Ringing in Glyn Davies Wood

Hello

A ringing session was completed at Glyn Davies Wood today with 136 birds being caught and processed, 124 of which were new birds. This small woodland is in the far west of the county (near Boddington village) and in due course will be adversely affected by the HS2 project. In the meantime though the feed stations maintained by the Banbury Ornithological Society provides supplementary food for many woodland birds and provides an opportunity to assess how many birds make use of this splintered but ancient woodland. A small party of Siskins and a single Redpoll were noted in the wood.

The birds processed today were made up of 49 Great Tits, 46 Blue Tits, 6 Coal Tits, 4 Marsh Tits, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Treecreepers, 3 Wrens, a Robin, 11 Goldcrests, 2 Blackbirds, 4 Nuthatches and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

One of the Great Tits and one of the Long-tailed Tits were first ringed there in December 2015 and one of the Blue Tits was recently ringed at Priors Marston.

A short visit to Ravensthorpe Reservoir this afternoon provided views of a Green Sandpiper, a Snipe, a Chiffchaff and three Siskins. This afternoon a Grey Wagtail was in our garden examining the new garden pond!

Regards

Neil M

Nuthatch.

Great Tit. This young female
bird is exhibiting what appear
to be rapidly developing growths.
She was otherwise in good condition
and a healthy weight but these lesions
are likely to grow and reduce life
expectancy.

Adult male Blue Tit. Of the 46
Blue Tits handled today this was
the only adult - all the others were
birds hatched this year!

Ditchford WeBS count

Hello

I spent some of the day completing part of the monthly WeBS count at Ditchford Pits today. Although it was quite a blustery westerly wind, the sun came out and it was very pleasant out and about, so much so that large insects such as Hornets, butterflies and Common Darter dragonflies were on the wing in reasonable numbers.

A strong passage of Woodpigeons was evident moving down the Nene Valley pushing into the westerly airstream and the various sized flocks numbered just less than a thousand individuals. Much smaller numbers of Stock Doves were moving at the same time. A calling Grey Plover also moved through west at 9.18am followed by a low-flying and calling Rock Pipit also going the same way at 9.50am. Other birds of interest included an adult Peregrine, nine Little Egrets, just two Kingfishers, two Redpolls, five Siskins, a Stonechat, three Grey Wagtails, six Cetti's Warblers and just two Chiffchaffs.

A quick visit to Pitsford Reservoir early this afternoon to fill up the feeders at the Old Scaldwell Road was sufficient to note three Great White Egrets and an adult Yellow-legged Gull in the Scaldwell Bay.

Finches on the move in the Brampton Valley this morning included small numbers of Redpoll, Siskin and Brambling and there was a covey of twelve Grey Partridges at Harrington Airfield this afternoon.

Regards

Neil M

Carrion Crow.

Long-tailed Tit.

Adult Peregrine at
Ditchford today. From
the size of it's crop I
think it had just eaten!

Back home!

Hello

Breezy but pleasant weather back in the county today but not really any time for birding as it was all the usual 'back home' chores to attend to!

Eleanor's morning walk down in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton provided plenty of Fieldfares and Redwings and two Bramblings; a Grey Wagtail was at Brixworth Water Treatment Works and the gull roost at Pitsford Reservoir didn't provide anything out of the ordinary.

Yesterday Eric's efforts at Thrapston Pits resulted in a Marsh Harrier plus more common raptors, a couple of Little Egrets, four Cetti's Warblers and a Chiffchaff.

Chris Payne completed a little ringing at Bradden on Sunday with 53 birds from one net in three hours which included Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Goldcrest and Chiffchaff.

Regards

Neil M

Album of images
from the Bradden
ringing session -
Blue Tit, Chiffchaff
and Treecreeper LHS
Long-tailed Tit, Coal
Tit, Goldcrest and
 Nuthatch RHS

Green Woodpecker as caught
and ringed at Stortons Pits
nearly a month ago. Handling
birds provides the opportunity
of seeing aspects not easily seen
in the field, note the barbs on the
end of the woodpecker's tongue.
Presumably this adaption makes it
easier to extract those ants and their
larva from their underground home.

All images courtesy of
Chris Payne.

