Bilinge 9th July 2017 - more Swallows

I had planned an early morning ringing session in the top willows but I just couldn't motivate myself when the alarm went off, despite the weather conditions being near perfect. I decided some extra sleep was the order of the day; a decision that was made much easier because I knew I had the option of going up in the evening instead. I suppose I could, and perhaps should, have done both but I will save that kind of effort for later in the season.

I went to site at 7pm and quickly set 2 nets in the willows. I could hear a few warblers calling in the bushes as I was setting up but one thing that was absent was any sizeable tit flocks, not that I am complaining, although I did hear some Long-tailed Tits in the distance later on. There were quite few Swallows hawking insects overhead so I was hopeful that some would come into roost again and thankfully they did.

Part of the Swallow catch. I don't know why this site usually gets an early Swallow roost but it does, although numbers and duration of occupancy of the roost have varied from year to year. However, its future may be limited by the growth of the trees as the birds seem to prefer to roost in willows that average about 1.5 to 2 metres tall and some are more than twice that height now.

Juvenile Swallow

Adult male Swallow showing a fine pair of tail streamers.

The total of 41 new birds and 1 retrap was a good result with the majority of the catch being made up of Swallows and warblers. The individual totals (retraps in brackets) were: Blue Tit 1; Willow Tit 1; Swallow 23; Chiffchaff 4; Willow Warbler 3 (1); Blackcap 5; Blackbird 1; Goldfinch 2, Reed Bunting 1.

Observations of note were a Noctule Bat, surprisingly the first I have seen over the site, and as I was leaving I could hear a Grasshopper Warbler reeling from the territory in NE corner.

Billinge: 4th & 7th July 2017

4th July
This was a dual purpose evening visit to do a bit of ringing and work on clearing some of the summer's growth from one of the net rides in the top willows. I didn't get to site as early as I had originally planned so I only put up one 18m net rather than two as intended but that didn't matter as there was plenty of pruning to do.

The single net produced a trickle of birds which left me enough time to get another net ride cleared and ready for the rest of the autumn. As sunset approached I started to think about packing up but then some Swallows appeared so I stayed until they came into roost and I ended up catching 25 of them. The final ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were: Blue Tit 1; Swallow 25; Chiffchaff 2 (1); Willow Warbler 4 (2); Blackcap 2; Goldfinch 1. Total 35 new birds and 3 retraps.

7th July
I only got up after the 3rd alarm and some snoozing so not the early start that I had intended. I set 3 nets in the NE corner of the site and was set up by 06:40. Two Grasshopper Warblers were reeling nearby with one being in the same area as a bird recorded in early May but the other was singing in a less expected location and was reeling in the adjacent field of barley.

The catching rate was slow to start with but improved as the morning went on, although it didn't get busy. Highlights were 2 juvenile and an adult Grasshopper Warbler with the adult being a retrap male that was originally ringed on 2nd May this year. This strongly suggest they have bred successfully and constitutes the first breeding record for the site, although a bird held a territory last year and may have bred. The rest of the catch was fairly typical for this part of the site at this time of year and included the first juvenile Goldcrests and a juvenile Willow Tit.

Juvenile Grasshopper Warbler

Juvenile Grasshopper Warbler,

The two juvenile Grasshopper Warblers showed some of the variation in colour this species can display with one having mainly white underparts and the other having buff coloured underparts.

Juvenile Goldcrests always look scruffy as they go through their post-juvenile moult

This bird was just starting to show orange feathers (encased in sheath) growing in the crown which meant it could be sexed as a male. 

Juvenile Willow Tit.

Another feature of the site at this time of year are frequent encounters horse-flies and clegs and I donated far too much blood to their kind during the session. Luckily I haven't had any adverse reactions but these insects will continue to be a pain in the neck or other parts of the body during visits over the next few weeks.

There was a little bit of movement overhead with 1 Siskin heading south and 3 singles heading north and a Grey Wagtail heading south was particularly early for that species to be on the move.

