Goldcrest movements 2017

This is the latest instalment of recoveries that haven't been shown in full before, although partial details may have been mentioned for one or two of them. The absence of any large influxes from the continent this autumn means the recoveries are only likely to involve birds from the British population.

Goldcrest                 JBX614 
Adult female 07-Sep-2015 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Caught by ringer 24-Mar-2017 Copeland Bird Observatory, Down, UK 
Duration: 564 days Distance: 226 km Direction: 306deg (NW) 

Goldcrest         HDB637 
First-year female 01-Sep-2017 South Walney, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK 
Caught by ringer 10-Sep-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Duration: 9 days Distance: 68 km Direction: 152deg (SSE)


Goldcrest         KJX423 
First-year male 02-Sep-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Found freshly dead 20-Sep-2017 Hannington, Hampshire, UK 
Duration: 18 days Distance: 267 km Direction: 158deg (SSE)

Goldcrest         KAD230 
First-year male 23-Nov-2016 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Caught by ringer 28-Sep-2017 Oxmoor Wood, near Runcorn, Halton, UK 
Duration: 309 days Distance: 17 km Direction: 173deg (S) 

Goldcrest         EJY447 
First-year male 10-Oct-2016 Bidston, Wirral, Merseyside, UK 
Caught by ringer 20-Oct-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Duration: 375 days Distance: 27 km Direction: 66deg (ENE)

Goldcrest         KNC292 
First-year male 19-Sep-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Taken by cat 25-Nov-2017 Fromes Hill, Ledbury, Herefordshire, UK 
Freshly dead - within about a Week Taken By Cat 
Duration: 67 days Distance: 155 km Direction: 175deg (S)




The ringing site at Billinge is the black circle with white cross and is largely hidden behind the purple marker unless viewed full screen and by zooming in.

Minus 6 centigrade to plus 11 thrushes

I ventured up to Billinge this morning to see if the cold weather was causing any thrushes to move. I wasn't expecting a large scale cold weather movement as the cold weather hasn't been with us long enough for that but I thought the sub zero temperatures (about -6 this morning) and lingering snow cover would cause some local movement with both Fieldfares and Redwings moving in search of any remaining berries or, in the case of some Redwings, moving into mature woodland to search for invertebrates in the leaf litter.

It was one of those mornings where things didn't go exactly to plan and while I thought I had got up early enough the light covering of snow and crystal clear skies mean't it started to get light a little faster than it otherwise would. To make matters worse a shelf string came undone on one of the nets as I was putting it up which delayed set-up by forcing an impromptu repair. Despite these hiccups I still managed to get 3 nets up about half an hour before sunrise although it was getting quite light by then.

The first round of the nets produced an excellent catch of 10 Redwings and a Fieldfare but just after sunrise fog started to form and froze onto the nets, turning them white with ice crystals. This effectively ended the session and any movement but the 11 birds caught was still a good result and along with another 20 Redwing and 5 Fieldfare seen showed that some thrushes were moving before the fog rolled in.

Fieldfare 12/12/2017

Redwing 12/12/2017

Redwing 12/12/2017
All of the birds were a healthy weight and carrying some fat.

Recoveries catch up

I haven't posted full details of recoveries and controls for quite a while but now that ringing has slowed down there is the opportunity to start catching up. This post covers recoveries of finches that were ringed in my garden and others that were ringed or controlled at Billinge.

Siskin S144871 
First-year female   12-Apr-2016 near Orrell, Greater Manchester, UK 
Caught by ringer 26-Jun-2017 near Kildary, Highland, UK 
Duration: 440 days Distance: 478 km Direction: 350deg (N)
This Siskin recovery is the furthest north of all the reports received so far this year.

Goldfinch  S552424 
First-year female 27-Dec-2016 near Orrell, Greater Manchester, UK 
Caught by ringer    18-Mar-2017 Calf of Man, Isle of Man, UK 
Duration: 81 days Distance: 151 km Direction: 294deg (WNW)
There have been previous exchanges of Goldfinches with the Isle of Man from sites in my area but this is the first one from my garden.



