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

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?

New life and better weather

The garden could do with some rain after this run of fine, warm weather that we have enjoyed. This welcome state of affairs is not always conducive to our ringing efforts though, as it has served up two of the three detrimental elements, namely full sun and stiff breezes (the third being moderate to heavy rain).

It has been 17 days since I reported in last and during that time many more young birds have fledged and are busy finding their way in life without their parents being there all the time. The grown-ups have also started re-nesting and at least one Robin and one Blackbird pair are on eggs once more. The gaping of more tiny mouths is expected shortly.

Some new species for the year have been ringed and some "old friends" have been tempted into the nets and an old trap that I dug out.

Male Pied Wagtail first ringed as a juvenile on 12-12-2012

Juvenile female Greenfinch, one of two ringed

Fledgling Dunnock, one of four trapped

2CY female Common Redstart, a locally common breeder 

John and I usually manage to catch around four Redstarts between us in our gardens each spring. The dates can be as early as mid April or as late as June.

The results of two weeks limited ringing in the garden.

Rook 1 - female didn't quite make it safely off the bird table

Blue Tit (3) - a young female and 2 older males, one born 2010, the other is that or older

Great Tit 7 (1) - a new pair and 5 offspring, the other a brooding female

Chifchaff 1 - a new 2CY male (that was singing against the 'resident' male)

Blackbird 5 (5) - 4 youngsters and a new, mature male; 2 mature males, a female and a "new" 2CY pair were recaptured. We know we have 3 pairs nesting.

Robin 3 (5) - 3 new and 4 re-trapped juveniles and a "dad".

Redstart 1 - 2CY female (above)

Dunnock 4 (3) - 4 new fledglings plus 2 males and a female

House Sparrow 3 (3) - 2 barely fledged and a new male plus 3 females coming to millet to feed their young in nests in the nearby industrial estate buildings

Pied Wagtail (2) - a probable pair that feed on the lawns. Up to 6 birds present, 1 unringed female.

Chaffinch 1 (1) - first 3J (juvenile) of the season and a 2012 male

Greenfinch 6 - 2 juvs, 3 males and a 2CY female in egg 

Goldfinch (3) - all old males from 2011 and 2012

Siskin 6 (1) - 4 females and 3 males, all nesting locally

Bullfinch 2 (1) - a new pair and a re-trap male, all 2CY

15 species, 40 new, 28 re-traps.    [2CY = in second calendar year, i.e. "maiden"]

Still having a mix of bad days and good days; shingles starting to ameliorate at last.

A disaster befell us, too. We noticed that there weren't any tadpoles in the pond. There had been a thousand or more wee ones previously. The pond was a very dark green with lesser duckweed on the surface - but no taddies. Either there was no food or insufficient oxygen or the one night of frost might have done the damage. You know who got in and drained it, scrubbed it and re-filled it with rainwater from one of the butts.

The empty and clean pond

Bye for now!

Catch up

This brings things up to date. It covers a 12 day period, ending today. I was hoping to include something about the SW Ringers' Conference at Seaton that is on today, but the blessed shingles prevented me from going (more specifically, the pain and the pills). I apologise to those friends I was unable to meet up with; some other time, perhaps?

The first female Chiffchaff - 03/04/14

It has been a period of change. The Goldcrests and Siskins have become less apparent as they set about the task of breeding. The Pied Wagtails are also becoming less reliant on my mealworms now that the water in the stream has subsided. Blackcaps arrived on 24th but a few days passed before I caught one in the garden, by which time several were singing in the local hedgerows. It was noticeable how the Goldfinches, at last, are accumulating fat for onward migration. Chiffs appeared on 28th with a steady trickle of males until a female on the 3rd. Neighbour John was catching Willow Warblers on the 30th but none turned up on this side of the village here until 4th.
  

Male Willow Warbler - first of 2014 for me
(this bird weighed 10.7 grams)

The Robins are the most advanced nesters and must have small young by now. The Blackbirds are a close second but are still sitting. Some of the Dunnocks are still making up their minds while others have laid and the Greenfinches are currently busy nest building, in line with their "cousins", the Bullfinches. The Herring Gulls sit on the chimney stacks in their pairs, shouting at one another morning and evening. A pair of Lesser Black-backs were seen over the rooftops today for the first time.
To the chase. 18 species overall and 94 new birds plus 36 recaptures of previously ringed birds made the books over the 12 days. Escapees were Collared Dove and Rook (they don't stick in small mesh nets). Goldcrest, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Pied Wagtail were all new to this year's ringing list.