Ringing totals for the 7th were: Goldcrest 2; Blue Tit 5; Great Tit 4; Coal Tit 1; Willow Tit 1; Chiffchaff 7; Willow Warbler 2; Blackcap 1; Grashopper Warbler 2 (1); Wren 1; Robin 1; Bullfinch (1). Total 27 new birds and 2 retraps.

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.

Late July: a quick update.

I managed to get out to Billinge a few times during the period 24th to 31st July but some of the sessions were weather restricted. The generally unsettled conditions with bands of showers and spells of rain also had an impact on the number of birds moving through the site on some days so the combined total of 140 new birds and 16 retraps was quite good, all things considered. 

The main target species was Willow Warbler with a total of 45 ringed during the period. This brings the number of Willow Warblers ringed in July to 105 with 101 of those having been ringed in the last 2 weeks. This is a slightly better total than last year, when 84 were ringed in July, but the increase has been achieved through extra effort rather than there being more birds around. I am still of the opinion that Willow Warblers have had a relatively poor breeding season, locally at least.

Willow Warbler migration is getting into full swing.

 A late evening visit on the 25th, to check if any Swallows were roosting, revealed that only 30 or so were gathering to roost. These were harassed a few times by a young male Sparrowhawk and this caused them to settle in a different area of the willows but not before 18 had been caught and ringed.

Juvenile Swallow

Adult Swallow

Acros continued to put in an appearance now and again with another Sedge Warbler ringed on the 28th followed by single Reed Warblers on the 30th and 31st; all were young birds. 

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler

Bullfinches are starting to take advantage of the Knapweed and other meadow plants that are going to seed and this resulted in 4 juveniles and 3 adult males being ringed.

Male Bullfinch

Tits continued to be very thin on the ground, to say the least, but Long-tailed Tits finally put in an appearance with a party of 3 seen on the 28th one of which, a juvenile, was caught and ringed.

Combined totals (retraps in brackets) for the period 24th to 31st July were: Swallow 18; Chiffchaff 19 (3); Willow Warbler 45 (4); Blackcap 13 (5); Whitethroat 5 (2); Reed Warbler 2; Sedge Warbler 1; Goldcrest 4 (1); Blackbird 1; Long-tailed Tit 1; Blue Tit 4; Great Tit 4; Coal Tit 1; Chaffinch 4; Goldfinch 8; Linnet 2; Bullfinch 7; Reed Bunting 1 (1).

I don't see many dragonflies at the site as the nearest pond is some distance away but this Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) found its way into one of the mist-nets. 

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)

That's more like it.

Back to back sessions at Billinge yesterday evening and again this morning produced the goods with a combined total of 106 birds ringed and just 4 recaptures. Yesterday's session only started at 19:30 with 2 nets erected in the young willows that are colonising the higher part of the site. This area can be very productive in the evening, even with such a limited amount of netting, as it is a favoured feeding area for phylloscopus warblers, when they are about, and it usually holds an early Swallow roost.

Both Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were around in reasonable numbers and 6 of each were ringed along with 4 Blackcaps, 5 Linnets and a Goldfinch. I didn't think any Swallows were going to come into roost as only a few were seen on the run up to sunset but then about 80 quickly gathered just after the sun had set and 45 were caught. Interestingly 10 were adults of which 8 were males, 1 was a female and one was left unsexed. One of the adult males was a retrap and had been ringed at the roost as a juvenile on 21st July 2014.

Swallows mainly use this site for roosting in July, when they are still breeding, and I suspect it develops as a nursery roost for juveniles reared at nearby farms and they are accompanied by the off duty adults. This may account for the relatively high proportion of adults and for the majority of those adults being males. This is only a pet theory but an early roost with a high proportion of adults has developed each summer since I started ringing at the site in 2014 and in that year the roost started at the end of June. Yesterday was the first time I have checked for the Swallow roost this summer so I don't know when the roost started this year.

