The month of showers?

Come April the weather improved with fewer frosts and warmer, brighter days. Still many more frosts than we normally get in this month, though.

The Goldfinches and Siskins kept pace with each other until the middle of the month when the latter faded away. Also, the first week of the month was noted for a passage of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers. I had two "controlled" Chiffchaffs, [HPX & HRC] during the first week and I await the original ringing details (not local). The final Brambling was seen on the 3rd. Blackcaps continued to pass through for most of the month with a few exceptionally heavy birds "that still had hundreds of miles in them". 

Immature male Blackcap that has been feeding on pollen from the many flowers in our garden.
The brown juvenile feathers are just visible under the pollen where the crown meets the bill.

The Herring Gulls are back defending their traditional nest sites. Here is a pic of the first one I ringed here in April 2013; this was taken just recently. The bird is the male and he is at least eight years old now.

"My" Pied Wagtail with missing claws on his left leg visits every morning for his mealworms. He is at least six years old now and nests in one of the nearby factories.

"Peg-leg". Also known as "Long John Silver"

Early in the month, I had a spate of Goldcrests, a pair of which I caught more than once. I wonder if they are breeding nearby? I expect they will be back, if they are somewhere local, as soon as the apples come into flower (late this year - more like Norway!)

April, of course, is when we see the spring passage of both Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. It is also the time when we see the resident Robins (3 pairs), Dunnocks (4 Pairs) and Blackbirds (4+ pairs) foraging around the garden, especially for a few hours after dawn and again in late afternoon / early evening. We have lots of trees, shrubs, herbaceous borders and lawns that can supply them with other things to eat after feasting on my daily 'handouts'. One of the Blackbirds is a "mystery bird" [LE20].

By the end of the month, I had caught my first juvenile Robin, shortly after re-trapping his "papa" in the same net.

Young Robin, shortly after leaving the nest.

Of course, the "bread-and-butter" has been the Goldfinches and the Siskins. On the 8th, I got a shock when I saw four Redpolls all in the net together! That'll be my quota for the year, then!

An immature male Redpoll in breeding plumage.
Some folks like to split these; this would then be called a 'Lesser Redpoll'

Altogether, there were 180 individual Goldfinches that passed from the feeders into the net. How many more there were is hard to judge, but they seemed to be "everywhere" in the orchard. Siskins came in at a respectable 87, but started tailing off mid-month.

Here's the month's tally chart [new plus re-trapped individuals; not handlings.]

Herring Gull - (1)

Goldcrest - 5 (2)

Blue Tit - 2 (6)

Great Tit - 1 (2)

Long-tailed Tit - 2 (3)

Chiffchaff - 12 (2 controls)

Willow Warbler - 16

Blackcap - 22, just 8 females, all later in the month 

Wren - (2), a nesting 'pair' [males are polygamous]

Blackbird - 2 (5 +2 controls), and a ringed male bird brought in to me that had been caught in a rat trap and was still alive! 

Robin - 2 (3)

Dunnock - 1 (3)

House Sparrow - 3 (12), 70% males

Pied Wagtail - 1 (1)

Brambling - 2

Chaffinch - 1

Greenfinch - 3 (5), 

Redpoll - 4

Goldfinch - 161 (19)

Siskin - 79 (8)

Things are certainly slowing down. The winds have been from the north and west which might have something to do with it. Could be time to decamp to the meadows and ring something different. Migration for many is now over - except for a "tasty bird" that I caught this morning. More on that next time, folks.

P.S. I've added some pics to the previous three blogs.

Getting lighter and a tad warmer

Another instalment, this time for March, when the birds start to migrate. The locals, meanwhile, think about nest building. Either way, it means I have to keep on filling the feeders and trays for some time yet. Right now, I'm beginning to think this hobby is more expensive than joining a golf club!

This year, Easter and the beginning of British Summer time coincided (last weekend in March). It also "chucked it down" with rain and the streams were brown torrents again. But back to the beginning of the month.

