The wind dropped enough this evening to tempt me out to the Swallow roost. It was almost 8pm before the first birds started to arrive and they stayed much higher over the reed bed than normal. The reason for this soon became apparent when a Hobby appeared and put on quite a show as it chased them around. They eventually dropped in and another 83 new Swallows were caught making the ringing totals out of date already. A Swallow that had been ringed in the roost 2 weeks ago was retrapped showing that some birds hang around for a good while.
Ringing totals for 24/08/13
Swallow 83 (1)
Sand Martin 3
Reed Warbler 2
Total 88 (+1 retrap)
Showing posts with label Hobby. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hobby. Show all posts
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Monday, 10 September 2012
The month so far
Well I am very tired. It is only the 9th of September (or was when I started this post) and I have been out ringing on 16 occasions this month. I haven't taken a day off work for any of them and have been burning the candle at both ends with ringing sessions morning and evening most days. The generally fine weather has helped but has been far from perfect on every occasion. The Swallow roost at Scotman's Flash has been the main focus and produced the most birds.
Although we have ringed a lot of birds this is largely due to effort; all our catches are still pointing to a very poor breeding season as a result of the poor summer weather. In general there are far fewer juveniles of all species being caught or observed. The findings at the Swallow roost have been no exception with adults forming a much larger proportion of the catch than is usual. Another effect of the weather seems to be that some species have had a more protracted breeding season, presumably due to earlier failures. A Goldcrest in full juvenile plumage (8th) being an example as well as being the first I have caught in juvenile plumage. Similarly the good number of Reed Warblers ringed (62 juveniles) at Scotman's Flash seems to indicate that later broods have fared better in this species.
The highlight of a morning ringing session at Scotman's on Sunday (9th) was an unexpected Cetti's Warbler. The second ringed there this year and continuing the recent trend in sightings. In the evening a Hobby continued to target the Swallow roost there and could even be the bird that was ringed on 19th August. Same bird or not it continues what has been a good run of Hobby sightings for this site.
September ringing totals to 9th stand at 864 birds of 22 species with the top 4 being:
Swallow 692, Reed Warbler 62, Goldcrest 26 and Chiffcaff 21.
Although we have ringed a lot of birds this is largely due to effort; all our catches are still pointing to a very poor breeding season as a result of the poor summer weather. In general there are far fewer juveniles of all species being caught or observed. The findings at the Swallow roost have been no exception with adults forming a much larger proportion of the catch than is usual. Another effect of the weather seems to be that some species have had a more protracted breeding season, presumably due to earlier failures. A Goldcrest in full juvenile plumage (8th) being an example as well as being the first I have caught in juvenile plumage. Similarly the good number of Reed Warblers ringed (62 juveniles) at Scotman's Flash seems to indicate that later broods have fared better in this species.
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| Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) in juvenile plumage. |
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| Cetti's Warbler (Cettia cetti) |
Swallow 692, Reed Warbler 62, Goldcrest 26 and Chiffcaff 21.
Monday, 20 August 2012
Ringing 19/08/12
I went to Longshaw this morning and put up the usual two nets. There didn't seem to be a great deal about other than Willow Warblers which were present in good numbers and clearly moving through. The final tally was:
Willow Warbler 16
Chiffchaff 3
Robin 2
Great Tit 2
Blue Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit 3 (2)
Willow Tit 1
Total 31
In the evening I went down to Scotmans Flash to see if there was a Swallow roost. After getting myself very wet crossing a ditch in the wrong place I put up just one 60 foot net and played a Swallow lure. There didn't seem to be any Swallows around and I thought I was going to draw a blank. Just as I was thinking about packing up a few small parties started to arrive but these seemed to be reluctant to hang around and quickly moved on. I didn't think I was going to catch anything but then around 100 Swallows eventually gathered and it looked like I could get a reasonable catch after all.
On checking the net a reasonable number of Swallows had been caught and what, at first glance, I assumed to be a Sparrowhawk at the far end. I went to take this out first but was delighted to find it was a Hobby and not a Sparrowhawk. I had not seen this bird at all but it was obviously why the Swallows had been reluctant to hang around at first.
The Swallow tally was 38 new birds and a control making it a very productive evening and more than made up for me getting wet to the waist and eaten by mosquitoes.
Willow Warbler 16
Chiffchaff 3
Robin 2
Great Tit 2
Blue Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit 3 (2)
Willow Tit 1
Total 31
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| Willow Tit (Poecile montanus) |
On checking the net a reasonable number of Swallows had been caught and what, at first glance, I assumed to be a Sparrowhawk at the far end. I went to take this out first but was delighted to find it was a Hobby and not a Sparrowhawk. I had not seen this bird at all but it was obviously why the Swallows had been reluctant to hang around at first.
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| Hobby (Falco subbuteo) |
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