This morning I set 3 nets in the north east part of the site and the catching was fairly steady from the off. Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps accounted for 34 of the 43 birds caught during the morning with the majority being juveniles. All the Willow Warblers were nearing the end of or had just completed their pj moult so could have included some birds that had dispersed or migrated from elsewhere rather than them all being locally bred. Once again there were very few tits around and there were certainly no signs of any tit flocks developing. Long-tailed Tits, in particular, were conspicuous by their absence with none seen or even heard during both ringing sessions.

Combined ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 17th & 18th July were: Swallow 44 (1); Meadow Pipit (1); Goldcrest 1; Chiffchaff 20; Willow Warbler 15 (1); Blackcap 13 (1); Whitethroat 2; Blackbird 1; Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 1; Linnet 5; Goldfinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 1.

1CY Willow Warbler just finishing its post juvenile moult.

Adult female Blackcap

Adult Meadow Pipit looking strikingly brown and white in its worn plumage. It was a retrap and had been ringed last autumn, as a juvenile, when it would have looked very different.

This is what it would have looked like when ringed in autumn 2015.

Adult female Lesser Redpoll. Lesser Redpolls have bred at the site for the first time this year and this female had an active brood patch so is still breeding.

It also had a passenger in the form of a flat fly (hippoboscidae).  These parasites seem disproportionately large on small birds.

They don't look any better the closer you get. They sometimes leave their host when the bird is being handled and temporarily take up residence in your hair - just one of the many joys of ringing.

Billinge 30/08/15

This morning's weather was perfect for ringing, flat calm with a thin veil of broken high cloud, and with August coming to a close it was perhaps the last chance for a good catch of Tree Pipits. I had 3 nets set up shortly after first light and the morning got off to a reasonable start with 6 Swallows that were caught as they exited their roost in the willows. There hasn't been a big Swallow roost this year but small numbers of around 20 or 30 have roosted at the site since early July.

Juvenile Swallow and a pale one at that. This bird lacks the usual rusty coloured throat and forehead

This juvenile Swallow has the more usual rusty coloured throat and forehead. It is also a younger bird and still has prominent gape flanges.

There was little in the way of visible migration but 12+ Tree Pipits were recorded and more than made up for the lack of other birds on the move. Six of these Tree Pipits were caught bringing the total ringed this autumn to 55 which is only 1 short of the total ringed last year. The number of Tree Pipits moving will fall rapidly over the next 2 or 3 weeks but there is still a chance I will catch a few more yet. I hadn't been sure if the number of Tree Pipits ringed and recorded last year was due to an exceptional set of circumstances (good breeding season plus prevailing weather) as it was the first year I had ringed at the site. However, the similar numbers ringed and recorded this year show that it is a regular occurrence and confirm that the site is one of the best for the species in the whole of the Northwest, if not the best. Other birds moving south during the morning were 25+ Siskins, 3 Grey Wagtails and 1 Tree Sparrow.

The first of the six Tree Pipits ringed this morning and the 50th of the autumn.

While there didn't seem to be much of anything about in the bushes a few birds filtered through resulting in a fairly steady catching rate throughout the morning. It became clear that the majority of Willow Warblers have now migrated as only 2 were caught while the number of Chiffchaffs showed an increase as is typical at this time of year. A Reed Warbler was the most unusual capture being well away from the nearest wetland habitat and is only the 3rd to be caught this autumn. The final total of 42 new birds and 2 retraps was really quite good all things considered.

Reed Warbler

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 30th August 2015 were: Tree Pipit 6; Reed Warbler 1; Whitethroat 2; Blackcap 6; Chiffchaff 11 (1); Willow Warbler 2; Long-tailed Tit 1; Blue Tit 1; Chaffinch 1; Greenfinch 1; Goldfinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 1; Yellowhammer 1; Reed Bunting 1 (1). 

July ends in fine style.

