Catching Up

We have now lost two months of ringing with a corresponding loss of two months of data collection. Bird ringers confined to barracks have not caught other ringers’ birds and ringers have been unable to catch birds previously ringed by others. 

Many ringed birds are recovered via Joe Public when they report their finding of a ringed bird via the address inscribed on each ring, but with so many people stuck at home it was inevitable that incoming information would be much less. 

Bird Rings - Size E and Size F 

Although ringing is no longer all about the where and when of bird movements, it is always interesting and thought provoking to receive a BTO notification about a bird ringed weeks, months or years before. Even better perhaps is to catch a bird wearing an unfamiliar ring number with a foreign ring, the ultimate prize for many bird ringers. 

The emphasis of bird ringing is the generation of information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds, helping us to understand why populations are changing. Ringing data make a major contribution to the study of population changes and to the understanding of species declines. 

Bird populations are determined by the number of fledglings raised and the survival of both juveniles and adults. 

On Monday, and after a weekend of gale force winds, we had a chance to remedy the recent data loss with an overdue visit to Oakenclough. There was a promise of a 5 mph and early morning sunshine for the meet with Andy at 0600. 

At this time of year we don’t expect huge catches because migration is over and birds have settled down in one spot to breed. It will be mid to late June before the catch rate improves. Therefore our catch of just eight birds came as no surprise and accompanied with the ringer’s refrain – “Well if you don’t go, you don’t know”. 

Our eight birds generated a little new data by way of  4 Blackcap (2 male, 2 female ) 2 male Willow Warbler, 1 juvenile Robin and 1 juvenile Wren. 

Blackcap 

Blackcap 

Blackcap 

Recapture Willow Warbler KCE788, an adult male was ringed here at Oakenclough on 24th July 2019 when it was undertaking its main moult period prior to heading back to Africa. It was in breeding condition again today where it was caught and then released in exactly the same area. 

Willow Warbler 

Robin

This was a quiet morning and other than the birds caught there was little to see; except for 2 Swallow, 4 Willow Warbler, 4 Chaffinch, 2 Goldfinch, 40 Greylag , 2 Oystercatcher and 2 Lapwing. 

Garden Top Ten

Thanks to the Wuhan Flu and house arrest it seems we are all to become garden birdwatchers until further notice. 

Just in time then to read of the latest results from the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch, an event held over the weekend of 25-27 January 2020 when nearly half a million people counted almost eight million birds. It made this year’s Birdwatch one of the biggest ever. 

The RSPB even produced a Top Ten, a list that depending upon a particular location may not equate to all gardens but represents a combined average result from the whole of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. 

Here they are in one to ten order; a list to bring tears to eyes of WhatsApp “bird news” groups. Not a single “scarce or rare” among them. In the archives of Another Bird Blog I found a picture for each of the species, useful ID pointers for those who have little or no time for common birds. 

The figure in brackets is a guesstimate of the top ten in my own garden for an average January day. In our garden, Magpie is replaced by Dunnock, a much nicer prospect. Magpies aren’t around because I chase them off as soon as they appear:

1. House Sparrow (10)
2. Starling (8)
3. Blue Tit (5)
4. Woodpigeon (2)
5. Blackbird (3)
6. Goldfinch (1)
7. Great Tit (4)
8. Robin (6)
9. Long-tailed Tit (9)
10. Magpie (0)
10. Dunnock

House Sparrow 

Starling 

Blue Tit 

Woodpigeon

Blackbird

Goldfinch 

Great Tit 

Robin

Long-tailed Tit

Dunnock

The RSPB Top Ten of the changes little from 2019, with the top three birds the same as last year. Again, the Number One spot is taken by the House Sparrow, making it first for seventeen years running. Meanwhile the House Sparrow is nowadays an uncommon visitor to our ample sized semi-rural garden. Here the House Sparrow struggles to even hit the charts, despite the RSPB report suggesting that their numbers appear to have increased by 10% in the last ten years. 

The RSPB detect movement at fourth and fifth, with the Woodpigeon moving up to four and, last year’s number four the Blackbird falling to five. This is not surprising given the highly adaptive pigeon’s abundance here in Stalmine that gives the species an easy runner-up place in our garden list. This commonality is explained by a nearby mix of farmland, many trees, thick hedgerows, tolerant residents and few shooters. 

Small birds like Long-tailed Tits (up by 14% on 2019), Wrens (up 13%) and Coal Tits (up 10%) counted well during a mild, wet winter that came with very few frosts and little snow. The 14% for Long-tailed Tits also accounts for it remaining high on our local list as a past breeding species in the berberis bush; and a regular visitor likely to nest again. 

