Starling stuff

Well I am still here, for the time being at least, and my study Starlings seem too be doing particularly well. My RAS season started on 21st April and I have recorded 103 colour ringed Starlings visiting the feeders so far. This is an exceptionally good start to my RAS season and it looks like it will prove to be an earlier than average breeding season too.

DO6 is a regular visitor to the garden and has been recorded on numerous occasions during the breeding season since being ringed in February 2016. The photos are a bit crappy but my excuse is they were taken through a window in harsh light.

D06 again left and A59 right. Both are males and A59 has been recorded on numerous occasions each year since being ringed in May 2015.

Mainly negative news

Another 2 disappointing visits to the site at Billinge but at least the garden is producing better than expected results.

Billinge 12th September 2018
A total of 31 birds from 3 nests may not sound too bad but it was well below what I have come to expect from this site in mid-September. The big news was the continued lack of Goldcrests, only 1 caught and that was the only one seen or heard, and the low numbers of Chiffchaffs, 2 being a pitiful total for the date. Visible migration was almost none existent and the few Meadow Pipits that were moving were not even passing over at the rate of a trickle, more of an an intermittent drip. The only highlights were a late(ish) Willow Warbler and a similar late(ish) Whitethroat.
Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were: Blue Tit 8 (1); Great Tit 4; Willow Warbler 1; Chiffchaff 2; Blackcap 2; Whitethroat 1; Goldcrest 1, Song Thrush 1, Robin 1, Meadow Pipit 4, Linnet 2, Goldfinch 2, Reed Bunting 1.

Willow Warbler 12/09/2018

Whitethroat 12/09/2018

Billinge 13th September 2018
If I thought the 12th was poor the 13th was even worse. Nothing was caught in the first hour and only 9 birds were caught after 3 hours so I cut my losses and packed up early. Goldcrests were absent again which continues to suggest there has been a crash in their population; I have only ringed 3 so far this September compared to 56 by the same date in 2014, 34 in 2015, 58 in 2016, and 90 in 2018. The lower than usual numbers of Chiffchaff also continued. Sightings of note were limited to a high flying Song Thrush that was heading south, a Siskin south and another or the same north later, and a grounded Wheatear.
Ringing totals were: Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 3; Chiffchaff 3; Blackcap 1; Reed Bunting 1.

Garden 1st to 14th September 2018
Back home Starlings are visiting the feeders in bigger numbers and more often than they usually do at this time of year. A total of 53 were ringed from the 1st to the 13th and I manged to ring another 8 on the 14th which is unprecedented for my garden. While I catch large numbers in May and June numbers usually fall off sharply in July and I don't normally catch any in August or September. This year numbers dropped off as usual through most of July but then they started to pick up again towards the end of that month and they have continued to increase since then. Now a mob of up to 30 Starlings visit the feeders periodically throughout the day and more than one mob may be involved.

A retrap Starling caught on the 13th was suffering from avian pox. It had at least 11 lesions of various sizes dotted about its body although most (6) were on its head. It was originally ringed on 20th May when it showed no sign of the disease. A set of images and details will be sent to the Garden Wildlife Health project via their website.

Back to blogging

It has taken a while, and much longer than I would have liked, but I have finally got round to posting on the blog again. I am not one for mentioning much about my personal life but the ups and downs of life, with all their twists and turns, have taken up a lot of my time over the last few months and pushed the blog to the bottom of the things to do list. Principal amongst the lows was the failing health of my 97 year old mother and the difficulty of trying to meet her wish of staying in her own home. Eventually, caring for her there became impractical and we had to move her in with us until old age and age related heart failure finally got the better of her. That is more detail than I would normally give on such matters and was only one of the factors involved but I thought such a long absence from the blog merited some explanation.

So enough about that stuff, this blog is about birds and other wildlife and I have managed to fit in some ringing despite all the other things that have been going on. Back in late May I completed my Starling RAS project for this year and it was another successful season with a total of 168 different adults encountered (31 new birds and 137 colour-ringed birds re-sighted). Starlings appear to have had a good breeding season and I have ringed more juvenile Starlings in the garden than in any previous year with the total currently standing at 489 (it increased by 3 whilst writing this post). I don't usually catch many juvenile Starlings after the middle of June and, initially, that was the case again this year but numbers visiting the feeders started to pick up again in late July and small numbers have been making regular raids on the fat feeders since then. This has resulted in 85 being ringed since late July compared to only 25 over the same period last year.