I finished off the month the way I started it with an evening ringing session at Billinge. I set up the usual 2 nets in what were near perfect conditions - pleasantly warm, overcast and just a light breeze. The first check of the nets didn't produce a single bird and it soon became apparent that most of the warblers that were around previously had moved on and they hadn't been replaced by others moving in. There were a few warblers around but nothing like the numbers there had been. I wasn't sure if any Swallows would come in to roost either or if they had moved on too but I decided to stick it out anyway. I am certainly glad that I did as around 150 Swallow gathered along with a few House Martins and 35 of the former were caught.

Juvenile Swallow.
Swallows topped the ringing totals for the day and the month.

As I was extracting the last few Swallows a large bird hit the net just above my head and when I looked up a Tawny Owl was looking back at me. My reflexes kicked in and I quickly got hold of it and extracted it from the net before it had the chance to escape. Large birds can get out of small mesh nets quite easily so I was lucky that it went into the net so close to me. The evening ended with 50 new birds ringed and 5 retraps.

Juvenile Tawny Owl.

Juvenile Tawny Owl.
This is the first full grown Tawny Owl I have caught and ringed in a long time.

Ringing Totals for 31/07/14 with retraps in brackets.
Swallow 35
Linnet 7
Willow Warbler 4 (5)
Chiffchaff 1
Blackbird 1
Robin 1
Tawny Owl 1
Total 50 (5)

This July has been one of the best I have known and has a ringing total to match. I don't usually post monthly ringing totals but 826 birds ringed of 30 species is worth a mention. Top 5 in terms of number ringed were:
Swallow 426
Willow Warbler 93
Chiffchaff 54
Linnet 50
Goldfinch 46

The weather is forecast to be unsettled for the next few days so it could be early next week before I get August's ringing totals started.

House Martins no fluke

I went back to the Billinge site this evening with a view to catching some more Swallows at the roost and to see if any House Martins were roosting with them. While I was putting up the first net a juvenile Sedge Warbler appeared in the willows beside me. This was a first for the site, for me at least, and well away from the nearest breeding population so obviously a bird on passage. It made its way into the net soon after I had set up along with 5 Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff , a Blackcap and 2 Goldfinches, not a bad start.

Juvenile Sedge Warbler 22/07/14

There were more Swallows around than last night with an esimated 400 present and there were at least 2 Sand Martins and 4 House Martins with them. The conditions were perfect and the first Swallows were caught well before the light started to fade. A Sand Martin was also caught along with 2 House Martins showing that the 2 caught last night was no fluke. The final tally of Swallows for the evening was 54 and brought the total ringed at the roost over the last few weeks to 386.

Juvenile House Martin 22/07/14

Juvenile Sand Martin 22/07/14

Juvenile Swallow 22/07/14

Ringing Totals for 22/07/14
Swallow 54
House Martin 2
Sand Martin 1
Sedge Warbler 1
Blackcap 1
Willow Warbler 5
Chiffchaff 1
Goldfinch 2
Total 67

16th July 2014

I have been very busy in one way or another over the last week or so and haven't had the time to post on the blog before now. Today wasn't much different really, I was out this morning for a brief ringing session at the Billinge site before rain and domestic duties stopped play. I went back this evening to see if the Swallows were still roosting in the willows and only got back late as a result. This site is turning out to be really productive and the Swallow roost has been the most unexpected find so far. There were around 500 Swallows in the roost tonight and I caught and ringed 51 (all juveniles) which was a comfortable number to deal with. I have now ringed 196 Swallows and 1 Sand Martin since finding this roost on 25th June.

Juvenile Swallow

This juvenile is just starting to get a few darker red feathers on the throat.

