More Repeats

The weather is much like the TV channels at the moment with no originality, lots of repeats and nothing much to enthuse over. Day after day of wind and rain here in northwest England has seen me sitting in front of the PC most days while wondering where the next blog post will come from. 

More of the same beckoned until late on Tuesday night, but then on Wednesday morning the rain finally stopped, the wind dropped and the sun almost shone. 

Pilling to Cockerham road

I met up with Andy and Dave at Pilling for another crack at the Linnets. Despite the recent rains I’d kept an eye on the Linnet flock with a couple of visits showing that contrary to my fears of a week ago, the Linnets had not entirely deserted this particular food source. Visits between 12th and 21st November gave counts varying from as low as 40 birds or as high as 230, so there was everything to play for this morning. 

Linnets

Linnets

We donned wellies to enter the field of set-aside and splashed along the previously dry path to where the crop had now lost most of its autumn height. Linnets were around in some numbers and confirmed recent counts of 200+ but we managed to catch just eight as they proved very adept at feeding around our nets without going in. 

Adult Linnet tail

Linnet

Linnet

Being a bird ringer quickly teaches you that birds are cleverer than we humans think. I’d swear those Linnets were trying their very best to avoid us this morning. 

Linnets

We’ll leave it a week or more before we go back and try again. Log in soon to see more from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Theresa's Last Day and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

A Fieldfare Find

The weather is pretty dire again with strong westerlies combined with frequent heavy showers of rain and hail, or snow on higher ground. There’s little point in going out birding and no chance of ringing today, but instead news and pictures of Fieldfares. 

Fieldfare

We’re having a good run of information from our ringing efforts at Oakenclough on the edge of the Pennine Hills and the Bowland Forest. Since starting this project a couple years ago Andy and I have where possible focused on catching species and bird families that are migratory rather than resident. 

We have been targeting finches and thrushes in particular, a strategy which has paid off with some very interesting recoveries of Goldfinch, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll. There was an unexpected but fascinating Goldcrest caught too, one that seemed to be heading for a winter in France. 

The latest communiqué from the BTO involves a first year Fieldfare ring number LC51848 caught on the morning of 31st October 2015. We caught just four Fieldfares that morning but LC51848 was later recaptured by another ringer - on 31st October 2016, exactly 12 months later, this time in Gwynedd, North Wales. 

Fieldfare - Oakenclough to Gwynedd, Wales

Fieldfare

On initial inspection the detail of elapsed time and distance travelled may not seem too fascinating but the Fieldfare’s probable lifestyle in the intervening period makes for interesting thoughts and speculation. 

The Fieldfares that arrive in the UK in October and November originate from Scandinavia and are migrants whose departure date is dependent upon the timing and abundance of the northern berry crop. As a highly gregarious species whole flocks fly off south and west on a broad front during October/November and within a day or two the same birds arrive across Britain in sometimes huge numbers. They then begin a roaming lifestyle in search of wild fruit crops. They visit hedgerows until the berry crop is exhausted after which they feed upon invertebrates taken from open fields or visit orchards to feed on fallen fruit, especially during cold and icy spells.

Fieldfare

Some wintering Fieldfares travel as far as northwest France and northwest Iberia where they come under pressure from hunters who can take a heavy toll on thrush species as a whole. 

Fieldfare

The wintering population of Fieldfares in Britain is thought to number about a million individuals. During March and April Fieldfares begin their journey back north but this time with a greater urgency. They continue their gregarious lifestyle and upon arrival in their breeding grounds where they occasionally nest in colonies of 40-50 pairs. In certain situations and free from hunting and disturbance Fieldfares have taken to nesting in town parks, orchards and gardens, as well as tree-lined streets, especially in Norway. 

Fieldfare

So after spending its first winter in Britain our Fieldfare LC51848 found its way back to Sweden or Norway during 2016 where hopefully it bred and raised a whole new family. In mild winters some Fieldfares are able to stay in Scandinavia and dispense with the need to leave the northern cold.

But in the autumn of  2016 our Fieldfare chose to migrate south and west again on very much the same trajectory as it did in 2015. Luckily another ringer was around to provide us with yet more data on Fieldfares.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday.

