Brambling Bonanza

With little local news, here’s a story for birders who like to hone their counting skills with massed waders; or flocks of finches perhaps? 

After good autumn counts of Bramblings on migration through the UK there were hopes that the better than average numbers might herald a “Brambling Winter”, a winter when Bramblings become relatively common.

It wasn't to be as the counts fizzled out and sightings of Bramblings broke few if any records, at least in the UK. My own autumn and winter count troubled a single handful of fingers.

Brambling 

Another Bird Blog featured the Brambling phenomenon in November 2018, but now there’s a follow-up to the story. 

Recent counts in Slovakia suggest that as is often the case, and despite the hopes of UK birders, many Bramblings have remained in Northern and Eastern Europe where as normal they exploited crops of beech and hornbeam. 

Cut to the TV News of recent weeks where heavy snowfall in Europe north of the Alps brought huge snow drifts, deadly avalanches and a degree of chaos to everyday life. 

Large falls of snow covered much of the Bramblings’ food supplies with the result that they fled south beyond the Alps and into Slovenia in search of new food supplies. During this time Slovenia remained relatively snow-free as newly arrived Bramblings homed in on the Zasavje area. It was here that other Bramblings had already found good feeding amongst carpets of beechmast following a heavy seed crop during a productive summer. 

Counts in recent days and weeks by Tomaž Mihelič and the other Slovene ornithologists of the country’s DOPPS - BirdLife Slovenia (Društvo za opazovanje in proučevanje ptic Slovenije) realised a count of between 2 to 5 million Bramblings in beech woods along the River Sava, a tributary of the Danube. 

 Bramblings, Slovenia (© Tomaž Mihelič)

Bramblings, Slovenia (© Tomaž Mihelič)

The counts showed a minimum of 2 million but probably as many as 5 million Bramblings, all contained in an area of about 100 square kms, a number representing a sizeable chunk of the whole European population. Every night the Bramblings packed into a stand of trees covering just 5 hectares (a circle about 250 metres in diameter). The exact site of the roost is not revealed so as to prevent disturbance, but it has drawn crowds of locals to watch each evening.

Stop press. With fresh snowfall around, latest counts suggest up to a staggering 10 million Bramblings. 

Brambling

Looks like we in the UK will have to postpone our Brambling Winter to another year.

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

Indoor Post

Looks like I won’t get out birding or ringing for a few more days. To put it mildly, the weather is crap by way of the usual wet and wind. 

But hopefully 2018/19 may turn out to be a “Brambling Winter”, an irruption year for this close relative of the much more common Chaffinch. Migration watch points and Bird Observatories are reporting abnormally large numbers of Bramblings when in more typical years the numbers of Bramblings seen is low in comparison to other autumn migrants and to species that overwinter. 

Trektellen shows a clear spike in UK numbers in late October early November 2018 with three or more days of 2000+ Bramblings at Hunstanton Cliffs, Norfolk and at Spurn Bird Observatory. There are also several days of counts in the high hundreds. 

Brambling 2018 - https://www.trektellen.nl

Brambling 

Brambling 

However, sightings here on the west coast are not nearly as high which is not unusual given that the range of the Brambling is biased towards the east by stretching from Scandinavia and then east through an enormous swath of taiga forest across to Sakhalin and Kamchatka. This area is at the most extreme eastern edge of the Russian Federation at the Pacific Ocean and very close to the northern tip of Japan. 

In "Brambling winters" it is often into the extremes of January and February and icy temperatures before Bramblings find their way to the warmer west coast of England. Such irruptions in a number of birds of Northern Europe most often involve species like Hawfinch, Brambling, Chaffinch, Waxwing, Bullfinch, Siskin, Coal Tit and Crossbill. The common factor is each species’ reliance upon the various seeds of trees found in northern taiga, also known as boreal forest. 

Crossbill 

Waxwing 

These irregular migrations are difficult to study because it is hard to predict when they will happen or where the birds will go each year. In each case, however, irruptions follow some type of boom-and-bust cycle of food sources. It is important to note that many winter birds will gather in flocks for the season, but that does not mean they are irrupting. An irruption is characterized by a distinct shift in the birds' typical winter range, with many birds appearing well outside the normal boundaries of their winter homes. 