Initially, I was ringing around a dozen new birds a day, finches, of course. What was nice was the regular arrival of a few Bramblings. This didn't mean to say I caught them every day, but I did manage another 16 by the end of the month. Siskins also became a feature, with 30 ringed in the first week, 27 the next, 23 the week after and another 52 before the month was out. Great! I used to do a lot of these in Kent with my old friend Ron Terry, who "took his pliers to Siskin Central" in 2008.

A turn up was the unexpected Starling on 12th, which upped the year list. We only normally see them when they're feeding young as they are absent around here in the winter except in transit from roost; you need to go onto the moors, to the south coast or, best of all, to the Ham Wall roost on The Levels to see any at that time of year.

Male Chiffchaff, freshly arrived from the continent. The 'mucky bit' at the base of the bill
we refer to as a "horn". This is the remnants of the sticky (Eucalypt) pollen that it
fed on before migrating to the UK, in order to build up its fat reserves.

Just before the end of the month, the first Chiffchaff ended up in the net, a male of course. A couple of Blackcaps before that event were assumed to be winter visitors, but the first "returning" bird was probably on the 29th.

Adult male Brambling; still 6-8 weeks away from gaining a full black head (breeding plumage)

So this was March.
Woodpigeon - 3 (1)
Collared Dove - 1
Goldcrest - 3 (1), the retrap male was caught 4 times, sexes even.
Blue Tit - 4 (4), no real signs of breeding intentions yet
Great Tit - 3 (1 +1 control)
Coal Tit - 8 (1), another "rush" of youngsters before 3 adults on 21st/22nd
Long-tailed Tit - 6 (3), 4 caught together, the rest were singletons
Chiffchaff - 1, male
Blackcap - 3 (1), new 2CY males and a female from the beginning of December
Wren - 1 (2)
Starling - 1
Blackbird - 2 (4), 1 adult pair, the rest are 'first time buyers'
Robin - 3 (4)
Dunnock - 2 (5), all 2CY birds (canny adults know where the net is not)
House Sparrow - 5 (11), mainly foraging males
Chaffinch - 18 (1), just 6 were males (females travel further south in winter, hence the scientific name for "bachelor")
Brambling - 16, 11 males to 5 females, also 11 immatures to 5 adults
Greenfinch - 8 (3), all re-traps and 5 new were females
Goldfinch - 42 (30), 10 were left 'unaged' (abrasion is beginning to take its toll of diagnostic features) and 17 were left unsexed (usually because of "mixed signals" from the cloaca).
Siskin - 132 ( 7 +1 control)

The controlled Siskin had come 707 km from Scotland, near Inverness, where it was ringed at the beginning of February 2014 as a 2CY male. The Great Tit was one of John's, ringed just 34 days earlier. One recovery came through - adult male Siskin ringed in April 2013 turned up in a net near Lockerbie on 27th February this year 439 km north 1048 days later.

"Front end" of a breeding male Siskin

Notable recaptures were of two 5 year old male House Sparrows and two fourth year Goldfinch re-caught for the first time.

That's it; more next month.

Early 2016 - a new year dawns

The new year saw the continuation of the wet weather; it finally petered out in the middle of February, just in time for my birthday and a birding visitor from Bedford.

The birds were not so much affected by the 200 mm of rain in six weeks as we were. Nettlecombe also got a miss, apart from New Year's day. I was able to ring for short periods before or after the daily showers but the pickings were generally slim.

Initially, it was mainly Greenfinch and Goldfinch that were interested in the SFH, with the Greenfinchs tailing off as the month progressed and being replaced with the sight of a few (local) Siskins. I managed to ring 43 Goldies, 31 Greenies and 15 Siskins by the end of January, together with 13 Long-tailed Tits (Lottis) and 11 Blue Tits, a couple more overwintering Blackcaps, 3 Goldcrests, 4 Coal Tits and 3 Chaffinch. On the non-passerine front, a Sparrowhawk, a Woodpigeon, a Rook and a Collared Dove all "stuck" long enough for me to extract and ring them.

These figures were all bolstered by a significant number of re-traps. For instance, there were another 39 individual Goldfinches in the net, 13 Blue Tits and 7 Coal Tits, virtually doubling the "new bird" figures.

