Wildside success!

Waking up at 3 am and hearing the roof of the house almost blow off wasn't the best omen for the ringing demo we were due to provide later that morning!! However, by about 7 am we were dealing with a moderate blow-which would have been too much for most areas--but we knew that Wildside Activity Centre is an urban site, in a valley with decent available cover--so the decision was made to go ahead.
A good team rocked up to set only two nets, which started catching steadily and continued for the duration of the demo.
A crowd of about 25 people of a wide age range turned up, including quite a few newcomers, several with children, and they all reported having a smashing time. Events like these are very much geared to trying to connect with people, and the questions we get and overall feedback makes them worth the investment of time and effort we put in. Indeed more than one of our trainees has come from such sessions. A sample of the birds which we were able to talk about and enable visitors to get up close and personal to were:-

This was a juvenile male Blackbird and we were able to explain what features of the plumage enabled us to show it had been fledged in 2019

This was a juvenile female Goldfinch and again plumage and other features demonstrating the sex and age of this bird were clear for the visitors to see.

 Great Spotted Woodpeckers like this male are always a great bird for a demo--if only to show folks that they are not as big as many think. Many experienced birders will know just how many times people say they have had Lesser Spotted in their garden--until they see the size of a Great Spot..

 

Thanks to the team who turned up, the visitors who provided some excellent input and questions--and of course Steve and Phil for their hospitality 

 

 

The Holy Trinity?

Apologies for anyone offended by this biblical reference--none intended. Last night we re-visited the farm where we resumed operations recently after a lay off. After the most recent deluge the fields were pretty damp but we were able to operate without too much trouble. There was a noticeable reduction in the number of Skylarks in the fields-whether this signals their departure north and east or was some local issue remains to be seen.
There were good numbers of waders around and we managed to catch 2 Jack Snipe, 1 Common Snipe ( we don't catch many of these using this technique) and 1 Woodcock-- a small number but a quality trio--hence the title. Any ringer catching these three species in a single night would count themselves pretty lucky.

 

 

Jacks will often sit for some time on your hand in a similar way to their well known natural 'freezing' habit of staying stock still on the ground to avoid detection.

I know we have posted pictures of Woodcock on here previously but I never tire of seeing these magnificent birds

 

 

A rapid change of plan this morning left me a small window to visit our main Jack Snipe site to survey their numbers. There were only a handful of Common Snipe around but the Jack Snipe population is still decent at aroun15 birds. Numbers are tailing off now as birds start moving north and east on migration. I managed to catch 6 birds three of which were 'new' and three already ringed. One was ringed here a couple of weeks ago; and one we reported on recently as a bird possibly dropping back into the site to refuel on its way north after having been ringed here in March 2019. The third bird we suggest supports this theory in that it had been ringed here by us in November 2018, not seen again until now when presumably it also is fuelling up before a move north. It also provided us with another known adult bird with which to hone our ageing skills.

 

 

Make hay while the moon fades........

Although the general weather has been very poor and the strong winds have made conventional mist netting virtually impossible, there has been a silver lining. The best conditions for thermal imaging is when the night is dark--and over the recent and coming period the moon is waning, and not rising until the early hours of the morning.
We therefore planned a few session to make the most of this situation and so far they are proving pretty successful.

On Thursday evening at our usual farm we managed 8 Skylark ( including2 retraps); 3 Grey partridge ( including 1 retrap); 1 Fieldfare and last but by no means least 4 Jack snipe. I will come back to Jacks later.

On Friday morning we visited our Jack snipe site to monitor numbers and see if we could catch any. It was great to count 25 Jacks and 8 Common snipe at the site. Although the Jacks were very 'jumpy'--we did manage to catch 5; two of which were new birds, and three of which were already ringed. These ringed birds provide some really useful information--two had been ringed at the site over the last month. This shows how important the site is, and also helps to let us know that catching the birds doesn't put them off using the site.
The third ringed bird had been ringed at the site by us in March 2019. This was useful in two ways. First it was a bird which we know was an 'adult. so we could check the ageing criteria I posted a while ago. But second it raised as couple of potential possibilities. Either the bird has been using the site all winter--in which case it supports the importance of the site. However, we haven't re-trapped this bird all winter--so perhaps it could be a bird which is using this site as a conditioning stopover on its migration northeast back to its breeding grounds. Maybe it was on its way last March and is using the same site this year. Either way this is clearly an important site and we are working with the owners to maintain its character.

9, 10, Jack!! Not satisfied we were out again last night--with mixed success. Although there were plenty of birds at our favoured farm--they wouldn't allow close approach for some reason --we have no idea why this sometimes happens. However at a farm we have visited in the past but not this year, we had a good catch. Wet stubble and a sheep grazed flood meadow yielded 1 Woodcock, 5 Skylarks and another 8 Jack snipe--making 10 Jacks ringed on Friday--hence the corny intro.......

Just to put these Jack snipe numbers into context--we have ringed 56 birds since November which might not seem a lot. However. it is 20+% of the numbers of Jack snipe ringed in the whole of the UK in 2018, and in many recent years its almost as many as are caught in the whole of the UK.

Out again tomorrow evening--report in due course.......

Storm Petrels tell a story!

