Jack pot!!

 As a group we are interested in many bird species, but regular readers will have gathered that there are some birds which, for various reasons, we are able to study more than others.

One such species is the intriguing Jack Snipe. A small ( hence 'Jack') wader, which doesn't breed in the UK, but which spends the winter months here having bred in northern Europe and Asia. I hope to be telling you more about our work over the coming months, but for now I would like to spend a little time showing you how we age this very poorly studied species.

We have ringed as many as and probably more Jacks than most ringers in the UK--but we are still learning--so these notes are not meant to be the absolute definitive answer--merely the stage at which we are now. 

But first, what does a jack Snipe look like? Here's one in the hand which shows the salient points.....

As you can see they are small waders, generally brown and cream on the upper parts, with a brown mottled breast and white underparts. But what really sets Jack Snipe apart from Common Snipe is the relatively short beak--about the same length as the head. In Common the beak is much longer than the head.

Ageing criteria

                 We think there are several things to look for--and all are not always present-- so we suggest a 'best guess' based on as many of these criteria that can be found.

The first, and probably most important is to look at the outer tail feathers.

This is the tail of a know age adult. The arrows show the quite large white patches on the outer web of the feathers, and the black arrow indicates a quite wide grey area to the tip.

Now have a look at a juvenile ( less than 1 year old) outer tail feathers...

The feathers are narrower and slightly more pointed--but crucially the red arrow shows a thin black line at the tip which is typical of a juvenile.

Now lets have a look at the head and back patterns.....

The bird on the right is an adult and you can see that the stripes are more golden than the buff stripes of the juvenile--and this is similar to the pattern seen on the back......

The top bird also has golden stripes on the back as opposed to the cream stripes on the lower juvenile.

We also think that leg colour is important--although we can't rule out that the chemical nature of the water and mud they paddle in may have a part to play.

The right hand bird had predominantly green legs ( often look a bit blue in photos)--whereas the left hand birds legs are pinkish. We believe that adult legs become gradually pink, and juveniles are green.

Several guides suggest the under tail coverts are useful but we have found them to be as confusing as they are illuminating.

Great effort team!

 There's only a month of 2023 left. It's been a difficult year on many levels, and the weather hasn't helped, so Pete and I were really chuffed this week to find that our group has managed to pass the 6000 new birds ringed for the year. This is way down on out recent pear totals--but it has been difficult so we are really pleased.

Emma, chipped in this week with a session at here Dudley Zoo site, and on Saturday Kevin managed to ring 12 Redwing......he's not done any sessions since then, but I fear they may have been his last Redwing of the year. This morning Pete, Roy and I were out trying for Redwing, and our combined total was.......ONE (!!!!).

Yesterday we ran a very successful demo again for the folks at Jubilee Wood reserve and managed a very welcome catch of, among other things, 28 Goldfinches and a male Blackcap!! These are great events which get the community involved, and bring the members of the group together for a very enjoyable morning.

Gareth has not had much chance to get out recently--but he's been planning for the future by putting up this Barn Owl nest box.....fingers crossed!

We're all on high alert for Waxwings as they filter south and west ( we hope). Gareth had an encouraging sight outside his house on Saturday, with this bird on the wires....

Not a brilliant pic but no question what it is. Again--fingers crossed for Gareth for more.....

We've been running regular sessions at a local education trust site for the last few years, and this morning we had a fairly modest catch--but it gave us a chance to provide some interesting pics--we hope!!??

It's encouraging to see a few more Greenfinches at feeding stations. This is a male as can be seen by the amount of yellow in the wing and tail ( see next pic)--and yellow on the belly. Ageing Greenfinch can be tricky and several features should be examined before making a decision.....

First the shape of the tail feathers...

You can see the wide yellow making it male--but the shape of each feather looks quite wide and rounded at the tip--which is an adult feature.... but is that a pointed feather near the centre? 

