Getting Better

Here we are again. As promised in yesterday's blog post when the sighting of a less than common Great Egret at Cockerham provided the Monday Highlight. 

After recent unremarkable ringing sessions and the sum total of ten birds caught, I met Andy at 0630 at Oakenclough on Tuesday in the hope of a change in our bird ringing fortunes. 

We had a better catch and even managed to achieve double figures. Once again, on a clear bright morning the visible migration was nil except for the few Lesser Repoll that sneaked in unseen. Lesser Redpoll was the most ringed bird today with 6 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Willow Warbler, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Robin and 1 Wren. 

One of the six Lesser Redpoll AHK 3073,a second year female was a “control” - a bird ringed elsewhere. 

Willow Warbler

 

Lesser Redpoll

Chaffinch 

It seems that many of the Greylags on site laid their eggs at similar times. Today saw a number of crèches of adults with similarly sized youngsters. The crèche strategy is common amongst a number of geese & duck species and one that increases the survival rate when so many pairs of eyes serve to watch over the youngsters pooled together with three, four or more adults.  

  

Greylags

When the ring details of Lesser Redpoll AHK3073 are entered into the BTO online database back home we will learn about the original ringing information within a few days. 

The British Trust for Ornithology online database of DemOn has many possibilities and choices available for ringers to record their catches. The data ringers collect is real and in real-time, not made up as they go along. For instance, we collect a minimum of: 

• the place (map reference) 
• whether the bird is new to us or a subsequent capture – one ringed elsewhere or one ringed by ourselves on a previous occasion 
• date of ringing 
• time of ringing 
• the species 
• the species' age and sex 
• the species' breeding condition (or not) 
• biometric measurements e.g wing, bill, tail, claw 
•  the weight 
• fat score 
•  moult status 

DemOn

Even when we catch very few birds the info we collect still adds to the vast database of information on birds' lives and their survival, all of which aids conservation science. 

“Science is the pursuit and application of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence.” 

Most volunteer ringers probably class themselves as citizen scientists of varying degrees of application and expertise. They share and contribute to both national and international data monitoring programs through sharing information across the continents and countries through which birds migrate at many different times of year.

Stay tuned. There's more birding, ringing and photos soon. 

Missing In Action

Monday morning. After the school run I tripped to Cockerham for an hour or two and a walk on Richard and Helen’s farm. Maybe I would meet up with some of the migrant birds still missing from our delayed spring? 

There’s a little copse with a pool and a reed bed that held singing Chaffinch, two pairs of Mallard, a Grey Heron, and a couple of sweet singing Willow Warblers. From the woodland came no sound of Blackcaps or Chiffchaffs, just a loud Wren, the flapping of Wood Pigeons and a wheezy Greenfinch, residents all. In the dry looking reed bed but from where I heard a Moorhen in the depths, no Reed Warblers and no Sedge Warblers, not even a Reed Bunting, the partial migrant. 

 

Willow Warbler

 

Greenfinch

 

A Buzzard flew from behind me and landed on the fence some 70 yards away; about as close as our local Buzzards will tolerate us humans. When I jumped from the car to open a farm gate, the Buzzard flew off pursued by crows. Leaving a car causes our persecuted Buzzards to stay even further away from a possible gun. 

Buzzard

 

Behind the sea wall I came across the usual Little Egrets, another Grey Heron and then the raucous calls of a Great (White) Egret. I’m not sure why the experts dropped the “white”, but for many birders, the now abandoned name of Great White Egret is more descriptive. 

Great (White) Egret

The “becoming commoner” Great Egret seems to show the same tolerance levels as our Grey Herons and for sure this newcomer will fly off if birders approach too close. I left the egret fishing the pool close to its smaller cousin the Little Egret. 

Alongside the sea wall came a single Wheatear, three pairs of Oystercatcher, (two on eggs), 6 Redshank, 2 Pied Wagtail, 8 Linnet and 6 or 7 Skylarks. No Swallows on the move and none seen in three hours. What a strange spring this is. 

There’s a ringing session pencilled in for Tuesday where for sure we will see those missing migrants! 

 Join me then and see what we catch.

 

Slowly Does It

Tuesday proved to be another non-event with just 5 birds caught and zero records for the migration stats. 

I'd met Andy at 0700 for another ringing session, hopefully one where the weather on the day matched the forecast of Monday evening; at last, a south-easterly, no rain, patchy cloud and 5mph. the prediction. A change of wind direction that would surely produce new migrants? The potential problem was that the south-easterly airflow actually originated off northerly winds in the North Sea on the east coast. 

That was the problem because a catch of five birds is pretty terrible. Two Lesser Redpoll, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Chiffchaff and 1 Robin was all we had for our five hours work. At least two Willow Warblers in song but we didn't catch one. 

Lesser Redpoll

 

Goldfinch

 

While we wait for migrants to arrive from south of here the local Greylags have been getting on with life.  A pair appeared with five very newly fledged youngsters, not bad going for 13 April. Look closely at the photo - the youngsters' egg teeth are clearly visible. 

Greylags

The incubation period for Greylags is about 30 days, give or take a few. Incubation begins with the last egg laid of between 5 and 7. This means that our pair of Greylags had completed their nest and laid their first egg during the first few days of March. 

Such a short post. Not to worry. We don't give up so easily and are due for another go later in the week. 

