More Goldcrests on the move.

There was a brief lull in the unsettled weather this morning so I headed up to Billinge to make the most of the calmer conditions. I set 3 nets in the top willows but used a different net configuration to the one I have been using recently as the breeze was due to strengthen from mid morning. It would have been a fairly quiet session but there was a rush of birds about an hour after sunrise that boosted the totals and accounted for nearly half of the 50 birds that were caught over the course of the morning.

The catch was dominated by Goldcrests (19) and Chiffchaffs (14) as is often the case at this time of year and one of the Goldcrest, a 1cy female, was a control (a bird ringed elsewhere). I suspect this Goldcrest may have been ringed on Walney Island (68km NNW of Billinge) as the ring number was fairly close to one I have had from there before, although that is only an educated guess at this stage and I will only know its origin for certain when the recovery report comes through. The best of the rest were a Grey Wagtail, the first Willow Tit for a while and 2 Yellowhammers.

Control 1cy female Goldcrest HDB637

1cy Willow Tit

There were a few more Meadow Pipits moving overhead than there have been so far this autumn but it was still not much more than a trickle and petered out as the breeze picked up. A few Reed Buntings were also on the move early on and was the first obvious movement of that species this autumn and resulted in 3 being caught. However, it very much had the feel that the weather was holding up diurnal migrants and more would have been moving had the conditions been clearer and the breeze hadn't increased so much.

Ringing totals (retraps/controls in brackets) for 10/09/17 were: Goldcrest 17(2); Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 1; Willow Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 1; Chiffchaff 13(1); Willow Warbler 2; Blackcap 1; Wren 1; Grey Wagtail 1; Chaffinch 1; Greenfinch 2; Yellowhammer 2; Reed Bunting 3.

12th July 2017 - A bunch of Blackcaps

I only managed a 06:30 start at in the top willows at Billinge but I don't think I missed much as a result, at least I hope not. I set three 18m nets under clear blue skies and with only a light breeze blowing from the NE. The catching rate was better than expected for this early in the month and suggests it has been a fairly productive breeding season, especially when compared with the last couple of years. I packed up at 11:00 as the sun was shining on all the nets by then, making them much more visible, and before it got too hot.

The final total of 44 new birds and 2 retraps was mainly comprised of juveniles and included 32 warblers, 17 of which were Blackcaps. The two retraps were an adult male Blackcap that was originally ringed as a juvenile in July 2015 and a juvenile Blackcap that was ringed just over a week ago. The Blackcaps were mainly feeding on raspberries that grow wild near one of the net rides and most of them were caught in that particular net. This raspberry patch usually attracts and holds a good number of locally bred juveniles in July although 17 is more than I usually catch in one session.

Juvenile Blackcap

Juvenile Willow Tit.
Late June and July is the peak period for juvenile dispersal in this species and this is the 3rd to be ringed at the site in the last week.

Juvenile Treecreeper
July is also a time when the young of woodland species disperse and can be encountered well away from their usual habitat. 

There was some interest overhead with the highlight being a Crossbill that called loudly as it flew SW. A Siskin was also heard but not seen and a few Swallows seemed to be heading south. I wasn't in the best place to observe the Swallow movement but small groups appeared to motoring south from time to time; they certainly weren't the feeding flights of the local breeders.

Ringing totals for 12/07/17 (retraps in brackets) were: Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 2; Willow Tit 1; Goldcrest 1; Chiffchaff 5; Willow Warbler 10; Blackcap 15 (2); Treecreeper 1; Wren 1; Goldfinch 6.

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.

A few more Tree Pipits

It was back to early starts at Billinge yesterday following a break that had been enforced by wet and windy weather. The first Tree Pipit was seen heading south at sunrise and the morning was punctuated by the calls of others passing over. A total of 19 were logged making it the best count of the autumn so far. Unfortunately a better movement didn't translate into more being caught and only 2 were ringed.

Tree Pipit

Willow Warblers put in a reasonable showing with 11 ringed but both Chiffchaff and Blackcap were present in lower numbers than is usual for late August. Blackcaps have been thin on the ground throughout August, after a very good showing in July, and some other ringers are also reporting lower numbers of Blackcaps than expected at their sites. It will interesting to see how the season pans out for this species.

