Staying Grounded

Saturday 26 March. There was a cold start at 0600. The temperature gauge displayed 2°C as I erected nets alone while musing over what the next four or five hours might bring. 

During the week bird news from Merseyside, North Morecambe Bay and North Wales confirmed my observations of the early week - low-key migration with small arrivals of Chiffchaffs, Lesser Redpolls, Goldcrests and Wheatears, together with unusually low numbers of Meadow Pipits in the run of clear-cold mornings. 

In North Wales there was an early Willow Warbler on Thursday 24 March together with nine Black Redstarts! I was expecting most of the above but definitely not a Black Redstart, although it was almost 12 months ago to the day of April 1st 2021 that I unexpectedly saw a Common Redstart perched at the gateposts. 

Common Redstart

By 0630 I was up and running with a cup of steaming coffee, the car ticking over and the heater turned to “Hi”. 

This site at Pilling is certainly good for Reed Buntings, already the most ringed bird here for 2022 with another three on the books today. 

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting

In the furthest mist net lay yet another Brambling, one that at first glance looked identical to the Brambling caught on Thursday. When I turned the bird over to begin extracting there was no ring on either leg and I could see that this was also a second year female, marginally paler than the one of Thursday. 

Unlike us in the grey winter of Northern England the Bramblings may have faded in their winter sun destinations of France, Iberia or The Cornish Riviera. 

Brambling

Brambling

From here on the west coast Bramblings have a long journey yet before they reach their eventual destinations of Scandinavia and further east, into that presently troubled part of Northern Europe. Bramblings breed in coniferous and birch woodlands in much of Scandinavia, a large part of Russia, and northern Kazakhstan and Mongolia. 

Brambling Range in Europe

 

I gradually shed layers of clothes as the sun rose higher and grew increasingly warm. Unfortunately the clear blue skies and zero wind probably helped birds to move off site very quickly. A couple of Lesser Redpolls, 2 Pied Wagtails, Blackbirds and a singing Chiffchaff all evaded the nets and I was left to birdwatch rather than ring birds. 

Chiffchaff

 

There were lots of “pinkies”, Pink-footed Geese, around this morning, with perhaps an influx of those that wintered in Norfolk and South Lancashire, birds now ready to set off for Iceland. There seemed to be many hundreds, even thousands, over 3,000 of them when they panicked from their feeding in the Cockerham meadows when the regular aircraft climbed off from Black Knights Parachute Centre loaded with thrill seekers. 

Pink-footed Geese

 

For adrenalin junkies there’s the opportunity to throw your body out of a light aeroplane for as little as £199 with a “One Jump Taster”.  With luck you will land in Cockerham and not in Morecambe Bay.

Black Knights Parachute Centre - Cockerham Marsh

  

I think I will give that a miss, stick to solid ground and watch from below rather than have the ground rush up to meet me. 

Other birds seen today – 3 Little Egret, 2 Skylark, 1 Buzzard, 8 Linnet, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Meadow Pipit. 

Andy is back from Egypt this weekend, keen to show off his sun tan and eager to get out ringing again, if slightly miffed to miss two Bramblings. Let’s hope bird numbers improve soon for his ringing fix. 

Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni In Texas.

Trying Linnets Again

The enforced three month absenteeism from our Cockerham ringing site was both worrying and frustrating, more so when thinking about information that was probably missed. 

Here below is an example, a Chaffinch ringed on one side of the divide on 10 November 2021 and then recaptured 25 February 2022. The record nicely illustrates how a common and seemingly unexciting Chaffinch can provide an interesting recovery. 

Adult male Chaffinch ALP8327 was captured, then ringed and released at Cockerham on 10 November 2021, one of three Chaffinches and 13 other birds caught that morning. The Chaffinch was recaptured by Borders Ringing Group at Garvald, a hamlet near Dewar in the Moorfoot Hills, Scottish Borders area of Scotland on 25 February 2022. 

Chaffinch - Cockerham to Dewar

 

Chaffinch - adult male

A glance at the direction of travel shows a direction of travel as due North at a time of year when wintering Chaffinches are known to migrate. 

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On Tuesday morning Andy and I decided to try out our newly acquired ringing site at Warton near Preston where until recently there had been over 1000 Linnets, perhaps as many as 1500. So numerous were the Linnets that the farmer told us how on a dozen or more occasions the combined weight of so many Linnets (1000/1500 x 18 grams) had snapped the overhead wires above the set-aside field, lines that the Linnets used as a launch pad and resting spot. 

The farm is a dairy farm only where crops are not grown, so apart from Swallows, owls in the outbuildings and common hedgerow species like Wood Pigeon, Dunnock, Blackbird and Chaffinch, the bird life is run-of-the-mill. The fields of agri-environment provide more bird interest in autumn and winter, especially for ringers. 

Linnets

When we arrived about 0830 we counted more than 500 Linnets already on site. Unfortunately the Linnets did not perform as we hoped whereby we managed to catch the grand total of two. 

Linnet

It was the old story that we know only too well after five years of trying to catch a species that shares some human attributes of being shrewd, cautious, wily and wary when suspecting danger. 