The report showed that Chaffinch dropped from the top ten down to number 11. This placing reflects very recent news that this once abundant farmland bird is the latest species in trouble through agricultural changes and over-building on green land and woodland edge. Sadly the Chaffinch is no longer a regular in our own garden. 

Losers out this time included Song Thrush way down at 20th in 2020, seen in just 9% of all gardens. Compare this to earlier Big Garden Birdwatches of 1979 -2009 when the Song Thrush made a top ten appearance in every year. In our garden, the once common Song Thrush is both "scarce and rare".  

It's a surprise the Goldfinch doesn’t even make the RSPB top five when here in Stalmine it is far and away the most common garden bird at any time of year. Perhaps the Goldfinch is not yet a city bird where many of the Big Garden Birdwatchers reside? 

Greenfinch is another big loser over the span of the Big Garden Birdwatch, a reflection of a major nationwide decline in its population. It came in at 18th and was seen in just 14% of gardens, this itself a worrying drop of 8% on 2019. We have a pair of Greenfinches in the garden so we count ourselves rather lucky in many ways. 

And the cherry blossom smells just wonderful. 

 Cherry Blossom

Stalmine

At least the good weather means we don’t sit in in the house and watch TV.  I’m told there are still people who pay a TV Licence fee for the privilege of having their intelligence insulted!   

Meanwhile, the Government is in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” situation.  A relaxation of the lockdown advice will be pounced on by TV and newspaper media and used to whip up even more public hysteria.  The effect this media-generated madness is having on an already browbeaten population has been leapt upon as an excuse for a monumental power grab by the illiberal left, forever eager to bring down an elected Government.  

Back soon with Another Bird Blog and tales of The Great Escape.

It’s A Start

Andy and I returned to Oakenclough this morning for a 0600 start and another go at catching migrant birds. We were joined today by Bryan. After two recent catches of 40 and 47 birds respectively, we hoped for a triple hit in the forties. 

In contrast to Wednesday’s cloud and zero wind this morning was both bright and slightly breezy. And with the benefit of hindsight, perhaps the different conditions were unlikely to produce any good numbers of birds. By 1030 we had packed up, fell back to earth with a bump and just 9 birds, one of them a recapture from yesterday, a Robin. All bar one, the 87 birds of 17 July and 24 July had continued their migration by departing our ringing site. 

Although today’s catch was low there was quality by way of 4 new Blackcaps, 2 new Willow Warblers, a new Garden Warbler and a young male Common Redstart.  A Redstart may have the word ”common” in its title but the species is far from abundant in these parts so to catch one makes for a rather pleasing experience and even eclipses the catch of yet another Garden Warbler. 

Common Redstart

Common Redstart 

Garden Warbler - juvenile/first summer 

The Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus is loosely related to the European Robin Erithacus rubecula, both members of the family of Old World flycatchers. The youngsters of each share the scaly appearance until they moult their juvenile feathering. 

European Robin 

Both of today’s Willow Warblers were juveniles/first summers, very smart and bright too on what the weather experts predicted would be “hottest day of the year” at 35+ degrees C. 

Willow Warbler 

There was a noticeable but small movement of Swallows this morning with tiny groups heading directly into the southerly wind. These totalled up to 60 individuals, proved so watchable partly by the overall lack of Swallows this year. This may seem rather early for Swallows to be on the move but we know that post-breeding roosts of migratory and dispersing young Swallows begin to form in mid-July. 

“Otherwise birds” consisted of tiny numbers of Lesser Redpoll, Siskin and Chaffinch overhead, 3+ Great-spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Raven, 2 Snipe flying east and 15+ Curlew heading south.

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

Surprise Surprise!

On Tuesday I met Andy at 0600 for our first ringing session at Oakenclough since early spring, an unproductive period for ringing when the weather was predominately cool and wet.  We don’t normally head up to the hills until a little later when real autumn migration begins rather than the summer time of post-breeding dispersal.  The post-breeding species list can be rather short here at 800 metres above sea-level but increases substantially when finches and thrushes from further north begin to appear. 

But with recent good weather and signs of a productive breeding season we decided to give it a go. This proved a good decision as the morning became very interesting with a catch of 40 new birds. We had zero recaptures from previous visits. 

When we arrived all seemed quiet with little no bird song or even contact calls but as both the sun rose and the temperature gauge climbed we began to catch with a morning dominated by warblers. 

We finished soon after 1100 with a catch of 40 birds of 12 species: 11 Blackcap, 9 Willow Warbler, 2 Garden Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Goldcrest, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Robin, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Great Tit, 1 Treecreeper, 3 Wren and 1 Tawny Owl. 

