And so a New Year begins.........

I decided to start the first day of the New Year looking for Waxwings. I didn’t want to follow up on confirmed sightings and elected to try and find some more of these stunning birds for myself. I knew the roads would be quiet, early on at least, which would allow for some very dodgy driving as I scanned gardens and roadside trees with even more effort than I have been doing in recent weeks. I suppose you could have called it a form of kerb crawling at times. At least I had binoculars and a camera on the front seat had I been stopped and it was around 9am after all.

I didn’t just drive round streets in an aimless fashion but headed for areas that had rowans and other berry baring bushes close by. I eventually headed to one group of rowans that had been holding a good crop of red berries the last time I checked them out. There were slightly fewer berries compared with my previous visit but still a very good crop given the date and the influx. I waited for a while but no Waxwings appeared; only a pair of Mistle Thrushes came to feed and then not for long so my year started with a failure.

 

Mistle Thrush (Turdus viscivorus)

I called in at Pennington Flash next to check out the Black-headed Gulls for rings. A frustrating hour or so eventually resulted in the ring numbers of 2 Lithuanian and 1 British ringed bird being read and photographed. The British ringed bird had been recorded at Pennington Flash before in both 2005 and 2010 and was originally ringed as a chick in Gloucestershire in June 2005.

There were more people about than expected for the time of day, a few had unruly dogs and others unruly children and were the cause of some of the frustration given they could see what I was trying to do. However, most of the frustration was caused by the birds themselves as they repeatedly presented me with the same face of their ring or they were obscured by other birds when they turned to show another face of their ring.

Anyway with 3 controls in the bag or rather the camera I headed for home. I called in at Three Sisters on route to check out the gulls there but some muppet was throwing bread at the birds rather than to them. I knew there would be no chance of reading any rings with that behaviour so I quickly continued the journey home.

After a quick coffee I went to the feeding station at Longshaw to top up the feed. The food had been hammered since my last visit; Greenfinches, Chaffinches and Bramblings quickly returned as I walked away but I also think Woodpigeons have started to take advantage of an easy meal judging by the droppings that were present. I am spending between £20 and £30 a week on bird food at the moment or that is what I will admit to and I don’t really want Woodpigeons putting the bill up but it can’t be helped if they do.

A quick check of the gulls on Orrell Water Park and the German ringed bird put in yet another appearance for the camera. I would have checked through all of the birds but for some more inconsiderate dog walkers that +++nk** ###u== be @+## & ---- off.

 

The day was still not done so I headed up to Haigh to top up the feeders there. Again they had been hammered despite the mild conditions and I didn’t have enough food with me to fill all the feeders to the top. It was quite late in the afternoon by this time so there weren’t many birds feeding but at least 48 Goldfinches were gathered nearby.

One day down and only another 364 to go. The weather looks reasonably good for mist-netting later in the week and I hope to take full advantage of it.

 

And finally the first signs of spring were noted today with plenty of hazel catkins on show and some willow catkins budding.

 

Hazel catkins 01/01/2013

Last and first.

I didn’t go in for the New Year celebration thing too much as I plan to get out and about early. I don’t need a New Year as a reason to over indulge anyway.

It may be a bit too windy to go ringing but I intend to make the most of what should be a fairly dry day. 2013 came in under a fairly clear sky in this neck of the woods and the photograph below was one of my last of 2012. I hope to get a few pictures worth posting later today and many more through the rest of 2013.

 

Rain rain go away...............

I am getting really hacked off with all the rain now. I haven’t been flooded like some unfortunate folk so I shouldn’t complain but enough is enough. I seem to have spent more time drying my gear out rather than being out in the field over the last couple of weeks.

I managed to get out ringing yesterday afternoon and again this morning but both sessions were curtailed by the wet stuff. If I ever win the lottery I will move or build a covered ringing site or both. Well there is always dreaming but an open sided barn type construction with clear polycarbonate roof sheeting should work or is that the rain fever starting to manifest itself.

Mobile phone weather apps are really useful and the nets are furled in good time but I have got wet packing up and walking home or loading the car on the last two outings.

I had to top up the feeders at Haigh yesterday and decided to put up a two nets for a couple of hours or so. Totals of 26 new birds and 21 retraps were recorded before the rain intervened and included 5 new Bramblings with Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blackbird and Goldfinch making up much of the remainder of new birds.

This morning I went to the baited site at Longshaw and put up a 60ft and 40ft net. Plenty of birds arrived shortly after first light but many are ringed and clearly know how to avoid the nets. However, I still caught 23 new birds and 10 retraps along with 2 controls before the forecast rain arrived. This included another 7 new Bramblings and brought the total ringed since early November to 175. The two controls were a Greenfinch and a Long-tailed Tit that, judging by their ring numbers, will have been ringed 3 kilometres away at Kings Moss on the other side of Billinge Hill.

 

Adult male Brambling caught today. How far has this one travelled?

There may be some sunshine Saturday afternoon but otherwise the weather looks fairly grim; time to get out the multivitamins, hit the sunbeds or leave the country.

Home grown Willow Tit retrapped today but still a cracker.

