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.

Due a break in the good weather

The good weather of the last four weeks has benefited all the young birds that have recently fledged. We have not had more than 3mm of rain in a day since I last blogged , which has facilitated opening the net on five days out of seven. The breeze has been strong at times especially in the afternoons when it has had a welcome cooling effect. Today the weather is on the turn and the barometer is on the way down for the first time in ages. The warm and sunny days have been good for the soft fruit and a period of rain should benefit the apples and pears.

Having said that, the young birds have done well, going by the amount of bird food that has "disappeared", and I have caught juveniles almost exclusively in the last four weeks or so. Six more young Jackdaws 'found the net'.

Young Jackdaw, lacking the adult grey nape

 We are seeing second and third broods of Robins, a species that seems to do well around here. Just had to take a couple of pics!

Young Robin starting its post-juvenile moult

Young Robin well into its post-juvenile moult

One of the Pied Wagtails had obviously been naughty and sent to bed without its tea, going by the severe growth bar on its tail ( or rather, lack of growth). At some time in the near future the tail will snap off at this point. Incidentally, one of the other young wagtails has already lost its tail completely.

Juvenile Pied Wagtail (M.a.yarrellii)

 It has been good to catch a few Coal Tits. They used to breed in our large conifers but we had to take down the three nearest the house (very near!) for insurance purposes and they now breed over the road. The numbers of Blue Tits on the feeders has also jumped up; although they fledge later than their big cousins, the Great Tits, they start their post-juvenile moult earlier, something that only ringers really appreciate.

Juvenile (3JJ) Coal Tit

Juvenile (3JJ) Blue Tit

Now for the ringing list covering the last month:

Collared Dove - 2; an adult and a f.g. bird of the year
Kingfisher - 3; all juvs
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - 2 (1); retrap female and (presumably) her offspring
Jackdaw - 6; all juvs
Goldcrest - 2; both juvs
Blue Tit - 22 (3); all 25 were juvs
Great Tit - 17 (1); all 18 were juvs,, 7 of which were frequent "visitors" 
Coal Tit - 3; all juvs
Swallow - 2; both juvs
Long-tailed Tit - 4 (8); all juvs
Chiffchaff - 3; juvs
Blackcap - 13; 3x 2CY males, 2x 2CY females plus 8 juvs
C. Whitethroat - 1; a juv
Wren - 5; a female & 4 juvs
Blackbird - 11 (6); 2x adult females, 5 adult males (y new) & 10 juvs
Robin - 11 (4); a male, a 4 year old female, 13 juvs with multiple captures
Dunnock - 16 (5); a male, a female retrapped plus 19 juvs
House Sparrow - 16 (12); 3 r/t males & 2 new, with 23 young. 
Grey Wagtail - 1; 2CY breeding female
Pied Wagtail - 2; both juveniles; 2 unringed juvs also visiting daily
Chaffinch - 28; all juvs, none retrapped
Bullfinch - 1; breeding 2CY female
Greenfinch - 27 (3); a male & a female retrapped, 4 new males & 24 youngsters (10 male, 13 female, with 1 left unsexed due to confusing 'signals')
Linnet - 1; a cracking 2CY male (sorry, no photo)
Goldfinch - 53 (11); 9 were adult males, 6 adult females and the 49 others all young birds
Siskin - 5; 1x 3M, 2x 3F, 1x 5F, 1x 4M

That's 259 new rings attached and 54 other birds recaptured, quite a few more than once.

261 were this years hatchlings and comprised 83.4% of the total catch. Of these, I surmise that only some 80 will survive the coming winter and that I will re-capture just 30-35 of those in the next calendar year, allowing for abmigration and the vagaries of catching.

We have been playing host to a stray racing pigeon for the last couple of months. It has even wandered into the garage to find the source of all that lovely bird seed that gets put out on the lawn. Although only 25 miles from home, the owner would have to travel 86 miles each way and pay the Severn crossing toll! Not worth it for a 10 year old bird.

WHU2005/C00471 from Whitchurch, Cardiff

At last the buddleia is in full flower and the Peacock butties have reappeared. So have several other species including the much loved Gatekeeper, one of my favourites. Also we were able to supplement our stock of "worms", courtesy of a neighbour.

Family of Slowworms

During a break from writing this, a family party of Ravens, 2 parents and 2 offspring, flew  westwards over the garden. 

Post-script: we had 37 mm of much anticipated rain in 24 hours and strong winds.

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.

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