Now lets have a close look at the wing....the greater coverts (1) are grey and green ( adult) with no sign of brown feathers ( juvenile). However, the primary coverts (2) are pointed, and they do not have bright green outer webs, nor are their tips tipped in grey. Finally, the alula (3), is not clean yellow as it would be in an adult. So this is a juvenile bird which has moulted out some of its juvenile feathers--but there are sufficient juvenile feathers still present to give away its age.

Star bird of the day was undoubtedly this female Brambling....

Not as bright as a male--but knowing that this bird has definitely travelled here from northern Scandinavia at least is always fascinating. Two of the features of Brambling which can often be overlooked are shown in this next photo....

The bright lemon yellow where the wing meets the body is stunning--as are the dark blotched on the flanks--both shown well here.

This was a very early Brambling in our experience so we are hoping it means there are lots more about--lets hope!!

Church Farm coming to the fore

 Redwing numbers have remained low again this week, along with most other birds. Here are a couple of pictures from this morning which show how to age Redwings--and which are sometimes visible in the field.....

This bird has a white patch at the end of a tertial feather ( blue arrow) which is a juvenile feature. Often there are more feathers with these tips on. The shape of the tail feathers is also key as can be seen (just!!) in this awful picture!!

It is a rubbish picture but you can make out how each feather is pointed--making it juvenile--adult tail feathers are broad and round.

Aside from Redwings, team members have been pushing on with other species too, and we reached an important milestone today when we passed 6,000 birds ringed this year. This is quite a few less than recent years but it's been a difficult year with several obstacles getting in the way of us ringing as many birds as normal.

However, we continue to develop our relationships with our farm managers. I've posted several times about Tim at Brewood Park Farm, but we have also been working closely with Michael at Church Farm. Michael is working closely with Tim on developing a no till approach and his farm is becoming another rich source of birds. And just like Tim, he really appreciates the results we provide to him.

When conditions allow, we try to do a couple of ringing sessions at a feeding station a week, and a thermal imaging session once a week. This week saw us ring the first Woodcock of the season, as well as providing Michael with totals of the species we saw in his fields, and at the feeding station.

Being set in a small hamlet, and with what looks like a healthy population of House Sparrows--we are hoping to set up a project to study the movements of House Sparrows in the village. We are about to see how many of the village community want to take part in the project--which will involve us putting coloured plastic rings on the sparrows' legs in combinations which will make them individually identifiable without us needing to catch them. We are putting on a demonstration of bird ringing for the village on Saturday 2nd December where we will also be able to explain the project in a bit more detail----looking forward to it!!   More details about this as things develop.

Where are they??

 I'm referring again to Redwings. Team members have again been putting in the hours with little reward--most upsetting has been the lack of flocks flying about. Speaking with friends in Cumbria and the east midlands suggested that for some weird reason, there are lots of Redwing to the north of us but few here or to the south of us--not something that we have been aware of in the past.

However, Kevin seems to be bucking our overall trend and in the last two days he's ringed over 50 Redwing at his Racecourse site, which is within touching distance of Wolverhampton city centre!! At this morning's visit he also had a Blackcap. Well done Kev.

Speaking of Blackcap--we had an interesting report of one of our birds this week....

This is the computer generated report which we get for any ringed bird found again. If you look carefully you'll see that this Blackcap was ringed by us at Belvide, as a juvenile bird on 12th August this year. By now we would expect our Blackcaps to be at or well on their way to wintering sites in southern Europe or North Africa. For some strange reason this bird has flown almost due EAST, and as of 12th October it was caught by a ringer in Holland!! Maybe it's going to spend the winter in northern Europe--but to date most of the wintering birds have been from Eastern Europe---another conundrum for us!!

The season for spending evenings scouring farm fields with our thermal imagers for birds. We have had some success, the most significant being our first Woodcock of the season at Brewood Park Farm. They are wonderful birds...

It's unlikely that you would be able to see this next feature in the field, but one of the ageing criteria can be seen in this next picture. The feathers pointed at are the primary coverts. On all of these feathers of this bird there are small buff coloured tips. This makes this bird a juvenile--had the tips been white, it would have been an adult.

