The last days of (meteorological) spring

The Met. men start off their summer statistics from today - but the gardeners will wait another three weeks until the summer solstice before they agree on that. At least we shouldn't get any frosts for the next three months. Cold rain, gales, low cloud perhaps!

The birds are either busy nesting, i.e. sitting on eggs for the first or even second time, or trying to find enough food to satisfy their hungry chicks, or even trying to educate their flying offspring in the ways of this very human dominated world. This gives us ringers a warm feeling, as we should be kept very busy ringing the next generations at this time.

Pullus Blue Tit - ca. 10-11 days old (May 2015)

We had a trip to the Field Studies Centre, ostensibly to ring some tits in a box. Unfortunately five eggs didn't hatch, leaving just three pulli alive. The cold weather and the rain that washed many of the insects off the trees have certainly caused their stunted

growth; they would normally have been much further advanced by this time. We played around with some potential net sites and were comforted with a further eight adult birds, including the mother of the chicks. It's all mod-con here!

Nettlecombe base

The Jackdaws are coming "en masse" every morning as soon as I put out the suet pellets on the several bird tables. They are quite acrobatic and manoeuvre around the nets and other obstructions quite intelligently. One, maybe two, got caught out but I was unable to retrieve any for ringing this time. Slippery as an eel!

The "bright spot" of the last fortnight has to be the large number of House Sparrows caught, now amounting to 77 'new-for-year' individuals.

In all, we ringed 82 new birds, 11 of these at Nettlecombe, and handled another 42 separate birds. 

Recently fledged 'spotty' Dunnock.

Collared Dove - 1; an early youngster starting wing moult

Jackdaw - 0; nearly but not good enough

Goldcrest - 1; adult female with a classic "club" tail

Blue Tit - 9 (1); elderly male from 2011

Swallow - 1;

Wren - 2 (1);

Starling - 3 (2); a single juvenile so far

Blackbird - 3 (7); a third juvenile male and nine adults

Robin - 5 (6); 7, 4 new, were juvs.

Dunnock - 9 (1); 9 youngsters and a 2CY female (caught 3 times)

House Sparrow - 23 (10); 27 young birds ringed so far in 2015

Chaffinch - 3 (1); 3 juvs, the first on 25th

Greenfinch - 8 (4); 6 new & 2 recaptured juveniles; oldest bird ringed as adult male in November 2012

Goldfinch - 11 (8); 10 new juveniles to add to the 6 already ringed;
oldest bird was an immature when ringed in November 2012

Siskin - 3;

A 'this year's' Siskin

So far, so good

We are now into spring proper and heading for the breeding season of our summer migrants. Our resident birds are well and truly into their breeding season and I have already ringed a fledged (1J) Robin on the 12th.

This report deals with April to date. The garden is a picture, full of flowering primroses and polyanthus and other spring flowers. On the non-avian front, the slow-worms are basking under the tin sheets, the majority of the frog spawn hatched, giving us several hundred tadpoles, (signifying a stock of mince in the freezer), and the toads re-appeared. Bumble bees and other insects made hay with the Ribes blossom, Peacock and Small Tortoishell butterflies were on the wing and the plum trees blosomed and the Camellia flowers wilted. As yet, we await the Bluebells and the main apple and pear blossom season ... and the Redstarts.

All attention has had to be devoted to the garden as I am suffering with prepatella bursitis, or 'house-maids knee' for those of a non-medical persuasion. The local resident birds are mopping up the bird food as quick as I can put it out, both on the tables (3), in the feeders (6) and on the kitchen lawn. To this end, I have had to expend £180 to replenish stocks of SFH, suet pellets, finch seed and mealworms, totalling 65 kg. I will  pick up the millet when I go to Bedford on Sunday. Thank goodness the Wood Mice seem to have buzzed off for the summer.

The three pairs of Herring Gulls are assiduously guarding their nest sites from others and the Jackdaws. A few base sticks and fleshy bits have been put down but none are anywhere near complete. The Lesser Black-back pair have now returned; I don't as yet know where they intend to set up home. This should be their 'parenthood' year if things go to plan.

