With the weather forecast looking good I decided to go to Stanford for a ringing session on Wednesday morning. On arrival at 6:30 the conditions seemed perfect with no wind and overcast sky so I erected 6 nets to see what was about. This was my first ringing session since returning from holiday in Mexico two weeks ago, and may be my last for a while as next week I'm going to Canada to ring for 6 weeks.
I was hoping for some long awaited migrant warblers at Stanford but, alas, there are none yet about. This year will probably go down as our latest spring ever, as by now we have usually a range of warbler species present.
To say todays ringing was 'a bit slow with a limited range of species' is putting it mildly. I managed a total catch of 42 with just 11 of these being new birds. This was over a 6 hour period and 3 of the nets were at the feeding station - not great!!
On returning home I decided to have a look at last years efforts, and, as it happens, we were out ringing on the 11th April 2012 in much warmer conditions. Then we caught fewer birds (only 31) but we did catch 3 species of warbler - singles of Blackcap and Chiffchaff, and 7 Willow Warbler.
With the weather forecast for the weekend promising warmer conditions lets hope I can get to grips with some warblers before I leave for Canada (and the wonderfully colourful birds over there).
Mick
Thursday, 11 April 2013
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Not quite spring!
I was up bright and early this morning and arrived at the reservoir at 06:35.
A hard frost greeted me, as did a small flock of vocal Fieldfare which were roosting in the Blackthorn hedgerow.
Just five nets were erected as there hasn't been much bird activity over the last few days. This quickly proved to be true as the first round produced just three birds. Numbers didn't improve for later net rounds and when the wind increased at 10am, it was time to take the nets down.
New (retraps)
Blue Tit - 2 (5)
Great Tit - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Song Thrush - (1)
Chaffinch - 2
Reed Bunting - 2
A visit to the dam produced sightings of a Red Kite and a Kestrel which was feeding on worms near the carpark.. 70+ Wigeon flew in from the fields behind the dam. A pair of Long-tailed Tits were busy building their nest with half of it completed,
I never thought of taking a photograph of it until I was closing the gate at the top road. It should be complete by Saturday so hopefully I'll get one then and upload it to the website. They really are a work of art!
There were singing Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Reed Buntings, Yellowhammer and Song Thrush but no singing Chiffs yet....... so spring will just have to wait.
A hard frost greeted me, as did a small flock of vocal Fieldfare which were roosting in the Blackthorn hedgerow.
Just five nets were erected as there hasn't been much bird activity over the last few days. This quickly proved to be true as the first round produced just three birds. Numbers didn't improve for later net rounds and when the wind increased at 10am, it was time to take the nets down.
New (retraps)
Blue Tit - 2 (5)
Great Tit - 1
Goldcrest - 1
Song Thrush - (1)
Chaffinch - 2
Reed Bunting - 2
A visit to the dam produced sightings of a Red Kite and a Kestrel which was feeding on worms near the carpark.. 70+ Wigeon flew in from the fields behind the dam. A pair of Long-tailed Tits were busy building their nest with half of it completed,
I never thought of taking a photograph of it until I was closing the gate at the top road. It should be complete by Saturday so hopefully I'll get one then and upload it to the website. They really are a work of art!
There were singing Chaffinches, Dunnocks, Reed Buntings, Yellowhammer and Song Thrush but no singing Chiffs yet....... so spring will just have to wait.
Merlin v Skylark
Saturday saw the last session of this years habitat management program.
We had only just arrived and about to get to work when we were alerted to a Skylark singing overhead. Hot on it's tail was a Merlin! The Skylark sang as it spiralled higher and higher with the Merlin also trying to gain a height advantage. The Skylark was the first to break away, still singing loudly and heading over the wood. The Merlin folded it's wings back and followed the Skylark in a steep dive till both were lost from view.
A fantastic start to the day and a first for me.
This winter, the scrub clearance has been concentrated mainly on an area parallel with the railtrack which will create more grassland that will hopefully prove irresistible to Grasshopper Warblers, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Reed Buntings. A small area cleared of Blackthorn has revealed a hidden pond that has been created by water drainage from nearby fields. We have seen Redpolls and Siskins feeding on the Silver Birches here so this may provide a drinking area for these small finches.
There will be some pictures of our work uploaded to the website soon.
