Summat's up!

Well, with the weather, it is. 14 degC today and 9 degC overnight, too. The Camellia has just flowered, next door's Pyracantha is still laden with berries and there's berries remaining on the big Holly also. Needless to say, there's no birds about the garden; well, feeding any way. There are some singing birds belting it out - Mistle Thrush (as you would expect), plus Song Thrush, Robin, Blue Tit, Dunnock, Wren, even Redwing. I ended December with 63 new birds of 18 species for the month.


My 2011 total for the garden and, for the second half of the year only, for the water meadows comes in at 1600 new birds with 518 retraps, covering 41 species.

New birds ringed here - Sparrowhawk 3, Woodpigeon 4, Collared Dove 7, Kingfisher 6, Great Spotted Woodpecker 2, Swallow 1, Meadow Pipit 14, Pied Wagtail 3, Dipper 2, Wren 26, Dunnock 64, Robin 51, Blackbird 119, Song Thrush 15, Redwing 2, Mistle Thrush 2, Sedge Warbler 4, Reed Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat 2, Whitethroat 20, Garden Warbler 1, Blackcap 135, Chiffchaff 141, Willow Warbler 22, Goldcrest 17, Firecrest 1, Long-tailed Tit 88, Coal Tit 12, Blue Tit 165, Great Tit 64, Treecreeper 1, Jay 1, Magpie 1, Jackdaw 1, House Sparrow 51, Chaffinch 50, Brambling 52, Greenfinch 97, Goldfinch 301, Siskin 43, Bullfinch 8.

I ringed another 200 or so elsewhere in UK, making 2011 a really enjoyable year; but, in contrast, it looks as if 2012 will get off to a slow start, unlike the year just gone. Am going to have to spread my wings a little this coming year by finding new sites closer to the trainees' homes. And, we're still messing around with the house and garden. A big improvement after 12 months - but will it ever be finished I ask myself?

I wish everyone a Happy, Healthy, Safe, Prosperous and Enjoyable New Year and I look forward to reading some of your comments on my "ramblings".

Happy Christmas

Managed to "slip in" a session or two early on Xmas Eve and again on Boxing Day, in the garden before the visiting friends and neighbours arrived. Highlight on day 1 was this large adult male "grey bird", as it's known locally.


On day 2, I trapped another female Bullfinch, only the second here, the other five all being males of the species. Incidentally, I have only caught one down by the stream.

Garden:
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit 1
Blackbird (3)
Mistle Thrush 1
Robin 1 (2)
Dunnock 1 (3)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 1
Bullfinch 1

The day after Boxing Day, I was due to go to 'Clarks Village, a shopping outlet in Street. But before that, I set a net on the edge of the meadows where there is a wide Holly hedge that I had seen thrushes moving through. I duly got up in the dark and managed to trap 4 Blackbirds, one of which, a juvenile male (below) might have been of continental origins going by its winglength and weight compared to the other three "locals".


Meadows:
Blue Tit 2
Blackbird 4
Robin 1
Dunnock 3

There will be no opportunity for more ringing due to the 'social calendar' imposed upon me - unless a former trainee rolls up for some birdy fun!
[He rolled up - but so did the rain]

More to come?

This could be said of several things at the moment. Rain? My cold? Blackcaps? Xmas cards? Blue Tits? More decorating? Redwings? Whatever!

Any road up, I've managed to fit in a bit of "bird catching". 16 birds covering 10 species since my last blog entry on Wednesday. Not bad - and a new species ringed for the garden/1km 'home' square!

We've had so much rain lately that even our wellington boots have grown webbed feet. The stream has risen even further and, down at the net sites, has begun to undercut the banks in the soft mudstone geology. Will all my racks be there in the spring, I wonder?


One of the pleasing happenings is the appearance of "young" Blue Tits; this is against the recent run of 'mainly adults' that have been a feature of this autumn. You can tell it's a 'bird of the year' by the bleached and un-moulted feathers close to the edge of the wing.


The Blackcaps still keep on turning up. Here is a young male with hell of a lot of "juvvy brown" still left among the 'adult type' black feathers of a male crown. He also had 2 easily distinguished, old (i.e. faded) greater coverts.


On to the new species. We have had between 17 & 23 Redwings toing and froing from the Holly tree and the Ashes. Today I managed to ring a couple of these, one a youngster, the other an adult. These are easily told apart by the tail shapes and the striking white tips in the juveniles to (at least one of) the tertials which cover the closed wing.


A few more birds added to the 2011 totals; it won't be long before we all start a new "countdown" in 2012. I hope to have all my "legal paperwork" done and sent off by the end of the first week in January [It actually goes electronically] together with my permit renewal.

A couple of (half)day's effort realised the following:
Blue Tit 1 (2)
Great Tit (1)
Long-tailed Bushtit (1)
Blackcap 2
Blackbird (1)
Song Thrush 1
Redwing 2
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 3**

**I am looking forward to catching a few more of those King Harry's.
Oh. I forgot. It's gonna get warmer for a bit - and the winds'll pick up to force 5 gusting 6, and I don't want a net in the apple trees again! I'll try and be patient.

Domesticity

Not ringing weather at all! Have a look out the window!


Did manage to do a bit more to the new kitchen in the meantime, however. It just remains for me to varnish the paintwork, knot and paint the kick-board and emulsion the walls, etc. Trouble is, I suspect 'the good lady' will want the larder doing next (I've already done the pantry). Should have bought a new house, me thinks.

Weather. More of the same; wind and rain and grey skies. Monday night it blew just a touch and put 35mm of raindrops in the rain guage. We had another 7mm yesterday day-time and that makes it nearly 3 inches so far this month. Tomorrow, we are expecting another storm - or just a gale - depending on where the low pressure track is. Here's a couple of pics of the local stream that runs through the meadow where I ring; normally it's a third the width, ankle deep, gin clear and flowing gently. Not yesterday!



This morning we had "an interlude" and two nets were opened. One might as well have stayed shut. In 2 hours between 9 and 11 o'clock, I caught 8 birds, FIVE of which were - wait for it! - House Sparrows. I can't remember when I last caught five in quick succession, but it must have been post-fledging in my Bedford garden back in spring 2010 or 2009. What's more, two of these were re-traps!

Passer domesticus Male

The new birds were all males and the two females were originally ringed here in January and April. I also trapped a new 1CY female Chaffinch and retrapped an adult Blue Tit and a young Wren.

You have to 'make hay' when the wind dies down in December in coastal Somerset or you might not ring a bird for a month or more.

In anticipation

The weather has been "on and off" lately, with both wind and rain a frequent occurence. However, at times things have quietened down sufficient for a few interludes of ringing in the garden. It just so happens that I managed three sessions over the weekend with fifty/fifty success.

While walking the dog on Friday I came across the first 'big' flock of Fieldfare this winter hereabouts; it contained 28 birds that were feeding on Hawthorn (Crateagus sp.) berries in the lane leading to my meadows site. The following day, 7 Redwing appeared in the Ash (Fraxinus) trees at the bottom of the garden just before dusk. The following morning, a group of them were busy eating their way through the Holly (Ilex) berries on the 15m high tree that adorns our frontage. The missus is worried that they won't leave us any for Christmas decoration!

Is this the beginning of the "winter invasion" that we look forward to, when birds are driven, at last, to feeding in our gardens? Ringers always look forward to birds being attracted to our feeding stations in winter. Trouble is, every third household feeds the birds round here!

Back to the birds caught. As expected many of the new and retrapped ones were birds of the year. A bright male Blue Tit was from last January when ringing commenced, a female sized Robin was also an adult and had only arrived in the garden earlier this month, the Chaffinch, which spends a lot of time under the front shrubbery, was an adult female on tail shape and all the other finches were adults apart from a 1CY female Goldfinch with 2 ogc.


Adult male BULLF; 22nd= species (with COLDO) of 40 ringed by me in ST04

The Greenfinches arrived as a party of 7 birds on Sunday, the first winter 'flock' that I have noticed in the garden to date. The male Blackcap is now the 9th this winter period.


Totals: 13 species, 12 new, 12 re-traps.
Blue Tit 4 (1)
Great Tit (2)
Long-tailed Bushtit (3)
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Blackbird (2) - both male
Robin (1)
Dunnock (2)
House Sparrow 1
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 2
Goldfinch 2
Bullfinch 1

The weather forecast for the coming week is "not good", with the gale force winds due to batter the south of England this time. I hope we don't get the destruction seen in Scotland last week. Fingers crossed.

