30th January 2011 - Yet Another Great Spot For The Garden

A fairly quiet week in my garden, partly due to windy conditions, with just 33 new birds caught. The highlight being the 16th new Great Spotted Woodpecker for my garden in just over six months (below)!

After catching three retrap Treecreepers last week, a new bird was caught on Friday. I am looking into the ageing of Treecreepers after post juvenile moult and the size of the buff tips to the primary coverts are a great guide. Large tips are juvenile feathers while small tips are adult feathers, meaning that any retained large tips represent a first year. This said wholly small tips don't rule out juvenile as the primary coverts could have all been moulted. Photos below:

First year - Clear moult limit in the primary coverts with large tips having an extension up the shaft (also with an abberrant feather lacking any buff tip)

Unaged - uniform small tips to the primary coverts

Unaged - Gradual increase in size of tips, but interestingly no extension up the shaft. Future evidence may prove this to be an adult in a similar way to Robin.
Birds ringed:
Great Tit - 6
Blue Tit - 18
Robin - 1
Goldfinch - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 3
Treecreeper - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1

23rd January 2011 - Seven New Species for the Year

I did three netting sessions this week with very mixed results catching a total of 38 new birds. A session in my garden was the most numerous with 28 new birds with highlights being the first Woodpigeon (below), Blackbird and Great-spotted Woodpecker, while four new Coal Tits was a day record here. Retraps included three Treecreepers (two from 2010 and one from 2009).

A two hour session before work in the Rhodi Wood at Leith Hill was disappointing producing just two birds, a Long-tailed Tit (new for the year - below) and a Blue Tit!

The last session was before work this morning on Duke's Warren at Leith Hill and although only eight birds were caught this included six Redpoll of which one was a fantastic Meally Redpoll (below).

The day finished with a quick visit to a new site, Willow Green pond at Holmwood Common, where I managed to catch the seventh new species, a pair of Mallard coming to bread.
Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 13
Great Tit - 4
Chaffinch - 1
Coal Tit - 4
Goldfinch - 1
Robin - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 5
Meally Redpoll - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 1
Goldcest - 1
Blackbird - 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Woodpigeon - 1
Mallard - 2

16th January 2011 - One Bird Week

After a brilliant two hour session on Leith Hill on 31st December in which I caught 38 Redpoll and 14 Goldcrest in one net, including a control of both species (details hopefully to come soon), I felt that it was worth a second go.  So on Monday 10th I spent another two hours there, but with dire return, to be honest just one Goldcrest!  Oh well, that's ringing!

A visit was also made to Coot Pond, but with the huge amount of water elsewhere at the moment there were only a couple of Mallard present and they weren't interested in the bread I had!  The rain and high winds then continued to the end of the week preventing any more netting opportunity, but next week is looking better.

Birds ringed:
Goldcrest - 1

1st and 9th January 2011 - Garden Start to 2011

Two sessions in my garden started me off for in 2011 produced just 48 new birds which is very few compared with the norm, probably a result of the excessive cold weather during last month!

Birds ringed:
Dunnock - 1
Goldfinch - 8
Chaffinch - 4
Blue Tit - 15
Great Tit - 9
Robin - 1
Coal Tit - 3
Greenfinch - 5
Redwing - 2

2010 Round Up - Horsham Ringers is back!

After over 5 months off the air, ringing has still continued although to a varying degree.  I still managed to outdo my annual total from 2009 of 3995 to 4875!  The full list follows:

Mute Swan - 5

Canada Goose - 10

Mallard - 30

Tufted Duck - 1

Mandarin - 1

Grey Heron - 35 nestlings

Sparrowhawk - 1

Buzzard - 3

Kestrel - 2

Moorhen - 8

Coot - 5

Common Sandpiper - 1

Herring Gull - 2

Common Tern - 3 nestlings

Stock Dove - 1

Woodpigeon - 15 + 4 nestlings

Collared Dove - 2

Barn Owl - 3 + 7 nestlings

Tawny Owl - 1

Nightjar - 1

Kingfisher - 4

Green Woodpecker - 1

Great-spotted Woodpecker - 22

Swallow - 1 + 51 nestlings

Meadow Pipit - 16

Grey Wagtail - 2 + 9 nestlings

Pied Wagtail - 15 nestlings

Wren - 55 + 6 nestlings

Dunnock - 80 + 3 nestlings

Robin - 120 + 11 nestlings

Blackbird - 121

Fieldfare - 1

Song Thrush - 27 + 3 nestlings

Redwing - 30

Grasshopper Warbler - 1

Reed Warbler - 44 + 7 nestlings

Blackcap - 95 + 6 nestlings

Garden Warbler - 14 + 1 nestling

Whitethroat - 14

Chiffchaff - 107 + 5 nestlings

Willow Warbler - 8 + 5 nestlings

Goldcrest - 66 + 4 nestlings

Firecrest - 1

Spotted Flycatcher - 9 nestlings

Long-tailed Tit - 65 + 6 nestlings

Blue Tit - 1553 + 226 nestlings

Great Tit - 599 + 93 nestlings

Coal Tit - 31

Marsh Tit - 6

Nuthatch - 12

Treecreeper - 20 + 5 nestlings

Jay - 7

Magpie - 6

Jackdaw - 5

Rook - 2 nestlings

Starling - 12

House Sparrow - 62 + 5 nestlings

Chaffinch - 259

Greenfinch - 401 + 5 nestlings

Goldfinch - 280

Siskin - 5

Linnet - 3

Lesser Redpoll - 70

Bullfinch - 8

Yellowhammer - 5

Reed Bunting - 29 + 3 nestlings

Roll on 2011!

27th July 2010 - Current Year Total

Have just calculated up the ringing for the year so far and we have just reached the 3000 mark with a total of 3080.



The blog is going to be taking a break for a while, but hopefully be back some time soon.

18th July 2010 - 85 New Birds for the Garden

A vast change from the last month or so was a huge catch of 85 new birds in my garden today! A lot of Blue Tits and Great Tits and very few finches which is unusual for here (juvenile Goldfinch above) but did also include some highlights such as a juvenile Jackdaw (below), an amazing five juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker and six Blackbird.

But the shock bird of the morning came in the form of a migrant juvenile Grasshopper Warbler (below)! I can't imagine what it would be doing here as this is a bird more usually associated with wetlands on migration! I wasn't complaining though as this was only the second caught in the Horsham area, the first being caught at Warnham LNR in July 2008.
Also of interest was that there was only one retrap which was an adult male Blue Tit ringed here in late 2008.

Birds ringed: (Retraps in brackets)
Robin - 5
Great Tit - 28
Blue Tit - 28 (1)
Chaffinch - 2
Dunnock - 5
Goldfinch - 1
Grasshopper Warbler - 1
Wren - 1
Jackdaw - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Blackbird - 6
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 5

15th July 2010 - Another Buzzard

Still not having recovered from the Buzzard ringing on Tuesday I got a call from Louise at 8.30am to say that she had just picked one up off the road! As her and James (her housemate) were leaving the office near Box Hill in the rain they watched a Buzzard fly around the adjacent field and land on the road. They stopped and Louise got out and picked it up and it was rather damp, so phoned me at which I immediately dashed over. By the time I got there the bird had dried off a lot and immediately realised that it was again a first year bird, although quite a bit older than the last two and was already starting post juvenile moult (which can be seen in the wing photos below).
Being this much older makes it hard to determine where it is from, although it is likely that it was born in the near area, it could have also come from quite a distance away.
By the time we had assessed and processed the bird the weather was far better and the bird was released and flew away. Another happy customer. Well done Louise.

Birds ringed:
Buzzard - 1

13th and 14th July 2010 - Reedbed and a Selection of Nests

An evening and a morning of ringing in the reedbed at Warnham LNR, joined by Eddie and Kevin on the evening. A total of 98 birds were caught including 69 new of 16 species. Highlights of the new birds included five Reed Warbler (including an autumn migrant), a juvenile Bullfinch, two juvenile Jay, a Treecreeper, a Garden Warbler, 13 Chiffchaff and ten Blackcap. The only two highlights from the retraps was a 2007 Blue Tit and a 2008 Reed Warbler.
After finishing in the reedbed, I came back to meet up with Jake, but was stopped in my tracks with a juvenile Cuckoo flying between fence posts on the meadow, coming as close as 10ft (above by Jake). Then a quick look at the sluice noted a few unringed Mallard and a juvenile Moorhen, so donned the waders and landing net and managed to catch the two unringed Mallard, but the Moorhen managed to evade me!