So January kicked off the New Year with the following numbers of known individual birds, both newly ringed and returning birds from last year or earlier.
Sparrowhawk - 1
Woodpigeon - 1
Collared Dove - 1
Rook - 1
Goldcrest - 4 (1)
Blue Tit - 11 (13)
Great Tit - (2)
Coal Tit - 4 (7)
Long-tailed Tit - 13 (5)
Blackcap - 2
Wren - (2)
Blackbird - 2 (3)
Robin - (8), 2 "locals", the rest were most likely wintering.
Dunnock - (4), resident birds
House Sparrow - 5 (4), they have a flight path which avoids the net.
Pied Wagtail - (1)
Chaffinch - 3 (3)
Greenfinch - 31 (1), an even split of the sexes; 24 immature birds.
Goldfinch - 43 (39), again quite a few with Aspergillosis
Siskin - 15 (2), one was a control from 15km west.

Records of two Kingfishers came to light. The first was a breeding female from last year that was found dead beside a pond 2km to the south. This most likely died of starvation as the streams ran full and with a heavy red-brown silt load that would have hindered fishing. The second was caught in neighbouring ringer, John's, garden 2km to the west.

I also had a recovery of a young Sedge Warbler from Donges in France, 438km south from here in just 12 days after ringing. Could have been a Welsh bird that was already on the move when I caught it. [Large breeding population 50-75km to the north of here]

Now on to February. After a while, by that I mean when the rains subsided, a different picture emerged. On my birthday, I caught the first of eleven Bramblings for the month, a species I had not handled here since mid-April 2013. With them came the Chaffinches and the Siskins. In all, I ringed in excess of 150 new finches before the end of the month. 

Two more Blackcaps made 12 for the winter, two-thirds of them being males. One of these was a returning bird which I first ringed just before Christmas 2012.

First winter male Blackcap. Note the "sharp" wing and tail feathers.

So, on to February's figures.
Woodpigeon - 1
Goldcrest - 1, a splendid male.
Blue Tit - 4 (3), no signs of "pre-nuptials" yet.
Great Tit - 2
Coal Tit - 3
Long-tailed Tit - 1 (2)
Blackcap - 2, 2CY males.
Wren - (1)
Blackbird - 3 (2), display/pairing towards the month end.
Robin - 2 (
Dunnock - 3 (2), courting behaviour becoming obvious.
House Sparrow - 3 (1)
Pied Wagtail - "peg-leg" still being friendly each morning.
Brambling - 11, 7 of which were males.
Chaffinch - 15, females out numbered males 2:1.
Bullfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 21 (8), the re-traps were from earlier this winter.
Goldfinch - 63 (57), these 120 birds were but a fraction of the birds moving south(?), especially after the rains stopped and temperatures dropped. By far the majority were young birds.
Siskin - 48 (10), includes 2 controls.

The Siskin controls were each different. The first had been ringed last autumn as an adult female in Thetford Forest, Suffolk, 304km and 160 days earlier. The other was ringed as an immature female, almost three years to the day, by neighbour John at Five Bells (that's between Williton and Watchet), 1098 days previously. Is this one a local breeder??

I also received notice of a Goldfinch that had been ringed as a young bird two summers ago at Oxwich Marsh, Swansea, 74km north-west of here. As well, I re-caught  another one 1572 days (that's about 4y 3m & 3 weeks) after it was ringed, then about 6 months old.

At last, I had the correct details of a 2CY female Blackcap that we trapped down the meadows last spring. It had been caught and ringed (in a vineyard) at a place called Bouloc, which is approx 20km north of Toulouse, France, and 893km to the south of here, when it was, presumably, still on or nearing the end of its autumn migration.

All in all, that's 317 new birds of 22 species ringed so far this year. 

The remainder of 2015

This is by way of catch-up and to fill in the gap. Bird ringing continued on a regular basis at the house with a few sorties to Nettlecombe Field Centre, which is situated in the Exmoor National Park, just 4.5 km to the SW, but 100 m higher. 