First Willow Warbler of 2015
(a whiter shade of pale)

Chiffchaff - with pollen horn

The first Swallow, a male with long streamers, appeared on the 6th, the same afternoon that an Osprey flew resolutely north. Yesterday, there were at least 3 Swallows and the first House Martin wheeling overhead. Three new species have been ringed this month - namely, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Rook and, of course, Willow Warbler. The first 'Willy' arrived on the 8th and sang "out front", and I caught a different male the following day. None of the males has been carrying much fat (0-1), whereas the more recently arrived females have all been heavy for their smaller size and fat 2-3.

The first fledgling to be ringed was a Robin that I found in the net on the evening of the 12th.

Fledgling Robin (1J) 12-04-15

All together, I ringed a further 74 birds of 19 species, plus handled 52 individual retraps. So far in 2015, I have ringed just 350 new birds, of which 127 are Goldfinches (36.3% of birds ringed this year to date). There have been 229 handlings of them all told, consisting of 200 'new for year' individual Goldfinches. Some of these have been new or returning migrant birds that drop in for a day or two to feed up before pushing off further north. Our local breeding birds are much leaner and don't just use the feeders but inspect all the plants in the garden and even try to get in the fruit cage. They also appreciate the fine, groomed hair from my Belgian Shepherd.

2CY female (5F) Gt. Spotted Woodpecker

2CY Pied Wagtail (yarrellii) with 4 old greater coverts

With just one 60' net, the list of new birds ringed, with other birds ringed previously in brackets, is:
Gt. Spot Woodpecker - 1
Rook - 1
Goldcrest - 1 (2)
Blue Tit - 2 (1)
Great Tit - 1 (2)
Long-tailed Tit - 1 (2)
Chiffchaff - 5; the only female on the 13th
Willow Warbler - 10; males first, females from the 12th
Blackcap - 6 (1); lingering male on 6th, new birds from the 9th
Wren - 3 (1)
Starling - 2; no unringed birds seen - 6 pairs known
Blackbird - 1 (4); all now feeding young in the nest
Robin - 3 (5);
Dunnock - (4); not as showy as last month
House Sparrow - 2 (6); a few are nesting, others are still thinking about it
Pied Wagtail - 1; minimum of 3 pairs present, poss 4 pairs.
Chaffinch - 4 (2) + 1 adult male (2x) with severe FPV
Greenfinch - 4 (11); 9 males + 6 females, 6 aged 5 (2CY)
Goldfinch - 26 (12); 8 of the retraps were 2CY, only 2 of the new birds were adults (3CY+)
       Finches still dominate in the catches, but Collared Dove (up to 7), Jackdaw (5), Starling, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock and Pied Wagtail are most likely to be seen feeding in the garden at any time of day.

A 'normal' (yellow) spring Willow Warbler

First come, first served

Well, at least ringed!

Between chores, in the middle of the day on Friday, the first juveniles of the year were caught and ringed.

Number 1 was a male Blackbird with black tail feathers. [Females have a dark brown tail]. He was "a bonny lad" but has a little more growing to do. 

Next up was Number 2, a short-winged Robin (66 mm) with its primaries still showing the remains of their sheaths. I hesitate to suggest this may turn out to be a female

Then we did it all over again - another male Blackbird and a longer winged (male?) Robin from the same broods (taken from the same net).

The Robins parents were a female ringed as a juvenile last year, while the father was ringed as a juvenile in 2012. I suspect the Blackbirds parents are the 2CY birds breeding in my neighbours hedge as the older pair, both having bred before, are somewhere at the bottom of the garden, most likely in the tall leylandii hedge belonging to another neighbour. Laying took place in the last few days of March.

Next up? Will it be Siskin, Dunnock or Goldfinch? The race is on. Outsiders are the Greenfinches that are probably two weeks away, going by the development of their brood patches.

Experienced ringers tend to age juveniles by their very soft plumage, much of which they shed during the post-juvenile moult, which they reach when (about) three months old.

You have to smile

If you didn't, you would cry. My computer's operating system decided to play up and wipe everything, including 99.5% of itself, one night doing a Windows Update. My days are now spent mostly re-building my system, my files and my databases.

However, when it first happened, I decided to take a trip to the meadows. The horses were corralled, and the grass is getting long, but I grabbed at the chance 'to get in the river' while it was low. I caught 14 birds in a 20' net, including two Dippers (one a youngster) and half a dozen Swallows (one a returning male). On the downside, I didn't take my camera.

