Goldfinch in Belgium and Seagull Contraceptives

Goldfinches give us a decent number of recoveries, a fact confirmed recently by ACV6977 one of last year’s young that set off last autumn in search of eternal summer and finished up in Belgium. 

ACV697 was caught and ringed at our Oakenclough site on 12 October 2023, a time of year when common or garden Goldfinches occasionally go on to prove to us they can fly further than a neighbour’s garden. 

The morning was a busy one of 61 captures, 30 of which were Goldfinches plus 15 Chaffinches and clearly a typical October morning of finch migration. The Goldfinch was recaptured by other ringers on 12 February 2024 in Roeselare, a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders.  By mid February the Goldfinch could be sexed as a male and then released. 

And by now in mid October of 2024 it may be back in the fields of Flanders Belgium rather than spend the coming winter in wet and windy Lancashire. 

Goldfinch ACV6977

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

Update - ACV6977 was captured again by the same Belgian ringers on 20 March 2024. We don't know for sure but it may be that the location was a feeding station to which the Goldfinch returned on a regular basis.

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And now I feel a rant coming on about yet more lunacy of the world in 2024. The gulls get it again, the much maligned creatures make an easy target for the thickos who increasingly seem to run Great Britain. And no, it is not The First of April, just yet another tale of how our elected representatives waste taxpayer’s money. 

Common Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

A desperate council aims to cut numbers of marauding seagulls – by putting the birds on The Pill. Officials in Worcester are considering doping food with birth-control drugs as part of a “safe sex” drive for randy gulls. Council chiefs have tried for years to reduce the gull population in the city, including hiring hawks to scare them away and taking eggs from nests. 

If the birth-control plan is approved, the council hopes it will lead to fewer attacks on people, particularly in the Blackpole area of the city. 

Councillor Jill Desayrah, a Labour city councillor described the contraceptive option as “safe sex for seagulls”. She said: “I am concerned that the increasing numbers of seagulls are getting out of hand. Many people contact me about the issues caused by having such a high concentration of seagulls around Blackpole.” 

Councillor Desayrah said she wanted to “humanely reduce the number of gulls” by exploring methods used in other countries. "The Pill is already used to control pigeons in Barcelona and Venice." 

She added: “I passed the idea onto Worcestershire Regulatory Services and they are following up on it, seeking permission from the relevant authority. I hope that one or a combination of these solutions will reduce the problem because I do feel it’s necessary to do something as soon as possible.” 

Herring Gull

Black-headed Gull

The city’s annual Gull Population Survey revealed that 376 pairs live in the Blackpole retail parks and industrial estates. This accounts for more than 50 percent of the city’s entire gull population and an increase of three percent in the past year. The majority are Lesser Black-Backed Gulls, which, along with all the other types, is a protected species. 

They are attracted to the area by the many flat-roofed buildings and the waste from food outlets. (My bold PS)

Worcestershire Regulatory Services (WRS) receives complaints from residents about noise, faeces and aggressive behaviour during the nesting season. Earlier this year an order banning people from feeding seagulls in the city centre was scrapped. 

Councillor Alan Amos blasted the decision to axe the feeding ban, saying it would lead to an explosion in the numbers of the “vicious flying rats”. He said: “As a councillor and former mayor of Worcester – where the vicious and brassy flying rats have waged war on residents in recent years, I have witnessed first-hand the problems the UK-wide epidemic is causing. One shop owner told me he’d seen a gull ferociously attack a young child in a pushchair, while a constituent emailed to say her dog had been attacked.” 

A Worcester City Council spokesperson said: “An Annual Gull Report will be presented to the City Council’s Environment Committee on November 5. This will provide councillors with an opportunity to consider a gull management program for 2025.” 

Reading this pile of poo while picturing the posturing and cognitive dissonance displayed by elected representatives at all levels I immediately relapsed into full birder/taxpayer mode.

For instance, gulls must be called gulls, not seagulls, there is no such thing as a "seagull".  And preferably any discussions, proposals and policies should be based upon sound scientific research by understanding and using the correct species name together with the scientific equivalent. Joe Public is entitled to know that elected representatives are fully up to speed with subjects under discussion while being reassured that due diligence has been carried out before ever larger amounts of public money is spent on nonsense vanity projects.

Fish and Chips - Enjoy

Those squawking gulls dive bombing for chips at the beach may seem like nothing more than feathered delinquents but research has revealed that gulls are remarkably intelligent. There's much more to these birds than meets the eye. It turns out that those "criminal acts" and the ability to find new sources of food are in fact signs of incredible intelligence and adaptability, just as Charles Darwin indicated. 

Well I don't know about you Dear Reader but I would suggest that it is the said councillors who need contraceptives so as to reduce their capacity to breed more of the same. 