Ringing totals for 26^th and 27^th December (retraps in brackets)
 

Blackbird 4
Blue Tit 1 (6)
Brambling 12 (3)
Chaffinch 14 (1)
Bullfinch – (1)
Coal Tit 1
Goldfinch 2
Great Tit 2 (6)
Greenfinch 10 (7 +1 control)
Willow Tit - (1)
Great-spotted Woodpecker – (1)
Robin 2 (2)
Long-tailed Tit 1 (3 + 1 control)
Totals: 49 new birds, 31 retraps and 2 controls

A 7 bird roast

I was up well before first light to put the turkey in the oven as it would take around four and half hours to cook and would need resting for at least two hours on top of that. It was calm, quite mild and very overcast as dawn broke so I decided to put a net up in the garden given I was going to be tied to the kitchen for a good while.

The feeders were very quiet but I still managed to catch 5 new Goldfinches and 2 new Starlings. There wasn’t any sign of the Blackcap today but the mild conditions could have contributed to that or it may have simply sneaked in and out when I wasn’t looking which was most of the time.

 

One of the 7 birds ringed, Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Another of the 7 birds ringed, Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Some light rain eventually developed and caused me to take the net down around midday. Seven new birds isn’t a bad total for the garden and the 5 new Goldfinches brought the total ringed in the garden to 142 with 140 having been ringed since early September. This is my best ever total for Goldfinches ringed in the garden. The turkey didn’t turn out too bad either.

 

The only bird roasted, Turkey (Bogus standardus) but it was covered in bacon and stuffed with onion, lemon, apple and orange. The onions were then used with the meat juices to make the gravy and so on......

I will need to top up the feeders at Haigh tomorrow and may put up one or two nets if the weather allows. Hopefully there will be a chance for a few more Bramblings before the year is out.

That time of year

Merry Christmas or should I say a soggy Christmas with even more rain or showers forecast for the next ten days, yes ten days. Not a single dry day in the forecast and precious little sunshine but I will try and grab every opportunity to go out birding or ringing that I can.

Anyway I would like to wish anyone who follows or stumbles across this blog a very merry Christmas (not that I am a God botherer) and more importantly better weather for the 2013; whatever that means for you in the blogosphere.

 

 

A dry day for a change

Weather wise it has been another miserable week. Yesterday was a complete washout so a dry day with sunshine was very welcome to say the least. It was too windy for any mist-netting but it was just nice to see some blue sky for a change.



Blue sky and some Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

I was having a cup of coffee when I noticed a male Blackcap on one of the fat feeders in the front garden. I assumed it was the bird I had ringed 10 days ago but when I got my bins on it I could see it wasn’t ringed. Blackcaps can be quite acrobatic on feeders and this bird was no exception.

 

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

A few coffees later I walked over the road to Orrell Water Park to check out the Black-headed Gulls for rings. About 100 gulls were present but only one was wearing a ring and that was the German ringed bird that I have photographed several times since late October.



German ringed Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)



Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)
I can't resist taking the odd flight shot.

I needed to do some Christmas errands in the afternoon and also top up the feeders at Haigh so I decided to call in at Three Sisters on route to check out the Black-headed Gulls there. There were about 120 gulls on the small lake and I soon spotted a bird with a metal ring when I started to feed them. I would have got the number quite quickly but for other people feeding the birds in the water rather than on the bank. Anyway around 50 shots and a loaf later I had the full number and address photographed. It was a Swedish ringed bird.

 

Swedish ringed Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus)



Swedish ringed Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus). It is not always easy to get shots all round the ring especially on a windy day when birds birds face the wind most of the time,

'Net shy' finches rule the day

I met up with John G at 7:00am this morning and we walked up to the ringing site at Longshaw. We had 3 nets up by first light and waited for the first birds to arrive. I had put out an MP3 lure playing Grey Wagtail as one had flown over at dawn on each of the last few ringing sessions. Like clockwork one came over, it dropped down to the lure and was caught.

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea)

A few Blackbirds were attracted to the apples I had put out during the week and several were amongst the first birds to be caught. Plenty of Bramblings and Chaffinches started to arrive but seemed reluctant to settle. Conditions were perfect at first but some mist and fog started to develop which didn’t help but it was obvious that the birds had the situation sussed anyway. Looking at the birds that perched in the tops of the willows it was obvious that a good proportion were already ringed.

It is not unusual for some birds to learn to avoid mist nets and to become ‘net shy’, especially where there’s a fairly static population and a regular ringing routine using the same net rides. It can be counteracted to some degree by leaving bigger intervals between ringing sessions, changing net positions and times of visits and I will be doing this over the coming weeks now that catching rates have fallen off.

Whilst we didn’t get the numbers we had hoped for we did get some variety with the aforementioned Grey Wagtail, a Reed Bunting and a very benign Jay that didn’t take any chunks out of us like they usually do. A few finches did get caught towards the end of the session including 4 new Bramblings and a control Greenfinch (ringed elsewhere) ring number starting TT09___.

male Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Jay (Garrulus glandarius), a relatively benign individual but if looks could kill......

Ringing totals with retraps in brackets.
Blackbird 6 (1)
Grey Wagtail 1
Jay 1
Reed Bunting 1
Chaffinch 5 (1)
Brambling 4 (1)
Great Tit 2 - (1)
Greenfinch 1 (1 control)
Blue Tit (4)
Dunnock – (3)
Robin – (1)
Total 21 new birds, 12 retraps and 1 control.

I ventured onto Orrell Water Park in the afternoon to check out the gulls. There were plenty of Black-headed Gulls but only one ringed bird and that was the German ringed bird that I have recorded several times now.

 

On thin ice, Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus).

Black-headed Gulls (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in action.