Just before I sat down to write this blog, group member Liz circulated a message from rare bird alert that a flock of 20 Waxwings had been seen at nearby Chasewater. We are now on alert with everything crossed that more will come our way; several of us have got our eyes on some small Rowan plantations because Waxwings love their berries...........

Struggling a bit!

 Normally by this time of year we are building up really big numbers of Redwings--as I have mentioned in previous years. But for some reason this year is different. Team members are putting in the hours, but there are fewer birds around-where we would be expecting to ring 50 or so per day, the numbers currently are nearer5-10 per day. We will have to wait for the annual BTO report on ringing to see if this is part of a national trend or something local.

One of the species which we are ringing good numbers of is Goldcrest. Many of these birds will be UK breeders--but our wintering population is bolstered by lots of migrants from Scandinavia--birds which would starve though lack of insects in the cold north. I though you might like to see an interesting sexual difference in plumage.....

Here is the top of the head of a bird caught this morning--showing why perhaps it's called a Goldcrest. All females have a head colour like this with a yellow stripe down the centre of the crown.

However, if the yellow feathers are parted and the crown then looks like this....

The golden orange feathers underneath show that this bird is in fact a male. When in the breeding season, male Goldcrests can part the crown feathers and erect the orange ones to display to the females--pretty cool....

We have also been hearing about an influx of Coal Tits from the continent also. This bird is a UK bred individual as can be seen by some of the buff tones on the flanks and on the back....

Continental birds are much greyer on the back. Also note the very marked white stripe on the back of the head which is typical of Coal Tit. The following picture shows how we age this species....

We need to look carefully at the greater covert feathers which are those above the coloured lines. You can see that the feathers above the red line are almost black in their centre--these are adult type feathers which have been moulted in over recent months. However, those above the yellow line have lighter centres--these are juvenile feathers showing that this is a bird hatched this year. Have a look on your  feeders--it's very difficult to see in the field especially as Coal Tits typically fly on and off the feeders very quickly--so good luck!!

And another winner!!

 Huge congratulations to Gareth and Natasha on the recent birth of their beautiful daughter Sennen. Catching a few hours for himself this morning Gareth had a session at his site at a disused quarry. It was a bright and slightly breezy morning, but his catch of 58 new birds illustrates what a superb site this is developing into!

His catch was made up of12 species--including a few really special birds. First off was this stunning male Stonechat...

11 Redwing at first light was a good number given the smaller numbers around here this year; and 7 Meadow Pipits with some in walk in traps were and unexpected bonus. Redpoll are very mobile small finches which seem to roam around the country looking for food sources. Three were caught this morning including this one...

Group members are continuing to try hard to catch Redwings, with minimal reward (for some reason) this year.  Pat out in Wales is still waiting for the Siskins to arrive, although he did manage one today; but a few days ago he caught a superb male Blackcap--another 'first' for his garden...

Finally for this week, the species which IS around in big numbers is the Goldcrest. It never ceases to amaze us how these tiny warblers are able to make it across the North Sea in such big numbers to supplement those which are resident in the UK. Doubtless many perish in the sea--but the reality is that if they didn't come south and west they would all die in the bitter cold of northern winters with no insects available for food.

Between us we've ringed around 50 this week--and we are looking to try for more in the coming weeks--more details about this coming soon I hope.

WINNERS !!!!

 The big news just out today is that two of our farmers, Tim and Michael, who we mention regularly on this blog, yesterday received a massive accolade. Their small collective promotes regenerative farming, and last night they were invited to the BBC Radio Farming Today 2023 award ceremony in Newport. They knew they were in the top three, but what a great honour when they were awarded TOP SPOT for running the most innovative and nature friendly farms in the country!!

Tim ( second left) and Michael ( fourth left receiving their award last night from the judges of their category. Well done guys!!

Back on the ringing front, the big news should have been the usual mass influx of Redwings which normally means we catch big numbers. Unfortunately this year has seen rather more of a trickle than a rush. Sessions which normally end with 30+ birds ringed, this year are turning up around 10 or fewer. However, large numbers have been reported yesterday coming in off the North Sea on the Yorkshire coast so we will hope they move inland quickly. 