Willow Warbler 

Blackcap

Robin 

Goldcrest 

The biggest surprise of the morning came with a Tawny Owl languishing in the bottom panel of the mist net at 10 0’clock, a time when all Tawny Owls should be tucked away and fast asleep. Upon examination and measuring we ascertained that the owl was a juvenile born this year. A wing length of 265mm and a weight of 335 grams determined a male; a female is bigger than the corresponding male. 

 Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl 

We no longer catch many Garden Warblers so it was good to catch two. There was one adult male Garden Warbler and a juvenile, which is far from proof of breeding on site, but possibly so. 

Garden Warbler 

Garden Warbler

Garden Warblers bred here at Okenclough on an annual basis until the late 1990s when invasive rhododendron overran the landscape of bramble, bracken, bilberry and hawthorn. Slowly but relentlessly the site became unsuitable for a number of species like Bullfinch, Yellowhammer, Tree Pipit and Garden Warbler, and they were pushed out by the all-conquering intruder. The rhododendron beat us too and we were forced to abandon the site in 1997.   

Then in 2012/13 the land owners North West Water began a programme of rhododendron clearance and replanting of native species whereby, and after an absence of many years, we returned to the site in 2014. 

Since then we have captured almost 3900 birds including two Garden Warblers in 2018 and now two more in 2019.  It would be nice to think that Garden Warblers have returned for good as the site is now suitable for them. Time will tell.

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

Back To The Barn

Andy and I went back to ring the runt Barn Owl of 11 days ago - Boxing News. 

It was good to see the four Kestrels we ringed then had now fledged, flying free but still partly dependent upon the adults. The young Barn Owl was now big enough to take a “G” ring with all three siblings now looking likely to survive to adulthood. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

We took the opportunity to do a little woodland-edge mist netting as early July should mean catching plenty of juveniles. Juveniles are newly fledged birds that are still partly dependent upon their parents but stick around the area they were born until they are ready to explore their wider surroundings. We hoped to catch both warblers and finches so we gave it a couple of hours. 

Including the Barn Owl, we finished with 22 birds for the morning, all fresh-faced adolescents apart from an adult Blackcap - 6 Great Tit, 4 Blackcap, 3 Robin, 3 Long-tailed Tit, 3 Blue Tit, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Barn Owl 

 Blackcap

Robin

Whitethroat

There are lots of Woodpigeons in this locality, and even without really trying we counted 150-200. A recent report from the BTO mentions that this formerly rare garden bird is now booming and that it is seen in around 90 per cent of gardens which put out bird food. Our own garden is one of the 90% and where the Woodpigeon is an all-day resident. 

 Woodpigeon

Thanks to garden feeding the Goldfinch is mentioned in the same report, another thriving species that was formerly rare in gardens. We saw a good sized flock of 25+ Goldfinch and other small groups with a total of 50+ in a couple of hours. 

Also - 4 Tree Sparrow, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Greenfinch, 2 Willow Warbler, 1 Grey Heron 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 30+ Swift and 20+ House Martins. 

Tree Sparrow 

Back soon. Don’t go away.

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

Wren

Up here on the Lancashire coast March lived up to that old adage of “In like a lion, out like a lamb”. At the moment the Atlantic Jet Stream sits over us like a heavy wet blanket bringing just this morning a hoolie of wind, rain, sleet and hail, plus a dollop of sunshine. The few brief days that promised spring are but a distant memory as we settle in for another week of foul weather. 

With little chance of ringing or birding for a day or two, here’s a note or two about a very common but mostly forgotten species. 

In those few hints of spring I’d heard the familiar loud and rapid chatter of the diminutive Wren, one in song then quickly followed by a reply from the second. I knew it was territory time. Wrens are famously good singers, and a male will duet so as to sing down and hopefully silence a nearby rival. 

On one of my dashes to the garage freezer this week I disturbed a Wren taking dried up material from the base of last year’s hanging basket. I watched as the Wren scuttled off along the fence like a clockwork mouse and promptly disappeared into the ivy covered hedge that separates us from next door.  Nest-building already, but maybe not for real as the Wren is one of those species known to build “cock nests”, a nest built by a male bird as part of the courtship ritual. Several such nests may be built by one male, one of which will be selected by the female. 

Wren 

The Wren’s scientific name of Troglodytes troglodytes is Greek "troglodytes" ("trogle" a hole, and "dyein" to creep), meaning "cave-dweller", and refers to its habit of disappearing into cavities or crevices whilst hunting insects or to roost. Many a Wren nest looks much like a cave, dark and forbidding with a just tiny entrance hole where none but the brave dare enter. 

