Black - caps and heads

There have been a few bits of interest in the last couple of days. A brief early morning ringing session at Billinge yesterday produced 2 Blackcaps and third was probably present. The Blackcaps were heard calling in the half light, just after I had set up, and must have dropped in overnight or that morning. They are most likely to be birds coming in for the winter given the date but as this has been an exceptional autumn in many ways I wouldn't like to say for sure. I haven't seen any Blackcaps there for 4 weeks with the last being ringed at the site on 20th October. The only other birds caught yesterday morning were 2 Redwings and a Blackbird although a female Sparrowhawk did escape from one of the nets just before I packed up and may have been responsible for keeping some birds away.

A photo of the second of the 2 male Blackcaps. A smudgy shot because of the low light.

This afternoon I nipped across to Orrell Water Park to check out the Black-headed Gulls for rings as a colour-ringed Black-headed Gull had been seen there on Sunday. I am currently in the process of obtaining the ringing details of that bird for the person who found it but I wanted to see if it was still present or if there were any others including returning birds. I didn't see the colour-ringed bird amongst the 70 or so Black-headed Gulls that were there but I soon saw a first winter bird with just a metal ring. I took a series of photographs and luckily it walked around enough for me to photograph the ring all round and get the full ring number. It was a British ring and I will post details of where and when it was ringed when I receive them in a few weeks time.

New kid on the block.

I thought that was the only ringed bird and I had run out of bread to attract them when I noticed an adult that was also wearing a metal ring. Luckily it turned to threaten another bird as I rattled off a series of shots so I was fairly sure I had got the full number. On reviewing the results on the back of the camera I quickly realised that I recognised the ring number. It was the German ringed bird, 1A141745 from the Hiddensee ringing scheme, that has wintered at Orrell Water Park for much of the previous 2 winters. I recorded it 14 times from 27/10/12 to 26/01/13 and 13 times from 27/10/13 to 26/01/14. It is interesting that the first and last recording dates in both of those winters were the same and it was an accurate reflection of its presence over those winters. I haven't been checking out the gulls as often this time so it could have been back for a while.

It was nice to see that this German ringed bird had returned for its 3rd winter. This bird was originally ringed as an adult on 29/04/12 at Bohmke und Werder, Mecklenburg - Vorpommern, Germany, 1,102 km to the east (see map below).

 Recovery map for  Black-headed Gull IA141745 

More of the same.

Although autumn migration has slowed down in the main there is still a good southward movement of thrushes and Fieldfares in particular. At Winter Hill, a well watched vis mig site 20km to the north east of Billinge, just short of 10,000 have been recorded moving south over the week including 1,465 today. At Billinge numbers of Fieldfare moving south were in the high hundreds on Monday and in the mid hundreds yesterday and today but I have been ringing on part of the site that has quite narrow viewing opportunities and observations were largely restricted to birds passing directly overhead so many others will have been missed. Smaller numbers of Redwings have also been moving south with 120+ on Monday and similar numbers yesterday and today. There haven't been been any obvious migrant Blackbirds during the week but there is still the odd migrant Song Thrush moving through with the Redwings.

Although Fieldfares were the most numerous by some margin it doesn't make them any easier to catch.

The number of Redwings ringed at Billinge this autumn now stands at 650.

This Redwing stood out as being a quite dark and is fairly close in appearance to some examples of the Icelandic race 'coburni' although possibly still falls a little short. A good series of images comparing the races can be seen here.

Other passage migrants have been limited to a few Siskins, Goldfinches and Chaffinches along with the occasional Brambling and Lesser Redpoll but some of these may have just been the local movements of wintering birds. Similary it is getting hard to sort out what Woodpigeons are doing with some seemingly moving north, others going south and flocks that are simply moving between roosts and feeding sites. On the other hand some winter visitors are still arriving and I logged my first Woodcock of the autumn for Billinge yesterday and it was followed by a sighting of two today. Lastly, there is still a little trickle of Goldcrests with one or two new birds being ringed on each visit. The number of Goldcrests ringed at the site this autumn has now reached 312 which is far more than I ever expected or have experienced at any other site in the area. 

There was no problem ageing and sexing this Lesser Redpoll as an adult male but they remain few and far between.

Ringing Totals
Monday 10th:  Redwing 14; Song Thrush 1; Lesser Redpoll 2; Goldcrest 2.
Saturday 15th:  Redwing 15; Song Thrush 1; Fieldfare 1; Goldcrest 1.
Sunday 16th:  Redwing 14; Fieldfare 3; Goldcrest 2.