Young Dipper - showing white margins to wing feathers

Since the last post, the garden has been full of birds coming to the various food sources. Almost all are feeding young either in the nest or close by after fledging. The demand for supplementary food is just as high at the moment as it is during a cold winter's day! I am catching some new, unringed adults looking for a food source (?) and a few juveniles as they try to fend for themselves. Catching, on the other hand, has been "frugal", with intermittent attempts during spells of better "ringing weather". It seems at times as if the only birds around are juvenile House Sparrows (they're just 'bombing about') and Greenfinches. One 'up beat' moment came when I caught my first young Blue Tit of the year.

I was quite surprised to total up my efforts over the fortnight and arrive at 77 (different) birds of 18 species. 19 of these were 'old friends' - or re-captures to be precise.

Woodpigeon 1 - yet another "middle aged fatty"

Collared Dove 1 - a late 2012 hatch bird

Blue Tit 1 - my first juv. of 2013

Great Tit (1) - a male of minimum age 4 years

Swallow 5 (1) - all breeding in local barns

Long-tailed Tit 2 - mother and 'daughter' (?)

Dipper 2 - and adult & a juv.

Blackbird 6 (4) - 7 adults (5 males) & 3 juv males; odd bias?

Song Thrush 1 - adult female with BP

Robin 1 (2) - much less activity at present - 2nd/3rd broods?

Dunnock 4 (5) - 2 new males & 2 juvs; just 1 female

House Sparrow 15 (4) - 14 youngsters & 1 new female/mum

Pied Wagtail 2 - an adult and then a youngster

Chaffinch 1 - a juv.

Greenfinch 11 (1) - 7 young females to 5 young males

Goldfinch 4 - all newly hatched

Siskin (1) - a re-trapped youngster (10 days)

Bullfinch 1 - a 2CY male

Whilst walking the dog along by the river, I saw a pair of Kingfishers. They are definitely back, as I'm not the only person to have spotted them lately. Are they breeding after last year's disaster?

Juvenile male Kingfisher
(caught on the same river meadow in 2011)

I must get out more often! I'll report back when I do. Cheers.

The Flow'ry May

Whether Milton was talking about the apple in blossom or the Hawthorn flowering, I do not know. In our garden the apple trees have flowered one by one and been buffeted by wind, rain and the occasional bout of strong sun and summer heat. The 'thorn, however, has made leaf and nothing else to date.

The nets have been up and down, a max. of 120', throughout the month, in between bad weather (usually high winds) and our non-birding, spring holiday in Snowdonia (see here if you're so minded) and other family events. There have been just five days when things were just right and the birds were really active, three of them in the last week. Also during this latter period, there has been a lot of fledging of mostly House Sparrows and Dunnocks, with the odd young Blackbird, Greenfinch, Siskin, Wood Pigeon and Collared Dove thrown into the mix. You can work out what's missing. I did check my 3 boxes on the nearby meadow; one had an incomplete Great Tit clutch (and I was scolded), another had been taken over by bees and the third had a lined tit nest in but no eggs (yet). I think the birds in the wider countryside are struggling to get into breeding condition.

I'll cut to the chase. Here's the total of my efforts since last time. It excludes any bird caught twice, so indicates the minimum number of birds (80+) stealing my money in the form of bird food from the local pet shop that I put out twice daily, whether ringing or no. With a lack of rain (until last night), the ground has been hard and dry and there are few natural seeds left available, and so my feeding does attract "outsiders" from further afield in times like these. I also saw a Jay and 2 Magpies coming in for breakfast, and most of the adult Jackdaws and Collared Doves are too wily to get caught in a net 99% of the time.

Woodpigeon 3 - all adults

Collared Dove 1 (1) - both young birds in full juv. plum.

Jackdaw 1 - adult

Blue Tit (6) - looks like 3 local pairs

Great Tit 2 (3) - 2 regular males, abreeding female & 2 male 'interlopers'?

Starling 1 - the lady of the pair. mate caught earlier? 