2CY male Blackcap (30/03/14)

Woodpigeon (1)
Goldcrest 3 (1) - possibly 2 local breeding pairs
Blue Tit 2 (1)
Great Tit (2) - scarce visitors - a pair
Chiffchaff 8 - all males except the last one
Willow Warbler 1 - male
Blackcap 2 - both males, adult and 2CY
Wren 1 (1) - a new male
Blackbird 1 (1) 
Robin 1 (4) - off duty birds coming to the bird table
Dunnock (2)
House Sparrow 4 (3) - 5 of these were males
Pied Wagtail 1 (2) - a new male and a pair
Chaffinch 5 (2) - 5 males & 3 females (incl. one released unringed)
Greenfinch 4 (1) 
Goldfinch 53 (11) - many birds on passage with good fat scores (F20-F45)
Siskin 8 (3) - mainly caught in their pairs, starting to nest
Bullfinch (1)

2CY male Goldfinch

The only other birding highlights have been a Red Kite over and the return of a pair of Lesser Black-backs. The next few days do not bode well for ringing as the forecast is for much windier conditions with some rain at times. We will just have to be patient.

They think it's all over

The sun has come out and stays out from dawn 'til dusk. Shade temperatures in the garden have touched 20deg C. and the first of the Apple trees has decided to flower. Not good news for a bird-ringer in two ways - the birds either move off to pastures new, i.e. their breeding territories further north and east, or really get on with the business of nesting in our hedges, trees and shrubs, and, secondly, the nets become very visible in the sunlight, even with a background, except for a short while at each end of the day. 

Bullfinch, adult male

Five different Bullfinches were caught, comprising two pairs and a lone/spare 2CY female. They always reappear when the buds are swelling, just before the Apple trees come into flower. This was also the time period when the Whitethroats appeared; for this (coastal) part of Somerset, they were two to three days later this year than normal. They  seem to disappear in spring but show themselves again in July. The Willow Warblers seemed to stop abruptly on the 27th; the one pictured in the previous blog (re-shewn below) was a late male (25th) that looked quite different from our more normal, yellowy-green birds. 

Common Whitethroat (male)

Well defined head markings and paler rear underparts
(and late date) suggest
  Phylloscopus trochilus acredula

Given the current weather situation (SUN!), one could put in a lot of effort for very little reward. The only times that catching is viable is early morning and late evening. Even so, things can be pretty dire. We will have to think of alternative methods.

The last week's assortment is on record as:

Woodpigeon 1 

Collared Dove 1 - a young bird [Euring 2I] that hatched either at the end of last year or early in this. The only bird ringed so far this month (May).

Chiffchaff 2 - females on the move

Willow Warbler 5 - females, none after 27th

Blackcap 2 (2) - female ringed on 13th weighed 20.4g on 27th 

Garden Warbler 1 - my one and only for the year?

Com. Whitethroat 4 

Starling 1 

Blackbird (3)

Robin 2 (1) - all males on CP

Dunnock (2) - the garden is "over-run" with them

House Sparrow 1 (1)

Pied Wagtail (1)

Chaffinch (1)

Greenfinch 2 (1)

Goldfinch 14 (1) - birds on the move but with little/no fat reserves

Siskin 7 - suspect they are mainly local breeders

Bullfinch 1 (4) - 2 pairs & a spare female

Total (excluding double counting) - 44 new + 17 re-captures of 18 species. 33 species were seen in or over our garden during this period, including the Com. Swifts.

Between myself and John, who rings at the other side of the village, we ringed over 550 new birds of 37 species last month (April). He "grabbed" a Collared Dove, Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, (Goldcrest), (Jay), Com. Crossbill (4) and Yellowhammer. For my part, he was "missing" Herring Gull, Woodpigeon (3), Pied Wagtail, Garden Warbler, (Coal Tit), Magpie, Starling (2), Brambling (2), and Linnet. I'm usually the one who misses out on the Linnets.

Egrove Lane - May 2013

As far as the trees are concerned, they've got a lot of catching up to do. Blackthorn not flowering until late April - ridiculous!

I'm am hopeful of returning to the water meadows next week for the summer months and also to go and catch a few Swallows at the stables, if the wind permits. We'll have to wait and see.

Red letter, Yellow letter

The stiff wind has put paid to any garden ringing for a couple of days or so.

It's not been 'all bad' as the migrants are still (were) passing through. Even another Lesser Redpoll (or whatever - subject to lumping again?)

I do love these coverts!

(Lesser) Redpoll

It's been up and down by species but overall things are looking good. The only worry is the severe lack of insects as is shown by the Phylloscs feeding on the ground, especially early in the day. The Blackcaps continue to queue up for their ready-soaked sultanas (7 in view around one bird table the other day) before attacking the Ivy berries.