Then to Horsham Park to try to catch the last Canada Goose gosling, but the birds seemed well fed on bread and uninterested in my healthy sunflower hearts! But there was a surprise addition in the form of a Woodpigeon nest only six foot high which had two well grown chicks in.

Onto the farm near my house where another brood of five Swallow (below) was ready to ring, while the second broods of the other three had three, four and four eggs. Also, excitingly the Spotted Flycatcher seem to be going for a second brood in the same nest as before.
Finally got home and a check of the Greenfinch nest in a neighbours garden was successful having five chicks (one below - note the seed store on the side of the neck - weird!).
Thinking I had a really good day, Wes texted to say he had ringed three Barn Owl chicks and seven Swift nestlings in Capel today!!!

Birds ringed: (Retraps in brackets)
Garden Warbler - 1 (1)
Reed Warbler - 5 (6)
Robin - 7 (1)
Blackcap - 10
Bullfinch - 1
Blue Tit - 9 (7)
Dunnock - 2 (1)
Great Tit - 15 (7)
Chaffinch - 1
Swallow - 5 nestlings
Chiffchaff - 13 (1)
Wren - 5 (2)
Treecreeper - 1
Jay - 2
Mallard - 2
Woodpigeon - 2 nestlings
Magpie - (1)
Greenfinch - 5 nestlings
Blackbird - 3 (1)
Great Spotted Woodpecker - (1)
Barn Owl - 3 nestlings
Swift - 7 nestlings

9th and 10th July 2010 - What a Way to Start a New Job

Day seven of my new job at Leith Hill began with my first weekly team meeting and by the time it ended it was a well deserved lunch break by all which very quickly changed to another rescue!

We were quickly approached by Jim Curtis who had been walking across the grounds of Leith Hill Place and found a BUZZARD trapped inside a tree protector! So Graham, Catherine, Sarah and myself jumped into a vehicle and headed off (rings at the ready of course). When we got there there were actually two BUZZARDS trapped inside! On approach they very quickly huddled down into a 'you can't see me' posture (below) and I was able to pick them up very easily.
It was immediately obvious that they were juveniles with the parents soaring and calling overhead and the wing feathers on inspection hadn't finished growing. But Jim then found the reason why they were inside the fencing in the form of half a dead rabbit that assumably the parents had caught and dropped in. The birds were then very quickly ringed and released. Photo above with Graham and Catherine and behind the offending tree protector!
Then this morning Eddie and I ringed at Chesworth Farm in near perfect conditions with grey cloud and no wind, but a relatively poor result in numbers although quality was very evident. Just 54 birds caught of 18 species including 39 with highlights being the first Swallow (above) roosting in the pond (autumn is here!), a Bullfinch, two newly fledged Reed Bunting (below), seven Whitethroat, a juvenile Reed Warbler, two juvenile Goldcrest (below) and an adult female Blackbird showing continental plumage.
But the two highlights of the day came in the form of retraps, first was a juvenile Chiffchaff that I had ringed at Warnham LNR just seven days ago which still hadn't started post juvenile moult. This is 3.5km as the crow flies straight through Horsham town centre, but more likely 5.5km following the river round the western and southern edge of the town. If this wasn't enough a juvenile Willow Warbler (below) was caught that had just started post juvenile moult that Wes had ringed in a nest of six at the Capel reserve on 10th June. This being a distance of 11km due south in exactly one month, although this bird probably still had at least a week in the nest to go and a sibling being retrapped there on 25th June could imply that the whole of the family was still in the area. Both very interesting signs of juvenile dispersal (see map below).
Interesting butterfly sightings included the first White Admiral and only the second Purple Hairstreak for the site.

Birds ringed: (Retraps in brackets)
Buzzard - 2
Reed Bunting - 2
Blackcap - 4
Bullfinch - 1
Robin - 2 (1)
Great Tit - 3
Blue Tit - 2 (4)
Dunnock - 2 (1)
Whitethroat - 7
Reed Warbler - 1 (3)
Chaffinch - 1
Goldfinch - (1)
Wren - 3
Chiffchaff - 2 (1)
Goldcrest - 2
Willow Warbler - (1)
House Sparrow - 4 (2)
Blackbird - 1 (1)