A walk in the park.

I took one of the dogs for a walk through Orrell Water Park and around some of the adjacent farmland at lunchtime and it produced some really good sightings. I had only just walked into the park when I came across 15 Goosanders on the top lake which is easily a record count for the site. There has been a really confiding bird recently and that one even comes out of the water for bread, but the species is normally a scarce and visitor (in low single figures) and they usually fly off as soon as there are a few people around. This flock was remarkably settled and didn't seem to mind numerous people and their dogs walking round what is only a very small lake. The light wasn't very good but I thought it was worth getting a few record shots so I nipped back home for the camera.

After getting a few photos I carried on through the park and around one of the adjacent fields that has been holding a small roost of Snipe. I only counted 9 but there could have been a few more as they can be difficult to see if they are well hunkered down. I first noticed that Snipe were roosting in this field on 12th November, when I counted 19, and a few days later (15th) there were at least 27. I have not seen Snipe roosting in a field of winter cereal before and it was even more surprising because there is a very popular dog walking route that goes around the perimeter of this field.

There are at least 9 Snipe in this photo, 6 in the little huddle and at least 3 others dotted about to the right.

A zoomed in view of the huddle taken from a closer vantage point.

After checking out the Snipe and throwing a ball for the dog for a while I headed back towards the park and home. The light was a little better as I was passing the top lake in the park and the Goosanders were still there so I took a few more photographs.

12 of the 15 Goosanders plus a Great Crested Grebe.

This Great Crested Grebe is a youngster from a late brood and semi-mingled with the Goosanders. It also indulged in a bit of display towards them at one point as can be seen from the sequence of shots below.

After photographing the Goosanders I decided to check out the gulls by the car park so I took the dog home and grabbed a few slices of bread. Somebody was already feeding the gulls and tame wildfowl as I approached and it wasn't long before I saw a familiar ringed bird. It was the German ringed Black-headed Gull that I first recorded on 27/10/2012 and has wintered at the site each year since. It is usually present from late October to late February and is often one of the first birds to come to any handouts.

German ringed Black-headed Gull.

IA141745    Black-headed Gull (ringed as an adult)
Ringed              29/04/2012  Bohmke und Werder, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany.
Photographed   01/12/2016 Orrell Water Park, Orrell, Greater Manchester. 1102 km W.





IA141745 wasn't the only ringed Black-headed Gull and I also noticed one with a green colour ring inscribed J360P. This is a bird I hadn't seen or photographed before and it also had a metal ring with number K06036 and Stavanger as part of the address, so it was obviously a Norwegian ringed bird. A did a quick search on the internet when I returned home and soon found the colour ringing scheme and a site where I could report the bird and access the ringing data as detailed below.

Norwegian ringed Black-headed Gull

K06036 (J36P)  Black-headed Gull (ringed as a chick)
Ringed              14/06/2015  Søndre Langåra, Frogn, Akershus & Oslo, Norway.
Photographed   01/12/2016  Orrell Water Park, Orrell, Greater Manchester. 1065 km SW.





I also photographed a colour-ringed Canada Goose. This bird was originally ringed in Cheshire and I have recorded it numerous times already this year.

Canada Goose C75

5260475   Canada Goose (ringed as a first year)
Ringed              05/09/2013  Baddiley Meres, Natwich, Cheshire.
Photographed   01/12/2016  Orrell Water Park, Orrell, Greater Manchester. 53 km N.

All in all not a bad set of sightings in the space of an hour or so.

Waxwing lyrical part 5

OK the titles of recent posts may be getting a little boring and repetitive but the prospect of Waxwings in the garden certainly isn't. The forecast was for a lovely sunny day today which isn't good for ringing in the garden as there is very little shade. Sunshine makes nets stand out and birds can easily see them in these conditions. However, I decided to put a net up for an hour or so from first light to try and catch a few more Siskins before the sunshine became a problem.

Sunshine makes mist nets really stand out.

I was entering a few records on Bird Track while keeping an eye on the net when I suddenly noticed Waxwings dropping into the apple filled tree in front of the window. The laptop was thrown to one side and I grabbed my binoculars. A quick count revealed there were 16 and they included a colour ringed bird and another with just a metal ring. All the birds were actively feeding and it seemed that the best apple was the one another bird was eating as the birds constantly swapped places. This made getting the colour ring combination quite difficult as the birds frequently moved or obscured each other.

I eventually noted the combination and then set about trying to get a few photographs. I didn't dare open a window as the birds were so close. Another problem was the window faces east so all the birds were back lit by the rising sun and there was some glare on the double glazing to contend with. I managed to get a few record shots including the colour ringed bird but I didn't manage to get any photos of the bird with just a metal ring.

Colour-ringed Waxwing metal/red right, red/red /lime green left in the garden today.
It will be interesting to see where this bird had been ringed and if there have been
 any previous sightings since then. Details will be given in a future post.

The birds fed for half an hour before departing; presumably flushed by some activity on the street or in a neighbours garden. I thought they would come back as there were plenty of apples but unfortunately they didn't. At least 16 birds know there is food in the garden now so hopefully they will return on a more regular basis as other food sources are depleted. The supply of apples isn't going to run out in my garden while there are Waxwings around and apples in the shops.

I have emailed Grampian Ringing Group with details of the colour ringed bird as it could be one they have ringed in the Aberdeen area.
 
As for today's ringing the totals were:
Siskin 4
Blackbird 2 (2)
Robin 1
Blue Tit 2
Long-tailed Tit 2 (1)
Totals 11 (3)
(retraps in brackets)