Visits to other sites have been less frequent than in other years but I started to rectify that once we got into August. A visit to the site at Billinge on 30th August was the most productive of the recent sessions and is worthy of specific mention. I had been joined by Mark, who was over from America to visit family, and we set 3 nets in the top willows. Conditions were ideal for mist netting, being calm and largely overcast, and while ideal netting conditions don't always coincide with good numbers of migrants this was one day when they did. Blackcaps were the most numerous species and the total of 20 ringed was a new day record for the site. Twenty isn't a big catch by the standards of some sites but it is for the Billinge site which isn't blessed with much in the way of berries. The most unusual captures were a male Redstart, which Mark was especially pleased to see in the hand, and 2 Spotted Flycatchers which were caught just after he had to leave, well you can't win them all. A catch of 9 Willow Warblers was also a decent number for late August. A total of 60 birds were ringed which broke down as follows: Blue Tit 10; Great Tit 5; Chiffchaff 9; Willow Warbler 9; Blackcap 20; Robin 2; Spotted Flycatcher 2; Redstart 1; Goldfinch 1; Yellowhammer 1.

1cy male Redstart

1cy Spotted Flycatcher

I can't promise when the next post will be but hopefully there won't be anything like a gap of 3 months before the next one comes along. In fact it should be fairly soon as I hope to get out on Wednesday and failing that there are some interesting recoveries that I want to share.

First 100 juvs and counting.

The first juvenile Starling caught for ringing this morning was the 100th of this season and it was quickly followed by another 24. Productivity seems to be good despite the cold start to the spring and many pairs have 4 juveniles in tow. I haven't had time to total up the number of colour-ringed adults that have been resighted since 21st April but it is at least 130 and in addition another 40 new adults have been ringed and colour-ringed for the RAS project. 

 

A typical scene on the lawn taken through the window. A similar number of birds were feeding on the suspended fat block and bird table out of the shot

There are usually around 30 Starlings in the garden at any one time but well over 100 individuals visit over the course of a day and the true number could be over 200. They are currently getting through 2kg of home made fat blocks,15 or so shop bought fat balls and the odd loaf of bread each day. The warm and very sunny weather we have been experiencing is helping the Starlings get through the fat blocks and fat balls a bit faster than they otherwise would as it is softens them as the day warms up, so I am currently making batches of the home made fat blocks 3 times a week to keep up with demand.

Melt 6 blocks of dripping in a large jam pan.

Add about 7 margarine tub size scoops of meal worms.

Then add about 20 crushed shop bought fat balls.

Mix well until you have a nice even consistency and fill old margarine tubs to form blocks.

The result is yummy if you're a Starling and should be given how much it costs.

It is not just the Starlings that benefit from the feeding regime and we have one or two Hedgehogs that visits the garden every night to feed on any crumbs from the fat blocks that fall to the ground and don't get cleared up by the Starlings. I also put out a few meal worms for them in a purpose made feeding station.

The current run of sunny weather has resulted in a few of the young Starlings flying into windows from time to time and one of my neighbours upstairs windows in particular. Thankfully the young Starlings don't fly that fast so there haven't been any injuries or fatalities or at least none that I am aware of but they have certainly left their mark on the glass.

My neighbours will get value for money from the window cleaners the next time they come round. I may also have to power wash their garden path by way of a thank you for their tolerance not least because the Starlings are extremely noisy in addition to being a bit messy; the noise being more noticeable as most people have some windows open because of the very warm weather.

That's all for now as I have another batch of fat blocks to make and lots of other stuff to do.

Quick Update and Starling RAS progress.

Apologies for the lack of posts recently but I have been busy with one thing or another and there has not been a great deal of interest to report on the migration front. The dearth of migrants at Billinge and other sites I visit has continued with hirundines being particulary scarce. While it has not been a silent spring it has been a pretty quiet one and it wouldn't surprise me if national population declines are reported for many species when all the data is in.

Much of my ringing effort over the last 3 weeks has been directed towards my Starling RAS project and I have clocked up around 75 hours of recording colour-ringed Starlings feeding on the fat blocks in the garden. As I have been running the project for a few years most of my local Starlings are colour-ringed and I have resighted 100 Starlings that were ringed prior to the start of this year's recording period with over 25% of those birds being more than 3 years old. It didn't take long to record the first 60 or so individuals but after that it became more like looking for a needle in a haystack as it gets progressively harder to pick out any that haven't been recorded before from all the ones that visit the fat blocks on numerous occasions each day. In addition to recording all the previously ringed birds I selectively trap and ring any unringed Starlings to add them to the study population with 20 new adults being ringed and colour-ringed so far.