There's a similar tale for our Jack Snipe which are appearing in much smaller numbers than usual--although it is reasonably early in the season si I hope they will arrive soon--watch this space....

Meanwhile in 'Siskin Towers'--ie Pat's mid Wales garden, again numbers of Siskin are few and far between--although he did have this stunning adult male a couple of weeks ago...

Pat, is however, attracting some other interesting species including two new ones for his garden, a Blackcap yesterday, and this belting Pied Wagtail a couple of weeks ago....

Plumage anomalies occur now and then, and this weird Chaffinch turned up a couple of days back. 

I've never seen such a punk effect before so I've no real idea what caused it--any answers gratefully received!!

Paul is having some success at BPF in a cover crop containing a lot of Sorghum--Linnets seem to love it

Across at Teddesley, Liz has just completed a new project. She has built a cage trap hoping to catch woodland and farmland birds--finches and buntings...

It's only just been completed so I will report later on developments.

Finally new license holder Roy, had a superb surprise on Wednesday with this Kestrel--not a regular bird in mist nets....

You can just make out the development of a grey head, and some of the grey adult tail feathers are just coming through on this first year male.

Belvide Ringers on Tour ( Part 2)--and plenty on the home front!

 The last post ended with a promise to bring you up to date on Liz's trip to Norway. In essence she had a fab time, with the Hawk Owl ( plus another one mid visit!!) being the undoubted highlight. In addition she ringed hundreds of birds--with big numbers of Redpoll and Reed Bunting plus good numbers of many northern breeding birds. Remember this site is 300 miles NORTH of the Arctic Circle, and it never ceases to amaze us how many birds migrate through the area--where are they all coming from? That's what we hope to shed some light on by this ringing programme. Thanks very much to hosts Nigel and Sissel, and Tomas for getting the project together. We hope to have a team up there next year too.

Redwings are common breeders in Varanger, and we have caught lots there over the years--but Liz had a really interesting bird--shown below......

The top bird is a 'normal' local breeder; but the lower bird is distinctly much more heavily marked, under the wing and on the sides of the breast. It's also a bit bigger. All these features are consistent with Redwings which breed in Iceland--so what was an Icelandic Redwing doing flying to Norway before it flew south .......??

Some way further south, Kev and Gareth are almost at the end of their birding and ringing trip to  Shetland, staying on the island of Bressay. Birding has been pretty good--culminating in Gareth finding a spectacular bird called a White's Thrush late on yesterday--worth checking a field guide to see what this eastern Thrush looks like. On the ringing front they have had a couple of semi rarities, in the form of a Blyth's Reed Warbler and a few Yellow-Browed Warblers, like this beauty...

These are gorgeous little warblers which 20 odd years ago were extreme rarities in the UK. It appears that their migration and their breeding grounds have expanded westwards from their east Asian origins and they are now very regular migrants in September, being found in almost all parts of the UK.

Although not a migrant, this crow was an interesting bird for the guys to handle...

It's a Hooded Crow--which replaces it's very closely related Carrion Crow the further north in the UK you go. Strangely this bird replaces Carrion Crow over most of Europe--all a bit weird and difficult to explain. I'm sure there is some research to illustrate what's going on--but I haven't found it.

Meanwhile, back on home territory, members of the group have kept the home fires burning, with lots of Meadow Pipits being caught, buy Kev and Gareth before they travelled north, and by Paul--who has topped 150, over the last few weeks at BP Farm.

For a little brown bird they are pretty cool. Their passage through our area is almost over now--with most of the birds wintering in central and southern Iberia, and a few moving on to north Africa. Pete has just arrived for  week on holiday on the coast of north Spain; and the area he stays at is one of their wintering areas and over the recent visits he's told us about the big numbers of 'mipits' on the nearby estuary.

It's great to see Tom back in the action. He put on a demonstration at work last week, and caught this magnificent beauty.....

