The Flow'ry May

Whether Milton was talking about the apple in blossom or the Hawthorn flowering, I do not know. In our garden the apple trees have flowered one by one and been buffeted by wind, rain and the occasional bout of strong sun and summer heat. The 'thorn, however, has made leaf and nothing else to date.

The nets have been up and down, a max. of 120', throughout the month, in between bad weather (usually high winds) and our non-birding, spring holiday in Snowdonia (see here if you're so minded) and other family events. There have been just five days when things were just right and the birds were really active, three of them in the last week. Also during this latter period, there has been a lot of fledging of mostly House Sparrows and Dunnocks, with the odd young Blackbird, Greenfinch, Siskin, Wood Pigeon and Collared Dove thrown into the mix. You can work out what's missing. I did check my 3 boxes on the nearby meadow; one had an incomplete Great Tit clutch (and I was scolded), another had been taken over by bees and the third had a lined tit nest in but no eggs (yet). I think the birds in the wider countryside are struggling to get into breeding condition.

I'll cut to the chase. Here's the total of my efforts since last time. It excludes any bird caught twice, so indicates the minimum number of birds (80+) stealing my money in the form of bird food from the local pet shop that I put out twice daily, whether ringing or no. With a lack of rain (until last night), the ground has been hard and dry and there are few natural seeds left available, and so my feeding does attract "outsiders" from further afield in times like these. I also saw a Jay and 2 Magpies coming in for breakfast, and most of the adult Jackdaws and Collared Doves are too wily to get caught in a net 99% of the time.

Woodpigeon 3 - all adults

Collared Dove 1 (1) - both young birds in full juv. plum.

Jackdaw 1 - adult

Blue Tit (6) - looks like 3 local pairs

Great Tit 2 (3) - 2 regular males, abreeding female & 2 male 'interlopers'?

Starling 1 - the lady of the pair. mate caught earlier? 

Blackbird 4 (3) - 2x 3J's, the 2 dominant males plus a new pair 

Robin (4) - 3 males and a brooding female

Dunnock 4 (4) - either newly fledged young or broody hens already ringed 

House Sparrow 9 (3) - 6x 3J's & 3 females ringed; 2 females & 1 male recaught

Pied Wagtail (1) - one of the 2 males

Chaffinch 1 (1) - both male

Greenfinch 7 (1) - 3x 3J's, 3 adult males, 1 imm. female & an ad. male 'hit glass'

Goldfinch 4 (3) - the new birds were all females & starting to get a brood patch

Siskin 11 - 2x 3J's, 5 imm. males, 4 females

Bullfinch (1) - ad. female (ad. male seen)

 I had hoped to get into the meadows but the horses were kept on longer this year and then the weather either turned windy or there was wall to wall sunshine. Looks like a June start. With a late breeding season, there is no immediate rush, either here or elsewhere. Until next time.

I'm waiting!

Changing times

Garden ringing comes to an end with the advent of May and the start of the main part of the breeding season. All the winter and passage migrants have now left us. This doesn't mean that there is no need to put the nets out from time to time, as there will be young birds to ring at some time or other. These could well form next year's breeding stock.

Instead, we have to get "on our bike" during the summer months and visit different habitats in the surrounding area. At the moment, I have three such habitats in mind that are calling for my attention. First, there is the water meadows and 'river' at the edge of the village to which we have had access for a couple of summers already. This is good Phylloscopus  territory and where I can, on a good day, catch Kingfisher and Dipper and, maybe, a Sandpiper. Secondly, I have negotiated access to a couple of woods and a bit of parkland on the edge of Exmoor that may be just right for Sylvia warblers, tits and finches. There is potential here to put up some boxes for Pied Flycatchers.

Moon rise and the sun about to follow 

Today, I set the alarm and went to the third habitat - reed fen. This was an exploratory visit (as will be the next few), partially because the site is so vast and recovering from a major "makeover". The object of this exercise will be to look at the relative abundance, productivity and survival of the four main breeding species found on the site, namely Cetti's, Sedge and Reed Warbler and Reed Bunting. Visits will be confined to the four summer months, just like the more regulated Constant Effort Scheme run by the BTO. There are a couple of hoops to jump through before ringing can go ahead.