Blackcap

Coal Tits are starting to get more vocal and mobile now and they can give the impression of being on passage but most probably don't go very far. The supporting cast of less frequently caught species included another Willow Tit (6th of the year) and more surprisingly another Nuthatch (3rd of the year).

Male Coal Tit

Willow Tit

Nuthatch

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 23rd August 2016 were: Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 2 (2); Coal Tit 2; Willow Tit 1; Chiffchaff 1 (1); Willow Warbler 11; Blackcap 3; Whitethroat 2; Nuthatch 1; Robin 1; Tree Pipit 2; Chaffinch 7; Bullfinch 1; Reed Bunting 1. Total 37 new birds ad 6 retraps.

This morning started off a bit breezier than expected and it forced me to set the nets in a different configuration and further apart than usual to get the best shelter from the north westerly breeze. The extra walking between the nets and rapidly rising temperature made for a real Betty Swollocks of a ringing session. The breeze did drop off a bit as the morning went on but by the time it did it wasn't worth moving any of the nets back to the usual setup so I just had to sweat. 

There were fewer Tree Pipits on the move with a total of 10 recorded but more found their way into the nets and 5 were caught. It seems the Tree Pipit gods have limited me to a maximum catch of 5 in any one session this autumn, regardless of how many are moving through or how much effort I put in. That is the way it goes sometimes but I have still managed to ring 38 so far this month and I will keep up the effort until passage fizzles out.

Tree Pipit

The remainder of the catch didn't include any real surprises although the juvenile Tree Sparrow is fairly unusual if not unprecedented for the site. Small parties of Tree Sparrows are occasionally recorded passing over in autumn but they are rarely tempted to drop in.

Juvenile Tree Sparrow

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 24th August 2016 were: Goldcrest 2; Great Tit 2; Chiffchaff 4 (1); Willow Warbler 7; Blackcap 4 (1); Whitethroat 3; Blackbird 1; Song Thrush 2; Dunnock 1; Tree Sparrow 1; Tree Pipit 5; Chaffinch 8; Total 40 new birds and 2 retraps.

Billinge: 15th to 18th August 2016

Four similar sessions at Billinge on consecutive mornings produced smaller catches than of late. The number of Willow Warblers moving through the site has dropped markedly compared to the highs of last week and was largely responsible for the lower totals.

Willow Warblers - adult left and first year right. Adults generally have whiter bellies than first year birds but ageing this species also involves checking the wear and shape of the tail feathers.

The main target species was Tree Pipit and although 15 were ringed over the four mornings this was less than expected. The passage of this species usually peaks at the site in mid August but has turned out to be weaker than in previous years so far. It remains to be seen how things will turn out and hopefully there will be some good movements to come.

Tree Pipit

Robin is a species that doesn't get mentioned in this blog very often but one ringed on the 15th and another 3 on the 17th hinted at the dispersal and passage that will be a feature of September. The site doesn't hold many breeding pairs or wintering individuals, especially in the vicinity of the net rides, so the majority of birds caught are dispersing or on passage.

Less frequently caught species included a Nuthatch (the 2nd of the year), a Willow Tit (the 5th individual of the year but only the 2nd juvenile of the autumn) and a Reed Warbler (the 5th of the autumn with the previous 4 being in late July).

First year Willow Tit.

A view of the underside of the Willow Tit's tail and included for those interested in separating Willow Tit and Marsh Tit in the hand. It is all to do with the relative distances between the tips of the tail feathers and distance between the tip of the longest and shortest tail feather in particular. Willow Tits usually have more rounded corners to the tail and this results in more of the tips of the tail feathers being visible on the underside of the closed tail. This particular Willow Tit had a tail that was closer in appearance to that usually illustrated for Marsh Tit and demonstrates why separating these two species can be tricky for those who rarely handle them as they are more likely to consider such features.

First year Reed Warbler

Last but not least 2 Wood Pigeon nestlings were ringed on the 17th with the nest being noteworthy for being very low down in a hawthorn at just over a metre off the ground. A similarly low nest was found in the same area at this time last year and it is tempting to conclude that the same pair may have been involved in each case.