November was the month for tits, both new ones and old ones. The thrushes were noticeable only for their absence, having already passed through. The odd Siskin started appearing from mid-month. Temperatures held up (daily max. in the mid-teens) and we had far less rain than normal. I caught Goldfinches every day the nets were open with a highs of 21 on 13th and 20th. Alongside these were several Greenfinch that had "perked up" at the beginning of the month. Astonishingly, there were no controls of other people's birds at all this month.

Totals for November, "old" birds in brackets:
Woodpigeon - 1, 4th of the year
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - 3, 2 young males & a young female
Goldcrest - 7 (1)
Blue Tit - 34 (4), plus 23 (5) at Nettlecombe
Great Tit - 1 (5), plus 14 (3) at Nettlecombe
Coal Tit - 4 (9), plus 5 at Nettlecombe
Long-tailed Tit - 8 (6), plus 7 at Nettlecombe
Blackcap - 2, wintering birds from central Europe
Nuthatch - (4), all at Nettlecombe
Wren - 1 (1)
Blackbird - 1, and 1 at Nettlecombe
Robin - (5)
Dunnock - 1 (1)
House Sparrow - 1 (3)
Chaffinch - 3, plus singleton at Nettlecombe
Greenfinch - 21
Goldfinch - 151 (51), 75% of these were juveniles; see also below
Siskin - 7 (1)
296 new; total 'handlings' = 416

This is the back view of an adult male Siskin. Note the rounded wing feathers and
broad tertials with distinct silvery-white extremities.
The feathers of juveniles would all be "sharper" and much more worn. 

Trawling through the ringing book, the following "old birds" were of some note;
Goldfinch - young (juvenile) birds from 2012 - 2, 2013 - 3, 2014 - 10 and indeterminate aged adults from 2014 - 2; or 17 that have survived one or more winters.

December was a quiet month on the tit front, good for wintering Blackcaps and passing Greenfinch and a little quieter for Goldfinch. Siskin 'passage' (if there was such a thing) was over. On the 13th, I retrapped a male Blackcap that I had ringed here in December 2012 as a 1CY (1st calendar year) bird. Where it had spent the intervening winters is unknown. I was away for the last ten days of the month in Norfolk, which is when "The Rains" started. This was not unexpected as the month was very unsettled beforehand.

Now, December's totals:
Woodpigeon - 1
Blue Tit - 6 (6), plus a control from Bratton (15km W)
Great Tit - 2 (1)
Coal Tit - 4 (5), 
Long-tailed Tit - 3 (1), plus a bird ringed at Five Bells in January 2011(5y 8m or older)
Blackcap - 5 (1), plus the "control" (see above)
Blackbird 4 (1), all 'young' birds
Robin - 2 (4), a couple of the retraps were 'adults'
Dunnock - (3)
House Sparrow - (7)
Pied Wagtail - (1), "peg-leg", ringed as a breeding male in July 2012 and 2+ years old.
Chaffinch - 2
Greenfinch - 38 (2), just 3 adults, with a significant number of females
Goldfinch - 88 (18), 28 were adults, 6 remained 'unaged', the rest - this year's youngsters
Siskin - 1 (1)
156 new; total handlings = 223

During November and December, I looked to see how many birds had Aspergillosis. This is a fungal disease that effects the lungs. I used a "five point" scoring system. In all, I picked out that 137 birds, mostly juveniles, were infected. This amounts to just under 60% of all young birds! 15% of all Goldfinches were severely infected. It may well be a major factor in the survival statistics for the species. Very few adults, those that had already survived at least one winter and one breeding season, seemed to have contracted it. Perhaps these are stronger birds with better resilience towards any infection. I do see it in other species, i.e. Robin, Dunnock, Great Tit, but only rarely.

The full year's totals can be seen in the sidebar under My Pages.

100 days

After a few gripes from followers, I have had a day off from ringing and domestic chores and decided to bring things up to date. Life has been hectic on both fronts and I apologise for cramming 15 weeks into one report.

