Cold snap snaps

I came across this wonderful piece of natural art on an old greenhouse today. The frost pattern reminded me of some fan corals.

Framed natural art



 looks even better up close

Some of the Starlings in my garden are looking their best now. One of my favourite birds.



This male Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is a cracker.

I checked out the Black-headed Gulls on Orrell Water Park for ringed birds. There were about 100 present but only one was ringed and that was the German ringed bird that has been present since late October.



The German ringed Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is a real regular at Orrell Water Park.
I photograph it each time I see it as an easy way to check and record the ring number.

Christmas is coming

I went up to Haigh this morning as I have been baiting the site all week and it also offered the best chance of shelter from the cold northerly wind. It felt more like winter than late October with a very sharp frost. I soon regretted wearing wellies with thin socks as I quickly lost the circulation in my toes; very painful.

I put up a 60ft and 30ft net in the usual dog leg and also set up 3 MP3 lures. In general the catching rate was what you might call steady all morning but there were far fewer Chaffinches than expected given the habitat. The MP3 lures added 8 Goldcrests and 4 Lesser Redpolls to the catch and possibly helped the Greenfinch totals too.

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
 

Visible migration was dominated by Pink-footed Geese with at least 750 birds in 5 skeins flying south-east. At least 4 other skeins were heard and not seen so the total could have easily exceeded 1,000. Around 80 Redwings were seen flying west and 3 Fieldfares flew north. Only 6 Redpolls were recorded, 4 of which were caught and a group of 3 Siskins flew north.

Ringing totals were (recaptures in brackets):

Greenfinch 28 (1)

Goldcrest 8
Lesser Redpoll 4
Goldfinch 1
Chaffinch 7 (1)
Bullfinch 2 (1)
Great Tit 13 (1)
Blue Tit 7 (2)
Coal Tit 1 (3)
Robin 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Dunnock (1)
Totals 73 new birds (+10 retraps)



Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

Great Spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)

After returning home and lunch I walked across the road to Orrell Water Park to check out the Black-headed Gulls for rings/darvics. I took the big camera and long lens so I could photograph any ringed birds. The only ringed Black-headed Gull was an adult wearing a chunky foreign type ring. I managed to take enough photos to get the full number and address which showed it was ringed in Germany. This is the first German Black-headed Gull I have controlled.

 

German ringed Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) photographed Orrell Water Park 27.10.12

 

So So Weekend

The forecast for Saturday was for wall to wall sunshine after a frosty start and very light winds so I decided to give Longshaw a try. I had a couple of nets up at first light but it was soon evident that birds were going to be few and far between with few birds calling in the bushes and only a trickle of birds passing overhead. It was so quiet that I resorted to taking some frosty photos to pass the time. Only 8 birds were ringed but they did include the first Lesser Redpoll of the autumn and a Grey Wagtail.

On returning home the calm conditions tempted me to put a net up in the garden as the feeders have been attracting good numbers of Goldfinches recently. The strong sunlight made the net more visible than I would have liked and some bird could clearly see it. However, it didn’t put the birds off and 25 new and 1retrap Goldfinches were caught along with a few bits and bobs. Had it been overcast more would have been caught as many birds clearly had no trouble avoiding the net.


Juvenile Goldfinch replacing primaries

In the evening I went down to Scotman’s Flash to see if any Swallows were still roosting there. Conditions were perfect as a little cloud had bubbled up but, unfortunately, it was also perfect for midges and mosquitoes which really made their presence felt. Three Reed Warblers were caught before the first Swallows arrived and the calls of several Water Rails carried across the reed bed along with a brief burst of song from a Cetti’s Warbler. Initially only 4 Swallows appeared but around 50 eventually gathered as the light started to fail and 22 were caught including 1 retrap. Interestingly the retrap had been ringed in the roost on 2^nd September so has stayed around for a good while.

 

Sunday was forecast to start calm but with a strengthening easterly wind picking up. I decided to give Longshaw another try but it was much as yesterday with little in the bushes or passing overhead. Only 9 birds were caught but they did include another Lesser Redpoll and the first Siskin of the autumn; a fine adult female.


Lesser Redpoll (Carduelis cabaret) The flecks of white on the plumage are the remains of feather sheaths showing this bird is just completing its moult of body feathers..

Female Siskin (Carduelis spinus)

The final tally for the weekend was:
Grey Wagtail 1
Swallow 21 (+1 retrap)
Wren 1
Blackbird 1
Coal Tit 1
Blue Tit 3 (+1 retrap)
Great Tit 2
Greenfinch 1
Chaffinch 2
Lesser Redpoll 2
Siskin 1
Goldfinch 25 (+1 retrap)
Reed Warbler 3
Chiffchaff 4
Goldcrest 3

Total 71 (+3)

 

The best from the moth trap was a Small Tortoiseshell. Butterflies get caught very occasionally but are always a bit of a surprise. One insect that has been largely absent from my moth trap this autumn is wasps. I caught a few (queens) in the spring but very few this autumn and none this month; another and more welcome consequence of the poor summer weather.


Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)