Two sites, two different sets of results

Two different sites: Saturday - Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR), Sunday - Priory Country Park (PCP).

Each has their own feeding station but the habitat at each is different. At SSNR, I ring in a patch of Alder regeneration and at PCP I ring in a patch of thorny scrub.

At SSNR I caught 1 Dunnock, 3 Wrens and the other 28 birds were Blue Tits and Great Tits. 32 birds of 4 species.

At PCP, I caught 7 Long Tailed Tits, 6 Blue Tits, 5 Great Tits, 3 Wren, 1 Dunnock, 3 Blackbird, 1 Goldcrest, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 1 Song Thrush and 1 Sparrowhawk. 30 birds of 10 species.

A greater range of species can be regularly found in the habitat at PCP whereas SSNR is a more specific habitat and carries fewer species. Birds at Priory come to the ringing area to feed and roost. Where I ring at SSNR, birds pass through on their way to feed elsewhere (mainly the tit flocks at this time of year) - hence the feeders to bring them in!



Above: One of 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers caught at Priory Country Park.



Above: A juvenile male Sparrowhawk. The visible bulge on his brest is not fluffing of the feathers, we believe this was his lunch! My first self caught Sparrowhawk.

Species number 86

At Number 10 on my 'most want to ring' list (see right hand side of the page), I wasn't expecting for it to be this easy to tick Bearded Tit off the list. When news started coming in over the last couple of weeks that there were groups arriving - and staying - in the county, this became a little more achievable.

I have Mark Thomas to thank for this ringing opportunity (and apparently Martin Stevens for finding them). I ringed 2 of these beauties:



Above: A female Bearded Tit.



Above: A male Bearded Tit.



Above: In all, 9 were ringed and displayed (as above) before releasing them. Thanks to Mark Thomas for this photo.

Which one?

Bearded Tit - The choice is yours...



Above: Had to dig this one of me out of the archives - long & curly hair with ginger tinted beard. Hummmmm.

Below: One of today's birds at Broom, Bedfordshire.

Dusk at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve

When I was a kid, I had a cardboard pencil holder which had bits of information about birds on the side of it - mostly now long forgotten but I've never forgotten that it said 'little owls eat beetles, moths & worms.'

Yesterday I saw a beetle, moth and worm devourer at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve. I tried digiscoping it but the result wasn't worth posting. I have an even worse photo of a barn owl (also seen yesterday) but I got good views of it hunting.

100+ Fieldfares flew west 'chucking' away as they went. I didn't find any bearded tits though (my main reason for going).



Above: I digiscoped this image - I got the frame I wanted of the top of a tree in the sunset but I also managed (accidentally) to catch the flash on the scope lens to create this interesting image.

I also took these ...normal... images of the spectacular sunset.









Today, I popped over to the site to see what was going on during daylight. 40+ Fieldfare arrived and left. I sent a fox fleeing away from me. Green & Great Spotted Woodpeckers were around, as were Jays. The usual big flocks of tits were moving around noisily.

Hopefully next weekend I will have more news about a particular species of bird that I saw there today (and there were lots of these winter visitors. A feeding station is now set up & could help my ringing efforts.

I also made a quick visit to Priory Country Park (well, a long one if you count the hour I spent talking to Jane the ranger who used to be a Volunteer Officer for me at BTCV!) to fill the feeders there.

A weekend near Aylesbury

One and a half days ringing and 88 birds of 19 species were ringed at Edgcott, near Aylesbury. The site is a 15 year old woodland plantation crisscrossed with rides where nets can easily be erected.

Blackbird 10
Blue Tit 9
Bullfinch 14
Chaffinch 2
Dunnock 3
Goldcrest 5
Goldfinch 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Great Tit 2
Greenfinch 1
Jay 1
Long Tailed Tit 19
Marsh Tit 1
Redpoll 3
Redwing 9
Robin 1
Song Thrush 1
Treecreeper 1
Wren 4

My favourites were Redpoll (unexpected) and Jay but I was also pleased with a Treecreeper and Great Spotted Woodpecker.

We also picked up a Goldcrest and Blue Tit that had been ringed elsewhere & not by us - I'd be very interested to find out where in Britain they have come from.



Above: One of three Redpoll.



Above: A Jay - for some reason Blogger has rotated this photo and I can't get it to change. Humph! I'll try again another time.



Above: Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Thanks to Dave for finding the site & helping.

Pied Flycatcher

This bird deserved a post all of it's own. It's the first of this species I've ringed and I'll let you enjoy the pictures.



Above: Pied Flycatcher

Below: A Pied Flycatcher digiscoped in Menorca earlier this year.

It's the way the wind blows

The winds turned easterly late last week, so I took up an invitation to go ringing on the east coast and it was an experience in extracting and ringing!

Dawn to dusk ringing and 208 birds were ringed on Saturday & we thought that was busy! We drafted in extra rings and help and ringed 311 birds on Sunday!

Birds were arriving all the time - the wind bringing lots of Brambling, Song Thrushes, Chiff Chaffs, Robins (I've never seen so many!), Goldcrests, Goldfinch some siskins and blackbirds amongst others. No foreign ringed birds or rareties though ...



Above: Bramblings.

And then the wind changed (at least the general weather pattern must have changed somewhere) and in so doing, turning off the easterly migration tap.

So, not having even seen a redstart on Saturday or Sunday, one turns up on Monday along with a late pied flycatcher (see more recent post for photograph). These must have been migrating from somewhere different to the birds we caught over the previous 2 days. We did continue to catch brambling, robins, thrushes etc. but only ringed about 50 birds. There were noticably much fewer birds arriving during the day.

We therefore had time to entertain Blyth (Mark & Jenny's 18 month littl'un) who is cuddling up to Norman (below).

Ringing firsts

I've had great difficulty in deciding which of the following birds (see photographs) was my favourite. 1 day ringing migrants brought 4 new species into my hands & we watched as more and more birds arrived throughout the day.



Above: Last bird of the day was this female Sparrowhawk. I've held one before at Priory (but it already had a ring on) so this was a nice end to the day.



Above: This male Redstart was one of many on site.



Above: This female Ring Ouzel was a really nice addition to the ringed list.



Above: If you made me choose my favourite from the four, I think this Brambling would just about sneak it.

Horace the hog

Above: Horace

The plight of 'Horace the hog' is a sad one affecting many hedgehogs this summer. Many are struggling to find enough food during the nighttime so are venturing out in daylight in search of food.

Happily, due to the kindness shown by Alison and family, this story ends well. A young Horace was discovered in bright daylight and was taken in and given a drink. However, he wasn't quite out of the woods yet as he was still ill. A trip to the vets and it was discovered he still hadn't been weaned by Mrs. Hog but all was safe as they knew just how to deal with that.

Master H.Hog will be released back into the wild soon with a better chance of survival.



Above: Horace & adoptive family.

33 and counting ...

Once more I found myself at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve in the early hours of Saturday morning - I'll do pretty much anything to chase after birds!

Us ringers have had time to catch and ring the breeding migrants (although there's still a little time to get the sneeky little beggars that have evaded us so far and/or their offspring). Far more interesting though are the ones that have started to move already.

Cue 'daydream sequence'.

Today's tally:

Whitethroat 8 (7 juveniles & 1 adult - all new). That makes 33 whitethroats I have ringed in just 7 visits!
Willow Warbler 1 (a juvenile likely to be on migration)
Dunnock 1 (an adult female still on egg/young)
Wren 4 (2 juveniles and 2 moulting adults).

It was pretty slow going - I stayed out until 5pm and the longest interval between birds was 2 hrs 50 mins!

I'd picked up on the grape vine that Willow Warblers have started to move and was pleased with the one today (a site tick - I spend more and more time with birders and this tick craze is starting to rub off! Better use a pen then I guess!).

Green Woodpeckers - always a target species with me - showed themselves, laughed at me, and went nowhere near the nets. Humph.

4 Kestrels were seen all day hunting the surrounding grassland. Despite dozens of attempts at catching food, I never saw a sucessful hunt. If at first you don't suceed, try again ... and again ...

Maximum count of 4 Buzzards (at the same time) were seen circling over Chicksands Wood with the odd one straying closer.

Jay(s) heard but not seen.

1 Sparrowhawk seen circling following the thermals - with a Buzzard!

1 Hobby seen racing eastwards catching food on the wing.

1 afternoon fox. Must have been hungry - are they having a hard time like the hedgehogs in this weather?

Numpty Green forgot his camera so no photographs today! So instead, lets hope that at least one of these whitethroats gets retraped somewhere very interesting as not enough is known about this graceful bird.