Bits And Bobs

The Wednesday trip to Oakenclough wasn't very productive despite our enthusiasm for an early start. I’d met Andy at 0700 to a cold but bright morning of 5°C. 

Although there was an early movement of small finches overhead, and from their quiet “jizz”, Siskins and not Redpolls, we succeeded in catching just two. The first two Siskins of spring 2019 proved to be a first winter/second calendar year male and a fine adult female, both caught at the same time. It’s notable that where two Siskins are caught together they are often of the opposite sex, as if pairs are established and maintained before they reach us 

The Eurasian Siskin, Carduelis spinus, is a member of Fringillidae, the true finches. Although what is a fringillid and how these birds are related to each other has been the source of debate, most true finches are seed-eating passerines that are found in the Northern hemisphere. The Eurasian Siskin is small – smaller, and in the male at least, brighter and more delicate than the similarly green but more bulky European Greenfinch, Carduelis chloris. 

Siskin 

Siskin 

Siskins breed in coniferous woodlands and winter in riverside birches and alders as well as gardens. They are seed-eating birds, especially consuming seeds from conifers, alders and birch, as well as some insects. Siskins will also eat berries and other fruits, especially in winter. It is fairly recent years that Siskins found a liking for peanuts and the seed of Niger. The latter is the seed that we use to attract Siskins to our feeding station here at Oakenclough. 

Otherwise our meagre catch revolved around discussing how to set the world to rights and watching out for signs of spring. A local couple stopped and related their recent sighting of a pair of Osprey over the nearby reservoir and their surprise that an orange-eyed owl with “sticky-up ears” never flinched when they walked within yards of its hawthorn hideaway. 

As the clock ticked slowly by our ringing failed to reach such levels of excitement with just a few Goldcrests and Coal Tits to add to the two Siskins. 

Goldcrest 

We discovered that as predicted, Blue Tit AKC5385 caught here on 14th February here had been ringed not far away at Middleton, Morecambe Bay on October 18th 2018. It’s but a hop, skip and jump of 10 miles up here to the edge of the Pennines, but interesting that the Blue Tit was ringed during what is a busy migration period for many species. 

Back to the day where a flap-glide Sparrowhaw, 2 mid-morning Buzzards and a procession of Oystercatchers, Curlews and Lapwings heading for the hills gave a degree of satisfaction that spring had indeed sprung. 

Back home we recently learned that our near neighbours with their loathsome bird-hunting cat are soon to leave for killing fields anew. Good riddance. With a watchful eye I set an afternoon net in our garden where Goldfinches rule when left alone. 

Goldfinch 

During 2018 the BTO Garden Birdwatch reported twice as many Goldfinches in gardens as normal, with some gardens having had flocks of up to 20 birds at any one time. During September 2018, Goldfinches were reported in 61 per cent of the weekly submissions sent in by 15,000 Garden Birdwatch volunteers who monitor their gardens, compared with a 20-year average of 30 per cent. 

Our own garden has daily numbers of between 2 and 20 Goldfinches and where the number of Goldfinches is often in direct proportion to the number of Niger feeders scattered around suitable cat-proof points from which to hang feeders. 

Goldfinch 

Wintering Goldfinches move around in search of food. Goldfinches are a partial migrant and while many stay in the UK some migrate to France and Spain, hence the chance of one of “my” Goldfinches being found many miles south of here or vice-versa and the reason to continue this legitimate pursuit. 

Goldfinch 

A reader enquired about the header photo of the bunting with no name.  It's a Little Bunting caught at Rawcliffe Moss almost 6 years ago on 13th March 2013. It stayed around until at least 30th April when it was recaptured for the fourth time.

Linking this post to World Bird Wednesday,  Anni's Birding Blog and Eileen's Saturday Blogspot.

  

An Improving Picture

Monday is something of a no-no for me with Grandparent duties the priority so I declined Andy’s offer of the first ringing session of 2019 at Oakenclough. He caught the first Siskin of the year plus several Goldfinch and Chaffinch, but otherwise he was not troubled by too many birds during a very frosty morning. 

There are now bird feeders in place and if the weather warms up as predicted the next few weeks should see an increase in the numbers of Siskins, Redpolls, Goldfinches and Chaffinches. 

Siskin 

For Tuesday we arranged to meet at Gulf Lane, Cockerham at 0730 for yet another crack at the Linnets despite their preference for playing “hard to get” during the whole winter. The morning was cold and overcast with occasional bouts of unwelcome drizzle. During the spasms of drizzle the Linnets disappeared but returned when the sky brightened. 

On Sunday when I topped the Linnets’ supplementary food with fresh millet and rapeseed, I’d counted circa 150 Linnets, 4 Skylark and a marauding Merlin. There was a similar count of Linnets today but with the vegetation now at ground level we changed tactics by employing a whoosh net in cleared ground in place of the usual single panel nets. 