Slowing down

There has been a marked slowing down in visible migration over Billinge in the last couple of days and it is beginning to feel a bit more like winter. A few thrushes were still on the move yesterday and today with Redwings in high double figures and Fieldfares in the low hundreds on both days. Finch movement has all but stopped with just a few Chaffinches and Goldfinches going south. Lesser Redpolls have never really got going this autumn and are still very scarce with none seen yesterday and only one today. Goldcrest numbers have also dropped off with only one or two now being encountered.

Fieldfares and Woodpigeon
I tried getting some shots of birds flying across the face of the moon this morning but I always seemed to be ringing a bird when the best opportunities came or at least that is my excuse.

Woodpigeon.

The number of birds ringed has reduced, as would be expected with fewer birds passing through, but the first Fieldfare of the autumn was caught yesterday and followed by another two today. It is always good to catch a Sparrowhawk as they don't find their way into the nets all that often so I was pleased to catch a male yesterday and doubly so to catch a different male today. The combined ringing totals for yesterday and today were: Redwing 15; Fieldfare 3; Goldcrest 2; Sparrowhawk 2; Lesser Redpoll 1.

Although Fieldfare are more numerous at the moment they are much more difficult to catch than Redwings.

Sparrowhawk number 1

Sparrowhawk number 2, a much more richly coloured bird.

It is that time of year when I start to check out the gulls on the local park to see if any are wearing rings. I didn't see any ringed gulls there yesterday but a fine drake Mandarin seems to have taken up residence.

Mandarin

The weather for next week looks quite interesting and there could still be a few more thrushes to come on the back of the south easterly winds that have been forecast. I may be being too optimistic about the forecast and the birds but I will be out and about now and again to find out.

more Redwings

There was another good movement of thrushes over Billinge this morning, much as expected, with Redwings being the dominant species. Birds were calling overhead through the darkness when I arrived at 6am to set up the nets but the bulk of the movement that could be seen was from shortly after first light to an hour after sunrise with flocks dropping in or passing over every few minutes. It was hard to gauge how many birds went through in that short time as I was kept busy ringing but I estimated it was close to 1,000 Redwings. There weren't many Fieldfares but two sizeable flocks of about 100 birds each went through.

The final wintering destination of this Redwing could be France or even further south in Spain and Portugal. 

After the initial rush a few flocks of Redwings continued to move through occasionally but all movement seemed to have stopped by 10:30. The morning saw another 55 Redwings caught and this session brought the total ringed over the last 3 weeks to 552 and there could be a good few more to come. There should still be some birds that have yet to work their way south from the northern isles and mainland Scotland and the weather looks favourable for another arrival of thrushes on Wednesday or Thursday, around the time of the full moon. If there is another arrival of thrushes it is likely to be mainly of Blackbirds and Fieldfares but a good number of Redwings could also be involved.

Only 2 other species were ringed this morning and these were Goldcrest and Coal Tit. The 9 new Goldcrests brought the number ringed at the site this autumn to a fairly impressive 297. Observations alone would not have revealed anything like that number of birds moving through the site nor the rate of turnover. Hopefully there will be some recoveries of these birds in due course to indicate their origins and destinations. At the other end of the scale the single Coal Tit brought the number of that species ringed at the site to a much more modest 22.

Goldcrest. There has been an almost continuous turnover of these birds at the site over the last two months.

Coal Tit

A very smart little bird.

Mostly thrushes.

Many of the thrushes that arrived on the east coast in large numbers on Thursday (one account here) worked their way across the country and produced a good movement over Billinge yesterday and today. Large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares flew south and probably numbered in the low thousands of each over the two days. There were few Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush and Blackbirds mixed in but I was too busy ringing much of the time to do any detailed counts.

Migrating Redwings. You really have to see a large movement of thrushes to appreciate the spectacle.

Fieldfares and Redwings heading south.

The ringing totals for yesterday weren't as high as might have been expected given the volume of birds passing through. This was probably due to the large numbers of Fieldfares as they are much less inclined to drop in than Redwings and many of the Redwings opted to continue on with the Fieldfares as a result. Ringing totals for 31/10/14 (retraps in brackets): Redwing 33, Song Thrush 2, Blackbird 1, Goldcrest 13 (1), Long-tailed Tit 4, Coal Tit 1.

This Common Buzzard was also heading south and could have been a migrant rather than a local bird.

The ringing totals for this morning saw a marked improvement over yesterday's and that was almost certainly because there were less Fiedfares going over and many of the thrush flocks were just comprised of Redwings. Ringing totals for 01/11/14: Redwing 64, Song Thrush 2, Blackbird 2, Goldcrest 4, Long-tailed Tit 2, Chiffchaff 1, Lesser Redpoll 2, Yellowhammer 2.

Redwing 01/10/14. Looking its best against a blue sky.

Quite a few of the Redwings have been carrying passengers in the form of ticks.