Cornish birding

Hello

A visit to some rough pasture and scrub this morning near Lands End provided views of a Grey Catbird, an American bird dumped in Cornwall almost certainly the result of Storm Callum. He/she was lively if a little skulking and has already learnt that Blackberries are nice to eat!

We also visited the beach at Sennen, birded the habitat around Porthgwarra and finished the day walking the valley at Kenidjack near St Just.

We saw plenty of Ravens and quite a number of Choughs, a Merlin, a Short-eared Owl, 3-4 Yellow-browed Warblers and huge numbers of corvids and pigeons/doves all west of Penzance. Common Buzzards were spiralling up and calling in beautiful autumn sunshine and the Starlings were flying high up catching insects.

Regards

Neil M

Mediterranean Gull.

Green grasshopper sp

Raven.

Grey Catbird.

Visible migration

Hello

We arrived back on the mainland this afternoon, enjoying a sunny and calm cruise on the Scillonian III ferry. Sea-birds were minimal with plenty of Gannets and smaller numbers of Razorbills and Kittiwakes and a single Bonxie. Other creatures included some very impressive Tuna fish leaping clear of the water, these super predatory fish easily the size of a dolphin. Cetaceans included rather distant Harbour Porpoises and Common Dolphins and then a small pod of Bottle-nosed Dolphins as we rounded in to Penzance itself.

During the latter part of the week we immersed ourselves in the wonderment of visible migration which is so easily to witness this time of the year with day-time movements of thrushes, wagtails, pipits, Skylarks and others. We spent two days on the under-visited island of St Martin's where other birds included Yellow-browed Warbler, Firecrests, Ring Ouzels, Lesser Redpoll, a couple of Rose-coloured Starlings, Spotted Flycatchers, Woodcock, Snipe, Ravens, Blackcaps, large numbers of Chiffchaffs, Common and Black Redstarts, several Peregrines, all three chats and a Short-eared Owl.

Other birds on St Mary's showing for us during this week included a Little Bunting, a Lapland Bunting, a couple of Merlins, lots of new-in Yellow-browed Warblers the last two days, a Water Pipit or two, a Wryneck and another fall of Black Redstarts.

Kenny, Sarah and Helen were ringing at Linford Lakes in Milton Keynes this morning and processed 143 birds with a distinctly autumn feel associated with the twenty species caught.

Highlights included 11 Redwings, 2 Song Thrushes, 8 Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff, a Meadow Pipit, 3 Treecreepers, 4 Siskins and a Redpoll. Twenty-one Greenfinches were a surprise, this species is struggling with diseases so this was a potential mini upturn which hopefully will gain momentum.

Interestingly one of the Siskins was a bird first ringed at Linford in February this year, I wonder where it has been in the meantime?

Jacob spent some time monitoring visible migration over Pitsford Reservoir on Wednesday and was  rewarded with a fly-over Hawfinch for his four hour stint which included 2 Golden Plovers, 232 Skylarks, 7 Swallows, 185 Starlings, 29 Fieldfares, 243 Redwings, 4 Song Thrushes, 2 Tree Sparrows, a Grey Wagtail, 126 Meadow Pipits, 131 Chaffinches, 11 Bramblings and 2 Bullfinches. A subsequent fly-over Short-eared Owl after the vis mig period was another bonus bird!

Also on Wednesday Eric was out and about at Thrapston Pits and found a Yellow-legged Gull, saw 90 plus Golden Plovers fly over in a south westerly direction, located six Chiffchaffs around the reserve and saw three Bramblings too.

I just love this time of the year!

Regards

Neil M

Lesser Redpoll
courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Siskin
courtesy of Kenny Cramer.

Greenland Wheatear.

Adult Mediterranean Gull.

Common Snipe, often
a garden bird on the Scillies
(this one was photographed
under a garden hedge).

They're back!
The skies are again
full of the 'super migrant'
Redwing!

And there are Ring Ouzels
moving among the winter
thrushes...

Rose-coloured Starling.

Spotted Flycatcher...the warm
conditions ensure there are plenty
 of insects but the last of the
flycatchers need to be moving south now...

Raven.

A female Stonechat
on her breezy perch!

Little Bunting.

The Scilly adventure continues!