First, I'll start with the work we have been doing at the FSC Leonard Wills' Field Study Center at Nettlecombe Court . Since July, we have ringed in a garden attached to the property that is being revitalised by the Wildlife Trust volunteers. First of all, we installed a feeder between the beds and always erect a 40' net between it and the old stables. So far this year we have caught 125 birds of 19 species over a number of spread out visits. Charles worked here during 2014/5 on "work experience" before recently returning to finish his degree at Bangor; I already had prior permission to ring on the surrounding estate woodland.

Woodpigeon - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Blue Tit - 45 + 3 pulli
Great Tit - 21
Coal Tit - 11
Swallow - 1 +3 pulli
Long-tailed Tit - 7; all bar 2 of this cohort
Chiffchaff - 1
Blackcap - 3
Nuthatch - 7; we think this was possibly a complete family
Treecreeper - 1
Wren - 4
Blackbird - 1
Robin - 2
Dunnock - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Goldfinch - 4 + 2 controls
Siskin - 2

The controlled Goldfinches both carried my rings. One was ringed this year as a recently fledged bird, 66 days before being re-netted at Nettlecombe, and the other was also a newly fledged bird but from 2014, whereabouts unknown for 526 days. These two sites are just 5 km apart and completely different habitat wise; flat, low elevation versus hilly at >150 m above datum.

Meanwhile, "back at the ranch", the figures for the last four months of newly ringed birds are as follows (species in brackets); last week of July 42 but 65 retraps (17), August 208 (19), September  351 + 1 control (23), October 286 (19). The totals by species from my previous blog up to 1st November are as follows:

Collared Dove - 2; immatures

Kingfisher - 1; another immature

Gt. Spotted Woodpecker - 1; beggars to age these

Jackdaw - 1; unexpected at this time of year, early Sept

Goldcrest - 14; 2 adult males & 6 each young males and females? Another difficult one to age with any certainty.

Blue Tit - 112; the majority in September, and to some extent October. Local dispersal?

Great Tit - 44; mostly late September into October

Coal Tit - 63; numbers picked up from early September & still ongoing strong

Swallow - 3; all fledged young flying over the stream

Long-tailed Tit - 20; altogether, 58 different LTT were caught

Chiffchaff - 25; steadily through to mid-October

Willow Warbler - 4; none after 3rd week August except 1 at beginning of September, possibly of the high arctic race.

Blackcap - 44; virtually "dried up" at the very end of September

Garden Warbler - 1; a straggler on 19th September!

Sedge Warbler - 1; early August, abnormal to catch any more here after then 

Treecreeper - 1; not caught one in the garden since 2011

Wren - 12; always an October "speciality" first thing in the morning

Dipper - 2; young birds, but not the ones now on territory

Blackbird - 18; "wintering thrushes" appeared from 3rd week in October

Song Thrush - 2; as Blackbird

Redwing - 5; as Blackbird

Robin - 23; stopped moving through by middle of September

Dunnock - 15

House Sparrow - 24

Pied Wagtail - 1; the male, at least 5 years old, with a club foot was seen at the end of July. There have been very few visits by any PW since then.

Chaffinch - 15; 20% of those caught have FPV (a papilloma virus) and are not ringed

Bullfinch - 1

Greenfinch 45; youngsters until mid-August, then virtually absent until the 3rd week in September when longer winged birds started to appear.

Goldfinch - 372; I have extracted 742 different individuals so far this year. A major dispersal southwards has been going on for the last 7 weeks and accounts for most of the new birds ringed

Siskin - 15; started to turn up during the last week in September

We have had a few controls (somebody else's rings) and recoveries (when "my" birds are found elsewhere) but none have been further away than 15 km. Still waiting to hear about the French Blackcap caught in March.

Retraps of note are - a male Goldfinch at least 6 years old ringed in January 2011 and a second ringed as a juvenile also in 2011, a Blue Tit ringed as an immature in 2011 and another as a juvenile in 2012 and another Goldfinch ringed by "neighbour" John in 2011 for which I await details as he is currently in Singapore.

I am pleased to report that Ryan attained his C permit and Amanda her A. Congratulations to them both. Charles will still be training with me when not at Uni.

Sorry - no pics! May add them in next week when/if I've got time.