Waxwing

The most common cause of this phenomenon is called “masting,” which occurs when a single tree species produces a large number of seeds across thousands of miles of forest in the same year. When the conifers in the boreal forests of Northern Europe experience a masting year, the abundance of seeds gives some species of bird a boost. The birds begin breeding earlier than usual and produce more offspring, resulting in a population boom. When autumn arrives, the bird population has doubled or even tripled, but the available habitat hasn't. Many birds move south, and young birds in particular may be pushed further and farther south and west in search of both food and somewhere to spend the winter. 

Other causes for bird irruptions include unduly harsh cold or severe weather that may force birds to find more temperate wintering grounds, or over-breeding that may deplete even plentiful food supplies. No matter what the cause of the irruption, however, it is difficult to predict where or when irrupting species may appear.

It is known that the Brambling’s strategy during winter, to roost in large dense flocks, is superior to those of other passerines. Also during summer Brambling densities can be very high even at breeding sites when food is abundant. Thus the Bramblings seem to prefer wintering in flocks as large as the available food supply allows permits. 

This may explain why flocks estimated at between 2 million and 5 million Bramblings are sometimes recorded in Scandinavia, Central Europe and Japan. Such flocks can even occur in good years for beech mast, a favoured food of the Brambling. 

Take a look at the video below. At first glance it appears to be a video of a murmuration of Starlings, but in fact all of the birds are Bramblings. The video was shot in Japan, sometime during the winter of 2015/16.  

Back soon with an outdoor post. Until them linking this post to Anni's Blog and Eileen's Saturday.

Mars And Venus

Saturday morning and at 5am the alarm buzzed in my ear. Fifteen minutes later I was washed, dressed and had made a flask of coffee for the 40 minute journey to meet Andy at Oakenclough. 

By six there was zero wind and a few spots of rain. The rain was nothing to worry about as it quickly petered out and left perfect conditions for ringing. Once gain the ringing was very subdued with nothing in the way of migrants as the weather south of here continues to block migration. 

We ringed just 14 birds of 4 species - 8 Goldfinch, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Robin. For this time of year it is quite unusual that we caught zero Lesser Redpoll or Siskin today. Even the two Siskins we saw were probably fairly local wintering birds. 

The male symbol ♂ is the astrological symbol for Mars and the female symbol ♀ is the astrological symbol for Venus. Of the three small finches it’s the Goldfinch that is the harder to sex. While male and female Redpolls and male and female Siskins are quite different in their respective looks, the distinction between boy and girl Goldfinches is less obvious. 

To decide ♂ or ♀ Goldfinch we use the amount and shape of the patch of red feathering above and behind the eye combined with the colour of the nasal hairs. Wing length is an additional aid to sexing with a boy wing mostly longer than the girl equivalent, despite some mid-range overlap. The often slightly larger overall dimensions of a male can carry over to the bill whereby the bill of a larger male can be strikingly long. 

None of the above methods are of much use in the field and certainly not in the autumn with moulting adults or brown juveniles that lack any head colouration. 

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Goldfinch 

A local person we saw this morning today told of two regular Siskins on his own garden feeders. He knows of a nearby bird enthusiast and a garden well stocked with feeders that holds many more Siskins, Chaffinches and even a handful of Bramblings. The latter species has been very scarce during this Lancashire winter. 

Siskin 

Brambling 

Apart from the ubiquitous Goldfinch The best I can do in my own garden at the moment is a couple of wary Tree Sparrows that come to snatch a few grains of millet and an equally shy Stock Dove.   

Tree Sparrow

Goldfinch

“Otherwise Birding” today consisted of watching a pair of Sparrowhawks in display, 2 Pied Wagtail, 2 Mistle Thrush 1 Raven and 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Linking today to Stewart's World Birds and Anni's Birding.

Goldcrests Galore

What a morning! Busy, busy, busy. 

I met Andy up at Oakenclough at 0700 hours where we set up shop and waited to catch the first Redwings of the autumn. All seemed quiet in the half light of dawn but by nine o’clock we’d ringed 50 birds without stopping for coffee or breakfast but one Redwing only to show for our hard work. 

