Billinge: 17th & 18th July 2017

17th July
I am not getting any better at the early morning lark and only got to site at 7am. The weather was glorious and it was very warm from the off. I quickly set 3 nets in the top willows but there was distinct lack of warblers calling in the bushes which suggested there were fewer around compared to my last visit. On the other hand there had been a marked increase in the number of Goldfinches with at least 60 feeding on the knapweed in the vicinity of the net rides.

A total of 46 new birds were caught with all but one being juveniles. The single adult was a moulting female Willow Warbler. The ringing totals confirmed that there were fewer warblers around but this was offset by a good catch of Goldfinches. The biggest surprise was a near total absence of tits, not that I am complaining, with only 2 caught and hardly any others seen or heard.

Juvenile Goldfinch

One of the juvenile Goldfinches had white sub-terminal patches on the three outer tail feathers. These patches were once thought to have some age related significance and while the number of patches Goldfinches have varies between 1 and 3 the presence of 3 was considered to be something that was only found in some adults. Juveniles like the bird above clearly show that can't be the case and serve as a useful reminder. A more recent study suggested birds with 3 patches were always males and while males may have more and or bigger patches on average there is more overlap than that study found and I have caught females with 3. I am sure these tail patches have an important role as birds spread their tail and show them off when they do the clockwork like pivoting display but they are not the help we would like them to be when it comes to ageing and sexing Goldfinches in the hand.

Totals for 17/07/17 were: Goldcrest 1; Great Tit 1; Coal Tit 1; Chiffchaff 6; Willow Warbler 7; Blackcap 6; Wren 3;  Greenfinch 1; Goldfinch 20.


18th July
With thundery and then showery conditions forecast from mid-week I decided to fit in another visit and try the rides in the NE corner of the site. It was another very warm morning and the biting insects were really on form but it turned out to be very quiet on the bird front. The catching rate was really slow and I packed up at 10am, following 2 blank net rounds, and having only caught a total of 14 new birds in the earlier rounds.

Again there were hardly any tits around and warblers were also very thin on the ground for this part of the site. Tits are supposed to have had a reasonable breeding season but I haven't seen or heard any sizeable tit flocks as yet but that doesn't mean they are not out there, somewhere. It was just one of those mornings that produced a below par catch, as happens now again, and it will be a while before we really know what sort of breeding season it has been overall.

One of the Dunnocks was a recently fledged juvenile.

The flight feathers were not fully grown but it could fly quite well and was caught in the top panel of a mist net.

It will still be dependant on its parents for food so it was released very close to where it was caught.

Overhead there was no movement to speak of but a single Yellow Wagtail, a scarce bird in this area these days, went south as did a Siskin.

Ringing totals for 18/07/17 were: Goldcrest 3; Blue Tit 1; Chiffchaff 2; Willow Warbler 1; Blackcap 1; Wren 2;  Dunnock 2; Chaffinch 1; Bullfinch 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.

Warbler fest and House Martin surprise

I made a half-hearted attempt at getting up early yesterday morning and set the alarm for 05:30, after couple of snoozes I eventually got up and went to the site near Billinge and put up a couple of nets. It was a glorious morning with a light breeze and little in the way of cloud cover but on the down side the clegs and horse flies were out in abundance and certainly made their presence felt, literally.

It seemed fairly quiet at first with few birds calling but a steady stream of birds were caught and ringed over the next few hours. In fact it turned out to be a really good session considering I was only using 2 nets totalling 32m in length. Warblers made up the bulk of the 44 birds caught and included 14 Blackcaps, 7 Whitethroats, 9 Willow Warblers and 4 Chiffchaffs. Best of the rest were a Yellowhammer, a Willow Tit and 5 Goldfinches. The Willow Tit was a  retrap and one of the Goldfinches was already ringed but was one I had originally ringed in my garden, 2 km away, last December.

This juvenile Whitethroat had almost completed its post juvenile moult although most had only just started.

All the Blackcaps caught were juveniles like this one and had only just started their post juvenile moult so will be around for a few weeks yet.

Most of the juvenile Willow Warblers were close to completing their post juvenile moults like this bird and could be migrating south before the end of the month.

This adult female Chiffchaff  looks rather scruffy in its heavily worn plumage but had just started its complete moult. It will replace all of it feathers over the next few weeks before migrating.

Adult female Yellowhammer.

This male Goldfinch was originally ringed in my garden on 01/12/13.

As the wind remained light I went back to another part of the site in the evening to see if the Swallows were still roosting in the willows. I set up the usual 2 nets and waited for the birds to arrive. Before the Swallows started to gather another 5 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs and a Whitethroat were added to the day's warbler total. Swallows started to arrive as usual but in smaller numbers than there had been last week when up to 1,000 were present in the roost, around 150 Swallows eventually gathered and 28 were caught before they finally settled.

I had noticed a few House Martins amongst the Swallows just before they settled so I played House Martin song on one of the MP3 lures and 2 juveniles were caught almost immediately. This was the first time I have caught House Martins in a roost situation and it will be interesting to see if I can repeat this at this site. Very little is actually known about the roosting habits of House Martins, there is some suggestion they roost in trees and also that they roost on the wing. Both may be true at times but it is really difficult to establish what they actually do and nobody really seems to know for sure. It is certainly one of those mysteries I would like to help unravel.

A poor photo of one of the juvenile House Martins. Where do they roost?

Ringing totals for 21/07/14 with retraps in brackets.
Chiffchaff 6
Willow Warbler 12 (2)
Blackcap 14
Whitethroat 8
Goldfinch 4 (1)
Yellowhammer 1
Willow Tit (1)
Robin 2
Blackbird 1
Swallow 28
House Martin 2
Total 78 (4)