New Horizons, Old Friends

There was no Rawcliffe today for Will and me; instead we decided to try our luck at the winter feeding spot at Myerscough where in the last few weeks Will did the hard preparatory work by snipping overgrown hawthorn branches adjacent to net rides, regularly dropping a little bird seed, and on his visits making sure that birds had found the free grub. The targets of our efforts are set to be Chaffinches and thrushes, with perhaps a few wary Tree Sparrows, but the latter may not oblige after the first one or two visits literally catch them out.

The site was disgustingly muddy, the track churned up by the many tractor and farm vehicle visits of autumn, but we set just a couple of nets in the half-light then waited for birds to arrive.

The farm track is less than half a mile from a long established Chaffinch roost at nearby Myerscough College. The grounds of the college are so busy with people and vehicles on a daily basis that it is not feasible to ring there, so putting feed out nearby is more effective than attempting to catch Chaffinches in a large, widespread roost. There is scope here for a couple of keen young ornithologists to count how many Chaffinches arrive at the roost in the late afternoon, from which directions, and maybe even the birds' choice of tree or shrub in which to spend the night. If only young birders were as keen on finding out about birds as they are on seeing new or “exciting” ones.

Muddy Waters

Targeting the Chaffinch proved very successful in a four hour session, with a total of 49 birds, 46 new and 3 recaptures. New birds: 36 Chaffinch, 3 Tree Sparrow, 3 Robin, 2 Blackbird, 1 Blue Tit, and 1 Dunnock. Recaptures: 1 Chaffinch, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Tree Sparrow. The Chaffinch and Blue Tit were first ringed here on 12 December 2010, with the Tree Sparrow dating from January 2009.

Our observations suggest that 100+ Chaffinches came to the feed at the hedgerow, our count probably a severe underestimate given the number arriving but not necessarily caught. Also, it’s early days yet but compared to our autumn catches of predominantly juvenile Chaffinches at Out Rawcliffe, it was quickly evident today how many of the birds handled were adults, 18 of the 37, or virtually 50%.

Mainly Chaffinch
Chaffinch
Chaffinch – broad tail of an adult
Blue Tit

The rather enclosed nature of the site limits the bird watching somewhat, but in addition to the birds ringed we noted 2 Bullfinch, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Snipe, 1 Kestrel, 1 Tawny Owl, 7 Redwing, 6 Fieldfare.