Linnet Result

What a great outcome from Linnet ring number Z722984. It was aged and sexed as a first year male and caught at our set-aside plot near Pilling on 24th October 2016. Even better news was the fact that Z722984 was ringed as a nestling, one of a brood of six, but many miles from Pilling. 

Linnet

We found out via the BTO that the young Linnet was ringed by members of Shetland Ringing Group at Scousburgh, Shetland 674 kms from Pilling on 14th June 2016. Shetland, also known as the Shetland Islands, is a subarctic archipelago that lies about 150 miles northeast of Great Britain and approximately 200 miles west of Norway. 

Linnet, Shetland to Pilling

The BTO Breeding Atlas for 1989-1991 suggests that Linnets do not breed in Shetland, a landscape where Linnets are often replaced by the closely related Twite, a species known colloquially as the “mountain linnet.” However from the 1990s the Linnet made a small comeback on Shetland with the BTO Bird Atlas for 2007-2011 showing extra dots on the map where Linnets now breed on the mainland but where overall they are still hugely outnumbered by Twite. 

Linnet

Ringing birds in the nest provides information not generally obtained from ringing fully grown birds. Many ringers participate in the Nest Record Scheme (NRS) to provide data on nesting success and the ringing of nestlings. The data gathered shows trends on both nesting success and breeding failure when a nest fails at egg or fledging stage and the reason, e.g. predation, desertion, weather, etc. 

Where a nest is successful ringing chicks in the nest goes on to provide a life history through the exact age of the bird, the place of birth and the number of siblings. Any subsequent recovery of ringed nestling, as in the case of Z722984 gives an ever more complete picture of an individual’s life. And of course Linnet Z722984 remains in circulation to potentially provide another piece in the jigsaw. 

Linnet nest- via Wiki

The most recent summary of BTO ringing totals for UK and Ireland in 2015 show that of 8,722 Linnets ringed during that year, just 556 were nestlings. This equates to approximately 100 nests only. 

We will continue our visits with aim of collecting more information as current data from BTO ringing of Linnets mainly reflect lowland English populations between April and October. Populations in Ireland, Wales, south west and north west England, and south west Scotland are underrepresented with 14% only ringed as nestlings and just 11% ringed during the winter months. 

Linnet

The weather this week has been poor for both ringing and birding with a couple of visits to the set aside suggesting that our Linnet flock is much reduced. A couple of counts have seen as few as a dozen Linnets or up to forty five in attendance, and nowhere near the 200/300 of October. As a partial migrant it could be that many Linnets present in recent weeks have moved on, but a spell of cold weather might bring an influx of birds from elsewhere.

Linking today to Anni's Birding Blog.

Recent Recoveries, Oakenclough

I recently told blog readers about a Siskin ring number Z470850 that Andy and I ringed at Oakenclough on 23rd March 2016. Just 21 days later on 13 April 2016 it was recaptured near Fortrose, adjacent to the Moray Firth in the highlands of Scotland. 

Siskin

Now comes along another similar Siskin recapture, ring number Z470846 (the same ring string as the above), ringed on the same day of 23rd March 2016. This Siskin was also recaptured by other ringers in Scotland, but this one at Abernyte, Perth & Kinross on 8 May 2016. The Moray Firth is 416 kms due north of Oakenclough whereas Perth and Kinrosss is 284 kms due north.

 

Siskin - Oakenclough to Moray Firth

Siskin - Oakenclough to Abernyte

As we hoped at the time of ringing good numbers of Siskins, there was a good chance that a few would be later found in Scotland or even further north. 

Siskins

We also received from the BTO recovery details about a Lesser Redpoll and a Willow Warbler. 

A Lesser Redpoll carrying ring number D948673 was originally ringed as a first year, a juvenile, on 29th September 2014 at Woolston Eyes, Warrington, Cheshire by the Merseyside Ringing Group. We recaptured this bird at Oakenclough on 20th April 2016 when we were able to determine it as an adult female. The dates of ringing and recapture are both at the peak of migration timing of Lesser Redpolls but clearly we have no indication of where the bird was between times.

