Long time no blogging

Where did June go; it doesn't seem like the best part of a month has gone by since my last post but it has. I've not done much ringing this June compared to previous years but I haven't been idle either, far from it. I have had quite a lot of commitments over the last few weeks and I also decided to get stuck into some jobs around the house and garden and get them out of the way before autumn migration really gets going later this month. Having said that I still managed to ring 162 birds in June but 122 of those were Starlings in the garden.

It is fair to say this has been my best year for Starlings by some margin with 140 adults and 383 juveniles ringed in the garden up to the end of June. In addition there have been 436 resightings/recaptures involving 141 different individuals. Most of these resightings were of birds that were ringed or colour-ringed in previous years with the oldest individuals having been ringed as adults in 2011. The current longevity record for a Starling is 17 years, 7 months and 25 days so my project will have to run for a long time yet for me to see anything approaching that record, although reaching 6 or 7 years is still a very good age for a Starling.

I have been up to Billinge a few times recently to maintain the net rides in preparation for the autumn and I did put up a couple of nets on the evening of 26th June in two of the newly cleared rides. This short session produced 26 new birds and 1 retrap as follows - Willow Warbler 11, Chiffchaff 5 (1), Linnet 4, Great Tit 1, Blue Tit 1, Swallow 4. The 4 Swallows were interesting as they were all adult males that came in to roost in the willows. This site has held an early roost since I first started monitoring there in 2014 and a high proportion of adults has usually been a feature of the early catches.

That pretty much sums up how June went for me but now we are in July and autumn migration is starting to get underway there should be a lot more to blog about. With a bit of luck you should start to see a return to more regular updates from now on.

Flaming June

Since my last post a singing bird has got my attention 'big time' as it is well outside its normal breeding range. I will check the site again tomorrow and post more details at an appropriate time. If I think it could be breeding you may have to wait a little while and no it wasn't a Waxwing. Early June is silly season in birding terms and can produce some very unusual records, although they are often one or two day wonders as this bird may prove to be.

I was home from work early this evening so I grabbed the camera and took the dog for a walk to take advantage of the glorious weather. I am lucky in where I live in that there is a park across the road and open countryside beyond. The Great Crested Grebes on the park's top lake have 4 well grown young and the adults are having no problem in supplying food.

Shaking off excess water after diving.

A little further on and just outside the park I came across my first dragonflies of the year in the form of a female and male Broad-bodied Chaser. I haven't seen any damselflies yet so I didn't expect to come across these beauties.


Female Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)

Male Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)

Male Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)

Yes the dog did get a walk although he had to be patient now and again.