Rant And Ring

There’s still no ringing allowed near home. DEFRA are taking no chances on the possibility that Avian Flu might still spread, but there’s no information about when the saga might end. 

Avian Flu Zones

What a shame that DEFRA’s inspectors weren’t on the ball in the first place when they would have seen that in this part of Lancashire gamebird rearing operations are environmental disasters waiting to happen. 

It gets worse. Each autumn in the UK many millions of cage reared pheasant, partridge and duck are released into the wild for the purposes of then shooting them. Pre or post, there is little or no qualified assessment as to the impact of the releases upon wild bird populations or the environment.

So called “game shooting” is big business in providing jobs and revenue for those involved whereby there is zero likelihood of anyone tackling the subject in favour of the environment or the landscape at large. In that word “anyone” I include politicians or political parties of any and every persuasion, pressure groups, wildlife charities, wildlife trusts, clubs, organisations and the various hangers-on who claim concern for the countryside. There are some like the BTO who must remain impartial to promote their scientific heartbeat, but there are other individuals and organisations that show little desire to stir the murky pot and we all know the reason why. 

Game bird rearing pens

Rant over. What happened today? 

Luckily Andy and I have a standby site outside the avian flu 10kms zone in the hills at Oakenclough but where the grey, wet and windy weather of late has kept us from going; until today that is when clear skies and a rising sun met us at 0645. That entailed an alarm clock call at 0530. Being a bird ringer is neither for the faint-hearted nor for those who have difficulty getting out of bed on a cold March morning. 

We had a quietish few hours with just 17 birds and finches once again in top spot: 4 Siskin, 3 Goldfinch, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll and 1 Bullfinch. 

The first winter female Bullfinch was only the third Bullfinch we have caught here. We see or more likely hear the species quite regularly but they don’t often come near our net rides. Their short, stubby beak is specially adapted for feeding on buds and they are particularly enthusiastic eaters of the buds of certain fruit trees. Due to their bud-eating habits, many thousands used to be legally trapped and killed each year in English orchards.

Bullfinch - First winter female

 

Bullfinch- First winter female

Bullfinch - First winter female

In all we saw and heard 12+ Siskins but Lesser Redpolls were decidedly scarce by way of the single one caught. 

Lesser Redpoll

Siskin

Siskin

Below is an adult male Chaffinch coming into full and colourful spring plumage. 

Chaffinch

Coal Tit

Other birds seen today: 50+ Curlew, 18 Oystercatcher, 3 Pied Wagtail, 2 Goldeneye, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Grey Heron.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Escape To The Hills

Just lately my local patch has become rather crowded as folk arrive at Conder Green targeting the ever elusive Spoonbill and looking for the more recent Lesser Yellowlegs. Even the Yellow Wagtails of Cockerham Marsh have received attention from folk who no longer see the species, so rare has it become. 

I also saw a couple of twitchers at Fluke Hall, maybe looking for Green Sandpipers but surely not Tree Sparrows? One never knows for sure these days when bird watching is learnt back to front, the rarest first and the most common species last. 

 Yellow Wagtail

With a brief lull in the wind I decided to head for the hills of Oakenclough for a spot of ringing. I managed three hours before the wind arrived again, this time bringing heavy showers prompting an early finish. An interesting session saw me catch 20 birds of 7 species, one of which was a species I’d not handled for almost 30 years, the last time in 1988. 

The numbers were 5 Chaffinch, 5 Goldcrest, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Chiffchaff and 1 Bullfinch. The Fylde Ringing Group has ringed only 23 (now 24) Bullfinch in its 30 years of existence. It was in 1988 that I last ringed a Bullfinch at Winmarleigh Hall, a year or two before that lovely old woodland was sold to developers to create an “educational adventure playground”. 

Yes the Bullfinch is a rarity on the coast where I live, becomes more marginally common inland but is never widespread and certainly never ever numerous. Today’s Bullfinch was a recently fledged juvenile, a "3J", and with being so late in the month of August, probably from a second brood. 

Bullfinch

Bullfinch

The first year Lesser Redpoll below is in the process of renewing its centre tail feathers, the newer ones destined to be a rounder shape and of different colouration to the outermost pointed and now worn ones of birth. 

