Friday on Saturday

I’m a little late with yesterday’s blog post. That’s because Friday evening was the annual Fylde Ringing Group Christmas dinner, a chance for members to get together and discuss birds for a change! A good time was enjoyed by all at The Farmer’s Arms, Great Eccleston. 

Farmer's Arms

Meanwhile the Linnets don’t get any easier to catch even though there are up to 300 birds present at any one time. Another session at the set-aside on Friday saw us add another eight birds to the project total. 

Linnet

Male Linnet

We recorded our first recapture - a first year male originally caught on the very first visit of 3rd October 2016, now re-trapped 2 months later, despite eight other visits in the intervening period. This is the first real indication we have that some of the Linnets probably visit the field on a regular basis. Our overall total of new birds ringed is now approaching 150 individuals out of a seemingly unchanging flock of circa 300. Almost certainly the daily flock is comprised of a mix of regular visitors, periodic callers but also a steady stream of new arrivals to replace those which moved on to other locations. The total number of Linnets involved in the two month period must number in the high hundreds rather than any daily count.

In the field is one plant in particular that the Linnets appear to favour; it looks to be a member of the Cruciferae family of plants and is known as Fodder Radish which at this time of the year displays brown/straw coloured pods containing rows of tiny brown seeds. Many of the now dried up pods have split open or are partly broken so that the seeds are still visible or have popped out onto the ground below. 

Linnets

Fodder Radish

A local farmer stopped to talk and invited us to take a look at his own set-aside plot half-a-mile away and for us to judge if this plot might be suitable for additional or complementary ringing. We found the spot, a strip of land located next to a drainage ditch of phragmites reed and other vegetation plus a substantial but cropped hedgerow along one side. It does look suitable for a spot of ringing so I will in the next week or two make regular visits to assess the species and number of birds present and take it from there. 

Afterwards I looked at the fields near Backsands, Sand Villa and Braides Farm where the wet fields have attracted a good selection of waders and wildfowl. In particular were good numbers of Black-tailed Godwit, a species which has the knack of finding partly flooded fields in which to feed. 

Black-tailed Godwit & Redshank

Curlews

 Counts – 120 Black-tailed Godwit, 480 Curlew, 330 Lapwing, 380 Golden Plover, 80 Redshank, 55 Teal, 8 Shoveler, 15 Shelduck, 300+ Starling, 200 Black-headed Gull, 1 Merlin.

Linking today to Anni's Birding and Eileen's Saturday.