Today there is detail of a Brambling recovery plus a little birding news.
On March 2nd 2013 at Out Rawcliffe I caught an adult male Brambling bearing a Norwegian ring - Stavanger ED78766. The photograph below is of the actual bird after I managed to locate the pic on my PC.
Brambling
The details have just arrived from the BTO via Norwegian ringers who inform us that the Brambling was originally ringed at Randaberg, Rogaland, Norway on 11th October 2011. Randaberg is close to the Norwegian coast and just north of Stavanger, an area where many, many thousands of Bramblings pass through each autumn on their way to winter in Europe. We don’t know where ED 78766 spent the winter of 2011/12 but we do know that 2012/13 was a good winter to find Bramblings in the UK, this being the second such recovery from the ringing at Rawcliffe in 2012/13.
Brambling - Norway to Out Rawcliffe
This morning I headed to Conder Green for a spot of birding. Just through Cockerham village I noticed many hundreds of Swallows along roadside wires and in the air. Looking right I remembered the large field of maize crop I pass often and from where the Swallows had obviously just woken up after their overnight roost.
Swallow
Conder was pretty quiet, just as it has been in recent days. The now single Little Ringed Plover was still there, as was the Spotted Redshank, 3 Greenshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 60+ Redshanks and 300+ Lapwings. The rest of the birds came in two by twos - 2 Teal, 2 Wigeon, 2 Stock Dove, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Cormorant and 2 Little Egret.
Little Ringed Plover
Little Ringed Plover
Little Ringed Plover
Mute Swan and Cormorant
With nothing much happening at sleepy Glasson I decided to try my luck at Pilling and the incoming tide.
Canal Boats at Glasson
This wasn’t much better, a walk to Fluke and back giving a good show of herons - 5 Little Egret and 4 Grey Heron, but the tide a little too distant for decent wader numbers. There was a Buzzard circling over Lane Ends and when I approached Pilling Water, 2 juvenile Kestrels from the nearby nest box.
Kestrel
There are released Mallards at the wildfowlers pools and in the ditches, easy to identify as they just stick together in a tight bunch on the water as if still in penned captivity. Teal are beginning to arrive in numbers with 140+ today, some already finding the wheat put out for them about the pools. A Green Sandpiper today but no sign of the usual Greenshank.
Any day now the 2000+ Red-legged Partridge will be released - that should bring in a few harriers and Buzzards, keep the Peregrine happy and also provide some entertainment for Another Bird Blog.
Linking today to Stewart's Gallery.
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14 comments:
the little plovers are adorable! the brambling has such great coloration!
Interesting about the banding!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
Great photos and very interesting details about the migration of that Brambling. I am still trying to understand about all those birds bred and then released - any idea how many will still be around at the end of the season? Customs differ so greatly from country to country!
Love the bold vivid colors of the brambling. And the ringed plover [someone else has shared the very same this week! Great minds think alike]...they're so tiny and so sweet. AND fun to watch.
Another great outing, Phil! I would love to see 300 Lapwings. The Brambling is a gorgeous bird. And I love the cute Plover! Great post and beautiful shots. Happy Birding!
The little Kestrel is having what I called a wild feather day ;) The Plovers are so sweet and well, I love, love, love the Swallow...well done Phil~
The little Plover is beautiful.
that would be fun drifting along on the canal boat - a little of Wind in the Willows happening. Cuppas on board, hop out here and there for some birding snapshots. I loved the kestrel Phil
Excellent pictures, Phil. I especially like the swans and cormorant. Looks like a performance piece.
I always like the excitement of finding a bird with a ring - or a band as I have had to learn to call them! Most of ours are retraps of our own birds, but its still good.
Cheers and thanks for linking to WBW
Stewart M
Beautiful birds! The plovers are so cute and the kestrel is very handsome.
Love seeing and hearing about birds that we don't have here in the U.S.
Sad that the mallards are huddling together as if still in captivity. I have a soft spot for ducks.
The brambling is beautiful, and the swallow so sleek and lovely, but I love that little plover.
I am particularly pleased to see the canal boats. My friend in Yelvertoft sent me a gorgeous photo of the exterior of theirs recently. I can hardly wait to see one for myself, but it will be a while because my husband has decided his 70th birthday present to himself will be a trip to Iceland at the end of March.
K
Looks like migrants are beginning to move.
We're beginning to see shorebirds in the local sod fields and at the dairy farms. They're all challenging for me!
Love that Brambling! Fantastic plumage!
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