Ringing Totals for 16/07/14
Swallow 51
Chiffchaff 7
Willow Warbler 6 (1)
Blackcap 4
Whitethroat 2
Linnet 1
Willow Tit 1
Total 72 (+1 retrap)

You have got to be in it to Linnet

A couple of evenings ago I decided to see if I could catch some Linnets at the site near Billinge. There are plenty of juvenile Linnets about now and I thought I may be catch a few and test out a new net ride at the same time. The net ride is in a dense patch of self-seeded willows and is fairly close to where there is a good breeding population of Linnets so I thought it was worth a try. I was working on the assumption that the juveniles from the early broods would be roosting in the area and could be attracted to a playback lure as they returned from feeding areas to roost.

While the conditions were good for ringing they were even better for flies and both me and the dog were soon being plagued by them. Most were what I would describe as housefly like sweat flies but while they distracted you in their hundreds the clegs and other biting insects quietly moved in for a blood meal, it was horrible. It was so bad I really wished I had one of those daft looking hats with the mesh that covers your head or a full beekeepers outfit for that matter. I hadn't brought any insect repellent with me either as every fly in the area quickly found out when they homed in on me and the dog.

I put the net up as quickly as the flies would allow and set a lure playing Linnet song. It wasn't long before I caught the first birds- a Linnet, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Reed Bunting; juvenile Chiifchaffs have a really curious nature and seem to be attracted to just about any playback lure as these 2 were. I then heard a Willow Tit call once from some scrub a little distance away so I put another lure out playing Willow Tit calls and within seconds another wandering juvenile Willow Tit was caught. Not a bad start despite all the flies.

Testing out the new net ride.

Juvenile Linnet

A few Swallows started feed above the willows which wasn't surprising given the number of flies so I decided to play a Swallow lure in addition to Linnet and it wasn't long before an adult Swallow found its way into the net. The number of Swallows increased until around 50 or 60 were present and it soon looked like they may actually settle down to roost in the willows. This was a bit of a surprise as I normally associate Swallow roosts with reed beds or fields of maize and much later in the summer and autumn. The Swallows did settle to roost in another patch of willows that were only 1 to 2 metres tall and I was even able to see some of the birds sat in the upper twigs, a most unexpected sight.

Ringing totals for Wednesday evening (25/06/14): Reed Bunting 1, Linnet 2, Willow Tit 1, Bullfinch 1, Chiffchaff 2, Willow Warbler 1, Swallow 4.

I went back again yesterday evening and tried a net in a different place for the Linnets and another for the Swallows but keeping well away from the bushes the Swallows roosted in the previous night. It was a bit breezier and the flies were much less of a problem plus I had come prepared with plenty of insect repellent. I think I had probably set up a little too late for the Linnets but I still caught 3 (2 juvs and an adult male). A similar number of Swallows gathered but this time 11 were caught because I had set a net in a more open area of willows.

Interestingly 4 of the 15 Swallows caught over the two evenings were adult males with the remainder being juveniles. I can only presume this is some form of nursery roost and the adult females are incubating eggs or brooding chicks from second nesting attempts in buildings on the surrounding farms. Obviously this is just speculation and perhaps some adults and the young from the early broods are simply preparing to migrate already?? Whatever the reason it is certainly the earliest summer Swallow roost I have ever seen by some margin and shows there is still so much we don't actually know about many of our common birds.

Juvenile Swallow. All the juveniles had prominent yellow gape flanges like this bird indicating they had fledged fairly recently.

Ringing totals for Thursday evening (26/06/14): Linnet 3, Goldfinch 2, Blackbird 1, Whitethroat 3, Swallow 11.

Although Linnets were the original target I am just as pleased to have found such an early Swallow roost along with the general mix of birds ringed over the two evenings. It is still very early in the season yet so I may catch more Linnets later in the summer and through into the autumn as the number of juveniles in the population increases. I will be back to find out and I may even invest in one of those sensible hats to get some chemical free protection from the flies.

And more Swallows

The Swallow roost at Scotman's Flash continues to be the focus of our attention. John G went yesterday evening and caught 56 Swallows and 3 Sand Martins. I couldn't go yesterday due to work commitments but managed to fit in a session this evening. The weather didn't look too promising at first and there was the odd spot of rain as I set up but smart phones, weather apps and rainfall radar make all the difference to the decision making process these days.

