Not much to report from the cold weather.

The recent cold weather didn't result in any significant increase in birds visiting my garden and perhaps that is because we didn't get much snow in this area. Siskin, Long-tailed Tit and Starling actually visited less frequently and in smaller numbers than they had before the onset of the cold weather, which was a bit of a surprise. The smaller numbers of Siskin and Long-tailed Tit was mirrored by a dip in the BirdTrack reporting rate so it wasn't just a local phenomena as far as those species were concerned. On the other hand, the reporting rate for Starling increased on BirdTrack so my garden bucked the trend in that case. Garden birds just didn't seem to be pushed for food in this neck of the woods and the only unusual visitor I had in the garden was a Black-headed Gull that dropped in and took some bread from the lawn. It was a one legged individual and would have found feeding more difficult at the best of times so the fact that it risked landing in a small enclosed garden, crossed by telephone lines, during a severe cold spell is not as surprising as it otherwise might have been.

I have seen some effects of the cold weather when out an about including a few Woodcock in unexpected places, a sizeable flock of Redwing foraging in a woodland and a few displaced Meadow Pipits, but that is about it for me. Several checks of the Black-headed Gulls on Orrell Water Park have only produced one ringed bird that I have not encountered before and that bird was ringed as an adult near Hempsted in Gloucestershire on 13th  January 2007. The Scottish and 2 German ringed Black-headed Gulls have been seen from time to time and all 4 ringed Black-headed Gulls were photographed yesterday along with a ringed Coot that was originally ringed in south Wales. 

EL71428 first photographed on 28/02/2018 and again yesterday.

It rarely kept still so I had to take quite a few photographs before I managed to get the full ring number - EL71428

Scottish ringed Black-headed Gull EZ33149 has been a regular this winter.

German ringed Black-headed Gull DEH IA141745 almost has a full brown hood now.

 German ringed Black-headed Gull DEW 5437612 has barely started to get its brown hood.

Coot GR03863 was originally ringed at Comeston Lakes, near Penarth, Vale of Glamorgan on 23/12/2010 and has been recorded at Orrell Water Park on numerous occasions since. 

Still here, and ageing.

Apologies for the lack of posts in recent weeks but there has been a lot going on on the domestic and family front to say the least. Added to that the birding has been fairly quiet around here so there hasn't been a huge amount of interest to blog about anyway. For what it is worth here is a summary of what I have been doing on the avian front over the last few weeks.

A total of 121 birds were ringed during December and another 68 were retrapped or resighted with much of that total coming from birds ringed in the garden. Goldfinches topped the totals with 36 ringed and Starling topped the retraps / resightings with 39 records, mainly resightings of colour-ringed birds. The only unusual ringing activity involved Siskins with a total of 7 ringed (6 in the garden and 1 at Billinge) which is an exceptional number for December.

Interestingly, the first Siskin was seen on the feeders in garden on 20th November and it was already ringed. A few days later 2 were coming to the feeders, both of which were wearing rings and both were adults so there is a chance they were returnees rather than birds that had been ringed elsewhere. I expected to catch one or both of theses birds as they continued to visit fairly regularly so it was a bit of a surprise when I caught 3 new birds in early December. A few Siskins continued to visit the feeders on a daily basis throughout December and at least 8 individuals were involved. In previous winters it has been mid to late January before they start coming to the garden on a regular basis so to have them start two months early is really unusual for here. This change doesn't seem to have been caused by any sort of food shortage as there are still plenty seeds in the alder cones. In fact Goldfinches were more hit and miss in the garden during December and this has continued on into January as they are spending quite a lot of time feeding in alders. This shows there is still an abundance of alder seeds to be had in the local area and it is probably also true of the wider countryside.

