Today, it rained.

Nothing new in that; it's a Bank Holiday. It looks as though we will get at least twice the normal August rainfall, in other words, as much as we expect each month from October to January.

This week I've not been able to put up more than one net. The orchard needed some pre-winter attention (it is left to go wild) and there was a 'Pony Week' down on the meadow. However, I did manage 36 new birds and 25 re-captures covering 16 species in the limited time available. A goodly chunk of the new birds were caught by the stream yesterday, when I erected a 60' between some willows and alders. Fortunately, the seven or so ponies were feeding out of sight on the other side of the stream. Their presence does stop me netting the ford, probably the best place.

Other birds that I have seen this week include a lone Swift over the house of an evening, two Ravens being seen off by the local crows, a young Moorhen, a couple of Grey Wagtails, the usual Dipper and Kingfishers and, a sign of winter approaching, two Canada Geese over the house, a precursor to the dawn movements from Dunster Beach to one of the inland reservoirs. The Swallows and House Martins continue to feed young.

The list:

Sparrowhawk 1

Blue Tit 2 (2)

Great Tit 2 (2)

Long-tailed Tit 3 (11)

Chiffchaff 10 (1)

Blackcap 4 (1)

Garden Warbler 1

Wren 1

Blackbird 1 (2)

Song Thrush 1

Robin (2)

Dunnock 1 

House Sparrow 2 (2)

Chaffinch 1

Greenfinch 1

Goldfinch 5

The Sparr was chasing the Sonth and both landed in the net just short of my left ear; don't know who was the most surprised. Grabbed the Sparr first (of course). The chiffs were a welcome surprise, too; several more did not "find" the net and one escaped the bag. Best, though, was my third borin' juvenile bird of the summer, giving credence to the fact that they (Garden Warblers) might nest quite local. The species was recorded as a mere 'possible', the lowest level of proof, for our 10km square on the recent national atlas.

Around here, the birds have been nesting quite late and having second or third broods, which they would not normally attempt. There are still many young birds in wholly juvenile plumage, but underneath we can see that some are already playing 'catch-up', with some new body feathers sprouting. It was particularly noticeable that the Chiffs were in all levels of plumage, as I caught them over a 90 minute period. I also 'controlled' a Chiff that my nearest ringing neighbour had ringed as 3JJ (fresh juvenile) some two months earlier. I was able to sex it on wing-length as a male.

I'm rather busy this week and the weather doesn't look good - either too windy or rain on and off all week. It must improve somewhen; not too much or all the migrants will just fly straight 'high-over'.

What a week; a few more immigrants from the east

No sooner had I finished the last blog than there was a ring on the doorbell to tell me that my neighbour had hit and killed our cat, "Twix", outside with his van. She is buried under the forty-foot net she used to keep an eye on for me (currently not erected - having a bonfire nearby later).

Half a dozen (or more) Blackcaps have graced the garden this week. There were an equal number of males & females that received some BTO bling, with just the one male being a full adult. Another male had obviously been in some sort of bother since it was renewing a large area of its rump and all of its tail feathers.

Blackcap regrowing UTC & RR

The adult male was identified by its lack of juvenile brown on the forehead, the large outer alula feather, the broad primary coverts and its less pointed retrices (tail feathers). They were all heavier than our summer individuals, probably because they were carrying more muscle, because they certainly weren't carrying much pectoral fat (F0-F1, ESF).

Head of immature (1CY-2CY) female Blackcap showing the
ginger brown cap (Adults (2CY+) are orange tan)

Since last time, we have had (1) heavy drizzle, (2) light rain, (3) strong W'ly winds and showers, (4) very strong N'ly winds and squally showers, (5) strong winds from the NNE (that's better!) with low overcast, (6) the same but cloudy-bright and less wind, then (7&8) two days of frost/sun and light NE winds. My orchard is somewhat sheltered from the worst of the winds when they come from either the NW (tall hedge & line of trees) or the NE (neighbour's house/leylandii hedge tight to our boundary). Towards the end of this period, the sixty-foot net (18m Superfine) was brought into use with good results. 

Down the way, across the meadows and by the stream, there have been Kingfisher, singing Dipper and 2 Little Egrets, with clouds of mainly Fieldfares with a good number of Redwings passing to and fro. A Mistle Thrush has been seen/heard several times on a couple of adjacent apple trees and a Little Owl was calling from a dense Holly. No Chiffys. The local Crow family have been much more in evidence during the colder weather; I suspect their appetites were somewhat heightened. Pheasants (naturalised, not put-down) are in good numbers, with them even venturing into ours and neighbour's gardens. The two local pairs of Herring Gulls, that utilise the roof of the unit visible from our garden, are back together and guarding their respective sites on either side of the ridge. All in all, there has been an increase in both the number of birds and the amount of activity, due, no doubt, to the chilling winds and low, night-time temperatures.

Although I haven't caught any Siskins lately, parties of them have been passing over the garden for some weeks now. They are moving between the various belts of Alder trees (we have four mature ones opposite our driveway) to harvest the seeds. At present, we have just the one resident male Chaffinch and we did see a male Greenfinch the other day, now a scarce bird at this end of the village.

Adult male Blackbird

With just one net in our tiny orchard, the main effort has been over the last four days. However, here are the combined totals for the last 9 days (re-traps & controls in brackets):

Goldcrest 3 (1)

Blue Tit 5 (3) - includes a non-local control [D609...]

Great Tit (2)

Coal Tit (1)

Long-tailed Tit (4)

Blackcap 6

Wren 2 (1)

Blackbird 7 (3)

Redwing 1

Robin 1 (3)

Dunnock 1 (2)

House Sparrow 3

Goldfinch 32 (3) - includes a controlled, French-ringed bird [6685...]

Goldfinch with French ring

Total = 61 new, (21 re-traps) & (2 Controls); 13 species

"Non-standard" adult male Goldfinch
[golden-red cap finishing 'before the eye']
(on bill, nasal hairs, yellow on P6, wing length, number of discs on tail, CP)

The barometer is reading high at 1040mb. The forecast is for the temperatures to return to normal by the end of the week and for some more rain come the weekend. Suspect there will be two or three duff days until a front approaches (unless it goes sub-zero; fat chance!)

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.

Now the good news

After 3 disasters in as many days, now some better news. I put a 6m net up ready for the morning and caught my first Willow Warbler of the year this evening.


It was a male on size with a very broad tail, indicating that it could probably be in its 3rd calendar year or even more. However, it was already bearing a ring - BXL944. Any takers out there?