Finch Fest for the Aged Members......plus more stuff

 Our BP farm has a good strip of seed rich cover crop which is attracting good numbers of finches-mainly Linnet-at present. The three ancient members of our team-Pete, Paul and I have managed to devise quite a good technique for catching them and in two catches over the last few days, we have ringed over 50 birds. Linnet is a red data species so we're very happy to report to farmer Tim that his cover crop is working well for endangered species. At this time of year, Linnets form feeding flocks and like most other finch species the males have very subdued colours in order not to create aggression within the flock. Here is a picture of an adult male:-

As you can see ( or rather can't see) there is no beautiful pink/red on the breast as in the breeding season. But if you look carefully at arrow 2 you can see a feather with red on it--but the outer part of the feather-which is what we see-there is a buff edge which in effect hides the colour. This buff edge wears off during the winter to reveal the red in the spring just in time for breeding--clever!!

Arrow 1 shows a small whitish rod at the bend of the wing which is the sheath through which this flight feather is growing. Only adult birds replace their flight feathers at this time of year, so this along with the tail feather shape:-

You can see all the tail feathers have rounded tips-confirming this as an adult bird.

Along with Linnets, there are good numbers of Goldfinch and Greenfinch. This picture is of an adult male Greenfinch:-

It's a male because of all the green and bright yellow on the wings, tail and belly--and an adult because of the tail shape as in the Linnet--all the feathers are round ended.

Meanwhile, Kev and Gareth are still catching some quality birds on Shetland. This is a Redwing, newly arrived from Scandinavia and points east. We have heard that Redwings have just arrived in the Midlands overnight so I hope to report decent catches over the next few weeks.

Finally for now, thermal imaging of Skylarks is underway again with three visits over recent weeks leading to around 40 new birds being ringed and 7 already ringed birds being re-trapped. More news on these soon.......