There was a Kestrel that watched proceedings from atop the poles, together with a calling and circling Buzzard from nearby woods, but it seemed that the Linnets were more wary of two humans in their plot rather than winged predators. 

Kestrel

Just as the aforementioned Chaffinch on its way north, the Linnets too are daily reducing in numbers, and where by early April there will be a few pairs in the farm hedgerows once the winter flock has left for pastures new and north of here. 

The weather is due to turn wet windy again until perhaps Saturday. Stay tuned friends, there will be more news and views soon. 

 

Making It Count

“Don’t count the days. Make the days count” - a quote from the greatest boxer of all time Muhammad Ali. 

On that basis I rose at the unearthly hour of 0530 on Friday to meet up with Andy out Pilling way to once again set up mist nets in the half-light of 3° where cold fingers fought to stay warm.  With no time for chitchat our priority was to set nets in readiness for early birds in search of a worm or two, hopefully Redwings. As the morning progressed we expected to add more species and numbers. 

Although we have both seen and caught numbers of Redwings this autumn, the strange weather of the last three weeks has seen very few Fieldfares to accompany their cousins. The two thrushes often arrive together in mixed flocks of tens, dozens, hundreds or even thousands, but not this year. Perhaps Friday would see both arrive as dawn broke or soon after? 

There were no Fieldfares again so we made do with three Redwings that found the net in the dark. Those were the only ones we caught out of 40+ that flew over in tiny groups in three hours and more. 

The morning continued with a light drizzle out of the 100% grey cloud and poor visibility, murk that hung around for quite a while and prevented us from any useful birding. The light was so poor that my camera stayed in the car, these pictures from previous days.

The most notable thing about Friday morning was how the highly mobile Linnets reached approximately 200/250 individuals, a number reflected in our catch of 21. This brings the total of Linnets ringed here this autumn/winter period to 192 - with zero recaptures. If only we could persuade more NW ringers to target Linnets we might together discover more about this Red Listed species. 

New birds caught: 21 Linnet, 3 Redwing, 2 Greenfinch, 1 Wren, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Blue Tit and 1 Reed Bunting. 

Redwing

Linnet

Greenfinch

Reed Bunting

News arrived of a Lesser Redpoll, Ring number AKE3924, a second year female we ringed up at Oakenclough back on 19 March 2020. 

AKE3924 was recaptured over the Pennine Hills by other ringers in Spennithorne, North Yorkshire on 20 October 2021, a duration of 586 days and a distance of 73 km. 

This is another between years Lesser Redpoll recovery that tells us little except that both dates coincide with known migration times of Lesser Redpolls and also their north/south and south/north movements in spring/autumn. 

Lesser Redpoll - Oakenclough, Lancashire - Spennithorne, Yorkshire

Lesser Redpoll

We live to ring another day but probably not this weekend when the weather again turns unfriendly. 

The whole of next week looks reasonable in which to make our bird ringing and bird observations contribute to the wider picture. Log in then to Another Bird Blog to see how we do.

 

Testing Times

Andy and I arranged to meet up at Gulf Lane this morning to test our latest theory about Linnets - we catch better on frosty mornings? 

There was a ground frost and a temperature of -1° at 0800. We had been here on Saturday 4th January and despite a spot count of 400 Linnets we caught a big fat zero, not a single one; the Linnets just weren't interested, this in contrast to 2nd January when we had a catch of twenty-seven. The difference between the two days was - on January 2nd there’s been an overnight frost followed by an icy morning of -2.5°. In total contrast the morning of Saturday 4th January was much warmer at 7°C. My post, Another Bird Blog of 2nd January - “Twenty seven was our best catch of the winter, probably helped by the frosty start and the Linnets’ keenness to eat”. 

These are wintering Linnets only, ones which and dependent upon the coming weather, may be back on their way North as early as March. That leaves us just eight or ten weeks to reach our target of 200 new Linnets for the winter period. Another 100 to go. 

We set the nets followed by another bucket of millet and rape seed then waited for the Linnet’s arrival. Although the Linnets arrived in good numbers – up to 300, we caught just four. All four were females today. So although it’s back to the drawing board for our next theory, we do not give up so easily and remain convinced that catches will improve. 

Linnet - First winter/second calendar year female 

Linnet - First winter/second calendar year female 

“Ringing has been an important research tool for the conservation biologist over the last 100 years. Effective conservation of wild bird populations requires understanding of bird ecology, the factors driving population change, and evidence that proposed conservation measures can be effective. Bird-ringing studies can provide a wide range of data types to aid and inform this process, and in many cases these data are not available without the capture and marking of individual birds.” 

The above is a summary of a paper from Ringing and Migration “The value of ringing for bird conservation”, written in 2009 by Guy Q.A. Anderson and Rhys E. Green. 

The full paper, too lengthy to post here, includes sections on: 

• Movement between seasons in resident species 
• Dispersal Migration routes and strategies 
• Survival rates 
• Productivity 
• Genetic relationship 
• How to improve the value of ringing for conservation gain 

Read the full paper at:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228501270_The_value_of_ringing_for_bird_conservation