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 !!