Lesser Redpoll

Meanwhile an adult male Lesser Redpoll is renewing its flight feathers, the older and slightly bleached outer primaries markedly different to those feathers which are both new and still growing. Many birds are rather scruffy at the time of year when they are in various stages of moult. 

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll

The adult’s tail feathers are new, fresh and rounded in comparison to the pointed tail feathers of a first year bird. The characteristic of tail shapes is very common in finches and other bird families but there are exceptions designed to trap the unwary. 

Lesser Redpoll

Chaffinch

Birding in between the ringing saw 140+ Swallows, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Nuthatch, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 15+ Siskin and 1 Buzzard. 

The current weather forecast doesn’t improve much so I may not escape to anywhere at the weekend. If I do, read about it here on Another Bird Blog.

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

A Cold Catch

Following yesterday’s rain and wind the skies cleared overnight and left a heavy frost that greeted Will and I at Rawcliffe Moss this morning for the 0645 start. As normal we wanted nets up in the dark to catch any roosting thrushes and the hoped for dawn arrivals. As we donned warm coats, thick socks and wellies, the first noises weren’t from the usual Tawny Owl but a dog fox barking loudly from a distance away. It was only as we walked through the plantation to the net rides that we heard the Tawny, hooting as it flew from its chosen tree at our incursion.

After putting up four nets we went back to the first one to find a Redwing, first bird of the day. We barely had time to process the Redwing and down a coffee before parties of Fieldfares arrived from the north; most of them were large groups numbering anything from 40 or more birds to flocks of 200+. Between 0730 and 0830 we counted 750+ Fieldfares, but with much smaller numbers of Redwings. After the initial movement both species slowed down a little then trickled through, but in total we think 1050+ Fieldfares and 100+ Redwings moved through the site between 0730 and midday when we left.

Fieldfare
Redwing

If only we had caught the thrushes in similar numbers to those seen, but the two species are difficult to trap. However we did have a very successful and interesting session in the ringing, migration monitoring and general birding. We caught 39 birds of 10 species, 38 new and 1 recaptured Great Tit. New birds: 13 Reed Bunting, 4 Fieldfare, 3 Redwing, 3 Goldcrest, 2 Goldfinch, 7 Chaffinch, 3 Blue Tit, 1 Great Tit, 1 Dunnock and 1 male Blackcap. The Reed Buntings split 10/3 in favour of juveniles.

Blackcap - juvenile male
Goldcrest
Chaffinch

In trying to monitor the visible migration we suffered from the eternal problem of “vis miggers” on clear mornings with good visibility – high flying birds that can be both audible and often detectable, but many others up there in the blue being less accommodating in calling at the right moment, or remaining invisible. Also it was inevitable we missed birds that we couldn’t see or hear as we toured through the planation concentrating on our net rounds. But we did count the following birds, generally north to south: 30+ Reed Bunting, 12 Meadow Pipit, 8 Siskin, 1 Redpoll sp, 50+ Chaffinch, 4 Brambling, 2 Yellowhammer, 30+ Goldfinch, 2 Greenfinch.

An unusual bird on site this morning was a Bullfinch, in this case a brightly coloured male that both showed and called briefly near our nets before doing a disappearing act. The Bullfinch is a scarce bird in the Fylde area. It's not my photograph I’m afraid, but certainly a good one taken at Pennington Flash.

Bullfinch - M. Jobling

Mixed “Others” this morning were: 50+ Skylark, 1 Whooper Swan flying west, 5+ Snipe, 2 Kestrel, 3 Buzzard and thousands of Pink-footed Goose landing on nearby Pilling Moss.

On the way off the farm I visited the Little Owl again, got a slightly better picture than yesterday, and then a hundred yards away I saw a second bird of a separate but known pairing.

Little Owl

There can’t be anyone that doesn’t know about a potentially plastic Red-breasted Goose amongst the thousands of proper Pink-footed Geese today at Pilling. Here’s a picture to whet the appetite or not depending upon your point of view.

Red-breasted Goose