Goldfinch  S881290 
Juvenile 06-Aug-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Caught by ringer  27-Oct-2017 Dunsby, Bourne, Lincolnshire, UK 
Duration: 82 days Distance: 174 km Direction: 116deg (ESE) 
Sexed as female when recaptured.

Lesser Redpoll AXA2748 
First-year male 18-Sep-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Caught by ringer 07-Oct-2017 Whixall & Fenn's Mosses, Wrexham, UK 
Duration: 19 days Distance: 65 km Direction: 182deg (S)

Lesser Redpoll S800301 
First-year 25-Aug-2017 Barnacre Reservoir, Lancashire, UK 
Caught by ringer 26-Oct-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Duration: 62 days Distance: 47 km Direction: 181deg (S)

Lesser Redpoll D717537 
Full grown 03-Apr-2014 Llanfyllin, Powys, UK 
Caught by ringer 01-Nov-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK 
Duration: 1308 days Distance: 88 km Direction: 25deg (NNE)
This Lesser Redpoll has also been caught at Crawford (2km from Billinge) on 5 occasions in spring and early summer 2015 and once in spring 2016. It was visiting feeders when caught at Crawford and was thought to be breeding nearby. It was sexed as a male when recaptured.

Lesser Redpoll S275550
First-year 21-Apr-2017 Torwood Lodge, Lockerbie, Dumfries and Galloway, UK
Caught by ringer  05-Dec-2017 Billinge Hill, near Billinge, Merseyside, UK
Duration: 228 days Distance: 185 km Direction: 167deg (SSE)
Sexed male when recaptured.

S275550 adult male Lesser Redpoll, controlled at Billinge 05/12/2017

On the ringing front when there has been the opportunity to get out recently I have caught small numbers of Redwings, a few Blackbirds, a couple of Fieldfare and the odd Redpoll at Billinge and Crawford. The garden has also been reasonably productive with Goldfinches topping the totals there and a few Siskins are also starting to visit the feeders.

The cold weather and snow that has been forecast for this weekend could prove interesting and may bring some thrushes down from further north and see the feeders in the garden get even busier. I haven't had a Blackcap in the garden yet this winter but a good covering of snow and some frost may just help one come my way. So I think it is going to be a case of eyes on the garden this weekend and I may just start the next blog post on recoveries while doing so.

Goldcrests: interesting from head to tail

Seeing is believing sometimes and certainly is when it comes to a Goldcrest I caught earlier this month and another one I caught today. The first of the two was carrying an old injury, the likes of which I have never seen before, and the second is yet another known age adult with quite pointed tail feathers.

The first bird was caught at Billinge on 15/11/17 and appeared to be fit and healthy apart from having no skin and feathers on the rear of the skull. It was obviously an old injury as the edges of the skin than surrounded the expose portion of skull were dry and showed no signs of redness or infection. I have no idea what caused the injury but it shows how resilient such a small bird can be. It weighed 5.5g and was heavier than 6 of the 7 other Goldcrests caught that morning, 2 of which were larger males, so it was clearly doing OK. The biggest problem that this type of injury will cause is increased heat loss so while it appears to be thriving now its survival chances may be reduced as the weather gets colder, but then all Goldcrests have a tough time surviving when it comes to a cold winter.

Just looks a little ruffled from the front.

Wow! Now that is what you call a bald patch. Would you have believed a bird could survive that if you hadn't seen it.

The condition and shape of the tail feathers suggested it was an adult.

A real survivor

The second Goldcrest was a retrap that I caught in the garden this afternoon. It was a male and when I looked at the tail it certainly didn't shout adult but the bird's ring number was from a sequence I was using at the beginning of the year so it had to be one. When I looked up the original ringing details it had been ringed in the garden on 22nd January so there is no question the tail you see in the images below is that of an adult.