I have almost finished submitting my 2017 ringing data to the BTO and just need to do some final checks. Provisional totals for 2017 ended up at 4183 new birds and there were another 958 recaptures or resightings. The top 5 species ringed accounted for more than half the total as detailed below (again provisional totals for now):

Species        New Birds         Retraps/resightings

Goldcrest         669                            30

Starling            621                          567

Redwing          425                              0

Goldfinch         366                            41

Chiffchaff         295                            30

I have also been checking through the gulls and waterfowl that come to bread at Orrell Water Park (as usual) and have photographed the ring numbers of 3 Black-headed Gulls (2 from Germany and 1 from Scotland), a ringed Coot (from south Wales) and a Canada Goose (from Cheshire). All could be considered regulars to a greater or lesser degree as they were all recorded more than once during December and one of the German gulls, the Coot and Canada Goose have been recorded in previous winters.

EZ33149 was ringed as a chick at Elvanfoot, South Lanarkshire on 20/06/2017 which is 222 km NNW of Orrell Water Park.

Sometimes I only need to take a few photos to get the full ring number but in many cases I have to take dozens to be sure. While these are crops most of my photos of ringed birds are just of their legs rather that the whole bird.

Best foot forward. This is the German ringed bird from the Helgoland scheme. It has been recorded 11 times so far this winter but I still haven't received the ringing details so don't know when or where in Germany it was ringed.

I am spoiled for choice when it comes to photos of this bird, or at least its legs. IA141745 has been recorded 15 times so far this winter and over 70 times since the first sighting in October 2012. It was originally ringed as an adult in Bohmke und Werder, Mecklenburg - Vorpommern, Germany on 29/04/2012 and is pretty much a fixture at the park between October and February.

GR03863 is what you could call an old(ish) Coot as it was originally ringed as a first-year on 23/12/10 so is a little over 7 years old. It is well short of the UK longevity record for the species which currently stands at just over 15 years but it is probably older than your average Coot. It was ringed 236 km south at Comeston Lakes, near Penarth in the Vale of Glamorgan during a spell of very cold weather but has been recorded up here 17 times since, most recently on 27/12/2017, so was probably a cold weather refugee when ringed.

The New Year hasn't seen much in the way of change as yet. Both German ringed Black-headed Gulls were photographed on the 1st and both have been recorded since. A few Siskins continue to visit the feeders in the garden on a daily basis and another 2 have been ringed. I have also resighted 25 different colour-ringed Starlings at the feeders and caught and colour-ringed another 2.

7 of the 8 Siskins ringed this winter have been adults. This adult male was caught on 10/01/2018. All the wing feathers including the coverts were relatively fresh, the colours were intense so there was no sign of any moult limits

The tail was equally unworn and again the colours were intense but the shape of the tail feathers was at the more pointed end of the range for adults. Adults with a relatively pointed tail like this can catch out the inexperienced and unwary but close examination reveals a neat pale fringe to the edges of all tail feathers and no signs of wear. In this shot you can just see that the primary tips are similarly fresh looking so no doubt it is an adult.

N34 is a female and was originally ringed as a juvenile on 18th May last year.

One notable absentee from the garden this winter has been Blackcap. I usually get one or two over the course of a winter and the first sighting usually comes before the end of December so to not have seen one by now is bucking the trend of the last few years. While Blackcaps have been absent I have got 2 Goldcrests feeding on the fat balls and fat cakes. This is relatively new behaviour for Goldcrests in my garden and although I have seen it before it is unlikely to become common and widespread, as happened with Long-tailed Tits some years back, as they are not very social in winter or long lived so the opportunities for such behaviour to spread in the population are not there.

Not the best photo but it is what you might call a decent record shot. The tail shape is in the intermediate range but it could be an adult and is possibly an individual that came to the feeders last winter. In addition to feeding on the fat balls and fat cakes direct it also picks up tiny fragments that have fallen on to the wire mesh and branches below or on fragments that have been wiped on the wire mesh and branches by other birds when cleaning their bills.

Another even more notable absentee from the garden, and one that is getting increasingly easy to forget, has been the humble House Sparrow. I haven't seen one at the feeders this year and only saw one during the whole of December, which is a really sorry state of affairs. If records from my garden and the local area are anything to go by they are still in marked decline around here.

