29th March 2011 - Willow Feeding and Another Control

A session at home on Saturday (26th), showed that the birds are starting to move off and claim territories with just 42 birds ringed of seven species.  Highlights included a few Chaffinch and Goldfinch that were probably migrants with notable fat scores (which I am hoping will be recaught in Sweden!!), a Goldcrest which had been singing all morning and another Great Spotted Woodpecker.  Also a number of the Blue Tits had obviously been feeding in willows and were facial covered with pollen (below).

Yesterday (28th), another trip onto Duke's Warren at Leith Hill was very fruitful catching 43 new birds which was mainly all Lesser Redpoll, but also included a Siskin and a stunning male Brambling (below).

Two retraps were of Lesser Redpoll ringed here last week and one ringed at Broadmoor on 1st February, but another control Lesser Redpoll was also caught, X689677, making that six controls since New Years Eve!  Other sightings included two roding Woodcock as I was putting up the net and a pair of Woodlark displaying over my car!

Birds ringed:
Chaffinch - 7
Blue Tit - 19
Goldfinch - 6
Great Tit - 5
Greenfinch - 4
Goldcrest - 1
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 39
Brambling - 1
Dunnock - 1
Siskin - 1

23rd March 2011 - Home, Away, Home and on the Hill

Just before flying off to Bulgaria for a week skiing on 12th, I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours ringing in the garden which resulted in 24 new birds of six species, highlighted by my first two Song Thrush of the year and five House Sparrow (below).  These were also new for the year and the first time I have caught House Sparrows here outside of the autumn and start of winter.

Bulgaria was a blast and incredibly cheap and the gondolas up into the mountains was a great place to spot birds with regular sightings of Black Woodpecker, Nutcracker and Crested Tit.  Whilst around the village Serin, Cirl Bunting, Crossbill, Woodlark and Ring Ouzel were everywhere, with a group of c100 of the latter on one day including a male with an almost completely white head!  Not a ringing or biding trip though!!

On return, had a short ringing session at home on each morning on 20th, 21st and 22nd producing 21 new birds of eight species with highlights being another Song Thrush and a female Brambling (below).  This is my second Brambling caught here with the previous being another female in early 2009!

This morning I ventured back onto the heath at Leith Hill and in three hours of sunshine managed to catch 27 new birds of which 13 were Siskin and 11 were Lesser Redpoll (below).  The Siskin were showing a vast array in weights from a normal 11.8g to the huge 16.3g of a bird that was very heavily laden with fat stores indicating a migrant.  An interesting catch was a retrap Siskin from twelve days ago which had jumped from 11.9g to 13.2g with the addition of fat stores obviously planning on migration soon.  Also caught was not one but three control Lesser Redpoll!  The first, L758184, was ringed by Wes Attridge 5km away in Capel just nine days ago on 4th March, and details of the other two X281474 and L794934 will be posted as soon as information comes through.  There was at least one unringed Common Redpoll present, as well as a Chiffchaff, two Brambling and a singing Woodlark.

Birds Ringed:
Dunnock - 1
Chaffinch - 5
Blue Tit - 19
Coal Tit - 1
Goldfinch - 6
Great Tit - 2
Brambling - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 11
Siskin - 13
Long-tailed Tit - 1
House Sparrow - 5
Greenfinch - 5
Song Thrush - 3

11th March 2011 - Swans and Finches

Yesterday (10th), I ringed at a new site Elmer's Pond in Ockley for which I aided in catching and ringing the family of Mute Swans that were here (first for the year).  It was quite an event as the adult male spent most of the time chasing the two youngsters which eventually helped us to catch the birds as they were forced out onto the land making them easier to corner and catch (below).  The parents were then a bit more sedate although hard to tempt towards the bank, although the adult male finally came to the edge in an attempt to attack an unsuspecting dog that was being walked past.  The first time I have managed to catch a swan with a dog!!!  The adult female was left unringed as in the past it was attacked by a gang of kids which has left it with just one wing and never leaves the pond.

Then this morning, I spent two hours before work on the Duke's Warren at Leith Hill where I managed to catch just nine birds, but this included five Siskin (below) and another Common Redpoll.  This is now the fifth Common Redpoll ringed on the hill since Christmas!  Other exciting observations on the hill today was a Woodcock, 14 Buzzard in the air together, a singing male Firecrest in the Rhododendron Wood and a group of about 40 Crossbill, including at least ten juveniles, that were feeding just above the net whilst I was ringing.  Maybe I will be lucky enough to catch one of those in the future...

Birds ringed:
Mute Swan - 3
Blue Tit - 1
Great Tit - 1
Common Redpoll - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 1
Siskin - 5

8th March 2011 - 'A' Permit and Sparrowhawk

No local ringing done this week as a trip to see the my wife's family in Warrington combined with me being assessed for my 'A' permit on the Friday afternoon and Saturday morning at Woolston Eyes.  A big thanks to trainer Dave Riley, no only for doing my assessment, but for also passing me.  Yippee!  Also thanks to trainees Zoe Houghton and Liz Kerr who were willing for me to be acting 'Ringer in Charge' for the two days.  I now just await confirmation from the Ringing Committee.

Woolston is a great place, which I have been visiting occasionally over the last two years when in the area with species highlights such as Water Rail and Willow Tit.  We almost were prevented from leaving the site on the Friday evening when a Barn Owl that was flying around the whole afternoon decided to land in the middle of the access track refusing to move until I had to get out of the car and shoo it off!!