The morning after the night before

The BTO Conference at Swanwick, from Friday evening to Sunday lunch, was a great success; almost everybody I spoke to enjoyed the variety of speakers that were all showing us how ringing, nest recording and bird-watching can work in conjunction with each other, towards a better understanding of many of our UK species. Not having been "to conference" or attended a ringing course for 3 years (more or less), it was also a time for me to re-acquaint myself with the "goings on" of a large cross-section of my friends and fellow ringers over breakfast, lunch, tea and at the bar. The 4 hour journey home was a constant nightmare in the cold, wind, rain, thunderstorms, low bright sun, spray and darkness on a route I have seldom travelled.

That said, I was eager to trap a few more birds in the garden, the meadows being out of the question under the current weather conditions. It was yesterday afternoon before it was safe to open the nets (a 60' & a 30'). A small catch proved adventitious as did an early morning session today, before the wind increased, bringing the rain and hail with it. The Watchet hill does not give us any protection from a WNW wind; a pity it wasn't more northerly.

The afternoon produced 4 new birds and 3 re-traps - Blue Tit 2 (1), Long-tailed Tit (1), Blackcap 1, Robin (1), Dunnock 1. The Blackcap was a 1CY female with a fat score of 30 (ESF).
The morning saw just 3 new birds and 1 re-trap - Blue Tit 1, Blackcap 1, Robin 1 (1); the Blackcap was a 1CY male with a fat of 10.




How many more Blackcaps will I catch before the year's end? Looking at the first winter period of 2011 and this, I have trapped 15 different individuals so far. In January I caught 5, 4 males and a female that stayed until mid March, and in February 2 males. Excluding the wintering female, there were no Blackcaps in the garden between 11th February and 22nd March, after which I trapped 4 heavy birds before the end of March, presumably all returning birds on passage from further south (i.e. France?). This autumn I stopped catching summer Blackcaps on 24th September and didn't trap any more until the 28th October, when I had a male and a female in consecutive weeks. In November, I have had 3 males and 1 female, and, in this first week of December, one of each sex, as per the images above.

The new Dunnock was a bird of the year on eye colour (and feather shape). It had already acquired the lesions on its left foot typical of "Bumblefoot" (see below) but was otherwise healthy - and weighed in at 23.7 grams.




As friend Phil suggested, I had better get on and finish the kitchen decorating if I am to get a "pass out" to go ringing with the new trainee at the week-end! Toodle pip!

I'm Finnished again

Just got a Blackbird recovery through from one of my 'C' ringers [EDG] who now operates the main site I worked for over 20 years.

It was ringed by my trainee [DTH] as a 3M (1cy male) with 1 ogc, a wing of 135mm, a weight of 112g at 08:00 [GMT] on Wednesday 9th December 2009. This was the one of two birds out of four 'continental types' that we managed to extract and ring, two "doing a Houdini". See http://ivelringinggroup.blogspot.com/2009/12/rain-has-stopped.html for a read of the session. It was found dead 653 days later on 23rd September 2011, at a place called Vistarna, Soderudden, Korsholm, Finland, some 1775km NE of Priory Country Park, Bedford.


This is my furthest recovery for a Blackbird (although I have had a Kestrel from much further north in Finland). I had another Blackbird from the same site found freshly dead at Vaxjo, Kronoberg, Sweden in 1993, 1117km ENE with a duration of 566 days; this was ringed in January as a 5F and found 18 months later at the end of July.

Of general interest is the latest DEFRA publication on The wildbird population changes in Britain from 1970-2010.
See http://t.co/NeLHPMno

Might be able to put the nets up again on Tuesday next (according to the Met. Office)

Water on tap

A week has gone by and the weather does not improve. As I write, it's blowing half a gale outside and raining to boot. This means two things - I haven't caught much in the way of birds and the kitchen refurbishment has moved on and we now have the water reconnected. The cupboards are also in and primed and the worktop is on and useable. Right now, it's time to tile! plus another coat of paint after the evening meal has finished.