Tail of adult male Goldcrest caught 24/11/17

Tail of adult male Goldcrest caught 24/11/17

The outer tail feathers were a bit paler and a bit more pointed than the others but they didn't appear to be as worn or as bleached as I would expect them to be if they were feathers that hadn't been replaced in the last moult. Having said that I have never caught a Goldcrest just prior to undergoing a complete moult or seen one with two generations of feathers so I don't know how worn or bleached old tail feathers get by the time they are normally moulted, let alone a couple of months on. However, I would expect them to look very bleached and extremely worn by now, especially the outers, and be much more obvious than appears to be the case with this bird. Forgetting the outer feathers the rest are quite pointed anyway and nearer the shape many associate with juveniles rather than adults. All 3 of the known age adults I have caught recently have had quite pointed tail feathers and it wouldn't surprise me if most adults have tail feathers with a shape that falls in the intermediate range of adults and juveniles and a good number probably get incorrectly aged as juveniles rather than being left unaged.

Images of the tails of the other known age adults can be found here and here.

Siberian Chiffchaff

This was a very nice surprise this morning as it is a bird I thought was likely to stay on my 'Billinge possibles' come 'wish list'. The site is looking quite bleak now that most of the trees and bushes have lost their leaves and being on a hill it does not have the sort of micro climate that attracts and holds late autumn and winter warblers. However, it is a great site for migrants and this Siberian Chiffchaff ('tristis') is presumably still on route to a nice warm sewage works or some wetland scrub on lower ground.

I am not going to go through all the plumage criteria as the images speak for themselves and there is plenty of information out there on the web, but it ticks all the boxes with one teeny weeny exception. The one thing it has that 'tristis' is not supposed to have is a hint of yellow in the supercillium immediately above the eye but then the full plumage limits of 'tristis' have yet to be determined so it isn't necessarily a problem. However, if a clincher was needed it came when it conveniently called, once in the hand and several times after release, with the call being a monosyllabic 'peep', a bit like a high pitched Bullfinch, and perfectly fitting the diagnostic call of 'tristis'.

Given that hint of yellow in the supercillium (not that I think it would have been noticed in the field) and as the plumage limits of 'tristis' are not fully understood I retained a couple of small feathers that the bird dropped. Hopefully, they will allow the bird's identity to be confirmed from their DNA so this may not be the last you here about this particular Chiffchaff.

Ringing totals for 17/11/17 were: Goldcrest 1; Siberian Chiffchaff 1; Blackbird 1; Redwing 11; Chaffinch 1.

Billinge: 11th & 13th November

It is that time of year when ringing forays on the hill go all country music which is OK if you don't mind slim pickings. The first hour or so usually manages to provide a few birds but the capture rate usually tapers off quite quickly and the remainder of the session often feels like there would be plenty of time to start learning to play the banjo. While the quantity and variety may not be there a degree of quality usually is and there is always a chance that something really interesting or unusual may turn up.

A fog hampered session on the 11th produce a total of 18 birds - 4 Goldrest, 3 Blackbird, a Fieldfare, 7 Redwing and 3 Chaffinches. Two of the Blackbirds were quite long-winged so likely to be of continental origin as were a couple of the Chaffinches. There haven't been as many Fieldfare passing through this autumn so catching one was a real bonus.

Adult female Fieldfare 11/11/17

A session in clearer conditions on the 13th also resulted in a total of 18 birds being caught - 5 Goldcrest, 12 Redwing and a retrap Robin. The stand out highlight of this session was an Icelandic Redwing which stood out as looking different even as I approached it in the net.

Previous posts with images of 'coburni' types have always attracted a lot of views and there is clearly a lot of interest in the identification of Icelandic Redwings. Some people think wing length is the key to identifying Icelandic birds but there is a huge overlap between 'coburni' and and the nominate race 'iliacus' and wing length will only identify the biggest 'coburni'. Icelandic birds are generally darker and more heavily marked than the nominate race and while that can lead to a bias of only identifying the darkest and most heavily marked birds it will identify more birds than wing length. Anyway you can decide for yourself by looking at the images below and the previous ones I have posted here and here.