Back in Horsham, Jake managed to read a ring on an adult male Sparrowhawk at Warnham LNR on Wednesday (2nd March) which turned out to have been ringed about a metre from where it was seen on 18th August 2009 as a second year bird.  Almost more interestng is that although there has been ringing done at Warnham LNR since 1987 this was the first and only Sparrowhawk to have been caught here, which has always astounded us as there are so many about.

Adult male Sparrowhawk by Jake Everritt:

27th February 2011 - A Wet Weekend in the Garden

Dodging the wet weather this weekend I still managed to catch a total of 92 new birds in my garden with the help of Louise and Gary (below).

Highlights of new birds included the first Wren of the year, a Coal Tit, two Long-tailed Tit and another two new Great Spotted Woodpecker!  Interestingly, last time I retrapped a Great Spotted Woodpecker was back in early November 2010 and since then I have caught ten new comprising two adult female, two adult male, a first year female and five first year males.

And almost the last bird caught of the weekend was a control adult Blue Tit - ring number X896793.  Will post details when I get them back from BTO.

Also caught a single new Goldcrest in the Rhododendron Wood at Leith Hill on Monday.

Birds ringed:

Coal Tit - 1

Chaffinch - 5

Goldfinch - 9

Great Tit - 8
Dunnock - 1
Blue Tit - 59
Long-tailed Tit - 2
Wren - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Greenfinch - 5
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 2

20th February 2011 - Barn Owl Boxes

Thanks to the help of Barrie, Simon and Brian and the three landowners we managed to erect three new Barn Owl boxes this week around north Warnham.  Possibly a little bit late for this season but the three other dates we organised to do it got drowned out by the weather and Barn Owls have been seen regularly in these areas.

The only ringing this week was a couple of hours at Leith Hill and at home producing 16 new birds including the first Jay of the year.

Birds ringed:
Blue Tit - 8
Great Tit - 1
Coal Tit - 3
Chaffinch - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Greenfinch - 1
Jay - 1

13th February 2011 - Woodpeckers and Recent Recoveries

A single session in my garden on Saturday (12th) produced 47 new birds with highlights being a Marsh Tit, a Woodpigeon and another three new Great Spotted Woodpeckers!  Also caught was a Great Tit that was suffering from Avian Pox (below - abscess on chin) which continued to be seen around the garden all weekend.  I see about half a dozen 1st year Great Tits a year suffering from this in various amounts.  All of the abscesses have been around the head area apart from one which had a growth on the carpal joint of one wing.

Also received a few recoveries back:

Mute Swan  Z18761
Ringed as adult female at Warnham LNR on 6th April 2009
Ring Read at Earlswood Lake, Redhill, Surrey on 9th December 2010
621 days  21km  NE

Mute Swan  Z18769
Ringed as a 1st year at Warnham LNR on 5th September 2009
Taken into care at Bough Beech Reservoir, Kent on 13th August 2010
342 days  37km  ENE

Chiffchaff  DJB324
Ringed as a juvenile at Warnham LNR on 3rd September 2010
Hit a window at Herne Bay, Kent on 7th October 2010
34 days  110km  ENE

Greenfinch  TR01622
Ringed as a 1st year female in my Warnham garden on 26th March 2010
Hit by a car in Horsham on 18th May 2010
53 days  2km  E

Great Spotted Woodpecker  LA33658
Ringed as an adult female at Chesworth Farm, Horsham on 8th June 2009
Found dead in Chesworth Crescent, Horsham on 26th November 2010
536 days  0km

Blue Tit  L424302
Ringed as a juvenile in my Warnham garden on 4th August 2010
Killed by cat in Warnham on 16th September 2010
43 days  0km

Birds ringed:
Great Tit - 3
Blue Tit - 33
Marsh Tit - 1
Chaffinch - 3
Goldfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 2
Great Spotted Woodpecker - 3
Woodpigeon - 1

1st February 2011 - Redpolls, Redpolls, Redpolls

There were loads of Redpoll at Henman Basecamp, the National Trust bunkhouse in Broadmoor, last week so on Tuesday morning I set up a single 40ft for two hours.  The result was amazing with the first net round resulting in 35 Redpoll, two Blackbird (inc. a continental female - below), two Marsh Tit and three Great Tit! Whilst extracting there were still at least another 50 Redpoll in the tree tops above me.

The second round was less productive producing just another two Marsh Tit (below - note the distinctive pale edge to the mandibles which separate from the all black Willow Tit) and a Goldcrest, but no more Redpoll!

Out of the 35 Redpoll two were Lessers that I had previously ringed on New Year's Eve about 1km away on Duke's Warren, Leith Hill, while the rest were new including THREE Commons.  The first (below) was significantly bigger, had a more Lesser-type plumage colouring and had a wing length of 80mm, whilst the following two looked typically Common with generally grey and white plumage and wing lengths of 75mm.

Looking at Svensson, the combination of features of the first bird matched either ssp. rostrata or islandica (Greenland/Iceland populations) of Common Redpoll which are on average even bigger than Arctic Redpoll.  When released this bird flew down onto a log and then a series of short distances through the woodland keeping very much to the ground flora unlike the other two Commons and all the Lessers, which flew straight up to the tops of the trees.  According to Birds of the Western Palearctic one of the characteristics of these subspecies is that they are far more terrestrial, compared to ssp. flammea or Lesser Redpoll which are much more arboreal.  Any comments greatly appreciated.

Birds ringed:
Lesser Redpoll - 30
Common Redpoll - 3
Great Tit - 3
Marsh Tit - 4
Blackbird - 2
Goldcrest - 1

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