The plan proved successful, albeit with one catch but with 23 at once Linnets under the single net - 11 first winter males, 7 first winter females, 4 adult females and 1 adult male. At 1015 this had been a two and a half hour wait before the Linnets finally dropped into the catching area after several dummy runs on their part. Linnets are "cute" in many ways. 

Included in the catch were two recaptures, AJD6523 and AJD6370 from late November and December 2018 respectively. These two were only the third and fourth recaptures of our own Linnets from 570+ captures over three winters. 

Linnet 

Today is very near the end of the shooting season with just another week left for shooting below the high water mark. At first light the number of sportsmen parked nose to tail along the roadside was a little worrying - exactly from where we needed to release the net. Luckily, and thanks to their cooperation, all the cars had gone by 10am. 

Most times when we are at Gulf Lane one or more of the locals stop to chat: Jim The Keeper, John B or his missus, Philip the nearby farmer, Richard who owns the land, the Ten O’Clock Bus Man (every two hours), or in midwinter, a steady stream of shooters on their way back to their vehicles from a morning on the salt-marsh. Many times they share snippets of local knowledge, information or experience that proves valuable to our enquiring minds. Every so often we hear of breeding birds that they know of, occasionally a pair of raptors, or even owls. 

All are keen to learn about our Linnet catches and often simply amazed at the fact that their tiny Linnets migrate so far. The chance to show them a Linnet in the hand and discuss the biometrics, plumage and sexual dimorphism of Linnets is something they appreciate and enjoy. 

Linnet

Linnet

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Linking this post to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Purple Patch

I was unavailable for Tuesday’s ringing session when Andy ringed another 35 birds at Oakenclough. He caught the first Siskins and Lesser Redpolls of the autumn and another couple of Tree Pipits but then excelled by catching an adult Spotted Flycatcher, the first full-grown “spot-fly” for a number of years. 

Not to be outdone I met up with Andy for another 0630 start on Wednesday. Oakenclough’s recent purple patch continued with 42 more captures of 12 species. There was an exciting morning of birding too, topped off by an adult Hobby about 11 am. 

We caught steadily from the off as finches provided the numbers while “others” provided the “star” birds: 14 Goldfinch, 9 Chaffinch, 4 Great Tit, 3 Meadow Pipit, 2 Blackcap, 2 Willow Warbler, 2 Goldcrest, 1 Chiffchaff, 1 Siskin, 1 Lesser Redpoll, 1 Tree Pipit, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Coal Tit. 

Both of today’s Blackcaps, a male and a female were birds of the year (juvenile) with the female showing faint fault bars on the tail. Fault bars are pale bands sometimes seen on wing and tail feathers and which are probably due to reduced metabolism with less melanin deposition during the growth of feather, typically during days when food is scarce due to natural causes or poor weather. We have seen few fault bars on young birds’ tails this year, almost certainly a consequence of the best year ever of UK weather as a whole and the best since 2006 in the North West. 

Blackcap 

 Blackcap- juvenile/first year female 

Today’s single juvenile Tree Pipit had a tiny mite attached to its face at the bottom of the right eye. We occasionally find such things around the eye and head of a bird but without specialist knowledge we can do little if anything to help. However, it is said that such ticks drop off when the ticks are finished feeding without any long term effect on the bird. 

Tree Pipit 

Tree Pipit 

Meadow Pipit 

I hope everyone spotted the difference between Meadow Pipit and Tree Pipit? 

Chiffchaffs have been strangely absent this summer and autumn, today’s recently moulted adult the first since 26th March. 

Chiffchaff 

In recent years we are finding a number of juvenile Goldfinches in full primary moult (replacing all of their primary feathers) in late/summer early autumn. These are juveniles from the earliest broods of April/May and June whose plumage is well worn by late summer. In the picture below the outer feathers are the browner and worn ones; the darker, blacker ones and the short, still emerging feather are the new “adult type” feather. However, the bird is still classed as a first year/juvenile until 1st January 2019 when of course it becomes a second year. 

Goldfinch 

It’s good to welcome back Siskins and Lesser Redpolls even though we caught just one of each - both adult females. 

Lesser Redpoll - adult female

 Siskin - adult female

Siskin - adult female 

Tail feathers

The birding was pretty spectacular this morning, even with the limited time between rounds. There was an early arrival of 150+ Swallows which arrived so soon after dawn that we thought to be from a local roost. As the morning progressed their numbers increased at the same time as a large influx of House Martins and a handful of Sand Martins. Our estimate of the numbers involved in both visible migration and those lingering while feeding was 375 Swallow, 260 House Martin and 10 Sand Martin. 