John had estimated around 450 birds in the roost last night but it was more like 1,500 birds tonight. The roost had attracted the attention of a male Sparrowhawk which made the birds reluctant to settle. The Sparrowhawk bounced out of the net on one occasion but didn't the second time. The final ringing total for this evening was Sparrowhawk 1, Reed Warbler 3, Sand Martin 1, Swallow 68 plus 2 controls (birds ringed elsewhere).

The forecast isn't too good for Thursday but Friday evening is looking promising.

More moths, birds and bites

On Friday evening I went back to the reedbed site to put out the actinic moth trap for National Moth Night and to ring more Swallows at the roost. I had been on my own for the two previous Swallow roost sessions but this time I was joined by Mike C, a trainee ringer. We caught 73 Swallows which was a comfortable number to deal with and I limited the catch by careful use of the MP3 lures.
 
The next morning I was back there at daft o'clock to check the moth trap and to join John G for an early morning ringing session. The moth trap produced a smaller catch than I expected especially as I had placed it near a patch of Purple Loosestrife that was in full flower. However, the catch included a few reedbed / wetland specialists that I don't or rarely catch at home.
 

Brown-veined Wainscot (Archanara dissolute)

 

Wainscot Veneer aka Reed Veneer (Chilo phragmitella)

 

Silky Wainscot (Chilodes maritimus)
Typical form left and form 'wismariensis' right.

The final tally was 8 Brown-veined Wainscot, 1 Chilo Phragmitella, 5 Silky Wainscot, 3 Small China-mark, 2 Small Phoenix, 2 Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet, 3 Oblique Carpet, 1 Pale Prominent, 1 Currant Pug and 1 as yet to be identified micro moth.
 

Pale Prominent (Pterostoma palpina).
This species has amazing camouflage and looks like a fragment of dead wood.
It is one species that appears to be expanding its range northwards.

 

Oblique Carpet (Orthonama vittata)
I had to photograph this species in a plastic pot hence the less than sharp photo.

We had 8 nets up and catching was what you might call slow but steady. The target species were Reed and Sedge Warblers and they made up just over half the catch. There doesn't seem to be any evidence of late nesting by Reed Warblers as often happens and no retrap adults were caught. Mixed flocks of tits and warblers, as would be expected at this time of year, were conspicuous by their absence. Catching tailed off by 9:30 am and we took the nets down shortly after as we planned to come back in the evening for another ringing session at the Swallow roost.
 

adult Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus)

 

juvenile Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Conditions were near perfect when we returned in the evening with generally overcast conditions and a very light breeze. John had got there ahead of me and had put up 3 nets. A few Swallows were already around so we set the MP3 players and waited for the rest to arrive. As the number of birds started to build up it as obvious that there were a lot more Sand Martins in the flock than there had been or we normally see. This increase in Sand Martins was reflected in the evening ringing total of 103 Swallows and 25 Sand Martins.

juvenile Sand Martin (Riparia riparia)

One less than pleasant consequence of all the recent ringing activity has been the number of insect bites I have suffered despite the use of repellents. I don't mind a few mosquito bites and don't react adversely to them but some little biting black flies took a real liking to an area of skin near my right elbow. They left a number of painful lumps and the area became inflamed and hot to the touch for a few hours. Eventually I managed to get a photo of one of the little sods but have yet to identify it to a species but it is probably one of the Blackflies (Simuliidae).

Blackfly (simulium spp?)

 

Ouch

Ringing totals for 10/08/13 with retraps in brackets.
Reed Warbler  19 (1)
Sedge Warbler  8 (1)
Reed Bunting  6
Willow Warbler  10
Chiffchaff  1
Whitethroat  1
Blackcap  3
Willow Tit  2
Wren  1
Blue Tit  (1)
Swallow  103
Sand Martin  25
Total  182