 

Olympics Free Zone

The forecasts didn’t agree; now there’s a surprise, not. Maybe rain, maybe dry. So we decided to give it a go and I met up with Andy at 0700, far from the crack of dawn but best we could manage. 

Earlier in the week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had seen small arrivals of the usual early birds, the species that breed fairly early and now more or less finished - Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits, plus small parties of Linnets numbering 10-20 individuals. Goldfinches at the feeders too, where many in their gingery brown plumage lacked the outnumbered colourful adults. Around the feeding station there is water that attracts the pipits and wagtails in their ever interesting autumnal plumage variations. Even hares stop by for a piece of the action.  

Click the pics for TV size views.

Pied Wagtail

Linnet

Pied Wagtail

Pied Wagtail

Brown Hare

Pied Wagtail

Meadow Pipit

Goldfinch

Meadow Pipit

Pied Wagtail

Woodpigeon

Pied Wagtail

In the week I saw the first autumnal returning Marsh Harrier, a male arriving from the east - dipping and diving, disappearing from view and then reappearing, eyes fixed on the ground in case of a slow moving target below. 

Marsh Harrier

 

He carried on flying west giving just a couple of chances for a picture before he was gone. 

The route is one that the Marsh Harriers always take. We spot them with increasing regularity from July and into November, as they meet the sea wall and the ditches, dykes and farmland of North Fylde after their journey from north and/or east of Morecambe bay. The harriers proceed mainly west , sometimes directly south before taking an inland scenic mostly farmland route south so as to avoid flying over the conurbations of Fleetwood, Poulton le Fylde or Blackpool. 

They are not looking for Big Macs, fish & chips or discarded sarnies, just fresh meat, a variety of prey including birds like Coot or Moorhen, frogs and mammals, especially rabbits. 

Eventually the harriers will meet the coast again around the River Ribble, all the while avoiding Preston City. 

Saturday morning ringing was uneventful, cool with spits & spots of rain and just 15 birds caught - 7 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Warbler, 2 Willow Warbler and 1 Sedge Warbler. 

Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Goldfinch

Goldfinch

The end of an absorbing week. And, dare I say, the weather forecast for the week ahead and into August looks very promising with warm, windless days to spend outdoors. 

Irritable Owl Syndrome

Back soon folks. I'd rather be birding than watching the telly. 

 

Monday Morn

Monday 8 July and an early Barn Owl did not hang around and anyway I was on the way to meet with Andy at 0630 at a ringing site out Pilling Way. 

Barn Owl

 

A more than average morning ensued in the way of 29 birds caught – 26 new and 3 recaptures. The morning showed evidence of post breeding arrivals of both adults and juveniles from the site itself and with arrivals of species not seen here in 2024 until now. Yes, July is Bird Autumn UK when post breeding activity and dispersal points to the beginning of true migration quite soon. 

As can be seen in these few photographs, of the 29 birds caught almost every one displayed signs of moult, post juvenile or adult post-breeding shedding and regrowth. 

Reed Warbler 19 (16 new and 3 recaptures from this year. 

Sedge Warbler 1 

Blackcap 2 - a male and a female both in breeding condition, the male heard in song near our mist nets. Chiffchaff 2 juveniles of this year. 

Goldfinch 2 – a male and a female side by side in a mist net. 

A single adult Lesser Whitethroat was in pretty heavy moult, too scruffy a look to display here,  

Wren 2. 

Reed Warbler

Blackcap

Blackcap

Goldfinch

This was a morning of hidden arrival as opposed to visible movement of birds above our watch and ringing station, a shelf of the Picasso hatchback containing rings and ringing equipment. 

A large and partly stooping Peregrine came to our attention thanks to a bunch of ever vigilant crows. Otherwise a few croaking egrets and a handful of Swallows feeding across nearby fields.  The loss of our once numerous Swallows is a national catastrophe that no one seems able or willing to tackle. I now have maybe one or two places where there is a chance of photographing a Swallow. 

Peregrine Falcon

Swallow 2024

 

We heard news of a Sand Martin we ringed at Cockerham last August, a “3J”, the input code for a bird of the year in question. 

Ringed at the quarry site 19 July 2023, ALJ4229 was found dying on May 29 2024 at Pennyghael, Isle of Mull, Argyll and Bute. A sad end to a couple of spectacular journeys. The finder reported the martin as a "swallow" - sadly the Average Joe does not know common British birds.

Sand Martin ALJ4229

Sand Martin ALJ4229

3J Sand Martin

Gone Birding

Back Soon Everyone.

 

Salvage Hunters

Was that the phone ringing in the dining room two walls and two closed doors away? Sue and I were in the bedroom watching Salvage Hunters with Drew just about to pay a crazy sum for a piece of old tat. I reached the phone before it cut off but because of the ensuing conversation I never found out how much Drew wasted. 

