Saturday Shift

I was a little delayed at seeing the -2°on the dash and waiting for frost to clear from the windscreen. I was motoring up to Oakenclough to meet Andy for a 0630 start to a ringing session. 

There was a little light, so rather than the main road journey with zero birds, I opted to head across the empty moss roads where there might be a Barn Owl or two looking for breakfast. 

Rawcliffe Moss, Lancashire

Success came with two hunting Barn Owls, the first at Stalmine and then another at Nateby. I paused briefly, mainly to make sure the owls flew away from the danger of the road before continuing north and east. 

Barn Owl

I sometimes wonder if the Barn Owl has fully adapted to the motor vehicle and to railways. Studies show that while starvation is a major factor, collision with vehicles is the leading cause of recorded deaths of Barn Owls. In some cases over 50% of all recorded deaths were attributable to some form of collision or other accident and within this category the most prevalent are road traffic victims, which form approximately 45% of all deaths. 

"Natural’ causes" account for roughly 30% of all recorded Barn Owl deaths. The most important is starvation, circa 25% of all deaths, followed by disease/parasitism at 3% and then predation at approximately 2%. Minor causes included other forms of trauma, drowning in water-troughs, and electrocution. 

This vulnerability to external factors shows why the population of Barn Owls fluctuates dramatically from one year to the next and also explains why the species has special legal protection in the UK. 

Our ringing session was fairly quiet with no obvious signs of migration other than once again, a decent catch of returning Lesser Redpolls. One of the Lesser Redpolls, an adult male with ring sequence beginning S211 proved to be from elsewhere. It’s always good to catch a bird from elsewhere in the expectation of finding out where the bird spent some of its earlier life. The unfamiliar ring number is now sent to the BTO and the original ringing details will be forwarded to us a later date. 

Today’s birds: 11 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Siskin, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Goldcrest. We caught our first Goldcrest of the year. With a wing length of 49mm and weight of 4.9 grams the bird tallied with the ringers’ rule that the two figures are always a decimal point apart. 

Goldcrest

Below, the two Siskins – adult male and adult female. Siskin migration seems a little "thin" this year whereas Lesser Redpoll movement so far appears to be up to scratch. 

Siskin

Siskin

Below is adult male Lesser Redpoll S211etc, ringed elsewhere.

Lesser Redpoll

Below are details of Lesser Redpolls moving to or from Oakenclough since recommencing ringing here in late 2014.    

D618555 

Ringed 02/02/14 Market Drayton, Shropshire - adult male
Recaptured 14/03/15 Oakenclough, Lancashire (116 km, N, 1 yr 40days)

D700694  

Ringed 11/01/14 Walkden, Manchester, Greater Manchester - second year male
Recaptured 18/03/16 Oakenclough, Lancashire (49 km, NNW, 2 yrs 67days)

D948673 

Ringed 29/09/14 Woolston Eyes, Warrington-  adult female
Recaptured 20/04/16 Oakenclough, Lancashire (60 km, NNW, 1 yr 204days)

S109508  Ringed 05/03/16 Dales Brow, Swinton, Greater Manchester - second year female

Recaptured 31/03/16 Oakenclough, Lancashire (52 km, NNW, 26 days)

Today's clear skies and little visible migration meant that “birding birds” were few and far between with 4 Pied Wagtail, 1 Reed Bunting, 2 Mistle Thrush and 5 Long-tailed Tits the best we could muster.

Linking today to Anni who too would rather be birding.