For over 20 years now, we have been visiting a small uninhabited island ( we call it 'Ron') off the coast of Sutherland on the north coast of Scotland to ring seabirds--especially Storm Petrels. There is a report from this year's trip on this blog about our trip in mid July 2019.

These birds are very mobile. Once young birds fledge they fly down to the west coast of southern Africa, where (we think) they spend a few years maturing, in association with the adult birds which also spend our winter off the south coast of Africa. Eventually when ready to breed they fly north during the summer and then reputedly fly around potential breeding colonies around Britain, Ireland, Faeroe and Norway. Ringing returns support this and we have lots of recoveries of birds visiting several sites as they wander around looking for breeding sites, as well as lots of re-trapped birds from our island once they have found a mate, a nest site and settle down.

This year we caught a bird carrying a ring which had been put on the bird in Portugal. The data from this bird has just come through:-

Although its a bit difficult to read, the essential info is that the bird was originally ringed near Faro on the Algarve coast on 6th June and we caught it just 36 days later on 12th July on Ron 2400 km away.

 Kevin happened to be searching through the archives and found another, remarkably similar occurrence:-

Another Storm Petrel we caught on 8th July 2016, had also been originally ringed near Faro 34 days earlier!!

These are the kind of remarkable coincidences which over the years have enabled ringing data to help put together  the wonders of bird migration. These two records give credence to the idea that these  birds move north during early summer--apparently hugging the coastline, until reaching potential breeding grounds much further north. Well done Kev for spotting this one!!

Holly Bush demo

As readers will know we put on a ringing demonstration yesterday morning at a new venue--Holly Bush Garden Centre. With the prospect of Storm Ciara on the horizon, we decided that the morning weather looked pretty good ( as it turned out to be) with the worst of the weather coming in the early hours of Sunday onwards--so the decision was made to continue.

There had been a lot of interest on social media, and we looked forward to meeting members of the public to show them some birds and explain what our hobby is all about.

There was a good turnout of people, but if we are honest, the number and variety of birds we were able to show them was a little disappointing with only 19 new birds ringed. However, goldcrest, long tailed tit and robin are always a delight for visitors along with the usual blue and great tits.

Some of the visitors--especially those who arrived early getting to see some birds.

 

We will be working over coming weeks and months to ensure that future sessions will produce a better number and range of species. So even if you were disappointed yesterday, please look out for future events--we really believe that we will put on a better show next time--just as we have on many occasions at other venues.

 

Pictures from the archive prove illustrative

A few weeks ago I responded to a Facebook request for anyone with experience of ringing Jack Snipe to provide any advice on ageing the birds--from a ringing group who had caught their first ever Jack Snipe.
Regular readers will know that we have been catching quite a lot of this species due to a combination of a great site for the species plus the development of using the thermal imager to find them especially during the day.
When I responded I did so in writing which is often not too helpful--but by a weird co-incidence ( I had a message telling me I had too many photos on my phone)--when clearing out my photos on my phone I came across some  pictures we took to illustrate some of the key points. I'm in the process of posting these on Facebook--but thought I would also put them on here for readers to see--and for our trainees to refer to.
The conventional guide is not terribly helpful--and it has led to the majority of Jack Snipe ringed in recent years, being aged as adults. It's unlikely that this is the case, so we started looking for other clues based on a guide produced by a Spanish ringer called Xavier Blasco. He and we tend to look at 4 features which I hope show pretty well in the following pictures:-

1) HEAD STRIPES

The bird on the right shows two adult features on the head--the colours of both the light and dark stripes are deeper, and the stripes are more clear-cut and less diffuse than those on the juvenile bird on the left. ( Bear in mind the leg colour of the adult bird too)

 

2) BACK STRIPES



The well known stripes on the back of Jack Snipe are more golden coloured in the adult bottom bird) than the paler ones on the juvenile

 

3) LEG COLOUR

Although this doesn't show the legs of both birds--those of the adult are clearly a blue colour--check back to the first picture--juvenile legs are predominantly green

 

4) OUTER PRIMARY SHAPE

The breadth of the outer primary and shape of the tip is also useful. The right hand bird is an adult with broader rounder tipped outer primary. You can just about make out the green legs on the juvenile.

We knew that the adult in these pictures was an adult because it was a bird which we had originally ringed just over a year before these pictures were taken

 

 

 

Apologies for the break

Really sorry that there have been no posts recently--I have had a smashing holiday with my wife cruising around South America and the Antarctic Peninsula-absolutely brilliant.

Got back on Monday morning and, still slightly jet-lagged, on Tuesday we had an appointment with Heather--a reporter from the Radio 4 Farming programme. A crack team turned out to meet at 19.00 and produce a recording of us catching birds using a thermal imager and discussing how the No Till strategy ( ie he does not plough the land in order to maintain the structural integrity of the soil) of the farm manager Tim, is providing a wildlife friendly environment.
Heather was able to see how many birds there were in the fields and we managed a good catch to show her what we do and what species are involved.
We ended up catching 19 birds of which 9 ( +2 retraps) were Skylark; 2 (+2 retraps) were Grey Partridge; Fieldfare 3 and Redwing 1.
When the programme is due for broadcast I will advertise it on this blog.