Combined ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 15th to 18th August 2016 were: Woodpigeon 2 pulli; Goldcrest 2; Blue Tit 4 (1); Great Tit 3; Coal Tit 2; Willow Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 3 (3); Chiffchaff 6 (1); Willow Warbler 29; Blackcap 3; Reed Warbler 1; Nuthatch 1; Wren 1; Robin 4; Dunnock 1; Tree Pipit 15; Chaffinch 8; Linnet 9; Yellowhammer 1; Reed Bunting 2. Total 99 new birds and 6 retraps.

Billinge: 1st August 2016

A somewhat belated post but hopefully still of interest. The new month started much as last month ended with a session at Billinge producing a decent total of 36 new birds and 3 retraps. Once again Willow Warblers were the most numerous species and they accounted for nearly half the total with 15 new birds and 3 retraps. I don't know of any other ringing site in the area where Willow Warblers can still be caught in such good numbers and can also match Chiffchaff in the ringing totals at the end of the season, give or take a few. Why Willow Warblers occur at Billinge in such good numbers is a bit of a mystery but the combination of the habitats, topography and elevation of the area clearly play a part in attracting and funneling Willow Warblers and a several other migrant species through the site.

Adult Willow Warbler, some of the adults have completed their moult like this bird.

The attraction the site has for birds on passage was also demonstrated by the capture of another 2 Sedge Warblers, this time an adult and a juvenile. If the occurrences of Sedge Warblers only involved the occasional juvenile it could be simply put down to post juvenile dispersal which is fairly random in direction initially and sometimes leads to inexperienced birds being out of habitat. The fact that I catch more than just the odd one and adults as well a juveniles suggests there is more to it than that.

Juvenile Sedge Warbler

Interestingly 5 of the 15 Sedge Warblers ringed over the last 3 autumns have been adults and this is a higher proportion of adults than you would expect to catch at a lowland reedbed site in autumn. There is still time to catch a few more Sedges this autumn so that proportion could change but if I just use the ages of the 10 birds caught in autumn 2014 and 2015 adults still made up 30% of the total. I know it is only a very small sample size but it is still intriguing that such a high proportion of adults is involved, especially as the migration of adult Sedge Warblers is known to be more direct and involve fewer stops compared to that of juveniles. 

Adult Sedge Warbler

It was another very quiet day on the tit front but 2 or 3 Willow Tits were heard and one was caught and ringed.

Juvenile Willow Tit, the first to be ringed this autumn.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 1st August 2015 were: Willow Warbler 15 (3); Chiffchaff 5; Sedge Warbler 2; Blackcap 4; Whitethroat 2; Dunnock 1; Robin 1; Willow Tit 1; Blue Tit 1; Goldfinch 3; Lesser Redpoll 1.

8th April 2016: Siskin Surge

Well I didn't have long to wait to find out which way Siskin numbers were going to go as I caught 41 in the garden today, so the simple answer is up and significantly so. I actually went to Billinge first thing this morning and put a few nets up there but I only caught 6 birds as there was nothing moving, apart from 1 Swallow north (I had been hoping for some Redpoll passage), so I packed up early and a good job too. I got home just before 10am and set the usual 6m net in the garden with the first Siskins being caught as soon as I stepped away from the net. I furled the net just before noon having caught total of 21 new and 2 retrap Siskins which is an excellent total for the garden.

I opened the net again for an hour late in the afternoon and caught another 14 new birds and 4 retraps bringing the day total to 35 new birds and 6 retraps which is a record Siskin catch for the garden. There was a broad mix of weights with some fairly light birds that were carrying very little fat but at the other end of the scale there were some whoppers including one at 17.2g which is the heaviest I have caught this spring and 5.5g heavier than today's lightest bird.

Another fine adult male Siskin

I also received two recovery reports for Siskins from the BTO during the afternoon. Unfortunately both birds had collided with windows but then the finding details provide useful information on the hazards birds face in addition to the information on movements.