So that brings things up to date, more or less, and with a bit of luck it won't be the best part of 4 weeks before my next post.

A bit of the white stuff

The day started with some very heavy snow showers making for some wintry scenes and tricky driving conditions. It was rather wet snow and although it covered the ground it didn't accumulate to any depth. It certainly wasn't weather for venturing out other than a quick dash to try and capture an image to show the intensity of the snow fall.

The snow showers didn't last long but were quite heavy at times.

The garden was busy with birds as would be expected in such conditions. A Grey Wagtail was on the snow covered lawn looking for crumbs of food that had dropped from the feeders. Around 30 Goldfinches, 8 Chaffinches and 5 Greenfinches were tucking into nyger seed and sunflower hearts. Up to 8 Blackbirds and 3 Song Thrush alternated between fat cakes, fat balls, apples, and sunflower hearts. A few Robins and Dunnocks chased each other around in between bouts of feeding. The usual Blue, Great and Coal Tits also came and went from time to time as did 8 Long-tailed Tits. Lastly a few Collared Doves, Woodpigeons, Starlings and House Sparrows also got their fill as did the regular male Blackcap.

The snow showers eased off as the morning went on so I went for a walk around the park just across the road from home. I hadn't gone far when I came across a Cormorant that was lying on one of the fishing pegs. It was unusually approachable so I thought it may be injured or snagged on fishing line but as I got closer it stood up and seemed to be fine. I backed off a bit when it looked like it was going to enter the water and it quickly settled back down again. Although it looked in good condition there could have been something wrong with it as it is very unusual for a Cormorant to allow such a close approach.

This Cormorant allowed me to get within 7 metres of it before it even bothered to stand up. I will look for it again over the next few days to try and find out if there is something wrong with it or if it is just unusually confiding.

After leaving the Cormorant I wandered up to the reserve area where a Water Rail has been showing quite well. I soon came across it but a frequent procession of passers-by ensured it didn't come out into the open. I hung around for a while but every time it looked like it would show well more people and dog walkers would pass by so I decided to leave it for another day. It has had a lot of optics pointed at it recently so its not surprising that it has become a bit weary of all the attention.

This record shot of the Water Rail was the best I could do in the circumstances.

I ended my walk by checking out the Black-headed Gulls by the car park. The German ringed bird was the only ringed gull present and is now starting to get its black head. In previous winters this bird has not been recorded after 7th February so it will be interesting to see if this year is any different.

German ringed Black-headed Gull

There have been very few Coots coming out by the car park this winter and I hadn't seen any ringed birds amongst them until today. I took a few photos of this ringed Coot to get the ring number which I soon recognised as belonging to a bird that was ringed near Penarth in south Wales back in December 2010. I recorded this bird several times last January and it probably bred at the park that summer. You can see a recovery map and read about some of the earlier sightings here.

This Coot was ringed at Comeston Lakes near Penarth, not far from Cardiff, during the very cold winter of  2010/11.

The long and short of it

Fellow ringer and Coot enthusiast, Kane Brides, phoned me to let me know that the Coot I photographed yesterday had been ringed at Cosmeston Lakes, near Cardiff. He wasn't sure if it was one that had previously been sighted in our area or a different bird. A check of the BTO Online Ringing Reports showed it to be the same bird and that it had been sighted at Worthington Lakes in February 2012.


View GR03863 Coot in a larger map

Recovery information for Coot GR03863 or Cwtiar in Welsh
Ringed   23/12/10 Cosmeston Lakes, near Penarth, Glamorgan.
Sighted  03/02/12 Worthington Lakes, Standish, Wigan, Greater Manchester 244 km N.
Sighted  11/12/13 Orrell Water Park, Orrell, Wigan, Greater Manchester 237km N of Comeston Lakes and 9km SSE of Worthington Lakes. The distances moved being the long and short of the post title if you hadn't worked it out already.

You can also view a different version of the map by clicking here. I have been messing around with google maps and can't decide if I like the lite version.

