Going slow but steady

Another fortnight has passed and the General Election is well out of the way. The birds took no notice of politics and carried on feeding and breeding. We have had some of our greatest numbers on the BTO Garden Birdwatch weekly counts, which is no surprise as the birdfood stocks have been going down at a record rate.

Two bits of news of birds caught here came through. The first was for a 2CY male Greenfinch that was ringed on Exmoor some 28 km south-west of here on "Bonfire Night" and controlled here 152 days later. The other of a Sparrowhawk caught by neighbouring veteran ringer, John, at the other end of the village in December 2009 as a young bird. I also caught a female Siskin with an 'unrecognised' ring sequence (D039) - we'll have to wait and see where that hailed from.

The iridescence of the Starling's plumage

We are hoping to ring some tit pulli in nest boxes this coming week. I get the impression that many species have laid slightly later this year, perhaps because of the cold spell and the general lack of normal amounts of rainfall, both contributing to later insect abundance. But I don't see much evidence so far that there are loads of insects about. 

The other task for the week ahead is the  recce of 3 rural squares for the House Martin survey. See http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/house-martin-survey for more information. They were one of my first study species after I had returned to bird ringing. We picked up the start of the decline back in the 'eighties on the 'seventies estate we were surveying.

Recently fledged Long-tailed Tit

Fledgling Robin

Fledgling Dunnock 

A second Sedge Warbler

Lesser Whitethroat
The species is not now recorded any further west in Somerset

 81 new birds ringed and another 46 individual birds that were ringed before this period:-

Sparrowhawk - 1 control; ringed as a young male 5 years 5 months ago

Woodpigeon - 2; both on the same day - heavy brutes, 530-555 gm

Collared Dove - 1; a this years bird

Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - (1); this morning - the 2CY female from 13th April, the brood patch now indicative of her feeding young in a nest nearby

Jackdaw - 1; an adult female with vascularised brood patch (B3) on the 8th, other Jackdaws are still "playing with sticks" (nest building) so haven't laid yet

Goldcrest - 1; a bright 2CY male

Blue Tit - 1 (4); oldest was ringed May 2012 as an adult male - makes it 5 years old or more

Great Tit - (5); 2 breeding females, oldest male ringed as adult in Mar. 2011 (= at least 6 years old)

Long-tailed Tit - 6 (4); 6 were juvs, plus a new female

Blackcap - 3 (1); males on territory plus an incoming female

Les. Whitethroat - 1; in our orchard

Sedge Warbler - 1; in our orchard

Starling - 10 (3); all adults, 7 new males

Dipper - (1); male from 3 weeks ago

Blackbird - 6 (8); 4 new males in the garden, 2 juv males on 11th

Robin - 10 (3); 9 new juvs and a 2CY male

Dunnock - 4 (1); all juvs, except for the breeding female that was already ringed

House Sparrow - 8 (2); oldest were adults in Aug. 2013, 1st juv on 9th

Chaffinch - 2; both 2CY

Greenfinch - 11 (3); 9 juvs

Goldfinch - 8 (7); new adult male & 6 juvs, 2 retraps hatched spring 2013

Siskin - 5 (1) + 1 control; oldest was a 2013 female

Adult female Jackdaw (breeding)

Adult male Blackbird (breeding)

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The first Swift has arrived

Although it is only two weeks since the last blog, several things have been noticeable, not least the sight of my first Swift of 2015 earlier this afternoon, flying over the garden.

We have not done a lot of ringing, mainly because I had to take to my bed with a temperature but also because Steve came to put the management's new, hand-built potting shed up. So, most of these records refer to the week before last. The last few days have been cold and temperatures below average for the time of year. The signs corroborated this with birds of all species ransacking the food I put out like there was no tomorrow. There was to be one, because I was putting out good quantities of the stuff (SFH, suet, mealworms & sultanas) three times a day!

On the other hand, we did get in a couple of early sessions down the meadows. Day 1 was warm with bright sunshine, Day 2 was dull, damp and cold. We managed to catch the local male Dipper (unringed) and both adults of a pair of Kingfishers nesting nearby. The treat was handling the 2CY female Blackcap bearing 'Paris7851989' on both occasions, even though we were using a different net set-up. With a 79.5 mm wing and weighing in at 21.5 grams the second time (up 1.5 g), she was a big girl with no signs of carrying much fat or of a brood patch.

Paris Blackcap

Female Kingfisher

1st Sedge Warbler of 2015 (24/04)

Other birds of note down there were a pair of Bullfinch, the first Sedge of the year, my first Swallows, just one of the Willow Warblers, a female, and a couple of territorial male Blackcaps that were 'lean and mean'. Most of the other birds were trapped in the garden orchard, before I went down with the lurgi. There was little point after the shed was up as the weather had changed for the worse.

Ninety birds of which 59 are new ringings. This includes the next lot of infant Robins, the first 3JJ Dunnocks and the first of the newly fledged Greenfinches (this Thursday 30th). Still no signs of any young Blackbirds coming to our lawns.  

Woodpigeon - 1; a small, underweight but feisty bird in active wing moult (3 centres), the first one to "stick" this year.

Kingfisher - 2; a pair

Blue Tit - (1)

Great Tit - 1 (4);

Swallow - 2; now back at the stables in good numbers

Chiffchaff - 1

Willow Warbler - 4; passage seems to have stopped about a week ago

Blackcap - 6 (2); even split on sex

Sedge Warbler - 1

Wren - 2 (2); one 'eggy' female

Starling - (1)

Dipper - 1; territorial male

Blackbird - 3 (2)

Robin - 6 (2)

Dunnock - 2; young bird on 25th

House Sparrow - (3)

Chaffinch - 2 (2); mixed ages/sexes, male from 2013,

Bullfinch - 2; an unexpected 2CY pair

Greenfinch - 6 (4); 50% adult males, 2 birds from 2012

Goldfinch - 16 (8); two-thirds males, still some passage going on, weights >18 g

Siskin - 1; breeding female on 18th (BP4)

One bird missing off this list is Redstart - a calling individual was heard for about 30 minutes in the tops of the Ash trees while we were putting the roof on the shed.

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