Lesser Redpoll - Woolston Eyes to Oakenclough

 Lesser Redpoll

A Willow Warbler carrying ring number HPH224 gave us a very interesting recovery. Originally the warbler had been caught on 18th August 2015 at Cissbury Ring, near Worthing, West Sussex by Steyning Ringing Group.

With a wing length of 67mm it could not be sexed but was safely aged as a bird of the year, a juvenile. Willow Warblers do not winter in the UK but make their way to Central Africa where they winter. We can be certain that in August this bird was about to cross the English Channel to France on the next stage of its long journey.

Willow Warbler -  Worthing to Oakenclough

We recaptured the Willow Warbler at Oakenclough on 20thApril 2016 when the by now adult wing length of 69mm allowed it to be be safely assigned as a male. A lack of visits to Oakenclough since April has meant we have been unable to find out if HPH224 stayed around to breed. Hopefully we’ll catch up with it soon and add another piece to the jigsaw.

Willow Warbler

It's raining today and I've still not completely recovered from my virus, but with luck there'll be news, views and photographs soon.

Check out the new header picture, an Oystercatcher at Pilling.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday  and   Anni's Birding.

A Siskin Sheet

I hope regular readers are up for more news of the bird ringing at Oakenclough? It seems the best place to be at the moment with good numbers of finches continuing to pass through. Down at the coast the news from birders is that the lasting high pressure system is holding back migration. Early migrants like Chiffchaffs, Sand Martins and Wheatears seem hard to come by whereas winter birds like Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Goose are noticeable by their continued presence in good numbers.

I met Andy at the ringing station at 0630. We were later joined by Will who called in to trade birding gossip and to ring a few birds.

On a grey, cold morning we caught steadily for about three hours as both Siskins and Lesser Redpolls arrived from the south, some stopping briefly, others flying determinedly north and west. This was especially true for Siskin as their vibrant calls rang out from close to the feeders but also overhead as small parties flew over. Lesser Redpolls were not so numerous, as reflected in the ringing totals below. There was also a movement of Chaffinches with at one point ten or more in the tops of a couple of nearby trees.

Chaffinch

Following a catch of 22 Goldfinches last Friday the species’ status as a sometime migrant was confirmed by today’s catch of a single new bird and two recaptures. Suddenly at 1030 the feeders went quiet and overhead birds dried up. By 1130 we had decided to pack up and go home.

We totalled 31 birds today – 22 new and 9 recaptures. New birds: 12 Siskin, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Wren, 1 Reed Bunting, 1 Robin. Recaptures; 4 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Great Tit.

The Reed Bunting proved to be a second year male.

Reed Bunting

Two male Siskins. The adult Siskin is on the right, the second year on the left.

Siskins

Lesser Redpoll

At each ringing session all the captured birds are entered onto a field sheet. The Information is later transferred to a database, Integrated Population Monitoring and Recording (IPMR) and each month a file of captured birds e-mailed to the BTO for inclusion on their master database.

Field Sheet - 23/03/2016

In the left hand column of the field sheet “N” indicates a new bird while “R” signifies a recapture. The system uses a five letter code for each species. Age “5” means a second year bird while “6” indicates an adult bird. We collect wing length as in many species this can be used to separate males and females where both sexes are similar. Weight at the corresponding time of capture is recorded as an indicator of general condition. At 14 grams one of today’s Siskins had a weight somewhat over the an average. Upon checking the amount of visible fat in the furculum, “little fork” or wishbone, the Siskin was found to have a fat score of 30, pointing to an individual in active migration.

Birding today - singles of Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush.

The month of March is proving to be very productive for our ringing but with the weather due to change tonight there may be a lull in proceedings. Not to worry, there will be more news and pictures very soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to World Bird Wednesday, Anni's Blog and Viewing Nature With Eileen.

More Finch Tales

We are enjoying a good few days of settled weather. Despite the northerly origins of the winds which produce cold nights and cool days, many birds are making progress in their spring migration. This is especially noticeable at our Oakenclough ringing site on the western edge of the Pennine Hills where Siskins, Lesser Redpolls and Goldfinches have dominated recent visits, either in mist nets or overhead on visible migration. In searching local websites and blogs this migration seems to be much less evident in coastal areas or even missing completely. It’s tempting to say that many birders turn out later in the day than the average ringer? Or maybe it’s just that the birds use inland migration routes in the early spring? 

I’m not complaining about seeing the same species but instead enjoy recent days as an opportunity to record our observations and collect yet more data about migration. So Friday began with a scrape of the windscreen ice, a thirty minute drive into the hills and a 0630 meet with Andy for another ringing session. 

A cold easterly breeze reduced today’s catch somewhat but we still finished up with 45 birds of which 43 were of the finch family. It was a rather striking result in producing 22 Goldfinch, 12 Lesser Redpoll, 6 Siskin, 3 Chaffinch, 1 Great Tit and 1 Blue Tit

One of today’s Lesser Redpolls proved to be a “control”. It carried a BTO ring but of a letter and number sequence we did not recognise (D700 etc) so had been ringed elsewhere in the UK by another ringer. We will find out the details of this bird in due course once the capture from today is computerised and sent to the BTO. 

Lesser Redpoll

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Bird Atlas 2007-11 relates a success story for the Lesser Redpoll. Despite a 16% decrease in occupied squares in England since the 1968-72 Breeding Atlas, there was a corresponding  26% increase in Scotland and a 163% increase in Ireland. We can be fairly certain all the Lesser Redpolls we are seeing at the moment are on their way north and west to Scotland and Ireland. 

On a point of interest to readers outside of the UK, the Lesser Redpoll was elevated to full species status by British Ornithologists’ Union (BOU) in 2001 whereas in Ireland and elsewhere it continues to be treated as a race of Common Redpoll. The Lesser Redpoll is widespread throughout the UK whereas the Common Redpoll is a scarce visitor to Britain from northern Europe, Greenland and Iceland. Prior to 2001 birders and ringers who encountered these paler, larger and uncommon visitors referred to them simply as “Northern Redpolls”. Only after 2001 could we put a “tick” in the box next to Common Redpoll. 

 Lesser Redpoll

The Siskins we caught today are on their way to more northerly parts of the UK, potentially to Norway, just over the North Sea from Scotland. 

Siskin

The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Bird Atlas 2007-11 tells us that since the 1968-72 Breeding Atlas the Siskin has enjoyed a “spectacular” increase of 166% in the number of occupied 10km squares. Gains were achieved in Wales and large parts of Ireland. In Scotland, Siskins have spread into the northeast and onto the Northern Isles and the Outer Hebrides 

Siskin

It was good to see the Goldfinch at the top of the scoresheet today. The Goldfinch is now so abundant we often forget that it too is a partial migrant which returns north at this time of year. Because Goldfinches are always around in wintertime, albeit in reduced numbers, it is not always easy to spot the spring arrivals. 

Goldfinch

The Goldfinch has a chequered history in the UK, a past and present story which is replicated here in the county of Lancashire where during the late 19th century it was almost extinct as a breeding species. 

The then status of the Goldfinch is described in a book from 1892 - The Birds of Lancashire by F. S. Mitchell. “The Goldfinch is resident, but so decreased in numbers as to be almost extinct. The march of agriculture is one great reason for this; waste lands where thistle is its favourite food, groundsel and nettles used to grow in plenty, being now so largely brought under cultivation. The bird-catcher too (or as he is more commonly called the "tuttler" or "touter" i.e. one who entices), is the deadly enemy of the Goldfinch, and any stray individuals are at once captured to satisfy the exigencies of the demand from the large towns.” 

The Goldfinch hung on in there until during the 1980’s there came a sudden revival in its fortunes. 

The following information is also taken from the BTO Atlas 2007-11. “Since the 1990s the UK Goldfinch population has exploded, a phenomenon almost entirely explained by improved annual survival. During 1995-2010 there was a 91% increase in the UK breeding population and a 158% increase during 1998-2010 in Ireland. 

The Goldfinch owes much of its recent success to adapting to and exploiting bird feeding stations in suburban gardens and elsewhere. Goldfinches were recorded in 50-60% of gardens in Britain in 2011 with a similar pattern evident in Ireland with Goldfinches recorded in 80% of gardens.” 

Goldfinch

 

Stay tuned. There will be more finch tales soon from Another Bird Blog.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Birding and Eileen's Saturday.