Note the brownish-buff washed ground colour to the heavily marked flanks and undertail coverts.

Obviously the Icelandic bird is on the left with a nominate 'iliacus' on the right for comparison.

By the way there is a country music outfit called Slim Pickins and there is another band called Slim Pickings although they play different genre altogether, not that either is really my cup of tea.

Billinge: 1st - 4th November 2017

The new month started with a better than expected catch of 50 birds but numbers were much lower over the following 3 days and only resulted a combined capture total of 49. Early November can be quite productive but it looks like migration is drawing to a close a little earlier this year, although there could still be enough of interest to make occasional visits worthwhile right through to the end of the month.

Ist November
Ringing highlights included a Blackcap, a Fieldfare, 15 Goldcrest and a control Lesser Redpoll. Interestingly, the Redpoll was one I had encountered before; it was originally ringed on 03/04/14 in Llanfyllin, Powys, North Wales and subsequently recaptured at Crawford five times in spring/summer 2015, and again at Crawford in spring 2016. The ringing site at Crawford is only a couple of kilometres from the site Billinge but the distance from Llanfyllin to Billinge is 88km NNE. Sightings of note included a Woodcock, 4 Crossbills heading SSW and hundreds of Chaffinches heading north.

Now we are in November there is an increasingly likelihood that any Blackcap caught is an arriving winter visitor rather than a late departing summer visitor.

2nd November
A relatively short and quiet session with only 17 birds caught but a small movement of Lesser Redpolls resulted in 7 being ringed. This was made all the more remarkable by the fact that they were all adults. I have previously remarked on the unusually high proportion of adult Redpolls recorded at Billinge this autumn but a total absence of first-year birds in a catch of that size is unprecedented in my experience. A total of only 2 Goldcrest was also noteworthy because it contrasted sharply with the 15 ringed the previous day.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll.

I don't usually mention movements of Pink-footed Geese as they are a regular occurrence over the site at this time of year and may involve local feeding movements as well as cross country migration.

There are around 290 Pink-feet in this photo.

3rd November
Another quiet session that had a real end of season feel to it. Only 12 birds were caught of 4 species but they did included another Lesser Redpoll and yes it was another adult.

4th November
A slight improvement in both numbers and variety with 20 birds of 7 species being handled. A Blackcap was the best the nets produced but a noisy Hawfinch, that gave good views as it headed NNE at close range, was the standout highlight of the session. The penultimate bird ringed was a Lesser Redpoll and no prizes for guessing it was yet another adult. I have caught 12 Lesser Redpolls so far this month and every one has been an adult which is exceptional to say the least. On the theme of adults a Goldcrest that had been ringed as a juvenile in July 2016 was recaptured and provided another opportunity to photograph and show the tail shape of a known adult.

Adult female Lesser Redpoll 04/11/17

This adult had very rounded tail feathers but some adults can have tail feathers that are a bit more pointed in shape but still with a slightly rounded tip. In either case they always look very fresh at this time of year.

Another known age adult Goldcrest that has a relatively pointed shape to the tail feathers.  This tail shape is probably quite common in adults and why it is safest to leave intermediates unaged as recommended by Svensson.

It is just as pointed whichever way you look at it. JJH333 was ringed as a 3J on 12/07/16 which confirmed it was an adult when retrapped 04/11/17.

Combined ringing totals (retraps/controls in brackets) for the period were: Goldcrest 22(4); Blue Tit 5 (3); Willow Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit 3; Blackcap 2; Fieldfare 1; Song Thrush 1; Redwing 31; Robin (1); Dunnock 1; Chaffinch 9; Lesser Redpoll 11(1) Goldfinch 3. Total 89 new birds, 9 retraps and 1 control.