I was Shanghaied by David Ballance to attend a meeting of the Exmoor Bird Monitoring Project at the National Park's offices in Dulverton. Who should also be present, representing the Devon atlassing team, but Paul Madgett, an old friend from Bedfordshire now living in Braunton. Going there, I took the scenic route (main roads & River Exe) and viewed the autumn colours of the Beeches and Hornbeams towering over the road. Returning cross-country over the tops, I was held up for a while by a farmer and his flock of ewes. Such are the joys of Exmoor.


Back to the bird-ringing. In a word, "Duff". Three snatched moments at dawn while the wind/rain had abated yielded a mere 6 birds, of which 5 are garden 'residents' - Blue Tit (2), Long-tailed Tit (1), Blackcap 1 [a 1cy male], Blackbird (1) & Robin (1). This is the 6th Blackcap in as many weeks.

Now a couple of progress photos to shew that I've not been slacking the rest of the time.

We are getting there and apart from a few finishing touches (gloss coat and varnish, knobs and some external plumbing) it should be a working kitchen again before I leave for the BTO conference at Swanwick (Derbys) on Friday.

Water, water everywhere

Another 10.5mm of rain yesterday mid-morning 'til dawn today. Kybosh on the ringing, what with the kitchen job in hand. However, I did sneak out before the rain yesterday for 8 birds:
Goldcrest (1)
Blue Tit (2)
Blackbird 1 (1) - both 3Ms with dark beaks & 131mm wings [that's big for round here, most of the time]
Dunnock 1 - another adult bird!
Robin (1)
Chaffinch 1 - a 4F

Also managed a late afternoon sesh today with a different set of species and 8 birds:
Woodpigeon 1 - a rather plump [555g] male that eats all my mate's bird-food over the road & spends most of its day in his leylandii
Coal Tit 1
Long-tailed Tit (3)
Chiffchaff 1 - with 'brown' legs & most likely an abietinus
Dunnock 1
Goldfinch 1C - origin may be fairly local, ring on left leg is a giveaway.
[It was local - ringed as a 4F, 3yr 8mth 3days ago, 2km to the west]

The first pic below shows the true colour of the Chiff but does not shew the bright yellow on the bend of the wing. The second was taken with artificial light. For those with an interest - E6, wp 3/4/5, 2=8, wing 63.5mm, wt. 9.4g, F35.




Kitchen refurb. well under way. Threw up another problem - the main stop tap doesn't close completely. Looks like the replacement of the lead main will now have to go on the agenda earlier than we thought.

Old Speckled Hen

Well, this is her!


Went out this morning in the company of a potential trainee, Liz, a veteran of the Italian, Maltese & other campaigns. It was the usual set-up for this time of year, a 60' at net1 (closest to the gate) and later, net2 40' that used to catch anything on the move. Today, net2 obliged with 3 Dunnocks, but, hey ho, 2 of these were new. One of them had a "yellow" eye-ring, which I presume was a collection of "eye-lash mites", similar to the one we humans have feasting on us. Any offers of a diagnosis?


The weather was fairly abyssmal, dank and breezy. I picked up Kingfisher, Dipper, Chaffinch and Green Woodpecker on call in the gloom, none of which graced the nets. As we were clearing away, one of the Lotti flocks that was approaching the net burst into sound; the cause, a Sparrowhawk across the end of the net behind young Liz's back. We also had the company of a very large and friendly grey gelding. At one point it checked out the net lane, but it's surprising the effect a thin white guy-line has in turning horses away. [The paddocks are marked out with just two thin white tapes]. It liked the BTO apple very much - excellent crunch!

The day's total was 17 birds of which 14 were ringed and 1 was a local control.
Blue Tit 4
Great Tit 1
Blackcap 1 - a 3F
Wren 2 juvs
Blackbird (1) - ad male of recent origin
Dunnock 2 (1)
Goldfinch 3 - all adult birds
Siskin (1C) - from last winter (early March)

A first glimpse of Liz - holding her first female Blackcap. More of her will be divulged as time goes by!
How many more Blackcaps are there out there? One a week at present and no real targetting effort.

It pays to ALWAYS check both legs, especially when a mate rings on the left and yourself on the righ!
[I did remove the later one].

This mild weather

... continues here in the south-west. One day the fronts track up from France and it rains heavily and then the wind goes easterly and we're bathed in bright sunshine one minute and under a cloud blanket the next. When you wake up the next day, it's all round to the west with hill fog and drizzle. When the wind clears the murk, the leaves are being shaken off the trees. Such is a ringer's, hard life hereabouts! you just have to cope and get in a few hours when you can.