Ringing Station

We caught steadily and finally called a halt at midday with 123 birds caught and both ringers cream-crackered after fully processing 30+ birds every hour. Whoever said that ringing birds was easy work?

It wasn’t Redwings that topped our leader board but that other autumn migrant the Goldcrest which made up 50% of our catch, plus a selection of other species bringing up the rear. 

Totals today: 61 Goldcrest, 15 Goldfinch, 14 Chaffinch, 14 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Redwing, 2 Siskin, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Great Tit, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Long-tailed Tit, 1 Brambling and 1 Dunnock. Just two of these birds were recaptures from previous occasions, a Goldfinch and a Blue Tit. 

Late September/early October are peak times for Goldcrest migration so while we expect to see more than normal it is highly unusual to catch so many. This might suggest a very good breeding season in the conifers of the northern UK from where the Goldcrests originate. Of the 61 caught today just four were adult birds, the remainder juveniles of this year. 

The overall breeding population of Goldcrests in Europe is estimated at 20,000,000-37,000,000 pairs, which equates to 40,100,000-74,100,000 mature individuals. (Birdlife Internationl 2015). Those figures do not include post-breeding juvenile birds that swell the population many times over during the summer months. Despite their tiny size Goldcrests are highly migratory, with a large influx of birds from Scandinavia and the near-Continent arriving on the east coast of Britain every autumn. Immigrants arrive in Britain from late August through to early November, departing the following March and April. 

Early ornithologists didn’t believe a bird as tiny as a Goldcrest could fly across the North Sea unaided, and it was thought that they rode on the backs of migratory Woodcock or Short-eared Owls.

Goldcrest

It was good to catch a Brambling today, one of the eight or more seen and heard overhead with at one point four feeding together on autumn berries above our heads. 

Brambling

Brambling

It was after 11 o’clock when Chiffchaffs appeared and then three on the same net round. 

Chiffchaff

We were so busy ringing today that accounting for visible migration became difficult, especially since most birds seemed to arrive out of sight from the south and west, behind the ringing station that faces north and east. Lesser Redpoll, Chaffinch and Siskin all found their way into the nets without us seeing many of them. 

Lesser Redpoll

Siskin

Redwings proved more visible with at least two flocks of 40+ seen and landing briefly in the plantation before heading off in a north-westerly direction. 

Redwing

Otherwise sightings – 30+ Swallows flying south. As we packed the ringing gear a calling Raven made us look high to the east and see a “kettle” of 12 circling Buzzards that caused the Raven's protest. They all drifted higher and west before disappearing into the cloud base hundreds of feet above. 

On the way home I counted 5 more Buzzards – 2 at Nateby, 2 on Pilling Moss and then 2 on Stalmine Moss. 

This is a productive time of year for birding, that’s for sure.

More news soon. In the meantime I'm linking to Wild Bird Wednesday and Anni's birding.

Heading North

Braving yet another icy start I drove north at 0630 to meet Andy up at Oakenclough for a spot of bird ringing. 

Last week’s Brambling, Siskins and Lesser Redpolls (Brambling & Lesser Redpoll  + Siskins) together with news of Bramblings in the south-west of England encouraged us to rather hope for more of the same today. During February, March and April and together with Chaffinches all three of these species start their northward movement through England towards Scotland and more northerly outposts. Another finch on the move at this time of year is the humble and now commonplace bird of suburban gardens the Goldfinch, many of which move to more southerly locations for the winter. All of these species are our main targets for this mostly all year round ringing site.

Although we didn’t catch any Lesser Redpolls today we did catch the other species in our total of 33 birds: 14 Goldfinch, 9 Chaffinch, 4 Siskin, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Brambling. Today’s Brambling was another adult female. 

Brambling

Brambling - adult female

The four male Siskins found the net together and so were released at the same time. It was very soon after the Siskins that a passing snow shower from the north-west curtailed our activities for a while. After fifteen minutes or so the sun returned and we went on to continue catching until 1230.