October 2017

A session at Billinge on the last day of the month produced a catch of 38 birds and was made up of 36 new birds, a retrap and a control. There were a few Goldcrests in every net round and they easily took top slot with 24 ringed. There weren't many thrushes moving but a Fieldfare found its way into a net and was the first to be ringed this autumn. Just a couple of Lesser Redpolls were caught but I was pleased to discover that one of them was a control (a bird ringed elsewhere) so it will be interesting to find out where that one has come from.

The control Lesser Redpoll was an adult female with ring number S341203.

Ringing totals (retraps/controls in brackets) for 31/10/17 were; Great Spotted Woodpecker 1; Goldcrest 24; Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 1 (1); Fieldfare 1; Redwing 7; Lesser Redpoll 1 (1).

A total of 746 birds were ringed at Billinge during October which is disappointing by that site's standards and is roughly half the total achieved in previous years. The main reason for this has been the lack of easterly winds which has resulted in much lower numbers of Redwings and Goldcrests passing through the site. However, Redwing and Goldcrest were still the most numerous species ringed by far and they topped the totals for the month with 292 and 259 respectively. Song Thrush came in third with 50 followed by Lesser Redpoll with 29 and Blackbird with 21. At the other end of the scale a Tawny Owl was only the second to be ringed at the site and a Firecrest was only the third ringing and sighting record of that species.

Billinge 29/10/17 and a bit on ageing Redwings too.

A cool northerly breeze and relatively clear conditions contributed to a fairly low-key session at Billinge this morning. A few thrushes were moving early on and most of those that were ringed were caught in the first hour. Otherwise it was fairly quiet which, combined with single figure temperatures, gave the morning an end of season feeling.

Only 1 Lesser Redpoll was caught today but, interestingly, it was another that had a yellowish-orange poll rather than the usual red colour and is the 3rd to be caught with this pigmentation variation this month.  It has been a relatively poor autumn for Redpolls so far with only 37 caught to date. The ages of these birds suggest they have had a poor breeding season as 20 (including today's bird) have been adults, only 15 were first-year birds and 2 were left unaged.

Adult Lesser Redpoll

The 3rd to be caught with an 'Amber' poll this month.

Far fewer Redwings and Fieldfares have been recorded this autumn due to the lack of easterly winds but the same can't be said for migrant Song Thrushes. Their numbers have held up surprisingly well and are only a little down on the number recorded last autumn. Another 3 Song Thrush were ringed today and all 3 were obvious 'continental' birds.

Continental Song Thrushes don't get much more obvious than this one. Cold grey toned above, more extensive white below and smaller than our warmer brown British subspecies 'clarkei'. 

Ringing totals for 29/10/17 were: Goldcrest 8; Blue Tit 2; Blackbird 1; Song Thrush 3; Redwing 14; Greenfinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 1.


I have been meaning to post some photos on ageing Redwings as I have encountered a few interesting individuals recently but here is one from the 27th and another from today to ponder on.

The very plain wing (lack of well defined pales spots on any of the greater coverts and lack of tertial markings) suggest it is an adult but see the image of the tail below. 

Two old tail feathers in an otherwise adult tail show this bird to be a first-year. This bird appears to have undergone a very extensive pj moult and had it replaced all the tail feathers this bird would have been indistinguishable from an adult. According to the literature juvenile Redwings rarely replace any tail feathers as part of their pj moult and if they do it is only supposed to be one or two. This bird obviously didn't read the literature and perhaps we shouldn't be surprised as many species are having more extensive pj moults these days which is probably linked to climate change. There is also the possibility that it replaced most of its tail feathers following accidental loss but the fact that it appears to have replaced all its greater coverts and tertials suggest a more extensive pj moult is the more likely cause of the tail feather replacement.

A very well marked wing with well defined pale tips to the greater coverts, especially the outers, and large, fairly angular pale tips to two of the tertials but what does the tail tell us.

The tail feathers are fresh, broad and quite rounded with some almost being square ended so it is clearly an adult. 

Here is the whole bird just in case you didn't think the wing and tail could be from the same bird. It is just a very well marked adult.

Starling Down

A thud against the window drew my attention to a commotion in the garden late this afternoon and when I looked out a young male Sparrowhawk was trying to pin down a Starling on the garden path. I think the Sparrowhawk had caused the Starling to veer into the window and had grabbed it on the rebound before taking it down on to the path. The Starling did its best to try and get away and it took the Sparrowhawk a good 2 or 3 minutes to get it fully under control.

I grabbed the camera and took a few photos through the window but it was very overcast and the light levels were really poor. Even at ISO 1600 I could only get a shutter speed of 1/50th of a second so most of the images were a blur from the birds' movements and an element of camera shake. I only shoot JPEGs so that doesn't leave much scope for fancy editing but most couldn't have been salvaged even if they had been taken in RAW format as they were far too blurred and or out of focus. However, there were four images that didn't turn out too bad with a bit of basic tweaking and as long as you don't look at them too closely.

The Starling was one of my colour-ringed birds but I didn't manage to get the ring number before the Sparrowhawk carried it away which is a really unfortunate. I am fairly sure it will have been a first-year bird as most of the Starlings that have been visiting the feeders recently are birds that were ringed as juveniles in the spring and early summer.

More Red and Gold

The forecast for this morning had stay in bed written all over it as a band of rain was due to cross the region during the first half of the morning, but I decided to get up early anyway and check the weather then. When I got up the rainfall app showed the band of rain was much more fragmented than the forecast had shown and that any showers in this area would only be light, short-lived and should clear by dawn. I gave it another half an hour and checked again by which time the shower risk had all but disappeared so I got my gear together and headed up to Billinge.

It turned out to be a really good morning with a total of 82 birds ringed so I was really glad I didn't stay in bed. Redwings were moving in decent numbers with at least 1,500 heading south and another 45 were ringed. There were more Goldcrests around than there have been recently as shown by the 33 that were caught and ringed. It is quite unusual to catch that many Goldcrests this late in October, especially as there haven't been any big influxes of continental birds to boost numbers this autumn.

There wasn't much in the way of a supporting cast but a juv female Sparrowhawk was an uncommon capture and only the second female I have ringed this year. A female Blackcap was interesting because we are at that crossover point between late departing summer visitors and those that come here to winter. The weight and fat load of today's Blackcap suggested it was more likely to be a departing summer visitor rather than a newly arrived winterer.

Ringing totals for 23/10/17 were: Sparrowhawk 1; Goldcrest 33; Blackcap 1; Song Thrush 1; Redwing 45; Robin 1.

Redwing 23/10/17

Goldcrest 23/10/17

Life before Brian.

Well not all of life just the last couple of ringing sessions on the run up to the arrival of the latest named storm - Brian. The forecast for yesterday (20th) had looked quite good and promised a dry morning with a relatively light breeze but the reality was somewhat different. When I got up at 5am the rainfall radar showed a band of rain approaching from the west and the possibility of some light showers following on behind. It started raining not long after and to say I was not happy is an understatement as I was convinced that Redwings would be moving south in large numbers given the recent arrivals further north.

Now I like to start the day with 3 mugs of coffee so I used that time to keep an eye on the progress of the band of rain on the rainfall app and it looked like it would clear Billinge around sunrise so I decided to head out. When I arrived on site it was still raining but I set up anyway, keeping the nets closed of course, so I would be ready for a quick start when the rain cleared. The rain stopped shortly after sunrise and pretty much as the rainfall app indicated so I quickly opened the nets. It was still only half light because of the cloud cover but a few small flocks of Redwings had already started moving with all of them heading south.