Blackbird 4 (3) - 2x 3J's, the 2 dominant males plus a new pair 

Robin (4) - 3 males and a brooding female

Dunnock 4 (4) - either newly fledged young or broody hens already ringed 

House Sparrow 9 (3) - 6x 3J's & 3 females ringed; 2 females & 1 male recaught

Pied Wagtail (1) - one of the 2 males

Chaffinch 1 (1) - both male

Greenfinch 7 (1) - 3x 3J's, 3 adult males, 1 imm. female & an ad. male 'hit glass'

Goldfinch 4 (3) - the new birds were all females & starting to get a brood patch

Siskin 11 - 2x 3J's, 5 imm. males, 4 females

Bullfinch (1) - ad. female (ad. male seen)

 I had hoped to get into the meadows but the horses were kept on longer this year and then the weather either turned windy or there was wall to wall sunshine. Looks like a June start. With a late breeding season, there is no immediate rush, either here or elsewhere. Until next time.

I'm waiting!

Vulgarity, babies and a mess

We now know the official April rainfall figures for this area; Liscombe, which is about 8 miles to the west, got 274mm that also happened to be 3.17 times the normal (long-term average) for the month. It was the wettest place in England.

Back to ringing. The weather is still affecting things but one 'good' thing did happen. It drove the Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) from up the village to search a wider area for food for their recently hatched young. As a consequence, I managed to grab a male and a female that took to visiting our bird table for some tasty sultanas. This brings the number of species caught here in the last 16 months to 45.

Sexy 6F Starling

 In between the belts of rain driving down from the north or up from the south-west, the nets have been opened early mornings if a dry spell occured. Many of the captures have been adult retraps but, at last, some of the young are now on the wing - if a little short in that department! 

Juvenile male Greenfinch

Juvenile Goldfinch

As well as Greenfinch and Goldfinch, I have also had young Blackbirds; the fully fledged Siskins were already around some two or more weeks ago (3rd week of April). This time last year, I was also ringing 3J Robins and Dunnocks, but I fear that the awful weather may have "sunk" their nests, complete with eggs or downy young.

Blackcaps are still on the move; you always know this by their restlessness in the hand, accompanied by much 'squeaking'. The other day, one of these happened to be re-growing most of its retrices (tail feathers); it must have had a 'near miss' with either a predator or someone else's trap or net!.

Blackcap growing new tail feathers (early May)

Moving further afield (all of 400m), the meadows are still frightfully wet and most net runs are 'out of bounds' due to the height and speed of the water passing down the stream. Some sites are still cut off by the waters, either the depth or the strength of the current. A couple of very recent photos of two of the productive net sites, mainly aimed at riverine species.  

Rectangle = 60' net site 3a; C = current eroding channel

Rectangle = 30'net site; F = ford under 1m (3') of  flood water

So, a meagre total this week amounting to 38 birds handled:
Blue Tit (3)
Great Tit (1)
Chiffchaff 1 - fem
Willow Warbler 2 - both fem
Blackcap 2 - both 2CY
Wren 1 (1) - a nesting pair
Blackbird 1 - juv
Song Thrush (1) - mum
Robin (1) - dad
House Sparrow (1) - brooding fem
Greenfinch 3 (1) - inc. juv
Goldfinch 8 (5) - inc. juv
Siskin 3 - inc. nesting pair
Bullfinch (1) - after 2CY male   

I might be able to get some ringing in before we depart for a short holiday in Dorset and West Sussex. We'll see.

Rubbish, but ...

Rubbish just about sums it up! Lousy week's ringing, thanks to clear skies, northerly winds and, today, murk and a stiff north-easterly. Think I'll have a stiff one myself.

"Wot we got" - 11 new & 15 r/t

Goldcrest (1) r/t male from March
Blue Tit 1 (1); a new juv
Great Tit 2 (1); all juvs
Long-tailed Tit 1 (2); all juvs
Chiffchaff (1) the 5M
Wren (1) the resident male - again
Blackbird 3 (3); new juvs & retrap adult nesters
Robin 1, another juv
Dunnock 1 (2) a juv & the orchard pair
House Sparrow 1, a fem with BP
Chaffinch (1) nesting female from March
Goldfinch (2); an M & a F from Jan
Bullfinch 1, a 'full on' male

There's still alot of birds either on eggs or tending young, either for the first time or for the second. After all, it's only the first week in June; time yet for many more youngsters to take to the wing. The top ranking off-spring caught so far have been the Robins, Blackbirds and, in the lead, the "bumbarrels" or "feather-pokes" [Long-tailed Tits].

