of the wet weather; it finally petered out in the middle of February, just in time for my birthday and a birding visitor from Bedford.

The birds were not so much affected by the 200 mm of rain in six weeks as we were. Nettlecombe also got a miss, apart from New Year's day. I was able to ring for short periods before or after the daily showers but the pickings were generally slim.

Initially, it was mainly Greenfinch and Goldfinch that were interested in the SFH, with the Greenfinchs tailing off as the month progressed and being replaced with the sight of a few (local) Siskins. I managed to ring 43 Goldies, 31 Greenies and 15 Siskins by the end of January, together with 13 Long-tailed Tits (Lottis) and 11 Blue Tits, a couple more overwintering Blackcaps, 3 Goldcrests, 4 Coal Tits and 3 Chaffinch. On the non-passerine front, a Sparrowhawk, a Woodpigeon, a Rook and a Collared Dove all "stuck" long enough for me to extract and ring them.

These figures were all bolstered by a significant number of re-traps. For instance, there were another 39 individual Goldfinches in the net, 13 Blue Tits and 7 Coal Tits, virtually doubling the "new bird" figures.

So January kicked off the New Year with the following numbers of known individual birds, both newly ringed and returning birds from last year or earlier.
Sparrowhawk - 1
Woodpigeon - 1
Collared Dove - 1
Rook - 1
Goldcrest - 4 (1)
Blue Tit - 11 (13)
Great Tit - (2)
Coal Tit - 4 (7)
Long-tailed Tit - 13 (5)
Blackcap - 2
Wren - (2)
Blackbird - 2 (3)
Robin - (8), 2 "locals", the rest were most likely wintering.
Dunnock - (4), resident birds
House Sparrow - 5 (4), they have a flight path which avoids the net.
Pied Wagtail - (1)
Chaffinch - 3 (3)
Greenfinch - 31 (1), an even split of the sexes; 24 immature birds.
Goldfinch - 43 (39), again quite a few with Aspergillosis
Siskin - 15 (2), one was a control from 15km west.

Records of two Kingfishers came to light. The first was a breeding female from last year that was found dead beside a pond 2km to the south. This most likely died of starvation as the streams ran full and with a heavy red-brown silt load that would have hindered fishing. The second was caught in neighbouring ringer, John's, garden 2km to the west.

I also had a recovery of a young Sedge Warbler from Donges in France, 438km south from here in just 12 days after ringing. Could have been a Welsh bird that was already on the move when I caught it. [Large breeding population 50-75km to the north of here]

Now on to February. After a while, by that I mean when the rains subsided, a different picture emerged. On my birthday, I caught the first of eleven Bramblings for the month, a species I had not handled here since mid-April 2013. With them came the Chaffinches and the Siskins. In all, I ringed in excess of 150 new finches before the end of the month. 

Two more Blackcaps made 12 for the winter, two-thirds of them being males. One of these was a returning bird which I first ringed just before Christmas 2012.

First winter male Blackcap. Note the "sharp" wing and tail feathers.

So, on to February's figures.
Woodpigeon - 1
Goldcrest - 1, a splendid male.
Blue Tit - 4 (3), no signs of "pre-nuptials" yet.
Great Tit - 2
Coal Tit - 3
Long-tailed Tit - 1 (2)
Blackcap - 2, 2CY males.
Wren - (1)
Blackbird - 3 (2), display/pairing towards the month end.
Robin - 2 (
Dunnock - 3 (2), courting behaviour becoming obvious.
House Sparrow - 3 (1)
Pied Wagtail - "peg-leg" still being friendly each morning.
Brambling - 11, 7 of which were males.
Chaffinch - 15, females out numbered males 2:1.
Bullfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 21 (8), the re-traps were from earlier this winter.
Goldfinch - 63 (57), these 120 birds were but a fraction of the birds moving south(?), especially after the rains stopped and temperatures dropped. By far the majority were young birds.
Siskin - 48 (10), includes 2 controls.

The Siskin controls were each different. The first had been ringed last autumn as an adult female in Thetford Forest, Suffolk, 304km and 160 days earlier. The other was ringed as an immature female, almost three years to the day, by neighbour John at Five Bells (that's between Williton and Watchet), 1098 days previously. Is this one a local breeder??

I also received notice of a Goldfinch that had been ringed as a young bird two summers ago at Oxwich Marsh, Swansea, 74km north-west of here. As well, I re-caught  another one 1572 days (that's about 4y 3m & 3 weeks) after it was ringed, then about 6 months old.