2CY female Blackcap
(3CY+ females have a proper chestnut cap)

Two of the over-wintering Blackcaps were re-caught - two 3CY females at 24.0 g and  24.3 g (early morning), both ESF fat 5. On the other hand, a returning 3CY male only weighed 18.1 g, still holding on to a small amount of fat after his return migration.

We have been graced with two Common Redstarts, a young female and a young male, the latter staying for a morning and finding its way into and out of the fruit cage. 

Common Redstarts - 2CY female (top), 2CY male

At the same time, the Siskins continue to find the Nyger seed ... and some the net (the sheltered one, between the bare Apple trees).

male Siskin (April)

Since the last blog, the birds caught are as under:

Blue Tit 1 - female, thinking of breeding (no proper BP)

Great Tit 1 - cocky adult male

Long-tailed Tit 1 - a hen with a nest somewhere hereabouts

Chiffchaff 5 - all the fairer (and smaller) sex

Willow Warbler 17 - looks like the ladies now outnumber the men 2 to 1

Blackcap 30 (4) - plus several same period retraps

Wren (1)

Blackbird 2 - both brooding hens

Robin 1 - a new, full adult male

Redstart 2 - both 2CY as told by their old greater coverts

Dunnock 1 (2) - 

Chaffinch (1) - the cock minus a foot caused by 'leg mange'

Greenfinch (1 control) - ringed as a 2CY male 2 winters ago

Goldfinch 4 - 2 male, 2 female; a rather 'chunky' male off somewhere

Siskin 11 - in all stages of abrasion into breeding plumage

Lesser Redpoll 1 - 4th of the year

Bullfinch (1) - the male hatched 2011, now in full glory.

Total - 77 new + 10 retraps 

Wind stopped play

Yeah! Got the message when a strong gust took the top of the net into the apple tree. The wind tugged the net so hard, one of the guys slipped (only a couple of inches) and the net was free to fly. Out with the ladder! After that the wind got worse and stayed that way for a few days. Still bad. Doah.

We had a Community Speed-Watch session today by the school which is on the village outskirts. Despite the temperature being above freezing, the wind coming across the site meant we left gladly after an hour, the morning rush being over. Just the two miscreants from over two hundred motorists, one of them well over the 30 limit (40+ mph). That's despite four stationary bods in high-vis jackets (one a PCSO) - he needs to go to Specsavers! There were a few "front-end dippers" coming out of the 40 zone once they twigged us. Job done. Several 'thumbs-up' from drivers.

During this period since my last blog, there has been no rain, just a smidgin of dry snow. The ground is beginning to firm up at long last after all that rain from April to January (2012 was up 38.6% on the 1981-2010 local average). The Egrets are not so wedded to the local horse paddocks any more and I have spotted them elsewhere up and down the local streams. Other people have reported lots of Siskins in their gardens, but here they seem to have mainly departed and we are more likely to pick them up in the tops of the stream-side Alders, now that the cones have dried out again. What is noticeable is the build up of Blackbirds and the return of the Mistle and Song Thrushes. [Haven't a clue why the latter vacate this vicinity in winter]

The Buzzard kettles have now become courting pairs, displaying some distance from their preferred nesting site on occassions. The Moorhens are also back on territory but there has been no further sightings of the Kingfishers or Dippers. Several ringers have been shouting about the huge numbers of Redpolls that they have caught, but they are infrequent hereabouts. However, we might be lucky in the next few weeks to obtain a specimen or two during their northward passage.

From the catching and watching it has been apparent that there are quite a few more Blue Tits around. I suspect they are wanting to get into full breeding nick, hence their visits to the feeders (and the nets). As usual, they soon learn how to circumvent those (almost) invisible obstacles! Here's the running order since last we were here.



Collared Dove 1

Blue Tit 1 (8) - seems to be older males and younger females

Great Tit 1 (4)

Long-tailed Tit (2) - possible pair

Blackcap (1) - the unlucky one; the rest (4+) are busy to-and-froing to the sultanas on the bird tables. I will move the nets later.

Wren (2) - potential pair

Blackbird 2 (2) - the new ones were "non-standard"

Robin (2)

Dunnock (6) - there must be 10 (ringed) knocking about

House Sparrow 1

Chaffinch 2 - both young females

Greenfinch 1 (1)

Goldfinch 5 (2)

Siskin 3 - all virgin males (2CY)

Totals - 17 new birds (30 recaptured)

Better wet than never!

