Blackcaps are back at the Maus

19/05/2013 - Wentworth, Mausoleum

It's been a year and a day, to be precise, since we last ringed up at the Mausoleum.  Our winter feeding sites have now come to an end and we can relax for a short while as the breeding season starts, oh so slowly.

We were on-site for 6am, it was slightly cool and very still.  We had an amble around, erected a couple of 'regular' nets and searched for a couple of new runs.  Rabbits were a prominent feature, seemingly much more so than last year.

The first Blackcap of the year was a welcome start to the day.  Male Blackcaps have black 'caps', females and young birds are gingery brown.  There were several males singing throughout the morning.  Their song is a classic warble though to be honest it's not very distinctive when heard in the background.  The alarm call however is much easier to point out to people, sounding like two pebbles being hit together, or as someone said to me yesterday, the noise of one of those kinetic steel balls that you see on desks.

Male Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

A likely pair of Treecreepers, both caught in the same net together, were a nice find.  The male was a retrap from last year which we were able to age at the time as having hatched in 2011.  We were unable to 'sex' him at the time of first capture so today's recapture enabled us to add data on him.  The female was a first year bird, hatched in 2012, with a brood patch indicating that she is currently brooding eggs.  I've said it before on this blog but hey ho, we use the spots or teardrop pattern on the primary feather converts as an aid for ageing Treecreepers.

Adult male Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris)

Adult Treecreeper, male, (LEFT), 2nd calendar year Treecreeper, female (RIGHT).

The East coast was riddled with vagrant birds today but no surprises for us in our land locked area. The briefest of hope was allowed to rise up for just a second but alas, it was Goldcrest awaiting extraction and not a Firecrest.  Don't get me wrong, we were more than happy with our day, in surroundings such as this what is there to complain about?

Mobile phone panoramic, click for a larger view if tha' wants.

Nothing to write home about on the whole today but excellent weather in glorious surroundings made for a great time.  On the same visit last year we were catching young Long-tailed Tits, a family flock of 24 were caught all together.  We actually retrapped several adults from that very flock today but no juveniles as yet, just females with brood patches.

01/00  Wren
01/00  Robin
02/00  Blackbird
02/00  Blackcap
01/00  Goldcrest
05/05  Long-tailed Tit
01/00  Great Tit
01/01  Treecreeper
14/06  20

Ginger Nut

We're still seeing red

28/04/2013 - Wentworth, Woodnook

Obviously, as the title suggests, the Lesser Redpoll are still around at Woodnook, more so than ever.. 

Jilly and I set up this morning in perfect conditions.  The treetops are greening up fast now in the woodland as the buds emerge into leaf, the Cherry trees are losing their early white blossom and the conifers have lime green fresh tips.

From the bird calls and the catches we're making it's clearly the time of the smaller finches here at the moment.  Goldfinch and Greenfinch have moved out and Siskin and Redpoll have moved in over the last month.  We were kept nice and busy early on, only slowing down later as the wind picked up from nowhere.  Redpolls were caught consistently every net round and probably would've been all day long.  A few of the polls had some fat reserves visible but none had any breeding evidence.  I'm not sure if some of them are building up fat to leave or if they're staying local now and the fat is the remains of what they built up prior to arriving in the area.  Maybe they found the feed through the Siskins that were here earlier and now they've built up in numbers.  Three of the birds were recent retraps from a couple of weeks earlier and another one was from December.

It's breeding time for more or less everything, the local male Chaffinch are looking dandy now.

Male Chaffinch

Interestingly we ringed here on exactly the same date last year, so lets compare.  Totals wise the two days are almost exactly the same, the key difference between this year and last year are the Lesser Redpoll, completely absent previously and today the main bulk of the catch.  The Redpoll numbers made up for the apparent lack of tits.


Totals for today...and last year
00/01  Dunnock
01/02  Robin
00/02  Long-tailed Tit
00/01  Coal Tit
03/04  Blue Tit
02/03  Great Tit
00/02  Nuthatch
08/05  Chaffinch
02/00  Greenfinch
02/01  Goldfinch
04/00  Siskin
34/04  Lesser Redpoll
56/25  81

Totals for the same date last year...blogged here
25 Blueys
14 Chafflings
11 Gret' Tit
08 Golfdinch
07 Cola Tit
04 Greenies (huzzah)
03 BLABIs
02 DUNNOs
02 Robin
02 Chiffies
02 Mountain Sparrows (huzzah)
01 Jenny
01 Goldie
01 Bumbarrel
01 Nutter
84 Altogether


Other bird news at Woodnook include a Tawny Owl sitting on two eggs in an Apple tree as of last week, a Stock Dove in one owl box and Jackdaws in the other owl box!