A well travelled Coot but probably a northerner at heart.

This bird may have originated from northwest England and moved down to Cosmeston Lakes as a result of cold weather. December 2010 was exceptionally cold and was the coldest December in over 100 years. It would have caused many water birds like Coots to move to find areas of open water. The fact that it has been recorded in the Wigan area in two winters since goes some way to support this theory.

Coot movements are complicated to say the least and they move around far more often than most people realise. Most birders haven't even seen a Coot fly other than perhaps a short low flight across part of a lake. That is because Coot movements happen under the cover of darkness and simply don't get noticed unless they are heard calling in flight. I am lucky enough to live near a couple of small lakes and it is not uncommon for me to hear them flying overhead along with the responses from the Coots on the water. This two way communication is clearly important and may help birds find good feeding areas or avoid conflict. It is certainly an area that deserves further study.

11/12/13 - an interesting sequence and day ????

I am not a believer in auspicious numbers or days and any of that hokum or at least I try not to but then culture, superstitions and incredibly daft ideas can run deep. It is an unfortunate consequence of the human condition that many millions if not billions of people believe in all manner of superstitions and worse still the medicinal value of all kinds of animal parts and products.

Such beliefs are likely to cause numerous extinctions in my lifetime and already cause all manner of extreme cruelty on a daily basis. We really need to get our act together and start to tackle this whilst we can still do some good. Most of the planet is still only the odd spear chuck or two from the stone age with such beliefs which is really sad given the modern day culture and finance that drives the trade. A consecutive day, week, year date will not come round for another 90 years with 01/02/03 (2103) being the next, hopefully the world will come to its senses before then but I doubt it.

Anyway back to today, 11/12/13, and interesting sequences. I walked across to the water park to check out the Black-headed Gulls for rings.  I hadn't seen any ringed birds for a few weeks and the German ringed bird in particular. Today the German (DEH) ringed bird IA141745 was one of the first to come to bread and was quickly identified. I checked through the other 70 or so Black-headed Gulls gathered but none were ringed.

Having got IA141745 in the bag or the camera to be more precise I headed back to home when I noticed a ringed Coot. I took a few photos to confirm its identity assuming it would turn out to be a bird I had ringed at the same site. A quick review of the photos soon revealed the ring number as GR03863 and I quickly realised it was a control (a bird ringed elsewhere). This was the last thing I expected and I nearly hadn't bothered taking any photographs of it as I thought it would be a retrap. The outcome of an auspicious day if you think that way but pure chance if you don't. All I know is I may get the odd control now and again but I still haven't won the lottery and I know which numbers I would like to 'come up', just once will do.

At least no animals were harmed or suffered in the production of this post !!!! A stupid story for a Black-headed Gull that I have recorded numerous times and a control Coot but then it is all about the sequence of numbers. I will let you know where this Coot has come from in due course but a little bird tells me that it hasn't been ringed locally and could have travelled some distance.

Recent recoveries

We recently received a batch of recoveries from the BTO. Highlight for me was a Greenfinch from Dumfries & Galloway that was controlled at Longshaw. It would be interesting to know if this bird made a sea crossing, possibly via the Isle of Man, or took the longer route around the coast. It is a while since we had such a long distance movement from a Greenfinch.

Other recoveries mapped are a Brambling from north east England, a Swallow to Spain and a Reed Warbler to Kent. The movement of a Coot has been included because of the birds age rather than the distance travelled. This Coot was ringed as an adult at Pennington Flash on 13/10/03 and found in poor condition at Chester Zoo on 24/11/12 making this bird at least 10 years old given its age at the time of ringing.


View Autumn 2013 finch movements in a larger map



View X924508 Swallow in a larger map



View X927797 Reed Warbler in a larger map



View GH49661 Coot in a larger map

Gardenfare to start with ......