At last, I had the correct details of a 2CY female Blackcap that we trapped down the meadows last spring. It had been caught and ringed (in a vineyard) at a place called Bouloc, which is approx 20km north of Toulouse, France, and 893km to the south of here, when it was, presumably, still on or nearing the end of its autumn migration.

All in all, that's 317 new birds of 22 species ringed so far this year. 

The remainder of 2015

This is by way of catch-up and to fill in the gap. Bird ringing continued on a regular basis at the house with a few sorties to Nettlecombe Field Centre, which is situated in the Exmoor National Park, just 4.5 km to the SW, but 100 m higher. 

November was the month for tits, both new ones and old ones. The thrushes were noticeable only for their absence, having already passed through. The odd Siskin started appearing from mid-month. Temperatures held up (daily max. in the mid-teens) and we had far less rain than normal. I caught Goldfinches every day the nets were open with a highs of 21 on 13th and 20th. Alongside these were several Greenfinch that had "perked up" at the beginning of the month. Astonishingly, there were no controls of other people's birds at all this month.

Totals for November, "old" birds in brackets:
Woodpigeon - 1, 4th of the year
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - 3, 2 young males & a young female
Goldcrest - 7 (1)
Blue Tit - 34 (4), plus 23 (5) at Nettlecombe
Great Tit - 1 (5), plus 14 (3) at Nettlecombe
Coal Tit - 4 (9), plus 5 at Nettlecombe
Long-tailed Tit - 8 (6), plus 7 at Nettlecombe
Blackcap - 2, wintering birds from central Europe
Nuthatch - (4), all at Nettlecombe
Wren - 1 (1)
Blackbird - 1, and 1 at Nettlecombe
Robin - (5)
Dunnock - 1 (1)
House Sparrow - 1 (3)
Chaffinch - 3, plus singleton at Nettlecombe
Greenfinch - 21
Goldfinch - 151 (51), 75% of these were juveniles; see also below
Siskin - 7 (1)
296 new; total 'handlings' = 416

This is the back view of an adult male Siskin. Note the rounded wing feathers and
broad tertials with distinct silvery-white extremities.
The feathers of juveniles would all be "sharper" and much more worn. 

Trawling through the ringing book, the following "old birds" were of some note;
Goldfinch - young (juvenile) birds from 2012 - 2, 2013 - 3, 2014 - 10 and indeterminate aged adults from 2014 - 2; or 17 that have survived one or more winters.

December was a quiet month on the tit front, good for wintering Blackcaps and passing Greenfinch and a little quieter for Goldfinch. Siskin 'passage' (if there was such a thing) was over. On the 13th, I retrapped a male Blackcap that I had ringed here in December 2012 as a 1CY (1st calendar year) bird. Where it had spent the intervening winters is unknown. I was away for the last ten days of the month in Norfolk, which is when "The Rains" started. This was not unexpected as the month was very unsettled beforehand.

Now, December's totals:
Woodpigeon - 1
Blue Tit - 6 (6), plus a control from Bratton (15km W)
Great Tit - 2 (1)
Coal Tit - 4 (5), 
Long-tailed Tit - 3 (1), plus a bird ringed at Five Bells in January 2011(5y 8m or older)
Blackcap - 5 (1), plus the "control" (see above)
Blackbird 4 (1), all 'young' birds
Robin - 2 (4), a couple of the retraps were 'adults'
Dunnock - (3)
House Sparrow - (7)
Pied Wagtail - (1), "peg-leg", ringed as a breeding male in July 2012 and 2+ years old.
Chaffinch - 2
Greenfinch - 38 (2), just 3 adults, with a significant number of females
Goldfinch - 88 (18), 28 were adults, 6 remained 'unaged', the rest - this year's youngsters
Siskin - 1 (1)
156 new; total handlings = 223

During November and December, I looked to see how many birds had Aspergillosis. This is a fungal disease that effects the lungs. I used a "five point" scoring system. In all, I picked out that 137 birds, mostly juveniles, were infected. This amounts to just under 60% of all young birds! 15% of all Goldfinches were severely infected. It may well be a major factor in the survival statistics for the species. Very few adults, those that had already survived at least one winter and one breeding season, seemed to have contracted it. Perhaps these are stronger birds with better resilience towards any infection. I do see it in other species, i.e. Robin, Dunnock, Great Tit, but only rarely.

The full year's totals can be seen in the sidebar under My Pages.