Siskin S144588               28/02/2016 Orrell, Greater Manchester
Freshly dead (hit glass)   05/04/2016 Lochearnhead, Stirling, Perthshire, 334km NNW, duration 37 days

Siskin S144699               13/03/2016  Orrell, Greater Manchester
Freshly dead (hit glass)   29.03/2016 Morpeth, Northumberland, 195km NNE, duration 16 days

Recovery map to be added here in due course.

While this morning's visit to Billnge didn't produce many birds it wasn't without interest. I did catch my first 2 Willow Warblers of the year with one of them being a retrap from last year. A new adult Willow Tit was worth the visit on its own, such is the scarcity of the species these days, and a standardised set of photographs and extra measurements were taken as I usually do for this species. The other birds caught were a 2 new Chiffchaff and a new Linnet so not a bad little catch really and a good start to what turned out to be a brilliant day.

Willow Warbler 08/04/2016

Willow Tit 08/04/2016

Female Linnet 08/04/2016

9th April 2016: Siskin Update
I didn't think I would be able to open the net in the garden as it was too sunny but increasing cloud cover provided two brief opportunities in the afternoon (there was a useless sunny slot in between that caused me to furl the net for a couple of hours). There were plenty of Siskins around and another 23 were caught (20 new birds, 2 retraps and a control). The retraps didn't include any of the birds ringed yesterday and one had been ringed in the garden on 29/03/16 and the other 2km away at Billinge Hill on 13/09/15. The latter being quite surprising as it is the second Billinge bird to turn up in the garden this month from only 19 ringed there last autumn. The control was a male and the ring was from a fairly old sequence (Y281---) so it will be interesting to see when and where it was ringed.

Mild and Miserable

The only slightly redeeming feature of the current run of mild and miserable weather is that my heating bills are much lower than usual as a result. Opportunities to get out have been limited and when I have been out the birding has been uninspiring to say the least. The feeders in the garden are not attracting much either so on the odd occasion I have been able to put a net up in the garden it has only resulted in a handful of birds being caught.

I went to the farmland site at Crawford yesterday to see if anything was around and to start putting out some seed. This was my first visit in a good while so I didn't know what to expect but I decided to put up a couple of nets as the wind was fairly light. There were no berries on the hedges but I managed to lure in a couple of Fieldfares and caught one of them. I didn't see or hear a single Redwing in the 3 hours I was there and only saw 12 Fieldfares in total with 10 of those flying over after I had packed up. Other birds caught were a new and a retrap Goldcrest, 2 new and a retrap Great Tit, 2 new and a control Blue Tit. There were a couple of nice if not unusual sightings with around 1500 Pink-footed Geese flying between the fields nearby and a party of 6 Corn Buntings doing likewise. I still haven't managed to attract Corn Buntings to the feeding site and thankfully they still don't seem to fall victim to the hunger gap in the latter part of the winter but better my loss than theirs.

Yesterday's female Fieldfare.

The wind was still relatively light this morning so I decided to check out a site close to home to see if it was holding any Goldcrests. A couple of hours with an 18ft net and audio lures produced 4 Goldcrest, a Robin, a Coal Tit and a Willow Tit. The number of Goldcrests was pretty much as expected given that we haven't experienced any hard weather yet. The influx of continental Goldcrest doesn't appear to have left many extra birds wintering in this area so most seem to have moved further south. The Coal Tit was interesting in that it had a bluer mantle than any other I have handled locally although I don't think it was a continental bird; as in most things intermediates do occur but it was interesting nevertheless. The Willow Tit was not unusual for the site but was the first I have caught for a while. Their success in these parts seems to owe much to past land reclamation schemes and associated tree planting along with some natural greening of brownfield sites. It will be interesting to see if their populations hold as the trees on these sites mature.

This morning's Willow Tit.

Small catches are the norm at the moment and seem likely to stay that way for the remainder of the year. Hopefully things will brighten up and pick up in the new year.

Crawford - 6th December 2014

It has been quite a while since I have done any ringing at the farmland site at Crawford, near Upholland but an afternoon visit a few days ago revealed a good number of thrushes feeding in the hedges. The hawthorns at the site still have a good crop of berries but they may not last for much longer if we get a few frosts and the birds are forced to feed on them even more. I also dropped off a few apples that I had brought along with me with a view to attracting the birds to the hawthorns by the net rides. 