Song Thrush are under recorded as a migrant as they can be hard to pick out amongst the hoards of migrating Redwings. I have ringed 40 at Billinge since 7th October and that will be a fraction of the number that have moved through over that period. I have seen at least double the number I have ringed and many more will have slipped through unnoticed.

Two stunning adult male Yellowhammers found their way into the nets today.

Migrating Lesser Redpolls continue to be few and far between.

This late Chiffchaff was the first for a while. It was quite fat and presumably a departing summer visitor rather than being one that may winter.

Large numbers of thrushes arrived in some of the northern isles yesterday (link here) so there should be plenty more moving south over the next day or two. Anyway I will be up early in the morning to find out.

Mostly Woodies

A light easterly wind and generally clear skies led to a mass movement of Woodpigeons this morning. Around 7,000 went south over Billinge in the first few hours after sunrise and large movements were recorded at many other sites across the country. Some impressive numbers were recorded including 60,894 at Oxenhope, Bradford (W Yorks); 24,711 at Hale Head (Widnes, Halton); 18,450 at Berry Hill, Stoke-on-Trent (Staffs); 16,825 at Winter Hill, Bolton (Gtr Manc/Lancs). Details of these counts were taken from the Trektellen website (link here) which is a great resource for anyone interested in migration in Britain and Europe.

Just a small part of one of the larger flocks of Woodpigeon.

I had hoped the light easterly would produce an arrival of thrushes but only 28 Redwing, 2 Fieldfare, 2 Mistle Thrush and 3 Blackbirds were recorded. Only small numbers of finches and buntings were on the move with redpolls continuing to be in very short supply. The general glut of alder and birch seed seems to be responsible for the much reduced migratory activity in redpolls so far this autumn. On the plus side there appeared to have been a small arrival Goldcrests and another 15 new birds found their way into the nets and were ringed.

Ringing totals for 29th October: Goldcrest 15, Redwing 9, Meadow Pipit 3, Goldfinch 2, Lesser Redpoll 2, Yellowhammer 1. A control (ringed elsewhere) Reed Bunting was also caught and was one I already had details for. It was originally ringed as a juvenile at Scotmans Flash (6km to the east) on 30/07/13 and was also retrapped there (by me) on 15/04/14. 

Reed Bunting

Late Willow Warbler

The light rain that had been forecast for this morning didn't look likely to amount to more than a few spit and spots so I went out early hoping to catch a few more thrushes. As I was putting the nets up I could hear the occasional 'tseep' of a Redwing passing overhead in the darkness along with the calls of Tawny Owls in the adjacent woodland.

As it came light there were a few Song Thrush and Redwing around but not as many as I had hoped for and I only caught 1 Redwing and 1 Song Thrush on the first net round. The presence of a female Sparrowhawk probably didn't help and it wasn't long before she found her way into one of the nets.

If looks could kill. Not the best pose but holding her cradled like a baby was the best way for me to get a photograph.

A little while later a few Goldcrests were calling as they moved through and as I approached the nets it looked like I had caught 4 of them. On getting a bit closer I could see one was actually a warbler and not a Goldcrest, and a Willow Warbler at that. Of all the warblers it could have been at this time of year Willow Warbler was just about the least expected. It was quite a pale bird with cold greyish tones and very little yellow and almost certainly belonged to the sub-species acredula. In fact given its appearance, the date and recent easterlies I would happily stick my neck out and say that it is an 'acredula' Willow Warbler.

'acredula' Willow Warbler 23/10/14.

The wing length of 62mm was indicative of it being a female and it was carrying a moderate amount of fat (score 3) and weighed 8.2g. At first glance I thought it was an adult that hadn't moulted because the primaries and tail were quite brown and similar in colour to those of adults in late summer just before they moult. However I quickly realised we are in late October and not late July and that if it was an unmoulted adult the primaries would be showing much more wear and abrasion by now, in fact they would look rather shattered. It was a first year bird (1Y) and the colour and wear of the wings and tail were consistent with that age given the late date.

T1, T2, T3 and T4 on the left side of the tail (right in picture) had been replaced.

1Y female Willow Warbler 23/10/14, the latest I have recorded locally by around 4 weeks.

There was very little in the way of visible migration and it didn't amount to much more than 16 Jackdaws, 28 Redwings, 3 Song Thrush, 6 Mistle Thrush, 3 Reed Buntings and 4 Yellowhammers although the Yellowhammers could have been local birds. A few finches were blogging about including 40+ Goldfinches, 7 Siskin and 5 Chaffinch but no Redpolls or Bramblings. As the morning progressed the number of birds caught tailed off fairly rapidly and the final ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were - Redwing 2, Song Thrush 2, Sparrowhawk 1, Goldcrest 12, Willow Warbler 1, and Coal Tit 1 (1).