With so many hirundines about, we speculated about the possibility of a Hobby. About 11 am Bryan cottoned on to a raptor that arrived from the west and shot quickly through where the Swallows and House Martins were feeding. We had less than a minute as the Hobby circled and then flew directly over our heads where we were able to identify it as an adult rather than a bird of the year. 

Hobby - Falco subbuteo 

Other birds – 8 Grey Wagtail, 6 Pied Wagtail, 7 Buzzard, 2 Sparrowhawk, 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 1 Spotted Flycatcher, 1 Nuthatch. 

Trying

I missed two ringing sessions. Tuesday was half-term duties and then on Wednesday I had to wait in for the heating engineer. 

Andy was out on both days when he caught the first Chiffchaff of spring, several Meadow Pipits, half a dozen each of both Siskin and Lesser Redpoll and the usual bits & bobs of Dunnocks, Robins and Blue Tits. 

Wednesday was a chance to catch up with spring and the example set by Andy. We met up at 0630 to a gentle south-easterly and hopeful vibes, but 2° with an ice warning on the dashboard said otherwise. And so it was, with just 7 birds caught in more than three hours - 3 Goldfinch, 1 Siskin, 1 Coal Tit, 1 Meadow Pipit and 1 Goldcrest. The latter was our first of the spring and now some two weeks later than normal.

Meadow Pipit 

Goldcrest 

Siskin

The tiny and quite stunning Siskin is a species that ringers like to catch. 

It is also one of the bird success stories of recent years. Since the 1950s the maturation of new conifer plantations has aided the spread of breeding Siskins throughout the UK from their previous stronghold in the Scottish Highlands. 

The Siskins' habit of using garden feeders, especially in late winter, has developed since the 1960s and despite many winter birds in gardens migrating to the Baltic region to breed, may also have helped boost the UK breeding population. 

 The 1988-91 Breeding Atlas identified a major expansion of the breeding range into southern Britain and subsequently there have been further considerable range gains, especially in the south and west. The 1970s and 1980s saw more Common Bird Census plots occupied but samples were insufficient for annual monitoring until Breeding Bird Survey began in 1994. 

Results since then show parallel fluctuations of populations both in England and Scotland. To some extent this probably reflects the occasional large continental influxes affecting spring numbers on a broad UK scale. 

As might be expected from the figures above, this morning’s visible migration was nil. But all was not lost. On the way home and at 11 am I spotted a day hunting Barn Owl across distant fields. I spent twenty minutes or more watching as the owl ranged far and wide, high and low in search of a meal before it seemed to head back home. 

Barn Owl 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl 

It wasn’t the most successful morning but nice to finish on a Barn Owl high. More soon – stay tuned. 

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

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.

Truncated Morning

Tuesday and the wind had changed direction from the recent Siberian blast to an almost balmy north-easterly of 8 mph. Even the temperature picked up to 0.5° at 0630 but the wind chill made it feel more like minus 15°. 

I’d met up with Andy at Oakenclough for a ringing session. Andy still sported a tan from his week in Abu Dhabi but there was no tee shirt or shorts to be seen. 

On our last visit here on 7th March, Another Bird Blog, we caught the first handful of Siskins and Lesser Redpolls of 2018, so we hoped to improve on this. However it was not to be as the wind soon picked up to 15 mph to truncate the already quiet session. 

We ringed just 11 birds – 3 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Siskin, 2 Blue Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Goldfinch. 

Siskin 

Lesser Redpoll 

Chaffinch 

Other than the finches, there was little evidence of migration with “other” birds seen limited to local inhabitants; 6 Oystercatcher, 2 Buzzard, 3 Pied Wagtail, 3 Mistle Thrush, 1 Grey Wagtail, 1 Raven, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker. 

The early finish allowed a leisurely drive back over the moss roads where I came across 6 circling Buzzard and 1 Kestrel. Skitham Lane saw 16+ Ruff on a still flooded field some 500 yards from the road but in an isolated and unapproachable field. 

I stopped at Gulf Lane, Cockerham to see how many of our wintering Linnets are still around to find just thirty plus, a figure that suggests there may be no more ringing opportunities. Hopefully the 237 Linnets ringed this winter will provide information on their whereabouts at later dates. 

Thanks to one of my readers I discovered that today March 20th 2018 is World Sparrow Day celebrating the relationship between humans and sparrows. There are over 40 species of sparrow in the world. 

You can join in World Sparrow Day at World Sparrow Day 

Read all about sparrows of the world at wikipedia.

Tree Sparrow 

House Sparrow

More soon, maybe even sparrows at Another Bird Blog.

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

First Poll

This morning’s ringing session seemed  a long time coming. We more or less abandoned Oakenclough last year after the storms of autumn followed by a winter to forget. But Andy’s done a sterling job with the feeders in the last couple of weeks by enticing birds back on site.

