February Monthly Totals

Long-tailed Tit - 7
Wren - 2
Goldcrest - 3
Firecrest - 1
Treecreeper - 2
House Sparrow - 4
Greenfinch - 36
Blackbird - 10
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2
Song Thrush - 7
Redwing - 1
Woodpigeon - 2
Mute Swan - 1
Moorhen - 4
Canada Goose - 1
Goldfinch - 12
Redpoll - 11
Bullfinch - 2
Dunnock - 7
Chaffinch - 23
Reed Bunting - 5
Great Tit - 35
Blue Tit - 190
Robin - 4
Coal Tit - 10
Siskin - 1

27th February 2010 - A Few More Recoeries

We got a few more recoveries back today which are all quite interesting for different reasons as follows:

MALLARD - GN58898
Ringed 11/08/2009 - Warnham LNR - 3 (immature)
Found shot 19/11/2009 - Warnham, Sussex
3km in 100 days

This is our first Mallard recovery, just unfortunate that it was so close and so soon!

WREN - CPN975
Ringed 31/07/2009 - Leechpool & Owlbeech Woods - 3 (immature)
Taken by cat 15/12/2009 - Meonstoke, Hampshire
61km in 137 days

Amazing that of only six Wrens ringed at this site ever one should turn up going a really big distance for this species (below).
CHIFFCHAFF - DAA818
Ringed 20/09/2009 - Capel Reserve - 3 (immature)
Controlled 25/09/2009 - Arreton, Isle of Wight - 2M (unaged male)
83km in 5 days

Obviously on migration this bird probably was using the Capel Reserve as a refuelling stop before moving to the Isle of Wight for another food stop probably before crossing the Channel.

CHIFFCHAFF - CPN835
Ringed 28/06/2009 - Capel Reserve - 3J (juvenile)
Controlled 29/09/2009 - Brabant, BELGIUM - 2 (unaged)
310km in 93 days

This bird having been born at the Capel Reserve had crossed the Channel and into Belgium just four days later. This is the first Chiffchaff ringed by us recorded in Belgium (below).
SISKIN - X317273
Ringed 31/10/2008 - Capel Reserve - 3M (immature male)
Controlled 10/04/2009 - Menston, West Yorkshire - 5M (immature male)
319km in 161 days

This would seem to be a Scandinavian or northern England born bird caught as it came south on autumn migration and then caught on spring migration as it went back (below).

25th February 2010 - Redpolls Finally and a Potter Double

After not awaking to my alarm clock and Jake waiting for me for nearly two hours (sorry Jake!) we set up the three nets at Southwater CP and both mine and Jake's potter traps (four in total). The nyger feeder has still been active and we finally caught some of the Redpolls that have been using it, seven in total, including two stunning adult males and a gold capped female (see below). Three Goldfinch were also new birds for this site.
The potter traps also performed well catching two new adult female Moorhen, but the Water Rail that has been present over winter evaded capture!

There was plenty of spring activity here today with Mute Swan and Coot nest-building, a pair of Siskin displaying and Wren, Dunnock, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Blackbird and Song Thrush all in song. A surprise was a Skylark that flew over early on (rarely seen here).

Birds ringed:
Goldfinch - 3
Redpoll - 7
Chaffinch - 4
Blue Tit - 3
Greenfinch - 1
Moorhen - 2

24th February 2010 - A Brief Afternoon

I woke to the driving rain this morning and thought that I wouldn't be able to ring at home today, but by midday the rain had gone and sunny spells prevailed. So I put up a net and caught 25 new birds of seven species until 4pm when rain was threatening so I took down just in time to see the heavens open again!

Highlights included yet another Blackbird, this time an adult male, yet another Coal Tit, also an adult, and a 1st year Song Thrush. But, I also checked out the nest boxes today and inside an open fronted box on the back of the house I found a casualty of the recent cold weather. This came in the form of a dead Great Tit which had obviously been using this as a roosting place looking at the amount of droppings with it. It had originally been ringed in the garden as a 3J (juvenile) on 19th June 2009, now identifiable as a male, so hadn't even lived for a year!

Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 17
Great Tit - 3
Chaffinch - 1
Coal Tit - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Blackbird - 1
Song Thrush - 1

21st February 2010 - A Poor Morning Turned Good

Another attempt was made at the Southwater CP roost today, but a morning session instead of the evening, but this was even worse than the last, although eight Linnets came out, neither came to the nets and only four other birds did!

Thankfully the morning was saved by Jake who put out his two new potter traps on the edge of the main lake and managed to catch a new Moorhen (below).
To improve the day again Jake and I then popped to Coot Pond where a fresh group of Canada Geese were around and we managed to catch one which was a young female (below).
Birds ringed:
Dunnock - 1
Great Tit - 1
Blue Tit - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Moorhen - 1
Canada Goose - 1

19th February 2010 - Wes is Back

Wes was finally able to get back out ringing today with a brief afternoon session at the Capel reserve. 13 new birds were ringed and at least three Water Rails were heard/seen on site.
Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 4
Long-tailed Tit - 3
Song Thrush - 3
Reed Bunting - 1
Wren - 1
Moorhen - 1

17th and 18th February 2010 - Home, Warnham and Southwater

On the 17th I put a net up briefly in my garden for a couple of hours and caught new 11 birds which included another two Coal Tits. This was the 12th and 13th Coal Tits ringed this year already which is just under half that were ringed during all of 2009 (28).

Whilst today, the day began with me and Jake setting up the nets at Warnham LNR, but with less than ideal conditions the ringing didn't last very long with just 14 new birds ringed with highlights being a Song Thrush (below) and a Redpoll. This Redpoll was one of five that were feeding on the niger feeder in the feeding station, being the first time that this species has been seen on feeders at this site!
The notable retraps came in the form of a Great Tit and a Blue Tit ringed in 2006 and the first two retraps of any of the 55 Great Tit nestlings ringed in 2009.

A late afternoon visit to Southwater CP meant another attempt at the roost, but Jake had also set up a new ride last week nearby with just a single niger feeder hoping to attract the small finches around the park. On arrival the niger feeder was buzzing with about 30 Redpoll, a number of Chaffinches, a few Goldfinches and amazingly a Linnet that was tucking into the seed directly from the feeder! I have only ever seen Linnets on a feeder once before! Unfortunately, as soon as we put up the nets, they didn't come back and we only managed to catch four new birds, these included two Chaffinches and a Goldcrest which were both new ringing species for this site.
Birds ringed:
Dunno - 1
Blue Tit - 9
Coal Tit - 2
Great Tit - 5
Redpoll - 1
Chaffinch - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Greenfinch - 4
Blackbird - 2
Song Thrush - 1

15th February 2010 - Blue Tits, Blue Tits, Blue Tits

The first few hours of light this morning at Chesworth was dominated by almost perfect ringing conditions of cold, windless and cloudy, but unfortunately also included freezing fog! This made the nets look like a solid wall of white and deterred many birds from going anywhere near them. By 10am Stuart, Jake, Eddie and I had only caught eight new birds, but the fog was finally lifting and the nets were slowly becoming misty again! By the end of the session we had ringed 46 new birds, hugely dominated by Blue Tits and the huge lack of finches which had almost certainly been put off by the frozen nets early on.

The highlight of the day was a new species for the site, but a species that we were surprised not to have caught here before, a Coal Tit(below)!
While the highlight of the retraps was a Redpoll ringed here just 14 days ago which was the first retrap Redpoll we have ever caught (below)!
Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 40
Dunnock - 1
Great Tit - 2
Coal Tit - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Woodpigeon - 1

14th February 2010 - Wind Gone and Nets Up

The wind finally let up today and I put the nets up in my garden and caught 21 new birds, which included yet another Robin! But the highlight was a male House Sparrow (below) which was a new species to be ringed in the garden.
Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 11
Dunnock - 1
Chaffinch - 3
Coal Tit - 2
Great Tit - 2
Robin - 1
House Sparrow - 1

13th February 2010 - More Robins!

Another day with the potter traps in the garden resulted in a further eight individual Robins being caught including five more new ones which means a total of at least 24 Robins have been present in the garden over the last three weeks!! And if this wasn't enough as I was packing up the traps a further unringed bird was feeding on the edge of the garden!

The most unusual catch of the day was a new immature male Great Spotted Woodpecker after the nuts that had fallen into the trap and amazingly another new immature male came into the same trap just over half an hour later!!

Birds ringed:
Chaffinch - 1
Blue Tit - 5
Great Tit - 2
Robin - 5
Blackbird - 3
Dunnock - 1
Coal Tit - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2

12th February 2010 - First Swan of 2010

Thanks to Sue Cocker for the heads up of a new Mute Swan at Coot Pond I headed over just after dawn this morning and managed to catch and ring the bird which was an adult male (very bad photo below).
As I approached it was displaying with adult female Z18774 which has been present since it was ringed in October 2008. Will they breed here?
Birds ringed:
Mute Swan - 1

10th February 2010 - Potter Traps Again

With the heavy wind today I put out the potter traps in the garden again and only caught three species - Robin, Blackbird and Song Thrush. The Blackbird was a female ringed this January, finally a new Song Thrush (below), which has been taunting the traps every time I put them out.
Interestingly, I caught ten Robins all of which were ringed in 2009 bar two new ones and none of which were caught during the last session, meaning that there are at least 17 individuals in and around my garden at the moment!
Birds ringed:
Robin - 2
Song Thrush - 1

8th February 2010 - A New Species For Chesworth

Jake, Stuart, Richard and I set up at Chesworth Farm and in less than perfect conditions still managed to catch 53 new birds of 11 species. This included a fabulous adult male Siskin (only the second for the site - above), the first Treecreeper for the site (below) followed shortly by the second!
A male and female (below) House Sparrow were also a very welcomed as this species is also rarely caught here and another continental Blackbird while the rest were pretty straight forward.
The highlights of the retraps came in the form of two Blue Tit and a Dunnock ringed in autumn 2007 and an male continental Blackbird ringed in January this year that had a rather unusual immature moult pattern (below).
Birds ringed:
Chaffinch - 3
Dunnock - 1
Blue Tit - 22
Goldfinch - 4
Great Tit - 4
Siskin - 1
Bullfinch - 1
Treecreeper - 2
Greenfinch - 11
House Sparrow - 2
Blackbird - 2

5th February 2010 - Another Attempt at Leechpool and Recoveries

Not to be put off by the poor result from the last time I ringed at Leechpool and Owlbeech Woods, I went back today and managed to catch seven new birds. Not much, but with one of them being another Firecrest (below) it was very successful.
Also, a Coal Tit that had a slightly deformed bill (below).
Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 2
Coal Tit - 2
Great Tit - 2
Firecrest - 1

We have also had a series of recoveries back as follows:

Willow Warbler CHL511 was caught at the Capel reserve on 26th Jul 2009 and was ringed at Stanwell Moor, Surrey 37km away as a breeding female 25 days prior on 1st July.
Greenfinch TP20552 was ringed in my Warnham garden on 6th Jun 2009 as an immature female and was killed by a cat 12km away in Billingshurst on 5th Dec 2009.
Greenfinch TK95890 was caught in my Warnham garden on 29th Jul 2009 as a breeding female and was ringed 18km away at Chilworth, Surrey on 9th Jan 2008.
Lesser Redpoll X082391 was caught as an adult male at the Capel reserve on 17th Nov 2009 and was ringed 251km away at Ramsley Reservoir, Derbyshire as an immature male on 20th Sep 2008 (above).
Reed Bunting X755438 was caught at Southwater CP on 21st Nov 2009 and was ringed 74km away at Icklesham, Sussex on 25th Sep 2009 (below).
Reed Bunting X144901 was caught at Chesworth Farm on 9th Nov 2009 and was ringed 72km away at Icklesham, Sussex on 14th Jul 2009 (above).
Herring Gull A6CZ was seen at Warnham LNR on 16th Jan 2010 and was ringed as one of three nestlings which bred on the roof of the RSPCA Mallydams Wildlife Unit, Fairlight, Sussex on 25th Jul 2009. Interestingly, the adult male of this family who has been on the centre roof for three years was ringed as a juvenile here in 2000.