100 days

After a few gripes from followers, I have had a day off from ringing and domestic chores and decided to bring things up to date. Life has been hectic on both fronts and I apologise for cramming 15 weeks into one report.

First, I'll start with the work we have been doing at the FSC Leonard Wills' Field Study Center at Nettlecombe Court . Since July, we have ringed in a garden attached to the property that is being revitalised by the Wildlife Trust volunteers. First of all, we installed a feeder between the beds and always erect a 40' net between it and the old stables. So far this year we have caught 125 birds of 19 species over a number of spread out visits. Charles worked here during 2014/5 on "work experience" before recently returning to finish his degree at Bangor; I already had prior permission to ring on the surrounding estate woodland.

Woodpigeon - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Blue Tit - 45 + 3 pulli
Great Tit - 21
Coal Tit - 11
Swallow - 1 +3 pulli
Long-tailed Tit - 7; all bar 2 of this cohort
Chiffchaff - 1
Blackcap - 3
Nuthatch - 7; we think this was possibly a complete family
Treecreeper - 1
Wren - 4
Blackbird - 1
Robin - 2
Dunnock - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Goldfinch - 4 + 2 controls
Siskin - 2

The controlled Goldfinches both carried my rings. One was ringed this year as a recently fledged bird, 66 days before being re-netted at Nettlecombe, and the other was also a newly fledged bird but from 2014, whereabouts unknown for 526 days. These two sites are just 5 km apart and completely different habitat wise; flat, low elevation versus hilly at >150 m above datum.

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", the figures for the last four months of newly ringed birds are as follows (species in brackets); last week of July 42 but 65 retraps (17), August 208 (19), September  351 + 1 control (23), October 286 (19). The totals by species from my previous blog up to 1st November are as follows:

Collared Dove - 2; immatures

Kingfisher - 1; another immature

Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - 1; beggars to age these

Jackdaw - 1; unexpected at this time of year, early Sept

Goldcrest - 14; 2 adult males & 6 each young males and females? Another difficult one to age with any certainty.

Blue Tit - 112; the majority in September, and to some extent October. Local dispersal?

Great Tit - 44; mostly late September into October

Coal Tit - 63; numbers picked up from early September & still ongoing strong

Swallow - 3; all fledged young flying over the stream

Long-tailed Tit - 20; altogether, 58 different LTT were caught

Chiffchaff - 25; steadily through to mid-October

Willow Warbler - 4; none after 3rd week August except 1 at beginning of September, possibly of the high arctic race.

Blackcap - 44; virtually "dried up" at the very end of September

Garden Warbler - 1; a straggler on 19th September!

Sedge Warbler - 1; early August, abnormal to catch any more here after then 

Treecreeper - 1; not caught one in the garden since 2011

Wren - 12; always an October "speciality" first thing in the morning

Dipper - 2; young birds, but not the ones now on territory

Blackbird - 18; "wintering thrushes" appeared from 3rd week in October

Song Thrush - 2; as Blackbird

Redwing - 5; as Blackbird

Robin - 23; stopped moving through by middle of September

Dunnock - 15

House Sparrow - 24

Pied Wagtail - 1; the male, at least 5 years old, with a club foot was seen at the end of July. There have been very few visits by any PW since then.

Chaffinch - 15; 20% of those caught have FPV (a papilloma virus) and are not ringed

Bullfinch - 1

Greenfinch 45; youngsters until mid-August, then virtually absent until the 3rd week in September when longer winged birds started to appear.

Goldfinch - 372; I have extracted 742 different individuals so far this year. A major dispersal southwards has been going on for the last 7 weeks and accounts for most of the new birds ringed

Siskin - 15; started to turn up during the last week in September

We have had a few controls (somebody else's rings) and recoveries (when "my" birds are found elsewhere) but none have been further away than 15 km. Still waiting to hear about the French Blackcap caught in March.

Retraps of note are - a male Goldfinch at least 6 years old ringed in January 2011 and a second ringed as a juvenile also in 2011, a Blue Tit ringed as an immature in 2011 and another as a juvenile in 2012 and another Goldfinch ringed by "neighbour" John in 2011 for which I await details as he is currently in Singapore.

I am pleased to report that Ryan attained his C permit and Amanda her A. Congratulations to them both. Charles will still be training with me when not at Uni.

Sorry - no pics! May add them in next week when/if I've got time.

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.

Santa special

Christmas Robin

A Happy Christmas to all my readers and may 2015 treat you well when it arrives.