The breeze was quite fresh but the net rides were sheltered by the tree cover and more importantly by higher ground which provided a significant wind shadow. The catching rate was quite good but then the number of Redwings moving wasn't bad either and both increased as the morning went on. Visibility was really quite poor at times with low cloud and occasional mizzle but it didn't stop the birds moving and around 2,000 Redwings went south over the course of the morning but that is only a rough estimate.

There were other bits and bobs moving south, not that I had time to take much notice, and there were a few Goldcrests moving through the bushes. I started packing up shortly after 11am and the next to last bird extracted from the nets was a control Goldcrest. This control Goldcrest turned out to be the most interesting bird of the morning but because of its age and tail shape rather than the fact it had been ringed elsewhere. All ringers would say that they age and sex every bird they catch with an equal amount of diligence but controls often get a little more scrutiny because another ringer may have aged and sexed it when it was first caught and the passage of time between ringing and recapture can add to the information on age if enough time has elapsed.

Goldcrests are mainly aged on the shape of the tail feathers with the adult tail being described and illustrated as being quite rounded while the tail of first-year birds are sharply pointed. Svensson's ageing and sexing guide warns against the ageing of intermediates and while it is clear on that point there is inevitably a degree of subjective interpretation. Most ringers don't get to handle many known age Goldcrests and that is where the problem lies as it is too easy to assume that adults should have quite rounded tail feathers even though that is not what Svennson and some of the other literature actually say.

So I had a control Goldcrest in my hand and on first glance the tail looked quite pointed but the tail feathers were on the broad side and quite glossy which is more indicative of adult. Had it been a new bird I may not have given it the same level of scrutiny but then that is impossible to know after the fact.  It certainly wasn't a stand out first-year, nor was it a stand out adult and with hindsight I would like to think I would have left it unaged had it been a new bird but, at the risk of being honest, I may have lent towards it being a first-year. 

When I am out ringing I frequently exchange texts with David Norman of Merseyside Ringing Group, who rings at a site 16km south of Billinge, and he recognised the ring number as being a MRG bird. It transpired that it had been ringed on the Wirral as a first-year male in October 2016 which confirmed it was over a year old. This made it more interesting as it was an adult (2y+) and its tail shape certainly reinforces the advice in Svennson that intermediates should be left unaged. It wouldn't surprise me if this tail shape is quite common in adults and it is the lack of recaptures of known age birds that limits our understanding of tail shape and ageing of this species.

Adult Goldcrest tail 20/10/17

It is not unusual for me to leave a few Goldcrests unaged but I may just start leaving a few more unaged now I have seen the tail shape of this adult.

So what should have been a good morning actually lived up to my expectations despite some very unhelpful weather. Totals for 20/10/17 were: Goldcrest 9 (1); Song Thrush 2; Blackbird 1; Redwing 50; Bullfinch 1 (1). Total: 63 new birds, 1 retrap and 1 control.

That was the 20th and the prospects for the arrival of Brian today were considerably worse but I decided to put my faith in technology (rainfall radar) and checking conditions on the ground. Yes it was forecast to be even windier but topography protected the net rides and the wind is generally that bit lighter around dawn. I only set a couple of  nets as there was a higher risk of showers in the forecast but the rainfall radar showed they fizzled out before they reached the site during the time I there (occasionally technology is wonderful).

It was amazing to see a total of around 800 Redwings and a few other birds moving into such a strong headwind, especially as a strong southerly component in the wind often kills any movement at Billinge stone dead. The Redwings generally stayed low and appeared to make good headway but a lone, higher flying, Swallow made more laboured progress and clearly struggled against the strong headwind as it battled south. 

I packed up after a couple of hours as the wind was starting to get stronger but I still managed to catch 15 birds before Brian really kicked in. Totals for 21/10/17 were Goldcrest 1; Song Thrush 1; Redwing 13.

Most of the Song Thrushes I catch at Billinge in autumn are of the the greyer continental race, philomelos and today's was no exception. The greyer rump and lower mantle contrast with the much browner tail feathers.