Siskin

The suggestion of finches heading north was reinforced by a male Chaffinch with a wing length of 93mm, a couple or more millimetres above the norm for a British Chaffinch.

     

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

The Reed Bunting is not a species we associate with this predominantly woodland site, except perhaps in small numbers in the adjoining landscape. Today’s second year female was only the second ringing record for here. It was a visitor to our winter feeding station and unlikely to be recaptured here again.

Reed Bunting

It was well past midday by the time I headed home where at Cockerham there was a distant Barn Owl circuiting a stretch of roadside fields where it followed the barbed fence. Unfortunately the owl didn’t come any closer than the pictures below. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

The months of January, February and March can be a dangerous time for all birds when the “hunger gap” is at its most intense. Barn Owls are especially vulnerable because their exclusively mammalian food is in very short supply. The owls have to spend many more hours searching for food. That is the reason that in recent weeks many more than is normal are being seen during daylight hours. 

The owl provided a notable ending to a very successful morning.

Please log into Another Bird Blog soon for more news, views and photos of birds.

Linking today to  Eileen's Saturday,  run-a-roundranch and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Frozen Fingers

The car door was frozen solid thanks to yesterday’s rain followed by a frosty night. “Minus 2°C” - “Danger of Ice” said the dash display when I eventually got into the car. 

There was a choice - head up to Oakenclough for a ringing session or drive out Pilling way for a spot of birding. I chose ringing, braved the frozen ropes and poles and worked through the early pain barrier of icy fingers. 

I was pleased I did as a total of 18 birds was pretty good for a lone effort, including as it did an unexpected bonus in the shape of a Brambling and more of the target finches. Totals today: 7 Goldfinch, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, 1 Robin, 1 Lesser Redpoll and 1 Brambling. 

Bramblings have been very scarce during this very mild winter but this time of year is one of the better periods in which to see this close relative of the common Chaffinch. Better still to catch one, today’s an adult female caught in the company of Chaffinches. 

Brambling

 Brambling

The single Lesser Redpoll was the first bird of the morning. Although an obvious adult male the early morning sun emphasised the red of the photograph. 

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

There’s no need to accentuate the red in a Robin Redbreast or the red in the face of a Goldfinch or a Chaffinch. 

Robin

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

The morning’s birding was rather limited due to working alone whilst ringing. Of note came 1 Buzzard, 20+ Chaffinch, 1 Siskin, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Cormorant and 6 Oystercatcher.

Oakenclough

There are more birds very soon via Another Bird Blog. Don't miss out.

Linking today to I'd Rather be Birding and also Eileen's Saturday Blog.

Still Here!

There have been times during the last month of wind, rain and grey skies when I thought I’d never get out birding or ringing ever again. November will surely be one of the most dismal on record. My last ringing session was on 4th November, and although our ringing site at Oakenclough has been topped with bird food regularly the dreadful weather has not allowed any further ringing. Today was my turn with the buckets, one of Nyger and the other of mixed seed where I found that a reasonable number of Chaffinches, Goldfinches and Blackbirds had not deserted the site. 

Blackbird

But once again the morning was too blowy for ringing so I made my way back to Pilling and some birding. At Fluke Hall the flooded stubble held approximately 140 flighty Lapwings and just 2 Pied Wagtails where the tracks through the soft, peaty ground told me the field had seen regular disturbance from the shooters’ visits. 

Pilling Morning

Eight Whooper Swans flew over and headed south of the wood to a spot unknown and out of sight. Meanwhile a walk through the wood revealed a Brambling or two in the treetops among a handful of Chaffinch. A Brambling’s nasal wheezing is quite unlike the typical sounds made by its close cousin the Chaffinch, and once learned a Brambling’s call is never forgotten. Otherwise the wood was quiet except for the usual mix of titmice and several Blackbirds. 