It was Peter on the line, he of Peter and Dot fame, lovers of the great outdoors, birdwatchers, travellers in the best sense of the word, and residents of Garstang Town. Peter had seen that Another Bird Blog lay dormant, near to death condition, and wondered if “everything was ok?” 

I reassured him of our as-good-as-can-be situation and asked about their own. We shared our thoughts about the last seven months of lashing rain, wind and unprecedented weather via the Atlantic Jet Stream, plus our frustrations in being unable to find birdwatching spots not besieged by microlites, bicycles, dogs and normies out to make birders’ lives a misery. 

A mile or so from Garstang the ringing site of Barnacre has been unworkable, deep in water & slime, now a no-go for weeks if not for smonths ahead. 

On the way back from Garstang and one of our trips to Booth’s for their bargain £10 for two bacon butties and cappuccino (with loyalty card) Sue and I called at our ringing site out Pilling way to drop seed. There are meanies who refer to Booth’s Café as God’s Waiting Room because it’s popular with oldies, more so on pension day.  A rather unfair naming don’t you think? 

God's Waiting Room aka Booth's Café, Garstang

A mile or two away along a farm track I managed to get the car stuck in a nasty, sticky, and uncompromising muddy spot. It was lucky that Sue was able to push the car while I completed the manly manoeuvres of combining clutch & steering wheel to free the car.  Sorry about your trainers Sue. 

In between times, hunting for and grabbing sunny intervals that came along, I managed to salvage a few new pictures. 

Meadow Pipits have these incredibly long hind claws as seen below. When you live in long grass like a Meadow Pipit, you need long hind claws to help you stand tall and keep a watch out for predators. 

Meadow Pipit

Our wintering Whooper Swans have no problem with flooded fields as it makes hunting for goodies a little easier and encourages spring grass to grow tall.  I counted more than 220 Whoopers on one day alone and where another more distant party with Canada Geese remained uncounted. 

Whooper Swans

It’s noticeable how Goldfinches, Chaffinches and Reed Buntings have begun to make their way back north with increased numbers at the feeding station where Blackbirds abound and even a rare Song Thrush put in a brief appearance. 

Song Thrush

Goldfinch

Chaffinch

I had about 10 seconds to picture a hunting Sparrowhawk, a large female that took a momentary rest on a wire fence. And then it was gone, off to cause bedlam amongst a flock of birds or to pick out a likely looking victim followed by rapid death from those huge talons. 

Sparrowhawk

 

On Wednesday came a message from The Florida Lovebirds, Wally and Gini, concerned about the lack of activity from Another Bird Blog. They had read about “a bit of extra dampness in far away lands but details were lost in the alarm over melting glaciers – or was it unusually high snow fall amounts – I forget. I just know it was something catastrophic so we’re still hiding under the bed until it passes.”. 

Luckily Wally and Gini “have it on good authority from a little orphan girl that The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow.” Thanks folks, I will look forward to that. 

But I think they must mean in Sunny Florida because there's little sign of the yellow orb in our Wild West skies. 

Come back soon everyone. I will try not to leave the blog in sleep mode again. 

 

Half Day Wednesday

A 0730 start is as late as it gets now. Next weekend we turn the clocks back an hour and head into winter. At seven-thirty Thursday it was still pretty dark and we hoped to catch a few early morning Redwings. 

We got the nets up in double quick time with the help of headlamps however the Redwings didn’t arrive and we settled for a couple of migrant Blackbirds. In fact the whole morning’s ringing turned out quiet with just 11 birds caught – 3 Blackbird, 4 Linnet, 3 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch. 

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

Our four Linnets proved disappointing when the combined count of a number of flocks totalled over 250 finches, a count that included a number of Goldfinches and Greenfinches, the latter not easy to pick out amongst fast flying gangs of small birds. 

All four Linnets showed features of Scottish birds and as usual all new birds, with a slim chance only of capturing a recent Linnet or a Linnet from elsewhere.

"Scottish" Linnet

  

Goldfinch

Linnet

There was a Sparrowhawk in attendance and then brief views of a “ringtail” Hen Harrier over the nearby marsh. 

 

Hen Harrier

 

Female and juvenile Hen Harriers, are known colloquially as “ringtails”, both look very similar, with brown on top, almost checkerboard brown and beige underwings, a white rump and a bearded tail. However, females are larger than males at 400-600g, compared to 300-400g. They're smaller than buzzards, but larger than crows. 

Storm Babet made little impression here on the west coast, a few windy days and nights but we are rather accustomed to that scenario and take it in our stride.

Keep an eye on the weather folks. And then come back here to Another Bird Blog for the latest news, views and photographs.

Linking today to Eileen;s Saturday blog.