For an extra bit of fun I'm linking today to Rain Frances and her Thursday Art date at  http://www.rainfrances.com.

It's a difficult theme today of “coils” that set me thinking about birds and coils. So here's a few, the artistry of birds that make a nest through coils of dried grass and herbs. In this case, a Skylark.

Skylarks

And of course, bird rings, that are made from coils of metal and sometimes plastic.

Bird rings

Back soon. Don't go away.

In the meantime, linking to Eileen's Saturday  and Anni in Texas.

Silent Spring

Six in the morning. I was wide awake as warm feet hit the cold floor. It was time to fill the Thermos, *pack baggin in the bait box and try again. 

Arctic northerlies for ten days and more put the kibosh on birding and ringing. Glacial winds and single digit temperatures held a Stop Sign to migrant birds heading our way. Whole days went by with nothing on the migration score sheet but big fat zeros. The highlight of my spring so far was an unexpected Redstart and a Wheatear on April 1. Since then nowt. 

Now was time to make amends and catch up - we hoped. We arranged to meet at 0730 to allow for the plantation to defrost. 

On the way over the moss I again met up with a flying Barn Owl which dived into the base of a hawthorn hedge. It lifted with nothing and went on its way over the field to try again. 

Barn Owl 

 

At 0715 and despite the “late” start the dash showed -2.5° degrees as we arrived.  We feared the worst. A slight north-easterly motioned the trees, stirred the nets but left the water without a ripple. After recent days things could only get better? 

10th April 2021 

 

near Oakenclough - 10th April 2021

How wrong can we be? Just five birds caught - 1 Chiffchaff, 2 Wren, 1 Robin, 1 Meadow Pipit. 

Robin 

 

Meadow Pipit

 

Chiffchaff

 

Maybe the highlight of the morning was not the few birds ringed but the “others”? An early morning Cuckoo called incessantly for five minutes or more and then went silent.  April 10 is a fairly early date for a Cuckoo in these parts where the species now breeds sparingly. 

After the initial burst of calls the Cuckoo probably carried on flying north, as did the three Swallows and four Siskins that we saw overhead. 

Otherwise, migration was non existent. A single Willow Warbler sang for an hour or more but that too fell silent. 

Linking today to Eileen's Saturday and Anni in Texas.

*put food in the lunch box 

More soon. Stay tuned to Another Bird Blog.

 

Early Start.

A shot of Ouzo makes a fine nightcap - for a while. I slept a deep sleep but woke up early perhaps knowing that the forecast was OK, too breezy for ringing but fine for a spot of birding. 

I set off north to a couple of places to check out for the coming weeks. 

Chris had told me how in the winter he worked with the digger at the face of the Sand Martin colony to try and make access somewhat easier for the ringers and if possible to improve the catch rate. He'd done a pretty good job and constructed a ledge where we can set nets some eight foot higher than the quarry floor of last year where we had no luck with the martins. 

I counted 130+ excitable Sand Martins crowding around the holes they used last year. In the photo below you can see how nest holes are excavated in a layer of softer sand and gravel, immediately below the larger and harder pebbles of the quarry face. The martins know the best places in which to nest but nature doesn't always cooperate with them when the holes may be weakened or even destroyed by the elements. 

Sand Martins

The water levels of the pools are extremely high after an autumn and winter dominated by rainfall. Even with a dry spell it is unlikely that water levels will drop sufficiently or quickly enough to allow the return of the Avocets to breed this year. 

Even the Oystercatchers seemed reluctant to pair up this morning, their one or two likely spots still covered in winter rain puddles as they face into the stiff breeze. 

The picture below shows three ages of Oystercatcher. The all black one with bright pink legs and bright red eyes is an adult, the one on the right with partial collar, paler bill and greyish legs is last year's bird. The Oystercatcher at the back still has the grey legs of last year and a less bright eye and is probably a month or two older than the right hand one, but not a full adult.  

Oystercatchers

The Sand Martins will be left to breed now.  Only when we know for sure that their breeding season is well underway will we return to ring some if the new setup works in our favour. 

I drove further back towards Pilling to look at another of our ringing sites. A real surprise came in the shape of a fine male Redstart, a scarce enough species in these parts where it is a spring and autumn migrant only. To see a Redstart is nice enough but to see one on the exceptionally early date of 1 April was quite unexpected. 

Redstart

 

Buoyed by this unforeseen event, and carrying a bag containing trap, meal worms and A rings I took a walk along the sea wall in the hope of seeing a Wheatear or two but there were none. 

By now the stiff breeze had turned to a cold easterly with mostly waders and herons seen - 6 pairs of Oystercatcher, 7 Redshank, 4 Lapwing, 6 Little Egret and 1 Grey Heron. 

Lapwing - male 

Grey Heron 

Smaller birds found were 12 Skylark, 8 Linnet, 2 Pied Wagtail and 1 Meadow Pipit. 

Things are looking better for Skylarks this year along a stretch of breeding habitat that was subject to disturbance last summer from The "Environment" Agency. Very slowly, over many days, they cleared tidal debris from the sea wall with huge, lumbering noisy machinery. Unbelievable! 

Stay tuned.  There could be more news and another early start soon on Another Bird Blog.

Linking on Saturday to Eileen's Blogspot and Anni in Texas.