Any road, I have been fortunate in that the garden has been protected from the worst of the wind this week. The meadows were unringeable as the nets sites were all vulnerable to the wind on any one day. A couple of achievements this week have been the capture of bird species No. 40 for the 1km grid square, the spotting of No. 76 and the ringing of No. 1500 this year.
The Grip - it rejected the pencil in favour of my fingers!
"I'm watching you, mister" [Magpie age 3 (1CY)]

As you may have guessed by now, species number 40 was a juvenile Magpie. They are not very common round here (I suspect they get shot fairly frequently) but there is a successful pair on the outskirts of Watchet which I often see from/at the meadows.

I also caught the first Greenfinch since August, an adult female. They are now very scarce here during the summer months and I suspect their breeding numbers in the area are low, that is until you get closer to the wooded slopes of Exmoor.
Another species that I have not been catching is the Goldfinch. The local breeders (in my tall, front hedge) know full well where the nets are in relation to the feeders and make sure they don't get caught too often.
Understudy for 2011 Goldfinch No.289 or new ring No. 1500

The last "exciting" bird I caught was another Blackcap. This is the fourth in four weeks (an adult female, an adult male and latterly two 1CY males). The only month this year when I haven't caught one of these is, ironically, May, always thought of as one of the better months for overall numbers.
So, as usual, to the totals for the first three days this week (Mon-Wed) . 16 new birds and 14 retraps of 14 species. All the retraps were birds of the year; the only adults were 2 new Blue Tits, a male Blackbird, both new Robins, the male Chaffinch and the female Greenfinch
Magpie 1
Blue Tit 3 (2)
Great Tit (1)
Coal Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (5)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackcap 1
Wren (1)
Blackbird 3 (1)
Robin 2 (2)
House Sparrow 2 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Greenfinch 1
Goldfinch 1

Yesterday was shopping in the county town for groceries and materials/fittings for the refurb. Today and the next few days will be non-ringing days; first, it's rip the kitchen out and then varnish the insides of the cabinets before they go in, tomorrow is the BTO/SOS Garden Birdwatch day conference and Sunday is getting the old tiles off and sealing any mdf., i.e. make a mess while the 'good lady' is away in Norfolk. Fingers crossed I'll be able to get the nets up sometime towards the end of next week if the weather holds fair ... and if we get the new kitchen finished.

Sunshine!

After six days of inclement weather - and 14mm rain Friday evening - the sun came out, just, at dawn today, Saturday. The tops were shrouded in cloud and the hill fog was creeping down the north facing slopes. Fortunately the brightness stayed with us and the south-east wind was light, if not in the best direction.

I ventured to the water meadows, a very soggy water meadows with the stream running brown and high. I stopped barely 50m inside the gate to avoid getting stuck and proceeded to erect just the one 18m net in the newer part of N1. to say the least, it was a peculiar morning with very little movement at lower levels, i.e. with the slightest hint of being interceptable by my net. The water was high enough to stop the very big grey (horse) from crossing the stream today.


As usual, the thrush family were the first to venture out on the look-out for their breakfast. The Blackbirds hereabouts have wings some 3mm shorter than those in the east and even shorter than northern birds. We're still waiting for their arrival. Then a long wait before I intercepted the first tit group, which included a flock of Lottis that normally hang around my garden. An hour or so later, another group that contained the Lotti flock I associate with this end of the meadows site (there is a third that tends to concentrate downstream, only coming as far as the orchard and N2).

First off, my presence made three Roe Deer skitter off to the next field, where they would not be able to see me because of the tall hedge. Birdwise, I was greeted by a squealing Water Rail that shuffled across the narrow end of the grass to spend the morning in the wet ditch the other side of the metalled trackway. About 80 Starlings made their way west in 5 groups between 09:30 and 10:00. I could see the local 8-bird, Herring Gulls' club perched on a factory roof beyond the railway station, but their 'wailing' was drowned out by the noise of a diesel loco that ran non-stop (while stationary) for over 90 minutes. A white, farmyard goose accompanied a Canada on the next field and was joined lated by a similar coupling. About 10 Mipits made their was leisurely southwards, a slightly different direction than the "main push".