 

Molly

A bit of a cabaret

21/04/2013 - Wentworth, Woodnook

Feeding stations should be quietening down at this time of year, now that the winter finches are heading back to their breeding grounds.  Woodnook is more than just a feeding station though, it's a woodland surrounded by farmland with water nearby so there will always be birds about.

My first impressions on Sunday morning were 'Redpoll' as there were several calling from the treetops.

Neil has cut a few new great net rides around the feeders which now gives us the opportunity to change the nets around a little bit on each visit, also helping us out if it's a bit breezy or bright.  I was on my own so I only set up three nets, two new ones in the Pheasant pen and one trusty one in the Christmas Trees.  I was kept on my toes from the start and was pleased to see that I had caught a few Lesser Redpoll early on.

Chaffinches provided some interesting retrap history.  Three of the four retraps were females that have gone a full year from their their first capture and not been caught in-between, maybe they have overwintered elsewhere?  It's very early days in terms of ringing history for us here but the longer we run this informal 'study' the more interesting things will become and hopefully patterns will emerge.  I'm already looking forward to the start of next winter!

The stars of the day though were most definitely our little red headed beauties.  16 birds isn't a great deal in the big scheme of things but it represents more than half of the 2013 ringing total so far for this species.  I certainly wasn't expecting them.  They were undoubtedly feeding on the Niger seed that Neil is providing.

Lesser Redpoll (C. cabaret)

Lesser Redpoll (C. cabaret)

Totals for today...
01/01  Great Spotted Woodpecker
01/01  Dunnock
01/00  Long-tailed Tit
02/06  Blue Tit
02/02  Great Tit
00/02  Nuthatch
06/04  Chaffinch
04/03  Greenfinch
07/00  Goldfinch
05/00  Siskin
16/00  Lesser Redpoll
45/19  64

Sping has sprung

12/04/2013 - Wentworth, Doric Lodge

A Friday afternoon ringing session today made for a pleasant change.  The weather was very kind to us, drizzle early on in the day, perfect for ringing in the middle and then it rained about an hour after we had left by which time we were eating chippy chips :)


The desired target today were a few more Brambling before they're gone.  The first bird on the sheet, a Brambling, excellent, alongside a few Siskins, wonderful.  The Siskins and Brambling imminent departure will undoubtedly be missed by us but recompense is on the horizon.  Warm southerly winds are bringing our warblers back with them.  Everything is a little late around here this year I just hope it all comes good for our breeding birds after the washout of last summer.



It's all to easy to pass over the humble Chaffinch when it is somewhat outshone by the relative rarity of the Bramblings we've been catching.  A few of the Chaffs though were simply impossible to overlook, they were massive, feeling like a totally different bird in the hand.  A few weeks ago I processed a heavy male Chaffinch at 34 grams which by the look and feel of it would take some beating.  The first engorged male of this session weighed in at an impressive 30.6 grams, followed by a real table leg bender at a whopping 36.6 grams!  That isn't far off double what a light Chaffinch would weigh.  A large female also followed shortly afterwards at 29.1 grams.  The largest Brambling of the day weighed 29.9 grams.  All big muscled birds with enough reserves stored up to take them overseas, bon voyage!



Between net rounds, whilst sipping a coffee (small finger held aloft), we were discussing the imminent arrival of our dear avian friends the Swallows.  Their passage throughout the country had been steadily increasing over the last couple of days, progress reports documented diligently through the twitternet. 

"A single swallow in the rain at Wensleydale."

"Summer is here!!! Two Swallows just over the Farnes."

"First swallow of the year this morning in Abersoch, seen from a compromising position on a physiotherapists couch."

As the saying goes...

"It is not one swalowe that bryngeth in somer. It is not one good qualitie that maketh a man good."

Bang!  Right on cue two Swallows dash over the garden wall, streamers splayed.  A hint of rich blue against the bright sky and they're gone, over the far wall and away in an instant!  These birds aren't hanging about, they're most likely a couple of males dashing forward to claim their summer territory on our fair shores.  A brief moment of rejoice...


The one that got away?  A couple of Woodpigeon got out of the net, that's fairly normal but a Rook!  I ran for it but out it came, went back in, and flew out again before I was on it!  shame really, not because it's a particularly unusual species or anything but it's not one you come across often in a mist net.


Totals (new/retrap)

00/02  Great Spotted Woodpecker
01/00  Dunnock
01/00  Long-tailed Tit
02/10  Blue Tit
00/01  Nuthatch
16/04  Chaffinch
03/00  Brambling
05/01  Greenfinch
11/02  Goldfinch
03/00  Siskin
42/20  62

Hermit Hill III

07/04/2013 - Hermit Hill

Way, way back, (I've been a little remiss at updating the blog, shocking!) on sunny Sunday, Jilly and I visited Hermit Hill Farm for our third gathering.  It was our first ringing session there for a few months.