Hello

A mixture of weather down here on the Scillies during the last few days but generally pretty dry and still mild and with ridiculous numbers of interesting insects still on the wing. The people monitoring the moths are finding all sorts of rare specimens and there are Hummingbird Hawk-moths everywhere! The last few days have provided more records of Vagrant Hawker dragonflies, lots of butterflies and even a couple of stick insects!

Bird-wise it has been relatively quiet and some of the standard scarce migrants have been difficult with very low numbers of Firecrests and Wrynecks. Even the Yellow-browed Warblers are only here in small numbers and are definitely not showy!

Eleanor took a boat trip around the islands on Sunday and saw large numbers of Grey Seals, a party of four Grey Phalaropes and a variety of inshore sea-birds including auks, Common Scoters etc.

Blackcaps are moving through the islands in high numbers and even the winter thrushes have arrived with small numbers of fresh Redwings, Fieldfares and Ring Ouzels each day (and even a Mistle Thrush today which is scarce here). Scarce migrants seen most days include Lapland Bunting, Richard's Pipit, Red-backed Shrike, flycatchers and Common Redstarts and there has been a big arrival of Black Redstarts and White Wagtails. Several 'Yellow Wagtails' include some perplexing individuals. Merlins, Sparrowhawks, Kestrels and Peregrines whizz around the islands and keep things lively!

Regards

Neil M

Grey Seals
Eleanor McMahon.

Grey Phalarope
Eleanor McMahon.

Scilly fisherman.

Bums on the beach -
Tor and Jaeger enjoying
themselves!

One of those 'Yellow
Wagtails'??

Storm Callum

Hello

Well Storm Callum has certainly made it's presence felt down here in the SW! Driving rain and gale force winds reaching gusts over 70mph have been entertaining here on the Scillies! Sea-watching has produced plenty of sea-birds which have included several shearwater species, Leach's Petrel, skuas etc.

Locating passerines and familiar land-birds has been more of a task but we have enjoyed the fall of Black Redstarts, some showy Common Redstarts and late pulses of warblers and chats which is so typical of the Scillies. The conditions remain mild and insects are still blooming with rare moths being found, a Locust can you believe, a Vagrant Emperor dragonfly and butterflies including Long-tailed Blue and Clouded Yellow,

The storm should fizzle out overnight and there are high expectations of some good finds during the next couple of days!

The Ringing Tab on this blog has been updated with images from the Portugal expedition last month which includes birds in the hand and in the field.

Regards

Neil M

Cattle Egret at
Earls Barton GP
courtesy of Dave Jackson.

The gorgeous Tree Sparrow.
A surprise ringing addition to
Chris Payne whilst ringing in
his garden at Greens Norton!

Small Copper butterfly.

Harbour Porpoises feeding
with Gannets diving around...

Male Common Redstart.

Song Thrush.
Sorry, can't resist them!

Robin.
Nor these!

Greenland Wheatear.

Black Redstart.

Birds and birders on the move!

Hello

A period of changeable weather down here on the Scillies has produced a mixture of new birds and lots of visiting midlands birders with a fair sprinkling from Northants!

The Yellow-browed Warblers are gathering in numbers now and other interesting migrants that we have caught up with include Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Barred Warbler, Tawny Pipit, a putative Wilson's Snipe, Cattle Egret and plenty of others.

Some ringing on St Mary's yesterday produced a reasonable catch finishing with a Merlin in the net!

A pelagic trip today was quieter than last week but there were a fair number of Storm Petrels, Puffins, a Purple Sandpiper and a few each of Sooty and Manx Shearwater. The highlight though was an adult Pomarine Skua right over our boat!

Back in the county today and Eric was again at Thrapston Pits and saw his first Redwing of the autumn, a Blackcap, twelve Siskins, a few Chiffchaffs and Cetti's Warblers and an adult Yellow-legged Gull.

A very busy ringing session at Linford Lakes, Milton Keynes on Sunday saw a small team process 150 birds made up of 67 Blue Tits, 41 Great Tits, 6 Robins, 5 Dunnocks, 9 Wrens, a Blackbird, 3 Redwings, 4 Blackcaps, a Song Thrush, 4 Greenfinches, a Cetti's Warbler, 2 Meadow Pipits, 2 Goldcrests, a Chiffchaff and 3 Goldfinches.

Regards

Neil M

Merlin in the hand!

Pomarine Skua, an adult
with 'spoons'!