I returned early this morning and set up a couple of nets just as it was coming light. I wasn't sure how many birds would turn up but I didn't have to wait long before the first small flocks of Redwings and Fieldfares arrived through the gloom. It turned out to be a very productive session considering I was only using a 12m and 18m net with the majority of birds being caught in the first couple of hours.

The Redwings frequently gathered in a large willow before dropping down to the hawthorns to feed.

Take off

The 21 Redwings ringed today brought the total for this autumn/winter to 741.

One of the three Fieldfare caught this morning.

This cracking adult male Blackbird was almost certainly a continental bird given its wing length of 142mm. Blackbirds from the more sedentary British population typically have a much shorter wing length.

It also had a good sized bill.

While thrushes made up the bulk of the catch some additional interest was provided by a few Greenfinches including 2 controls (birds ringed elsewhere), a Willow Tit, a Tree Sparrow and a Yellowhammer. The Willow Tit was unexpected as the site doesn't really have enough suitable habitat for the species. I have caught one there previously (post here) but that was in June when the juveniles are dispersing and can often be found well away from their usual haunts.

Willow Tit 06/12/14

The Willow Tit had a pale spot along the cutting edge of  the upper mandible below the nostril and this can be seen in both photographs. This is usually a feature of Marsh Tits but a small proportion of Willow Tits (around 4%) can also display a similar pale spot. Interestingly the only other Willow Tit caught at this site also had an almost identical pale spot. Perhaps they are related in some way and they could even be siblings if such features are inherited; pure speculation of course but it seems to be a bit too much of a coincidence given so few Willow Tits display this feature. Richard Broughton's paper on separating Willow and Marsh Tits can be found here.

Ringing totals for 06/12/14 were: Redwing 21; Fieldfare 3; Blackbird 4; Robin 1; Blue Tit 1; Willow Tit 1; Greenfinch 6 (+2 controls); Tree Sparrow 1; Yellowhammer 1. Total 38 new birds and 2 controls.

Tree Sparrow

24th to 26th July

The weather has been favourable for ringing over the past few days and the fine conditions with light winds at either end of the day have helped produce some very good catches. I have managed to fit in 2 evening and 2 morning sessions over the past 3 days and was tempted to put in that amount of effort because of the good weather and number of birds that have been about.

There appears to have been a bit of an influx of Willow Warblers which has supplemented the locally bred birds and resulted in a good number being caught. This influx of Willow Warblers has coincided with arrivals on Bardsey Island over the same period and suggests there has been a large scale movement down the west coast. Willow Warblers have declined markedly in recent years and have been outnumbered by Chiffchaffs in the ringing totals for quite a few years now so it is good to see them show some signs of a resurgence. Evidence of migration also came in the form of a Reed Warbler which was well away from the nearest breeding habitat along with 2 adult Garden Warblers which were similarly on the move.

A freshly moulted adult Willow Warbler (left) and juvenile right showing the difference in the colour of the underparts. Adults are generally much whiter below whereas juveniles have extensive lemon yellow underparts.

Juvenile Reed Warbler 26/07/14

Adult Garden Warbler 26/07/14. 

Garden Warblers don't breed at any of my ringing sites and only occur as a
scarce and less than annual passage migrant.

Goldfinch family parties are starting to merge into flocks and although most of the birds caught have been juveniles there have been a few adults which I have photographed to add to my sexing guide update or may even result in a new post. Being able to confirm the sex of the birds from the presence of a good brood patch or the shape of the cloaca has been really useful; I now have some photographs that show how much overlap there is in the plumage features of the sexes especially with regard to the extent of the red on the face.

Female left and male right. The slight difference in colour cast was caused by the lighting conditions with the female caught on a dull evening and the male caught in bright morning sunshine. The female clearly has an extensive red face mask that extends well behind the eye and bit further than that of the male. There is not a lot of difference in the lesser coverts although the fringes of the male's lesser coverts were golden (brownish-yellow) and the fringes of the female's were brown and a bit more extensive. In terms of plumage features the nasal hairs stand out as being the most different with the female's being white and the males being black.

