Finch Ringing on the Top Road

Due to the Beech nut failure in 2021, we have been laying down Black Sunflower seeds under the Beech trees near the entrance to the dam at Stanford reservoir.

Bramblings are a brightly coloured Scandinavian finch closely related to the Chaffinch and a regular winter visitor to the UK, but not necessarily Stanford. In recent weeks there have been up to 20 reported feeding among the Chaffinches, but that is nothing compared to some flocks of several hundreds reported at other sites in the Midlands.

On Sunday 30th January, Mick, Theo and I took advantage of the short spell of good weather to spend a morning ringing on the 'Top Road'. It was a cold misty morning on arrival and we quickly set up a line of four nets. Soon after the mist cleared, finches started to gather to feed on the road and grass verge in good numbers of up to 50 birds at a time.

A handful of Brambling could already be picked out amongst the numerous Chaffinches. Our first visit to the nets took us all by surprise when we found 10 Bramblings, our highest catch since the winter of 94/95! 

We caught another two by the end of the morning, along with 15 Chaffinches, one Goldfinch, one Icelandic type Redwing, one Blackbird, four Blue Tits, two great Tits and a retrap Nuthatch.

As you can see from the photos, above, occasionally there will be a bumper crop when they will be almost peanut size. These are called 'mast years' and should occur every 5-10 years.

AGH