Two flocks of Goldfinch were working the Alders. One consisted of 20 birds, the other 10. Joining them from time to time were small parties of Siskin, of which there are about 40 all told in the immediate area. There were one or two Goldcrests around but the three Chiffs seem to have moved on.

With the second batch of tits, I caught both Goldfinches, and, right at the last knockings, the second, this time unringed, Song Thrush.


A pleasant morning at a pace that would have suited a trainee.
Blue Tit 1 (2), an adult and 2 1CY's
Great Tit 1, a 1CY male
Long-tailed Tit (8), 2 distinct groups
Blackbird 1, adult male (above)
Song Thrush 1 (1), both Euring age3 (above)
Robin 1 (1), both adults, with 4 tiny spots on their greater coverts
Goldfinch 2, both age 3, a male and a female on rictal bristles
Total: 7 new (13 retraps)

Let's hope for some fair weather from now on; it might mean colder nights and improved catching! See you again soon, and thanks for dropping by.

Inevitably

Having chopped out a 'new' ride, I thought I might as well use it. Getting on site some three-quarters of an hour before sun-up, I soon had 2x 40' in action. Making a jaunt round this spot, I also realised that I could still use the original 40' site if I opened up another 40' closer to the stream. This latter combination might be suitable for a whole morning session in spring and summer when I neede to make use of the shade from the trees to obscure the netting.

Any way, back to the matter in hand. Nets set and a Kingfisher flew right over the nets in the half-light. Two thrushes 15 minutes before sunrise got me started. Then it was a lengthy period counting the Siskins going to and fro. Two of the four Little Egrets returned from the beach, no doubt moved on by early morning dog walkers at high tide (currently only 6m, so plenty of beach left exposed). A Water Rail squealed in the stream and later a Moorhen skittered off. Four Magpies flew across the field followed shortly after by one of the male Sparrowhawks. Two Grey Herons got up and moved to other fishing spots; the stream is still running high after the recent rains. [86mm in 10 days].

There were several small flocks of Siskins busy in the Alders, accompanied by some Chaffinches, but well above net height. Half an hour after sunrise, a mixed flock, mainly of tits, came my way. Eventually they reached the clump of willows, Alder and Hazel where the nets (N1) are situated. Out of this crowd I caught and ringed all my other captures bar one. An hour later I was surprised to find a fine male Siskin in the net, one that hadn't managed to follow his feeding party. The first of many this winter? I watched, hopefully, three different Chiffchaffs utilising the trees in this area. All were calling noisily but nothing would tempt them down to net level. As one of my favourite birds, I'll try for them another day soon.


Male Siskin, Nov 2011, Euring code 4.

All in all, 12 birds, and a good mix.
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit (1)
Great Tit 1 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (2)
Blackbird 1
Song Thrush 1
Robin 1
Goldfinch 1
Siskin 1

By 10am, the sun was very bright and the NW wind had picked up, not just blowing the nets but dumping lots of leaves into them as well. Pack up time!.

While we wait

While we wait for the weather to improve and the majority of the leaves to descend to the ground, out of harms way, I thought it might be a fitting time to recap on the year so far. To this end, here follows a list of the top twenty species that I have ringed so far this year.

1. Goldfinch - 290
2. Blue Tit - 264
3. Chiffchaff - 150
4. Blackcap - 127
5. Blackbird - 117
6. Great Tit - 105
7. Long-tailed Tit - 104
8. Greenfinch - 94
9. Dunnock - 67
10. Brambling - 52


That amounts to 77% of all the new birds ringed by me thus far.

11. Robin - 49
12. Chaffinch - 48
13. House Sparrow - 47
14. Siskin - 42
15. Willow Warbler - 31
16. Wren - 27
17. Whitethroat - 25
18. Coat Tit - 24
19. Goldcrest - 17
20. Meadow Pipit - 14

These 10 species account for another 18.5%, leaving a mere 4.5% to cover the other 23 species. Of those 23 species, eight have only 1 bird ringed against their name, the rest averaging five apiece.

Somewhere between 8 and 9 should come Manx Shearwater but they were all birds done at the RSPCA hospital at West Hatch. [See blog of Sept. 11th.]