Brambling

Near Lane Ends a large party of approximately 1400 Pink-footed Geese fed in a roadside field, the geese keeping a safe and suitable distance from peering eyes and slowing vehicles. I was 125 yards away where I “grilled” them for a while from the wound down car window but failed to find any interlopers like Barnacle, White-fronted or Bean Geese. At the present time there are many more geese frequenting fields within 800 yards of my home but there are few roads or stopping places from which to take a closer look. Our winter visiting Pinkfeet use their local knowledge and experience gained over a number of years to as much as possible stay out of sight and out of mind while keeping one eye on quick escape from predators, especially those with guns. The average lifespan of a Pink-footed Goose is eight years, the longevity record is more than 38 years, ample time to learn the ropes. 

Pink-footed Geese

Just along from Lane Ends were 10 Little Egrets feeding in a grassy but wet field, the meadow more sheltered than the marsh where the egrets are more usually found. From the sea wall came the sound of an unseen Little Grebe on the pool hidden from view, and out on the marsh a distant Peregrine. I stopped at Wrampool Brook to find the flock of circa 120 Linnets in the set-aside field together with a fence-hopping Kestrel. It’s not only a good weedy field for the Linnets but there’s a handy ditch with mammal prey for both owls and Kestrels. 

Kestrel

A look at Braides Farm found two Buzzards and two Carrion Crows in the area of the farmer’s pile of refuse again. The Buzzards were fence-hopping while searching the ground from above and below and also the midden for insects and worms, as were the crows. I think that all were looking to steal off each other but I imagine the Buzzards would come out on top of any dispute. 

Buzzard

Buzzard

The wind began to pick up again. There's yet another Yellow Weather Warning for the weekend. 

No problem, there will be news, views and more pictures very soon with Another Bird Blog, so please return another day.

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

No Such Luck

This morning saw my first autumn Redwings and Bramblings along the coast but no luck with a hoped for Yellow-browed Warbler, the autumn speciality which instead turned up in mist nets at both Heysham Observatory and Walney Island. When out birding I can see both sites from Pilling or Cockerham, this morning a very breezy and probably bouncy flap and glide for a tiny warbler crossing Morecambe Bay north to south. 

I stopped at Braides Farm to scan across the farmland where more often than not there is little to see until winter rains create a flood which becomes attractive to waders. Just where the field will soon flood I counted 55 Curlew, 5 Golden Plover and 300/400 Starlings, many birds partly hidden, so the area must be soft for probing and still concave enough to hold water. 

There was a distant Buzzard on a fence post waiting for the rising sun and warmer flying conditions. A circling and hovering Kestrel scattered the Starlings more than once before heading off over the sea wall towards the marsh. 

Kestrel

Doh! I’d forgotten the resurfacing along the road at Conder Green where wagons and workmen now filled the lay-by, the yellow jackets, noise and activity emptying the creek and pool of many birds. So a less than perfect look and minus a few regulars but 100 Teal, 80 Redshank, 3 Snipe, 7 Curlew, 6 Lapwing, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Common Sandpiper, 1 Little Egret, 1 Grey Wagtail and 1 Pied Wagtail. 

Lapwing

The water at Glasson was both choppy and windswept although the Tufted Duck count of 52 proved the best of the autumn. 

Tufted Duck

I set about looking in a couple of sheltered spots for warblers and thrushes. A number of hawthorn bushes are rather loaded with berries this year, the one below in a very open and windy position next to the estuary, so no birds there for now. 

Hawthorn

Along the canal in the churchyard and a well-wooded spot I found 30+ fidgety Redwings which flew off almost immediately; still on the move from their overnight excursion. Also 10+ Blackbirds, 2 Song Thrush plus a mixed flock of Long-tailed, Blue and Great Tits, no Yellow-browed Warbler but a Robin in dispute with a brown headed Blackcap. 

Blackbird

Redwing

The shelter of Fluke Hall wood seemed a good bet so I headed there and at 1030 into the easterly wind flew a dozen Chaffinches and then 5 Greenfinch - worth a closer look. Two Bramblings were in the treetops with Chaffinches, the nasal calls of the Bramblings singling them out for extra attention. Glimpses only as the finches moved through the trees and then lost to sight and the calls of resident Buzzards. 

Brambling

The noise of Land Rovers and time to go - It’s Wednesday and Hi-Fly shoot day when the Red-legged Partridge earn their keep and the Buzzards make themselves scarce. 

Me too, but I’ll be back.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.