There were roughly between 100 and 300 Swallows using the roost but some birds only dropped in late and from some height making numbers hard to gauge. These late arrivals were presumably birds that had been on the move and were looking for a roost to join.  At the other end of the scale in terms of numbers I am still catching the odd wandering juvenile Willow Tit with another ringed this morning. All in all it has been a very interesting and productive few days especially when you consider that I only used 2 nets for each session.

Ringing Totals 24th to 26th July (retraps in brackets).
Willow Warbler 32 (3)
Chiffchaff 10 (1)
Blackcap 10
Whitethroat 5
Garden Warbler 2
Reed Warbler 1
Goldcrest 3
Goldfinch 24
Linnet 8 (1)
Chaffinch 5
Reed Bunting 2
Yellowhammer 1
Swallow 41
Blackbird 3
Long-tailed Tit 2
Great Tit 1
Willow Tit 1
Total 151 (5)

18th to 24th June summary

It has been a week since my last post and I have to say that my efforts over that period have been far more productive and interesting than those of the England football team. I have put in what you might call a solid performance to use football parlance and have ringed 88 new birds of 18 species over the last seven days.

It hasn't all been ringing though as I have also found a few nests and there have been some interesting observations along the way. Best of the bird sightings were an adult Hobby over Crawford (22nd) and a few Curlews moving back towards the coast over Billinge Hill (one on 23rd and four on 24th). Below are some random photographs from the past few days that make for much better viewing than the football did, well they do for me at least.

The weather has been glorious this last week and this female Common Toad risked being caught out in the sun while crossing a track. I presume she was trying to find damper and cooler ground on what was a very hot afternoon.

I don't catch Goldcrests in juvenile plumage very often and I always think they look a bit odd without the yellow/orange crest. This was one of 4 caught together with an adult at the site near Upholland and indicates that they are breeding nearby.

OK it is only a bramble patch but this one held the Linnets nest shown in the photo below.

This is the second nest of a pair of Linnets that fledged a brood in early June. I will check the nest at weekly intervals to see how this breeding attempt goes.

This is the first Tree Sparrow I have ringed this year and was also caught at the new ringing site near Upholland. I have seen or heard a few Tree Sparrows on every visit to this site so I will hopefully catch a few more.

Treecreepers have an interesting shape to their eyes and this juvenile prompted me to take a closer look. The reason for the elongated shape only becomes apparent when you look at it from the back as if it was climbing up a tree. The shape and position of the eye allows them to see over their backs as you can see in the pictures below.

This bird may have its back to me but it can see me with both eyes without having to turn its head. This has obvious advantages for a bird that spends most of its life shuffling up trees.

Most predators are going to try and attack a Treecreeper from behind and this closeup shows the reason for that eye shape.  If you can see the eyes the eyes can see you and this adaptation clearly gives the bird the extra peripheral vision that it needs to help it try and avoid predators. I have noticed the elongated eye shape on Treecreepers before but this is the first time I have taken a closer look and worked out why.

A few more Willow Tits have found their way into the nets. This juvenile shows that diagnostic wing panel on the secondaries really well.

When I first spotted this nest I didn't think it was occupied. In fact it looked like an old nest that was starting to fall apart. Then I noticed a few white splashes below the nest so I decided to climb up and have a look. You can't tell from the photo but it was only about 20ft up in a willow.

It was well worth the climb as I found myself face to face with 5 Sparrowhawk chicks. From the ground the nest didn't look to be big enough for a Sparrowhawk and these 5 youngsters won't have much room as they grow. 

This Wood Pigeon has certainly gone out on a limb with this nest. There can't be much to hold it on there if anything at all. It just looked so out of place.

That gives you a flavour of my week, a good performance with plenty of interest and far more to marvel at than the sorry results from the England football team.

18th to 24th June Ringing Totals with retraps in brackets.
Blackcap  11
Whitethroat  4
Willow Warbler  6 (1)
Chiffchaff  4
Goldcrest  5
Meadow Pipit  2
Willow Tit  4 (1)
Blue Tit  4
Great Tit  7
Dunnock  4
Robin  3
Chaffinch  6
Greenfinch  5
Goldfinch  1
Tree Sparrow  1
Blackbird  1
Starling  19
Treecreeper  1
Total 88 (2)