As everyone is aware - it's been wet ... and wet ... and wet! Last year was much drier and we only had 660 mm of precipitation here at Fairmead. This year, we have had 1131 mm so far, with 1025 mm of that since the end of April! The ability to go bird-ringing has been severely diminished, mainly because of the direct influence of the weather but also the indirect affect the rainfall has had on the breeding success of so many of our target species.

I suspect that if the forecast drought, that ended the moment it was mentioned, had continued as promised, it would have had even more dire consequences on our birdlife and the farmers' crops than we are seeing now.

Goldfinches have been the order of the week, in and out of the apple trees. The Dunnocks are still chasing each other from bush to bird-table to next doors'. We still have plenty of Cotoeaster berries left, enough to keep the Redwings happy for a while yet. They are the highest ones (18-20 foot up) so a slim chance of a catch. Every time the sun comes out, the local tits are crawling all over the tree branches, apple, alder, ash, hawthorn,  willow, you name it.

I've not had the luck of another local ringer, Denise, who today caught a Moscow ringed Brambling, only the 3rd from that area. Dang!!! Read here

When out for a walk with the dog this morning to get the 'local rag', I came across one of the village House Sparrow colonies. Several birds (4-6) were drinking and bathing in the puddles along the unmade (private) road behind the bowling green. Four others were chirping in the thick hedge of the immediate cottage plus a couple more that I didn't spot until later. Then I saw what I first thought was a thrush heading straight for 'us'. The sparrows panicked back into the hedge/garden and I could only then make out that it was actually an adult male Sparrowhawk coming 'our' way. It kept low to the ground, sweeping up at the last minute in the hopes of nabbing a fleeing 'sprog' and wheeling sharply down the narrow alley/ginnel that leads to the recreation ground empty handed/clawed. The 'sparras's' bird id on gizz is evidently better than mine. Brill!

It's been an 'A' coding, 'tit-finch' 7 days, with birds attracted to the feeders everytime the rain eased off, and with just 27 new and 7 re-traps to my name this week.

Juvenile fringes - Collared Dove

Collared Dove 1 -  truly unmoulted juvenile

Blue Tit 2 (1)

Great Tit 2 (1)

Coal Tit 1

Blackcap 1 - another (male) makes 16 this winter so far

Robin (2) - both local-bred juveniles

Dunnock 2 (2)

House Sparrow 2 (1)

Greenfinch 3 - all males

Goldfinch 11 - they are still coming through after a clear night

Siskin 1 - adult male

Bullfinch 1 - only the 2nd adult male since the breeding season; should be more to come?

Merry Christmas to all of you out there from a rather wet Somerset!

Some improvement

Some say. I say. 68 birds caught this week even though the weather was up and down. Around half of all birds were from the finch family and possibly represents the end of their 'migration' through the area. On Friday, we had the first Redwings on the Holly trees, albeit just two. One or two Fieldfares are around the village and one of the Mistle Thrushes has reappeared. The wagtails, Pied and Grey, now flit back and forth daily over the garden, to what purpose I have no idea. 

The Crow family down the lane have become more obvious too, with several irritable (if you can apply that to a bird) inter-changes, presumably between the parents and their dilatory offspring. A question of "big enough and old enough" springs to mind. The Chiff at the back of the garden, and the other one down the lane, have been silent this week; most likely this is because I've not ventured out early enough, given the rather dank weather.

Now for the list covering last Saturday (10th) to Friday:

Collared Dove 1 - a fully fledged youngster

Goldcrest 2         

Blue Tit 8 (1)

Great Tit 2 (2)

Coal Tit 1 (1)

Blackbird 5 (1)

Robin (1)

Dunnock (1)

House Sparrow 7 (1) - just 2 were female

Chaffinch 3 - all adult

Greenfinch 9 (2) - females outnumbered males 2:1

Goldfinch 15 (2) - 50:50 split on age; 60:40 M:F

Siskin 1

Total = 54 (14 retraps), 13 species.

On three consecutive days, I controlled another ringer's bird. It so happens that it was one each from the other local ringers, situate 2, 8 & 15 km in more or less a westerly direction. They were all adult birds, caught during the spring of this year, the nearest one a male Goldfinch, the other two were Greenfinches, one of each sex.

I've been looking at my tit catches over the previous 90 days. It shows how bad a breeding season the Blue and Great Tits have had when compared to Coal Tit. The "Age Specific" analysis, which covers the breeding season itself, shows little or no change from last year's figures for the "big boys". The current catches contain 38% adults for Blue Tit and almost the same, at 39%, for Great Tit. The much smaller Coal Tit, meanwhile, only has 11% adult 'content', a much more realistic figure. It can be partially explained by the fact that Coal Tits nest in the coniferous plantations, which are much drier, least ways beneath the canopy, and that must have been an advantage this year.