Wren - Photo: Armin Kübelbeck, CC-BY-SA, Wikimedia Commons 

I often feel rather sorry for the common Wren, neglected by birders and barely mentioned because it has no rarity value. Depending upon which book or Internet page read, the Wren is one of the commonest and most widely distributed British birds with breeding pairs estimated at 7–8.5 million. 

The Wren population is generally sedentary but perhaps surprisingly, there are a number of recoveries to and from the near Continent and Scandinavia. Our own ringing group has a database of almost 3000 Wren captures that show few if any migratory tendencies but some evidence of the species longevity of up to 6 years. 

When winter weather hits hard Wrens can become penguin-like by huddling together for warmth. In the winter of 1969 a Norfolk nest box was found to contain 61 Wrens. Such severe but fortunately rare winters can finish off anything from a quarter to three-quarters of the Wren population. Hence the reason that a Wren lays between 5 and 7 eggs at a time and a pair can rear two broods of chicks in a single year. 

The Wren is unloved by most bird ringers as an annoyance in a mist net as it twists and turns through the mesh in its eagerness to go nowhere. Should the ringer fail to take charge of the initial encounter, the open cuffs of a shirt or jumper provide another handy crevice or cavity into which the Wren will quickly escape. When using a car as a ringing base and processing a wriggling Wren, a ringer is well advised to close all doors including the rear hatch. An open car door is a large, open and welcoming cave to a Wren; even more so are the nooks and crannies of a vehicle dashboard. 

Wren 

In 2015 the Wren never made it to be the most loved British Bird when in a national poll involving over 200,000 people the Wren languished fourth behind the Blackbird in third place, the runner up Barn Owl and the jubilant Robin. 

 Robin -1st

Barn Owl - 2nd 

Blackbird - 3rd 

Wren - 4th 

The English surname of Wren is said to derive from being applied to people who were small, busy, quick and energetic just like our little bird. Sir Christopher Wren is perhaps the most famous, so active and endlessly occupied as to design St Paul’s Cathedral as well as fifty two other churches after the Great Fire of London. And he lived to be ninety-one. 

I am old enough to remember the British farthing (1⁄4d) coin, (from "fourthing"), a unit of currency of one quarter of a penny, now long redundant, but where the Wren found short-lived fame. Recognition came again in 2017 when out little friend appeared on the first-class stamp in a Royal Mail ‘Songbirds’ series. 

A Farthing Wren

Wren stamp

That's all for now. Wish me and the little Wren luck with that weather.

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday.

Trepi Trio

At last! After a week of dire weather there was a 5mph wind; although there was a gloomy, misty start, the murky skies cleared within the hour. 

I met up with Andy at Oakenclough where we expected to catch up with the species, if not necessarily the individuals, we missed in the interim. At this time of year many birds are on the move in either post-breeding dispersal or actual southerly migration. If the weather is not too good birds will fly around or above the obstacle or even delay their flights until conditions improve. Such things make for exciting mornings when we may have an idea of what species to expect in but not necessarily the numbers. 

Gloomy Start 

The early overcast may have blocked some early movement but we finished up with 24 birds of 8 species as follows: 5 Willow Warbler, 4 Chaffinch, 4 Great Tit, 3 Tree Pipit, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Dunnock, 1 Robin. 

We caught the five Willow Warblers early one while it was still misty but none later, suggesting that they were leftovers from Monday or before. All five proved to be birds of the year. The numbers of young Willow Warblers seem to be up this year and we speculated that the excellent summer with the lack of the usual downpours has helped ground nesting species like Willow Warblers. 

Willow Warbler 

TREPI is the computer input code for Tree Pipit. Inputting this morning’s data is a job for later in the day via the BTO’s DemOn, (Demography Online) an on-line application which allows users to input their ringing and/or nest records. All three Tree Pipits were birds of the year – juveniles. 

DemOn 

As Tree Pipit breeds sparingly in the North West of England we can be fairly sure that the three caught this morning are from the Scottish population, or maybe even from Scandinavia. Maps that show the Tree Pipit breeding right across the UK are in fact inaccurate as the species' range is more limited. 

Tree Pipit distribution - RSPB 

Tree Pipit 

Tree Pipit 

Goldcrests are bang on time and we should now catch good numbers right through to November. 

Goldcrest 

Dunnock 

The young Robin showed just a hint of red breast. 

Robin 

There seemed to be Chaffinch on the move this morning when a few small parties flew over giving their characteristic, soft, “chip, chip” contact call. 

Chaffinch 

Other birds seen during the four hour slot -  1 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Buzzard, 1 Pied Wagtail, 1 Redshank, 2 Cormorant, 8 Goldfinch, 20+ Chaffinch.  After the mist cleared and the air warmed a number of Swallows appeared, mostly heading south in singles or small parties of between 2 and 6 individuals - in all 30+.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday