Stone Me

Next week’s weather looked dire. Sunday might be the only opportunity to get some ringing done. So with a promised 3mph I drove up to Gulf Lane and an early start. 

No Andy today. And he had the single panel nets in his car except for a brand new Ecotone that languished in my boot. I put up the one net but it was shiny and pristine, straight out of the packet from Poland and by now the rising sun lit up the mesh. Mist nets are better when the new shine has worn off and they take on a greyer tone that merges into backdrop of the customary British weather. 

Anyway that’s my excuse for catching just 4 Linnets in a couple of hours. And I think the number of Linnets around at 180-200 suggests that this consistent count of recent weeks holds regular birds and few newcomers. 

But that miserly four equates to 251 new Linnets for the year of which 194 are from this autumn/ winter. And still not a single recapture. 

The Linnet below is a rather smart adult female. 

Linnet

All was not lost as I caught a Stonechat, almost certainly the quite distinctive male resident here for the last couple of weeks. I racked my brains to think of the last time I ringed a Stonechat in Lancashire so looked it up on the database - 1993. That timescale is indicative of both the species’ scarcity around here and also its liking for open habitats where ringers are not terribly active. 

The Stonechat “took the Micky” for a while and at one point perched up on one of the 4ft high bamboos that held the net and from where it could certainly see the mesh stretching to the other end. Ten minutes later it was lying in the net alongside a Linnet. 

In this part of coastal Lancashire the Stonechat is a scarce, partially migrant breeding bird, mainly on the edge of the Bowland hills but occasionally along the coastal strip. In many a spring it is a slightly more numerous and early passage migrant during February to April. Likewise, a migrant in autumn when odd birds may linger into December and beyond or even spend the winter if the weather stays mild enough. 

After 25 years I needed to consult “Svensson” to if possible age this obvious male. Through a combination of factors, bill, alula, tail wear and shape, plus the amount of black on the head, mantle and throat, I considered it an adult. 

"Svensson"

Stonechat in Svensson

Stonechat

Stonechat

Lots of other birds around this morning, mainly in flight by way of many hundreds of field-grazing Lapwing, Golden Plover and Curlew. Others – Sparrowhawk, Whooper Swans and Little Egrets.

Linking today to Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.

Reprise

Saturday was spent watching for breaks in the rain, living in hope the forecast might change for the better; it did, so Will and I found ourselves at Out Rawcliffe again this morning, and hoping for a repeat of Thursday’s catch of 122 birds.

But we didn’t quite hit the same heights with today’s catch of 94 birds of 12 species, 93 new and a single recapture of a Chaffinch from recent weeks. New birds today, 48 Chaffinch, 29 Meadow Pipit, 3 Chiffchaff, 3 Blue Tit, 2 Goldcrest, 2 Coal Tit and singles of Great Tit, Goldfinch, Robin, Lesser Redpoll, Dunnock and Blackcap.

Chiffchaff
Goldcrest
Chaffinch – adult male
Lesser Redpoll

The throughput of Chaffinches from north to south was very marked today, with larger groups than of late and sometimes up to 10 or 12 individuals, which led to an overall count for the 6+ hour session of approximately 600 birds. The Meadow Pipit passage was slightly less than last Thursday with today’s count being 300+ birds, but again a mid-morning peak. There is a marked sexual difference in Meadow Pipits but one of today’s males was quite enormous, with a wing measurement of 90mm, significantly above the quoted range in Birds of the Western Palearctic (BWP). This bird just has to be of Icelandic origin.

We are now seamlessly into the swing of ageing Meadow Pipits, a process which is easier than determining their age in spring. However to accurately age any species it is essential to have a thorough knowledge of the moult and wear of those species’ feather tracts and a grasp of the general principles of ageing. If it is a species we don’t see in the hand very often a copy of “Svensson” or “Moult in Birds” are always to hand, books which give invaluable guidance. Both of the above mentioned books are actually invaluable to bird watchers who might want to spend time ageing species in the field through a telescope, but to bear in mind that some of the feather tracts or other features described may be invisible on a closed wing or tail.

”Svensson”
Moult in Birds

In the case of Meadow Pipits we have many years of experience with them to recognise the features of an adult’s complete post-breeding moult, or the partial moult of a juvenile bird where it replaces some only of its feathers. We also take into account the fact that in the north of their wide range an adult Meadow Pipit moult may take several days less than a typical UK Meadow Pipit, and in addition allow for the fact that Meadow Pipits may have two or more broods of young; the young birds could have been born anytime between the months of April/May and August, and depending upon their places of origin and date of birth, apparently identical juveniles may actually show quite differing amounts of feather wear and/or replacement.

The photographs below are from today, a recently fully moulted adult Meadow Pipit with the same age of feathers throughout the wing structure, and below that an image of a juvenile wing with a mix of recently grown adult type feathers and its retained juvenile “summer” feathers.

Meadow Pipit - adult
Meadow Pipit - juvenile

Once again our busy ringing session meant missing some of the visible migration, but we noted 37 Snipe, 20+ Skylark, 35+ Siskin in 3 separate groups, 20+ Lesser Redpoll, 3 Sparrowhawk, 180 + Swallows and 6 House Martin.

“Locals” included 2 more Sparrowhawks, 9 Buzzard, 2 Tawny Owl, 40+ Goldfinch, 20+ Linnet, 2 Kestrel, 3 Jay and 2 Great-spotted Woodpecker