With at least 70+ different Starlings coming they are currently getting through 1.5 to 2 kg of home made fat blocks each day. This will increase as more young fledge.

It is often a bit of a scrum at the fat blocks with the birds jostling for position. This can make reading the codes on the colour-rings quite difficult.

The timing of breeding has been pretty much as expected and the first adult was seen carrying food on 21st April and this was soon followed by many others. The first young started to fledge about 6 days ago and the first juveniles started to follow their parents to the the fat blocks in the garden in the last couple of days. This is very similar to last year and just over a week later than 2016, which was an earlier than average breeding season anyway. While the severe cold spells in the early part of this spring delayed the onset of breeding in many resident species it doesn't appear to have had much of an affect on Starlings, in this area at least, or that is the initial impression. It still remains to be seen what the fledging rates and brood sizes are like overall so it will be later in June before we get a more complete picture.

Adult male A12 is one of the many regulars and was originally ringed in December 2014. This male has been recorded numerous times in each breeding season since being ringed.

The first juvenile ringed in 2018. This bird was caught earlier this morning (14/05/2018). The first juvenile was ringed on the same date last year and on 7th May in 2016.

Quiet at Billinge but busy in the garden.

It has been very quiet at Billinge over the last week and 4 visits (22nd, 24th, 25th & 28th) only resulted in a combined total of 7 birds caught [Willow Warbler 1, Blackcap 2, Robin 1, Tree Pipit 1, Great Tit 1 (1)]. Visible migration was minimal, to say the least, and there was no significant change in the numbers of warblers present with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap the only species on territory.

It may have been a poor week but a Tree Pipit, the 2nd to be ringed this spring, provided some consolation.

While there has not been much happening at Billinge the garden has been getting very busy. The cold spring has delayed breeding in many species but it doesn't appear to have had much of an effect on the local Starlings and most pairs are feeding nestlings now. I run a RAS project on Starlings and attract them to the garden with home made fat blocks but more about that in a future post.

The vast majority of Starlings coming to the feeders were colour-ringed in previous years and 77 individuals have been re-sighted in the last week.

8th March 2018 and it's snow joke.

A real dump of snow greeted me first thing this morning and it continued to snow for a good few hours. Some snow had been forecast but I had expected it to be wet sleety stuff and soon turn to rain but this was the real deal and covered everything in a good 3 to 4 inches of the white stuff before it finally stopped.

The view from the front door.

The view towards Orrell Water Park.

The snow clearly had an impact on the birds and the garden feeders were busier than they had been during the recent severe cold spell. We didn't get much snow then and many species, especially seed eaters, still had access to natural food sources and didn't seem pushed for food despite the very cold temperatures. This morning was a different story with the thick covering of snow limiting their feeding options and causing more birds to come to the feeders. 

Birds were queuing up to use the feeders and I have quite a few dotted around the garden.

The birds gather in the trees across the road from the garden before dropping down to feed.

Another group on its way in.

You could imagine this Goldfinch thinking 'Where did this lot come from'.

and this one was really shaking its head.

Some Goldfinches were clearly in pairs.

and another pair.

This male Chaffinch is in one of those 'what are you looking at' poses.

Looking at its tail shape this female Chaffinch is almost certainly an adult.

Female Chaffinch. I only included this photo because of the lump of snow on her head. The snow really did come down thick and fast.

It was nice to see a few more Greenfinches at the feeders but they are nowhere near as numerous as they used to be in the 'good old days', when Greenfinches were ten a penny.

Male Siskin

I was able to read part of the ring number on this female Siskin and it is not one that I have ringed. It will be really frustrating if I don't manage to catch her and establish where she has come from.

Three Pied Wagtails fed on the lawn below the feeders including this fine male. This bird has been a regular in the garden for much of this winter.

It won't be long before my Starling RAS starts. This adult male (A57) was originally ringed as a juvenile in June 2012.

Female Starling

Male Blackbird

Female Blackbird

Judging by the size of of its bib this Coal Tit is a male.

Woodpigeons haven't visited the garden much recently as they have been spending a lot of time feeding in a nearby field of oil seed rape.

The fat cakes have certainly helped this Goldcrest survive this winter.

Winter may not have released its grip just yet but give it another week and I should be writing posts about returning Chiffchaffs and other spring migrants. 

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.