Depending on the weather, and more especially the temperatures both here and on the continent, the finch and thrush totals could well move around a bit before the year's end. At this moment I am anticipating ringing the 1500th bird within my home 1km grid square before mid-month. Meanwhile, we wait.

PS. I did knock out an 80' net ride now that the veg. is shrinking, to supercede the current 40' Net 1 alongside the stream. It should prove a better proposition and still catch the Dippers and Kingfishers as well as the tits and finches!. Other net extensions to follow over the winter, thanks to a brush-cutter and high pruners.

Prunesville

Not much going on in the ringing line but plenty of other activity. Have tried my best to catch a few birds the last two days but the weather conspired against me. Friday it was relatively calm (for coastal West Somerset) but mighty sunny, with a brilliant, clear light - piss poor for disguising the nets. Today the forecast was all wrong; the S/SW gentle winds promised were in fact moderate SE at ground level thats blows into all my net lanes, followed by some rougher weather mid-morning. It was also our coldest night so far this autumn at +1C.

The most noticeable thing over the two days was the steady increase in Starlings, most heading west to the hills (Exmoor, Bodmin, Dartmoor). Parties increased from the earlier 10-25 to a more vigorous 40-150, and I counted over 500 in the space of an hour from 8:00 to 9:00 (we're still on BST/CET until tonight). Other birds around this morning included a Green Woodpecker, a Little Egret, a Raven, the usual 100+ each of Rooks and Jackdaws, a resident party of ~20 Siskin augmented with twice as many passing over, 5 Skylarks, at least 3 Meadow Pipits, a Grey Wagtail, several Moorhen and a couple of squealing Water Rails in the stream bed (which has steep sides and not the best place to try and trap them). There were several Blackbirds scattered around the site, going by the noise as they exited their roosting spots; so far, no collective roost. The Black-headed Gulls are now back and some 150 joined the local Herring Gulls across the fields.


It wasn't all bad - if you exclude the UK ringers' "bread 'n butter" of Prunella modularis

Birds caught:
Blue Tit 1 (1) - both birds of the year
Coal Tit (1) - a bird of the year
Long-tailed Tit (1) - a fully moulted juvenile
Blackcap 1 - adult female (above)
Wren 1 - adult male
Blackbird 1 - juv female, shorter wing = local??
Dunnock 2 (2) - a male from last March and ...

Nothing doing tomorrow as I've got to cut the hedges (interferes with net guys so the whole set-up has been taken in for now). The next window of decent opportunity looks like a week away. Maybe the thrushes will have arrived by then? Slik er livet

A new 'crest

The weather has been awful of late; we have suffered strong winds which have precluded any ringing with nets and yesterday the skies delivered 24mm of rain to the village. And so, this morning I was not hopeful of catching anything at all. It was quite a surprise to find out that the skies had cleared over-night and the temperature had fallen to +4C.

I opened up the two 18m nets an hour before dawn in the hope of a thrush or two - no such luck. Shortly before sunrise I started to recapture some of the small passerines that roost in the garden hedges. An unringed Blue Tit came for a meal of SFH but found the mesh in the way. On its release, I double-checked in case it found its way back to the nets (this seldom happens, by the way) and was surprised to see another small bird exactly where I had taken a Wren out earlier.

Well, well. A garden tick and a self-caught one, too. Although I have ringed quite a few at coastal bird observatories over the years, I have never had one drop into a net on one of my own sites. Calming down a little, I took the following shots.




I should have stopped and thought before pressing the shutter! Unfortunately, I got a little too close, even with the macro, and should have used the zoom from further away on such a small subject. Never mind; live and learn.

The rest of the day was bright and sunny so not alot of activity around the feeders or the apple trees. Tomorrow is forecast for more persistent and heavy rain, but on Friday, we should be able to ring in some farm crops on the edge of the Exmoor National Park.

Over the last week, small parties of Starlings have been winging their way west, towards the moors, consisting of between 15 and 30 birds. Never more than three parties in a day, but hen my view is limited. I shall have to check out 'The Levels' for the large roost that will form there (as seen on TV!)

Today's garden tally, evens; 4 + (4):
Firecrest 1
Blue Tit 1 (1)
Great Tit 1
Wren (1)
Dunnock (2)
House Sparrow 1

C'est la vie!