Disaster struck at the start when I realised I had left the ringing pad at home, a full 10 minutes away by automobile.  Fortunately, happily, somehow and in the Nick of time, a lined pad was rustled up by the owner cum scribe and the day was saved!

I'll be honest, what with the Spring like weather, bright-ish skies and relative warmth I had wee confidence of a decent catch.

Round one, first coffee, and a decent catch, including a few spuggies, being the first that we have caught for a while since our neighbours kindly removed a lovely Elderberry tree and opened up our garden at home, making the already wary sparrows even trickier to catch.  I'm more used to Siskins then Sparrows recently so the first fellow that I extracted wriggled free before I had secured it, the shame!  Sadly a Tree Sparrow also freed itself from the other net as Jilly began to extract it too, double shared shame!

Round two, second coffee, and a pair of Nuthatch were caught.  Always nice to simultaneously catch a pair of a species like this as although the ornamental sexual dimorphism is fairly obvious when you handle them frequently, it's still nice to have a direct comparison.  Ooh, I used an 'ism'!  The under tail coverts are a key feature to look for, if you can't work out which feathers the under tail coverts then I cant help you I'm afraid...

Nuthatch (S. europaea), female top, male bottom.

Nuthatch (S. europaea), male left, female right.

Rounds three through to five included more coffee, accompanied by choccy biccies, and a few more birds.  We caught more birds than I had anticipated, twice as many really, and had a jolly pleasant time.  It's still very early days here as far as feeding stations go and I look forward to seeing how it progresses or changes as time goes on.  TTFN.

Totals
02/00  Dunnock
01/00  Blackbird
02/00  Long-tailed Tit
02/00  Coal Tit
18/01  Blue Tit
09/01  Great Tit
02/00  Nuthatch
04/00  House Sparrow
05/00  Chaffinch
01/00  Goldfinch
46/02

Just when you thought it was safe to go into the woods

30-31/03/2013 - Wentworth, Woodnook

Saturday

I was joined by chilly Millie on Saturday down at Woodnook, hoping for the last few finches of winter before they move out to pastures new.  It was cold but the stove in the cabin was oh so welcoming!

I wasn't expecting to catch a great deal of birds, 50 or so in numbers, but I was hoping for a couple more Siskin and maybe a Brambling to round the season off.  Siskin were calling in the treetops as we set up the nets and a nasal Brambling called above.  Personally I associate the Bramblings call with snow, which is quite apt at the moment, the final drifts just about thawed out now after the big drop last weekend.

The first net round caught us a few Siskin, mission take off, followed by a Brambling on the second check, mission accomplished, take down, pack-up, home for breakfast!  As if!  We barely got the chance to sit down all morning right into and out of lunch time, certainly no time to stop moving between net rounds and ringing.  We were catching a good mix of good species, it was a top morning.

The first Song Thrush for a while was a nice surprise.  They make a characteristic racket when extracting and sometimes when ringing, like a Blackbird does but more regular and more annoying.  This bird actually fluted a few bits of song whilst in the hand, as did a Greenfinch later on.  Birds are certainly pumped full of hormones at the moment.

Song Thrush T. philomelos

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelus)

Forgive me if I'm teaching you to suck eggs here but it is Easter!  An easy way to distinguish a Song Thrush song is by it's repetitive nature, repeating phrases roughly three times in a row, three times in a row, three times in a row...  Thrushes are very active in the their territories right now and we caught more than we normally do, including a retrap Song Thrush from the same time last year, which we photographed back then, that bird was also calling in the hand.

Song Thrush, taken last year, (Turdus philomelos)

Enough of the SONTH, what news of the other birds?  Joyfully the little green gems kept coming in all morning.  They were interspersed by a few more Lesser Redpoll, Brambling, Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Woodpeckers and a new wave of un-ringed Tits.

Male Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

Male Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla)

Possibly the last few Brambling that we will come across this year,  a single female and two males were caught.

We had a small influx of new tits, mainly of the Blue variety along with the usual retraps.

It was our highest total catch so far, a hard but pleasurable morning!