One of these latter juvvies has five outer primaries pure white but only on its right wing.
(See poor photo below)



There was some good news from Ed, my 'C' ringer, who is undertaking one of my long-running Constant Effort Sites back in Bedfordshire. He caught Blackcap N344841, which I originally ringed as a 2CY male in mid-June 2004, 2580 days prior to this last capture. It was recaptured in '06, twice in '08 in different places, and then in '09. At just shy of 7 years (it will be 8 years old by now), it is the oldest Blackcap in the group's 20+ years existence.

The red, white & blue (black)

A couple of days when the weather wasn't too bad meant a few more birds ringed.

The major event was the capture and ringing of a family party of Long-tailed Tits, eight youngsters and two males, the smaller of which I presumed to be "the helper".


Red eye ring indicating juv & white underside but no blue, just a black & white tail, with lots of chocolate round the edges


Red nape indicating male sex, lots of white here & there with a faint bluish hue to the upper feathers

Two more relative surprises were in store - these took the road of the unexpected. First up was a 6Male [>2CY] Great Spotted Woodpecker that was beginning to look a little the worse for wear, especially the flight feathers, and a smart 5M [2CY] Bullfinch. The GSW, in contrast to the 'Bully', was extremely noisy, calling the attention of the local stray (cat), and I managed not to let it drill the back of my hand as they often do.


Proper red breast with an off-white (gray) wing bar and a steely blue hue to the tail feathers in particular

The tally was 24 new birds and (5) re-captures
Gt. Spot 1
Goldcrest (1), a February bird
Gt. Tit 1
L-T Tit 9 (1)
Blackbird 3
Robin 3 (2)
Dunnock 1 (1)
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 2
Siskin 2
Bullfinch 1

The forecast is for wind and some of that precious commodity, RAIN!!!

All quiet

This last week has been characterised by moderate winds from the north-east, warm daytime temps. and many sunny days and nippy nights. As the week progressed it got gloomier but still no rain to freshen things up. Definitely not ringing weather. Just as well as I was busy away from home. I did, however, hope to get some ringing done in a Bucks wood - but the electronic key would not open the gates.

As it is, I got in a couple of hours this morning at dawn. Fortuitous really, as the weather turned quite stormy later (wind and dark clouds, no rain - yet!). Not much to report barring I re-caught all four Robin chicks and their dad. The youngsters are much bigger although still not fully grown, with wing lengths 10mm greater than last week. All have lost their "chubbyness" but maintain a reasonable weight. It looks like 2 males and 2 females going by their sizes.

I also caught (by hand) a 1J Blackbird after a cat provoked early fledging, this bird having decided to come into our garden from the dividing hedge while the rest of 'his' siblings went the other way. Our young Lakeland Terrier turned 'pointer', kindly cornering it for me.


Rubbish totals:
Collared Dove 1 ad fem
Willow Warbler 1 ad fem (above)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 1 (1)
Robin (5)
Goldfinch 1 ad fem

They're off!

At first light, it was in the net along the hedge, up from where they were nesting. No.1 fledged Robin of the year. Later in the day, I caught another, which was even smaller than the first. Another pair are still feeding young in the nest, away from the netting area, but it won't be long before they're off, too. In between feeding his scattered brood, the male finds time to defend his territory with song.


Another phenomenon is the number of new Blackbirds already ringed this month, twelve. In the previous three months, I caught and ringed 24. The majority are males and some 2CY birds are looking the worse for wear, much as this one below, where the tail feathers have broken off along the growth bars. At some stage in its young life, it (he) must have missed a meal or two.


Another female Blackcap was seduced into the garden by the singing male in the 'Robin hedge' at the bottom of the garden.


Blue Tit 1
Willow Warbler 2
Blackcap 2
Blackbird 4
Robin 2 (2) - the r/ts were both of our territorial males
Dunnock (1)
Goldfinch 1

Not so perfect ringing weather as you might think. The skies are blue with just a hint of high cloud at times, the temperature ranges from 1C at dawn to 22C in mid-afternoon, the winds are light but predominately from the north-east - which suits Arctic Terns and House Martins ... but I don't have a step-ladder big enough to flygg them!