It was early doors when I arrived, the crescent moon was up but the sun was still rubbing its eyes and the stars were visible. This is usually the best time to get an indication of what birds are nesting where. I was amazed at the amount of low level fog and mist that suddenly appeared and it hung about for a while. This hampered me in looking for potential net sites; I deferred this until the sun was rising higher in the sky . It's not the sort of site to go wandering about on your own without prior knowledge, as "the pits" have steep sides and are ca. 10' deep.  

Nevertheless, as well as the dawn chorus to listen to, I did have the pleasure of watching a Common Whitethroat drag long bents (dry grass) across a rhyne to its nest in the stump of a coppiced Willow as I waited at the car. Later, I also stood and watched a female Reed Warbler collect the "fluff" from the head of a Reedmace (False Bullrush) and take it to her chosen site in a bank of Sedge to line her nest. On leaving, I was also privvy to a male Cuckoo, my first of the year. The list of species got ever longer as time went by and the sun burnt off the mist completely to leave a fine, warm day, if a little humid.

Ringing is on hold now for ten days or so; "the management" is treating me to some narrow-gauge railway experiences elsewhere. You'll have to wait until the end of the month for more of my drivel, I'm afraid.

Apologies for the poor photo - I didn't realise (in the dark) that the (old) camera was not on the right settings

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They think it's all over

The sun has come out and stays out from dawn 'til dusk. Shade temperatures in the garden have touched 20deg C. and the first of the Apple trees has decided to flower. Not good news for a bird-ringer in two ways - the birds either move off to pastures new, i.e. their breeding territories further north and east, or really get on with the business of nesting in our hedges, trees and shrubs, and, secondly, the nets become very visible in the sunlight, even with a background, except for a short while at each end of the day. 

Bullfinch, adult male

Five different Bullfinches were caught, comprising two pairs and a lone/spare 2CY female. They always reappear when the buds are swelling, just before the Apple trees come into flower. This was also the time period when the Whitethroats appeared; for this (coastal) part of Somerset, they were two to three days later this year than normal. They  seem to disappear in spring but show themselves again in July. The Willow Warblers seemed to stop abruptly on the 27th; the one pictured in the previous blog (re-shewn below) was a late male (25th) that looked quite different from our more normal, yellowy-green birds. 

Common Whitethroat (male)

Well defined head markings and paler rear underparts
(and late date) suggest
  Phylloscopus trochilus acredula

Given the current weather situation (SUN!), one could put in a lot of effort for very little reward. The only times that catching is viable is early morning and late evening. Even so, things can be pretty dire. We will have to think of alternative methods.

The last week's assortment is on record as:

Woodpigeon 1 

Collared Dove 1 - a young bird [Euring 2I] that hatched either at the end of last year or early in this. The only bird ringed so far this month (May).

Chiffchaff 2 - females on the move

Willow Warbler 5 - females, none after 27th

Blackcap 2 (2) - female ringed on 13th weighed 20.4g on 27th 

Garden Warbler 1 - my one and only for the year?

Com. Whitethroat 4 

Starling 1 

Blackbird (3)

Robin 2 (1) - all males on CP

Dunnock (2) - the garden is "over-run" with them

House Sparrow 1 (1)

Pied Wagtail (1)

Chaffinch (1)

Greenfinch 2 (1)

Goldfinch 14 (1) - birds on the move but with little/no fat reserves

Siskin 7 - suspect they are mainly local breeders

Bullfinch 1 (4) - 2 pairs & a spare female

Total (excluding double counting) - 44 new + 17 re-captures of 18 species. 33 species were seen in or over our garden during this period, including the Com. Swifts.

Between myself and John, who rings at the other side of the village, we ringed over 550 new birds of 37 species last month (April). He "grabbed" a Collared Dove, Grasshopper Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, (Goldcrest), (Jay), Com. Crossbill (4) and Yellowhammer. For my part, he was "missing" Herring Gull, Woodpigeon (3), Pied Wagtail, Garden Warbler, (Coal Tit), Magpie, Starling (2), Brambling (2), and Linnet. I'm usually the one who misses out on the Linnets.

Egrove Lane - May 2013

As far as the trees are concerned, they've got a lot of catching up to do. Blackthorn not flowering until late April - ridiculous!

I'm am hopeful of returning to the water meadows next week for the summer months and also to go and catch a few Swallows at the stables, if the wind permits. We'll have to wait and see.