Since my last posting on the 14th, there has been a steady trickle of birds through the garden. However, it has not been really wintery, just a tad miserable with grey skies and plenty of westerly winds that have now turned northerly. Right now, the sun is out and the temperature is low. During that time, ninety different birds have passed through the "ringing room", with by far and away the most being 45 Goldfinches (50%).

There have been a few "oddities" that I don't normally catch and that always engenders a warm feeling. In a different part of the country I might look upon them as a more regular occurence at this time of year. There was a Song Thrush (only the 4th of the year), another Blackcap making 20 in the last two months, the other half (female) of the Starling pair and, lastly, a Black Redstart a couple of days ago.

1CY female Black Redstart

A full list of captures is as follows:

Blue Tit 3 (2) - 1 new adult male

Great Tit 1 - adult male

Long-tailed Tit 3 (4) - all this years young (the local adults are all ringed)

Blackcap 1 - immature male

Starling 1 - adult female

Blackbird 1 (1) - immature birds

Song Thrush 1 - 1CY

Robin 2 (4) - 1 new adult, the rest this year's offspring

Black Redstart 1 - a large 1CY female with a wing of 87 mm. [Garden tick]

Dunnock 4 (4) - 2 new adults, 1 a male on CP

House Sparrow 2 (4)

Chaffinch 1 - 1CY female

Greenfinch 3 (2) - new = youngsters; the other 2 were "controls" from nearest ringer, John, one originally ringed not quite 6 years ago, as a 2CY male, in January 2009 - and not seen since.

Goldfinch 29 (16) - made up of 10 adult males, 6 adult females, 13 immature males, 12 immature females and 4 unsexed juvenile birds.

Plans for the next week or so include having a look at a flock of Meadow Pipits on a neighbours field, provided his daughter's horse is elsewhere. Au revoir.

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?

Summer's set fair?

Well. We hope it is going to be a good summer, with plenty of warm sunshine and enough rain not to spoil things but enough to keep the garden/veggies growing. Nice and average will do. And that would also suit the birds during their breeding season.

With the recent sunny weather, coupled with a cold easterly breeze, and maximum garden temperatures (in shade, around 2pm BST) in the high teens, and topping 20C on a couple of occasions,  the birds have melted away. From time to time, one or two turn up for food, either for themselves or for hungry chicks, and forget where the (two) nets are. Some strangers have also paid us a visit; we showed our gratitude with a unique gift of a BTO/Porzana crafted bracelet.  

A late Chiffchaff that was caught was thought to be newly in. Identified as a female (on size), she had no signs of a brood patch and her tail was very abraded and faded, pointing to a bird that was hatched last year. Our two males had been "giving it some wellie" the morning she was caught, trying to out-do one another. I wonder who won her favour?

Miss Chiffchaff HCE511

Post mortem on last week (no birds were harmed in the making of this list (or any other)):

Great Spotted Woodpecker* 1 - adult (6) male on the fat balls

Blue Tit (2) - 2 different aged males

Great Tit (1) - adult (6) female with "the wrinkles" 

Chiffchaff 2 - incl. a (2CY?) female with an unmoulted tail

Blackcap 1 - 2CY female

Whitethroat* 1 - 2CY with a partially moulted tail

Wren 1 (1)

Blackbird 2 (2) - two new males and the pair from over the hedge

Robin 6 (4) - mum, dad and all 8 offspring; out-and-about from 29th April

Dunnock (3) 

House Sparrow 3 (3) - low fliers; new birds = males, oldest first ringed Dec 2011.

Pied Wagtail (1) - male first caught as a 2CY last August

Greenfinch (1) -

Goldfinch (3)

Siskin 2 - a breeding pair from nearby

18 new, 21 recaptures, *= NFY species

Newcomers for the 2014 list:

No.27 - Gt. Spot Woodpecker (6M on primaries)

No. 26 - Common Whitethroat (5(f) on eye colour, etc)

The wind has changed direction and is now a force 4 sou'wester. We are expecting to see our first Swifts returning over the village tomorrow ahead of a front that will bring rain and showers for the rest of the week. A Cuckoo was seen/heard on 27th April on the outskirts of the village and we have/had a brood of 6 ducklings on the stream. 

I'm still only netting in the garden as I'm still fighting off the latter stages of "the shingles". Feels like I've been shot in the shoulder. Arghh!  I'm also off back to Bedford for a couple of days, so little chance of any ringing this week and consequently the next blog will be mid-month.

PS. Swifts arrived early morning on Monday 5th. 
PPS. Stu, a friend up the village, has also had young Siskins and Dunnocks being fed in his small garden last week.