First of November

Our first ringing session of the month took place at Oakenclough, Near Garstang. The morning was dry and cloudy with a 10mph southerly, a direction that leaves our nets partly sheltered. I met Andy at 0630 and Bryan joined us soon after. 

The morning followed the same pattern as the last two occasions here. There was a dawn arrival of thrushes from the south east and quickly leaving in a westerly that lasted in all about 40 minutes. This was followed once again by a slow morning of odds and ends of thrushes, a lack of finches and just 26 birds ringed. Totals captured: 9 Redwing, 3 Fieldfare, 4 Goldcrest, 3 Goldfinch, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Blackbird, 1 Chaffinch. 

In all we counted approximately 80 Redwings, 40 Fieldfares and 5/6 Blackbirds. As described above, finches were dominated by approximately 40 each of Chaffinch and Goldfinch, a couple of Greenfinch, but big fat zeros for both Redpoll and Siskin. 

Redwings

One of the first year Redwings caught was in the process of renewing its outer tail feathers, perhaps slightly unusual since it is probably in the middle of a long migration journey. Note the different shapes of the two generations of feathers. 

Redwing

 

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

We have ringed approximately 60 Goldcrests here this autumn with a handful or more new ones on each occasion. 

Goldcrest

For a large and colourful bird, Fieldfares are very shy and can be quite hard to spot in an autumn hedgerow. There are five Fieldfares in the picture below, taken on the way home on the drive across Pilling Moss. 

Fieldfares

Despite or perhaps because of the recent low catches of redpolls, we received another recovery of a Lesser Redpoll via the BTO. This is the second recent one from a batch of juvenile birds we ringed at Oakenclough in August, and one that demonstrates how Lesser Redpolls, especially first years, migrate south-east in autumn. 

Lesser Redpoll

We ringed Lesser Redpoll S800343 on 30th August 2017 with biometrics of Wing 69.0 mm, Weight: 10.1 grams at 0800 hours. The same bird was recaptured in Leicestershire near Ashby-de-la-Zouche on 26th October 2017 at 1200 hours with biometrics of Wing 68.0 mm. Weight: 9.7 g. Duration: 57 days. Distance: 154 km. Direction: 150deg (SSE) 

Lesser Redpoll - Oakenclough to Ashby-de-la-Zouche

Stay tuned. There's a 5mph forcast for Thursday with more ringing on the cards.