Quicky Birding

It’s just a hurried post as Another Bird Blog has an appointment and then won’t be around for a day or two. 

This morning I met up at Pilling with Andy so that he could learn the whereabouts of the Skylark nest found on Monday and continue with nest recording in my absence. As there are a good number of Skylarks in the area we hoped we might be able to come across other breeding activity.

The Nest Record Scheme (NRS) gathers vital information on the breeding success of Britain's birds by asking volunteers to find and follow the progress of individual birds' nests. The two pictures below show the information recorded to date on the Skylark nest first found on Monday.

 Nest Record - Skylark

Nest Record - Skylark

 Skylark

To monitor some specially protected species, it's necessary to obtain a Schedule 1 permit in addition to registering as a nest recorder. As with all British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) surveys, the welfare of the birds comes first, and therefore all nest recorders follow the NRS Code of Conduct, a protocol designed to ensure that monitoring a nest does not influence its outcome. 

The data collected for NRS are used to produce trends in breeding performance, which helps to identify species that may be declining because of problems at the nesting stage. These trends are updated every year and published in the BirdTrends report. NRS data also allow measurement of the impacts of pressures such as climate change on bird productivity. 

Both Skylarks were still in the area of the nest, the male singing close by, the female not immediately obvious to us but we quickly looked into the nest and departed. 

Less than 75 yards away was another pair of Skylarks, a pair I’ve been aware of for a while. We watched the female taking nest lining material back to the nest where upon inspection we discovered a single egg, the beginning of nest laying and a reason to complete another nest record for the BTO. 

Nest Record - Skylark

Close by we found Lapwings with just one chick which we located for ringing. It is  one of the very few youngsters and nests to survive the intense farming activity of recent weeks. 

Lapwing chick

There was limited time for birding before heading our separate ways but in an hour so we managed to clock up 8+ singing Skylarks, 4+ “Greenland” Wheatears, 15 Linnet, 2 Kestrel, 1 Buzzard, 1 Whitethroat and 1 Little Owl. 

Little Owl

Another Bird Blog will be back soon from somewhere warm and sunny. Don’t miss it.

Dead On Time

Setting off birding early in the morning means there’s a chance of seeing owls, usually Barn Owls. This morning at Pilling there was a Tawny Owl at the roadside but unfortunately it was dead, the victim of an overnight collision with a vehicle. 

The woodland living Tawny Owl is very nocturnal and does indeed spend most of its time in the woods so is less likely to fall victim to motorised vehicles than the crepuscular Barn Owl. Barn Owls are very frequent road and rail victims. 

Tawny Owl

I stopped the car to take a look and recued the battered, dishevelled body, placing it in the car for later. There was a BTO ring on the owl’s left leg so I will report that although I’m pretty sure who the ringer is.

Tawny Owls are one of the UK’s most sedentary birds and although young birds disperse from their place of birth they rarely move far, the average distance being just four kilometres. 

Size "G" - UK Ringing Scheme via the British Trust for Ornithology 

I was working on borrowed time today with only an hour or two spare in which to visit the usual spots. The Common Terns really fooled me last weekend at Conder Green when the female was hunkered down out of sight on the nest as the male made less frequent visits to Glasson Dock, the seemingly regular feeding spot. Anyway today was more normal with even the female heading off in the direction of Glasson where I actually saw both birds, one where the canal meets the yacht basin and one over the lock. Could there be youngsters in that unseen nest?

Waders today: 3 Greenshank, 1 Spotted Redshank, 4 Snipe, 4 Common Sandpiper, 6 Curlew, 75 Lapwing, 90 Redshank. 

Lapwing

Also 4 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Little Egret, 2 Grey Heron and 4 Teal. 

Pied Wagtail

Lapwing

Brown Hare

At Glasson the aforementioned Common Terns, 2 Grey Wagtail, 25 Swallow, 4 Swift, 2 Grey Heron and 3 Cormorant, but I was out of birding time so saved it for another day. 

Cormorant

Swallow

Swallow

Sunday doesn’t look good because what’s left of Bertha is heading across the Atlantic Ocean and about to hit the UK with wind and rain.

Never mind, Another Bird Blog will be back as soon as possible.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.