This could have been three posts rather than one but this is my attempt at stringing them together. A real dump of snow closed the M6 overnight and brought overall snow levels to around a foot deep. A Fieldfare which took up residence in the garden on Tuesday continued to eat and guard all the apples I have been putting out on a daily basis. It drives all the Blackbirds out of the garden as soon as they appear and won't tolerate them anywhere near the apples. There had been up to 8 Blackbirds feeding in the garden on a daily basis prior to the Fieldfare moving in but they don't get much of a look in now.




Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)



Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

I started taking photos of the Fieldfare from an upstairs window at first but it allowed me to go into the garden and approach it to within 4 metres; a stunning bird. The garden was quite busy with other birds coming to the feeders and I also  managed to get a good photo of Siskin and Pied Wagtail in the process but my focus was really on the Fieldfare.



Siskin, (Carduelis spinus)

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)

Satisfied I had some good shots of the Fieldfare I walked over to Orrell Water Park. The German ringed Black-headed Gull was still present on the lower lake and was the only ringed bird out of about 110 Black-headed Gulls present. A group of 9 Moorhens were stood on the ice and looked rather forlorn. There were 12 Coot present and I watched one dive down and lift a cluster of muscles on to the ice (presumably zebra muscles) and eat each muscle whole.



Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus)



Coot (Fulica atra)

Coot (Fulica atra)

After lunch I went up to my baited site at Haigh to top up the feeders. I put up one 60ft net while I was there and caught 44 birds over the next couple of hours or so. All of the birds caught were in good condition and some were carrying good fat deposits. Only 8 birds were ringed with the other 36 being retraps. A new Redwing was the first for they year as were a retrap Nuthatch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.


Redwing (Turdus ilicacus)

Nuthatch (Sitta europea)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopus major)

Ringing totals 26/01/12 with retraps in brackets.
Redwing 1
Blackbird 1
Brambling 2 (4)
Chaffinch 3 (2)
Robin 1 (1)
Blue Tit - (10)
Greenfinch - (6)
Great Tit - (3)
Coal Tit - (4)
Nuthatch - (1)
Long-tailed Tit - (3)
Great-spotted Woodpecker - (1)
Goldfinch - (1)
Totals 8 new and 36 retraps.

Another ton or so

The weather has not been too good this week but we have managed to catch just over 100 birds since my last post. Two trips to the Swallow roost at Scotman's Flash have produced 91 new Swallows and 1 retrap, 2 Sand Martins and 6 Reed Warblers. Just over 28% of the Swallows were adults which continues the high proportion of adults in the catches. The retrap Swallow had been ringed near my home at Longshaw 5 km away just over a year ago. Another 5 Reed Warblers were caught 13th and 3 of these had not completed their post juvenile moult so should stay around for a while yet and are an indicator of the success of later broods.


Waiting for Swallows

I met up with Kane Brides this afternoon to try and catch and darvic a few Coot at Pennington Flash. For those who know the Steve Coogan character Paul Calf and the use of the phrase 'bag o' shite' you will know why that is appropriate to Coot ringing. It was far too windy really but I still managed to pick up 4 new birds and 2 retraps in a short session which bodes well for better conditions.

Moths haven't featured in my posts for some time now and that is largely due to the abysmal summer weather. I run a moth trap most days but there has been little or nothing to report of late. Silver Ys' being the only migrants with another 2 caught this morning.


Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

The weather looks ok'ish' for the morning but only an early start and time will tell.

Coot GC22050

Coots are really underrated birds. They move far more than people think because these movements are almost exclusively at night. I ringed GC22050 as a pullus (chick) within a few yards of my front door in Orrell on 10/06/10. It was subsequently caught and colour rings were added by Kane Brides in Southport. After that it was sighted at Martin Mere twice and then I photographed it at Pennington Flash, Leigh on 10/06/12. This latter sighting was two years to the day from ringing.

As their main food supply of aquatic vegetation varies in abundance between season and between sites it makes sense for them to know or be able to find potential feeding sites over quite a large area. Artificial food supplies will also influence movements. We think we know a lot but we have hardly scratched the surface even with quite common species like Coot. That is why I love ringing birds.


View Coot GC22050 in a larger map