No stripes, no cigar

... but there is supposed to be a Yank (Semi-P) 50 miles up the road on the Brue. Ringing has again been slow due to the weather. Down here we've had stronger winds from the soth-east, not a good direction for 'traffic'. Saying that, when I was out tempting fate last Thursday, I did have my first Fieldfare in the orchard by the stream; none since. A few Mipit stragglers passed over in ones and twos, the four Little Egrets were 'on the patch' and were spooked by a Red Deer hind, in turned spooked by 'us' (me and the dog, Cerise). A couple of passing flocks of Siskin eventually amalgamated in one of 28-30. before flying SW over the village.

I haven't heard or seen any Redwings but one or two new male Blackbirds have arrived/stopped off. They look alot cleaner than our local juveniles and, all bar one, congruously with the shorter wing-lengths of the 'south-western locals'. Goldcrests have returned after a two month absence and the Coal Tits are noisesome again. The thing that is most noticeable is the number of Blue Tits coming to the garden orchard. On trapping, these are mainly birds that were ringed at the end of the winter or immediately post-fledging, none having been seen since they obtained a BTO ring.

I found a dead Badger at the end of the road. It was clean and had no marks and may have been a true road-kill; you can never tell round here as some unscrupulous farmers leave them beside the road to look as if they died an accidental death. Two days after, I noticed a couple in a Landie carefully picking it up; why they wanted it, I do not know, perhaps to just remove and bury it.

Apart from the Mipits, there has been a strong passage of Skylarks, probably a couple of hundred every morning. there have also been the odd day with a trickle of 'alba' and grey wagtails. No Robins or noteworthy thrushes yet. Today, another Sparrowhawk - only I was on the wrong side of the net at the time and it rolled out and back the way it came. Bugger. The Bullfinches are now out and about in the hedgerows, talking of which, this year's poor crop of Blackberries is almost over. Must admit, I enjoyed two suppers of blackberry and apple pie with ice cream this weekend though!

To catch up, birds ringed from Thurs. to Sun. -
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 14 (5)
Coal Tit 2 (2)
Long-tailed Tit (9)
Wren (1)
Blackbird 2
Song Thrush 1
Robin (1)
Goldfinch 3 (1)

As the WSR comes to the end of the season (trains stop from November to February, apart from Xmas specials) there are no scheduled trains on Mondays and Fridays. This allows 'driver training' on both steam and diesel. This often means a mix of wagons made up especially for the "new" drivers under instruction. Below, and three fields away, is one such, a GWR mixed goods behind a more modern diesel loco. [Looks like a Class 33]

20 years apart

Ringing here at the moment is turning out to be a tad on the slow side. This is due to the weather, which is just a shade too windy to be safe down at the water meadows' open orchard. Whilst workmen have been doing various things to the house, I have managed to trap a few birds with a 60' in our orchard which is sheltered to some extent, depending on the wind direction.

Garden birds:

Collared Dove 1
Goldcrest 1
Blue Tit 2 (1)
Great Tit (1)
Long-tailed Tit (2)
Blackbird 1
Goldfinch 1
Total: 6 (4) of 7 spp.

The autumn migration of thrushes and finches doesn't seem to have reached us here yet in West Somerset. At the weekend, I know that numbers of Redwings and a few Fieldfares showed up inland in East Anglia. Tonight is a full moon and the wind is turning south-easterly and light and it is expected that there will be an influx of migrants from the continent under these starlit conditions.

Talking of which, 20 years ago today, I also went ringing, this time in a 2 acre plot within the country park that I was destined to work in some time later. This also turned up 7 spp.

Wren 1 (2)
Blackbird (3)
Song Thrush (1)
Robin 3
Dunnock 3
Bullfinch (1)
and the the big surprise, a Radde's Warbler.

This was the first, truly inland record, a previous bird having been caught just 6km from the coast, where as we were 110km from the Essex coast, 130km from Cley and 150km from Great Yarmouth, all likely points of entry.

We have had to take down the last of 3 conifers which were extemely close to the house. This means that we won't be having Coal Tit and Goldcrest singing outside our bedroom window any more. There are pine and spruce trees over the road in a friend's garden, so they won't disappear altogether.
Going ...
Gone!

We have been having some wonderful sunrises lately and I leave you with just one of them.