Mostly Starlings.

Starlings are still taking up much of my time and will until at least the end of the month. Today I caught the 100th different adult Starling in the garden since the study period started on 14th April. One hundred birds may not sound that many but it has taken a great deal of effort and patience to catch that many. Interestingly, 41 of these birds have been retraps from previous years which is a great start for the project.

One of the retrap Starlings caught and colour ringed earlier today. This bird was originally ringed as a breeding adult in May last year. Retrapping or re-sighting birds from year to year is what this type of study is all about.

The next batch of fat cakes in the making. Beef dripping, finely chopped peanuts and meal worms. Yum, yum for many species and Starlings in particular.

The first young Starlings were out of the nest today but they didn't venture far from the nest site. It won't be long before they start following their parents and really make their presence felt with their incessant begging calls and squabbling. 

Away from the garden I have been keeping the nyger feeders going at Crawford and had a few short ringing sessions there. Lesser Redpolls are still making use of the feeders but the number of Goldfinches has dropped off markedly. My last visit, on the 13th, only produced 4 Lesser Redpoll and 1 Goldfinch but it was still worthwhile as one of the Lesser Redpolls was a control.

Control (ringed elsewhere) Lesser Redpoll had a ring sequence starting with D717.

I recently received details of another Lesser Redpoll (Y382442) that I controlled at Crawford on 1st May. This bird had been ringed 26 km away at Bidston, Wirral on 22nd April 2013 so it will be interesting to see where the latest control has come from.