Wednesday dawned with a hint of better to come, a drop in wind speed and our first chance to catch up with small finches on the move at this time of year. Wind began at 6-8 mph from the south east, later 10-12 mph from the west with full cloud cover changing to sunny from the west. 

We met at 0700 and were joined today by Bryan. The session was pretty slow but we caught our first Lesser Redpoll and Siskins of the year together with a slight surprise in the shape of not one but two Mistle Thrushes. 

Fifteen birds caught: 3 Blue Tit, 3 Coal Tit, 2 Mistle Thrush, 2 Siskin, 2 Goldfinch, 1 Great Tit, 1 Chaffinch, 1 Lesser Redpoll.

We’d heard two or more Mistle Thrushes in their usual loud song from treetops and watched as three of them crashed through the site in a territorial dispute. The Mistle Thrush as a very loud far-carrying song.  Click the start button below to hear the distinctive song of Mistle Thrush.

Mistle Thrush

Mistle Thrush

We aged and sexed the two Siskins as one adult female and one first-winter male. They were released together and we watched as they flew off in close proximity. It’s a rule that ringers follow; if males and females are caught close to each other, as they often are, they are released at the same time. The same goes for possible family parties caught in late summer or autun. 

Siskin

Siskin

Goldfinches look rather splendid now as they move into their summer best. Look at the dark-tipped silvery bill of the male below. 

Goldfinch

The redpoll was in fine condition so early in March. As suspected on first sight and confirmed upon closer examination, it proved to be an adult male. 

Lesser Redpoll

In recent years the Lesser Redpoll has been added to the list of garden finches like Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Bullfinch. The BTO Garden BirdWatch survey shows a 15-fold increase in the use of gardens by Lesser Redpolls during early spring over the past five years. Having said that, they seem not to occur very much in gardens in coastal Lancashire where I live. I hope they become more common soon. 

Other birds noted this morning: 4 Buzzard, 1 Sparrowhawk, 2 Pied Wagtail, 20+ Oystercatcher, 1 Great-spotted Woodpecker, 8 Lapwing. 

Three Finches

Our targeting of finches at Oakenclough near Garstang paid off again with three very interesting recoveries via the BTO - a Siskin, a Goldfinch and a Lesser Redpoll. 

A Goldfinch we ringed with letter/number Z470813 on 18th February 2016 was later recaptured by members of Grampian Ringing Group at Newburgh, Aberdeenshire on 1st March 2017, just over one year later and 381kms north of Oakenclough. 

We tend to think of Goldfinches as a somewhat sedentary garden bird but the species is a partial migrant throughout its extensive range in Europe and Asia, with its northern limit approximately along the line of the 60° latitude. Aberdeen is situated at the latitude of 57 degrees. 

This first year female had probably moved south to winter in England for 2016/207 but was returning to Scotland as early as 1st March 2017.

 Goldfinch

Goldfinch - Oakenclough to Aberdeen

The second recovery concerns Siskin with ring number Z470786. Andy and I caught this adult male on 11th February 2016 at Oakenclough. It had a good weight of 14.2 grams suggesting that it was on migration to the conifer forests of Scotland or perhaps Ireland, a typical movement we have seen with other records in the spring.  Z470786 was later recaptured 13th April 2017 at the RSPB Bird Reserve of Lake Vyrnwy, Powys, Wales. 

Siskins with their unpredictable main food supply are known to make irregular movements in search of food, and an individual does not necessarily winter in the same location each year. RSPB reserves generally have good supplies of bird food on offer to draw in both birds and birders. 

Siskin

 

Siskin - Oakenclough to Lake Vyrnwy

The third recovery involves a second winter/spring Lesser Redpoll of S295643 that Andy and I caught at Oakenclough as the first bird of the day at 0600 on 8th April 2017. The original ringing details tell us that S295643 was first ringed by Graeme, an ex-member of Fylde Ringing Group who now rings with Cuckmere Ringing Group. The Goldfinch  was ringed on 28th October 2016 at Litlington, East Sussex. 

This is a classic case of a young Lesser Redpoll migrating south to spend the winter in probably France or Belgium and then returning north in the following spring. 

Lesser Redpoll

 

Lesser Redpoll - Litlington to Oakenclough

Meanwhile during my recent holiday in Menorca, another and different outbreak of avian flu occurred in our area at Thornton-Cleveleys in a backyard flock of chickens and ducks. A 3 km Protection Zone and a 10 km Surveillance Zone have been put in place around the infected premises to limit the risk of the disease spreading and there is a ban on ringing in those zones. 

 

 Avian flu exclusion zone

These outbreaks are becoming all too frequent but hopefully things will settle down soon. Let's  hope so.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.