4th February 2010 - Warnham and Southwater

A combination of a morning session at Warnham LNR and a roost session at Southwater CP today by me ad Jake proved a bit disappointing. Just 20 new birds were caught of eight species.
Highlights were a Goldcrest (above), a continental Blackbird and a Redwing. Whilst retraps at Warnham LNR included a pair of Bullfinch and a Reed Bunting (below) which was originally ringed at Chesworth Farm just three days prior.

Birds ringed:
Chaffinch - 1
Blue Tit - 11
Great Tit - 2
Robin - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Greenfinch - 2
Redwing - 1
Blackbird - 1

A Couple of Gull Recoveries

I have finally heard back about two Black-headed Gulls seen at Warnham LNR over the last couple of months.

The first being a colour-ringed bird with a black ring 'R03V' which was seen on 20th December 2009 and was ringed on 10th January 2009 as an adult at Dunkerque Port, FRANCE (below).
The second was metal ring number '3581094' which was seen here on 11th January 2010, and was ringed in 1999 on Griend, one of the Wadden Islands, NETHERLANDS (below).

3rd February 2010 - Potter Power

Nothing to do with Harry.... but just got a large and a small potter trap through the post and today was an ideal day to test them out. I set them up under the feeders in the garden at home and was amazed that by the end of the day had caught 32 new birds of 6 species, although a bit surprised by the species themselves. The traps should be good for finches and thrushes, but only caught three finches and no thrushes.

Technically a thrush, but they were really good for Robins with seven in total being caught including three new and there were at least two other unringed ones that came close. The first two caught were also carrying a good amount of fat and muscle - how many Robins are there in the garden???

Near misses included a few Blackbirds and Dunnocks, a Song Thrush, a Nuthatch and a Collared Dove (the main reason for the excercise!!), while the most unusual catch was a Coal Tit which could have easily escaped through the gap around the door, due to its size.

Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 21
Great Tit - 4
Robin - 3
Coal Tit - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Goldfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 1

January Monthly Totals

This was probably the best month that we have ever had for ringing as far as numbers although 28 species was also a really good count.

A huge 703 birds were ringed this month although this total was greatly dominated by exactly 450 Blue and Great Tits, but a lot of the rest has been very good with totals for 2009 already on target to be excelled. Herring Gull has already doubled, Tufted Duck is half way, Chaffinch is nearly half way, Moorhen is just over half, Redwing is nearly 3/4, Woodpigeon is equal for full grown and Reed Bunting is just shy of 1/4.

The stars of the month were the Kingfisher, which is the only one of this species to ever be caught in the winter at the sites and of course the two Coot being new species for the sites were the top birds.

Birds ringed:
Tufted Duck - 1
Moorhen - 5
Coot - 2
Herring Gull - 2
Woodpigeon - 4
Kingfisher - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Wren - 1
Dunnock - 9
Robin - 7
Blackbird - 27
Song Thrush - 3
Redwing - 14
Goldcrest - 2
Long-tailed Tit - 4
Coal Tit - 4
Blue Tit - 343
Great Tit - 107
Treecreeper - 2
Chaffinch - 58
Greenfinch - 53
Goldfinch - 32
Siskin - 2
Linnet - 1
Redpoll - 6
Bullfinch - 2
Reed Bunting - 11

1st February 2010 - Back to the Norm at Chesworth

Chesworth was absolutely full of birds today with some huge finch flocks including c100 Redpoll, c200 Siskin and up to 70 Greenfinch. One of the pair of Barn Owl was sat at the front of the nestbox and an unusual sighting for here was of a Cormorant that flew over. Ringing was very productive and Eddie and I didn't stop all morning catching 15 species including 89 new birds.

Highlights included a few more Reed Buntings out of roost, another Woodpigeon and three Redpolls caught coming to feeders.

Birds ringed:
Goldfinch - 3
Redpoll - 3
Bullfinch - 1
Dunnock - 1
Chaffinch - 6
Reed Bunting - 4
Great Tit - 8
Blue Tit - 42
Long-tailed Tit - 3
House Sparrow - 1
Greenfinch - 15
Woodpigeon - 1