It is of course a Green Woodpecker, a great showstopper for visitors, and a bird we only ring very infrequently--the last one I caught was in 1979!!

Out in mid Wales, Pat reports a dearth of Siskins--wonder what's happened there? However, showing how unpredictable ringing can be--he had a first for his garden last week, with this delightful Chiffchaff

Further south still saw some of the group in the Algarve, southern Portugal for our 16th annual ringing camp. There's lots I could write because it's an exciting and rewarding opportunity, but suffice to say that it feels that our findings are being used to conserve the area and stop developments--as well as providing more insights into various aspects of migration--including mapping out the catchment area from which birds travel to either pass through or winter in the Algarve. Our latest controlled individual Reed Warbler had been originally ringed in the Czech Republic--indication just how far east in Europe, birds are coming from to this superb area. We ringed 1850 new birds of 52 different species during the trip-and all of these will be entered on the Portuguese database over the coming weeks. Just to give you a flavour of some of the lovely birds we ring--here are a few photos.....

A stunning male Bluethroat with a picture of the tail below.....

Bonelli's Warbler is related to our Willow Warbler but has a 'washed out' face and bright green edges to its wing and tail feathers...

This Nightingale shows the stunning rufous tail of this species.

While this juvenile Subalpine Warbler is much less colourful than an adult male.

Little Bitterns are stunner--with a fantastic beak for catching small fish and amphibians and invertebrates...

This is a Wryneck, showing the grey brown iris of a juvenile bird.

Lastly this picture of a Melodious Warbler shows ( in a slightly exaggerated way how big the bill of this species is--avoiding any confusion with a Willow Warbler

If there are any further reports from Shetland before the guys get back, I'll report them in my next post.

 

 

Belvide Ringers on Tour ( Part 1)

 One of the great things about holding a BTO ringing permit is that it opens a whole world of ringing opportunities, literally around the world.

Team member Liz, is currently flying the group flag in the very north of Arctic Norway on the Varanger peninsula. She is with our friend Prof Colin from Rutland, staying with Nigel and Sissel at their lovely bungalow near the village of Nesseby.

From day 1, they started catching big numbers of birds, because this is the height of the migration period so far north, before winter sets in. Here is just a flavour of the birds they have been ringing......

Although quite a common bird in the UK, Coal Tits are quite rare so far north..

This is the Coal Tit--but look more closely and you will see that the back is noticeably grey/blue in colour, which is typical of the continental race of this bird--British birds are me grey brown in that area.

Where there are lots of migrating birds, there are lots of bird predators!! This is Europe's smallest raptor, a small falcon called a Merlin. They are dashing little birds that catch small birds in flight. Look at the massive eyes, which come  in really useful in the frantic chases they need to catch prey.

But pride of place goes to a bird which has made Liz's trip the most exciting ever! This is a Hawk Owl.

These breed in the area, but their numbers fluctuate in direct proportion to the numbers of small mammals in the area. They are regularly seen in daylight--and as the name suggests they look like a cross between an owl and a hawk. Fantastic birds and we are all so pleased that Liz managed to connect with one.

She returns home next week, so I will provide a run down on the whole trip the, After that we have members visiting Shetland and Portugal to report on in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Meadow Pipits have started migrating through our area--more on this soon,,,,,

It's competition time!!

 I've posted several times about Tim's innovative farming technique, and the fact that he is increasingly being asked to present to farmers and policy makers around the world.......there will be more about this very soon.

However, Tim is part of a small group of like-minded farmers called the Green Collective. One of these, Michael, farms nearby and we will be increasingly providing him with ringing data, when Roy gets his licence soon, and will be spending significant time studying the birds on the farm.

We did two short demos today at this farm and Brewood Park. The Green Collective are in the top 3 of an annual BBC Radio 4 competition and the judging panel were visiting both farms. We hope it was helpful to let the  judges know how much data especially on Re Data, farmland birds we are able to feed into the partnerships we are developing with these farmers.

Michael with the two judges.... fingers crossed that they win !!