Totals new/retrap
01/02  GSWood
01/00  Wren
01/02  Dunnock
03/02  Robin
02/03  Blackbird
01/01  Song Thrush
02/05  Long TT
00/01  Coal Tit
18/21  Blue Tit
07/10  Great Tit
01/03  Nuthatch
01/00  Treecreeper
13/04  Chaffinch
03/00  Brambling
06/00  Greenfinch
10/01  Goldfinch
32/09  Siskin
02/04  Lesser Redpoll
104/68 Total 172

Sunday

No rest for ringers as the clocks went forward on Sunday night.  I was up bright and early and managed to coerce my ringing buddy out of bed too.  I left my jacket down at Woodnook the day before, a fine excuse to go back and try for a few more Siskins.

It was a bright and beautiful morning again, the Sun a little stronger and more piercing than the day before.  It was definitely quieter in terms of bird movement.  Neil, the owner, says that he notices that there are days when his feeders are emptied in a day and then other days where the birds consume much less.  Today was a much less day!  We didn't mind the pace though, it was a relaxing session with ample time for lounging in between net rounds.

We caught a female Siskin that seems to be making the most out of two exceptional feeding stations this winter.  she has now been caught and ringed here originally in January, then over the park at Doric Lodge in early March and now back down here

The last bird of the day was a real surprise one.  We were about to take down the nets, Jilly was extracting a bird from one end and I was walking to the other to start taking down.  I saw a Goldcrest in the conifers, it came to with a few feet of me, unaware or unconcerned by my presence then dropped into the net.  It had a ring on it but we catch them commonly here so I thought no more of it until we were processing it and I read out the ring, not one of our ring numbers!  Double check, triple check, it was close but not on of ours, starting with the letters DVC, one of our previous sets being DVB.  Where and when it was ringed will be revealed in time :)  It's not a Firecrest by any means but still, nice bird!

Goldcrest, a 'control' capture (Regulus regulus)

 
00/01  Dunnock
01/01  Robin
00/01  Blackbird
00/01  Goldcrest (CONTROL)
01/01  Coal Tit
03/04  Blue Tit
01/02  Great Tit
01/00  Nuthatch
01/00  Chaffinch
07/01  Siskin
15/12  27 Total

Rain sleet snow and sunshine all in a day

On Monday it was heavily overcast, on Tuesday it as extra bright, on Wednesday it was overcast and drizzled all daylong, on Thursday it was frosty and again very bright so today, as I type this, it's snowing and it has been all day...

20/03/2013 - Wentworth, Woodnook

I was joined by a ringer from Notts today, as a counterpart assessment visit from a few weeks ago.  The weather was horrible but forecast to ease up by mid morning.

We set up nets and opened only a few that were suitably covered from the damp, leaving the others safely furled.  It actually worked out alright in the end as we caught a steady catch of interesting birds for us to go over together at a reasonable pace.  No photo's today, we never really had the opportunity to stop.  A fried sandwich from the shop was a welcome close to the session.

There were no surprises caught just a few 'nice' birds and a few species that my foreign visitor doesn't catch many of at his sites. 

00/01  GRSWO
00/01  DUNNO
03/00  BLABI
00/01  LOTTI
03/02  COATI
06/15  BLUTI
03/02  GRETI
06/05  CHAFF
01/00  BRAMB
01/00  GREFI
03/00  GOLDF
01/01  SISKI
27/28  Total

21/03/2013 - Wentworth Garden Centre

Spring was definitely in the air at the GC yesterday, sunshine, lush green growth, buds, prancing deer and singing birds abounded.

As many of us are noticing at the moment our resident garden birds are becoming fueled by hormones into establishing their territories.  Robins were posturing and squabbling amongst themselves and finding their way into our nets in the centres' public gardens.

I was able to slip the car onto the garden path which gave us a nice base for ringing.  It was also handy to be able to see some of the nets as a Collared Dove (new for the year/site list) flew into one of the pockets and stayed in just long enough for Millie to swig down her coffee and run.  She got the bird and although it's not the be all and end all it's still nice to handle and process a new species of bird every now and then.  They are a little bit of a handful actually, though less so than the powerful Woodpigeon.  Millie sneaked a photo of the stunning eye of this male bird before she let it go.  You can also see the overall pink tones to the plumage, a male feature of this species.

Male Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

A newly caught and ringed Nuthatch showed a nice moult limit in its median coverts which enabled us to age the bird confidently as a first year male.  They are calling constantly at the moment, adding a trill song to their usual mew calls.

Male Nuthatch with moult limit in median coverts

Male Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

Finally, a bird that is very evident in our catches at the moment...a Blue Tit.  We're catching rather a lot of brightly coloured apparent males.

Blue Tit

Day totals new/retrap
01/00  Collared Dove
02/00  Dunnock
02/02  Robin
02/01  Coal Tit
05/07  Blue Tit
02/02  Great Tit
01/01  Nuthatch
00/01  Goldfinch
15/14  Total