We had only just arrived and about to get to work when we were alerted to a Skylark singing overhead. Hot on it's tail was a Merlin! The Skylark sang as it spiralled higher and higher with the Merlin also trying to gain a height advantage. The Skylark was the first to break away, still singing loudly and heading over the wood. The Merlin folded it's wings back and followed the Skylark in a steep dive till both were lost from view.
A fantastic start to the day and a first for me.
This winter, the scrub clearance has been concentrated mainly on an area parallel with the railtrack which will create more grassland that will hopefully prove irresistible to Grasshopper Warblers, Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Reed Buntings. A small area cleared of Blackthorn has revealed a hidden pond that has been created by water drainage from nearby fields. We have seen Redpolls and Siskins feeding on the Silver Birches here so this may provide a drinking area for these small finches.
There will be some pictures of our work uploaded to the website soon.
Tuesday, 5 March 2013
Saturjay.
After spending a Saturday morning over at Stanford scrub bashing I returned home and collapsed in my chair so the recovery process could begin. Looking out of the patio doors I caught movement of a larger bird towards the back of the garden. Eventually it showed itself on our garden furniture, it was a Jay. I sprang out of my chair and grabbed my camera but as usual it had gone.
Sitting back down again with the camera in reach I waited to see if it would return. After a little while I was quite surprised when it appeared on a log that I use to feed the smaller birds on. It was quite alert and the slightest movement from me sent it away again. Sitting in the chair holding my camera so that I was ready to shoot eventually the Jay showed again and I managed to grab these shots through the patio doors. A second did show but I wasn’t able to get any images of the two together.
The following morning was somewhat of a record as I had four all sat around the feeding log. Unfortunately again they were gone by the time I had my camera. It’s only in the past couple of years that the Jays have become semi regular visitors to my garden. It’s nice to see more than one visiting and fingers crossed they continue to remain a regular sight in my garden.
Ed
Sitting back down again with the camera in reach I waited to see if it would return. After a little while I was quite surprised when it appeared on a log that I use to feed the smaller birds on. It was quite alert and the slightest movement from me sent it away again. Sitting in the chair holding my camera so that I was ready to shoot eventually the Jay showed again and I managed to grab these shots through the patio doors. A second did show but I wasn’t able to get any images of the two together.
The following morning was somewhat of a record as I had four all sat around the feeding log. Unfortunately again they were gone by the time I had my camera. It’s only in the past couple of years that the Jays have become semi regular visitors to my garden. It’s nice to see more than one visiting and fingers crossed they continue to remain a regular sight in my garden.
Ed
Monday, 18 February 2013
Mud 'n' Muntjac
A cold bright day with little or no wind was the forecast. So a morning's ringing was on the agenda.
I arrived at the reservoir at 07:15 and there were around 30 birds at the feeders, mainly Tits and Tree Sparrows with one or two finches and buntings mixed in.
Five nets erected and the following 37 birds processed:
New / Retraps
Wren - 0/1
Robin - 0/4
Blackbird - 1/0
Coal Tit - 1/0
Blue Tit - 1/4
Great Tit - 3/5
Tree Sparrow - 5/9
Chaffinch - 0/1
Reed Bunting - 0/2
A Sparrowhawk was in one net and out again quicker than I could get to it. Fieldfares were in good voice with 60 going over and a Green Woodpecker was also vocal.
A Muntjac came close to the car on two occassions and wandered through the reservoir gates at one point. I thought it would be better left to walk quietly through rather than spook it and have a very large hole in my net. As luck would have it, there were no Muntjac size holes in the nets on the next net round.
Apart from the very muddy conditions it was an enjoyable morning.
I arrived at the reservoir at 07:15 and there were around 30 birds at the feeders, mainly Tits and Tree Sparrows with one or two finches and buntings mixed in.
Five nets erected and the following 37 birds processed:
New / Retraps
Wren - 0/1
Robin - 0/4
Blackbird - 1/0
Coal Tit - 1/0
Blue Tit - 1/4
Great Tit - 3/5
Tree Sparrow - 5/9
Chaffinch - 0/1
Reed Bunting - 0/2
A Sparrowhawk was in one net and out again quicker than I could get to it. Fieldfares were in good voice with 60 going over and a Green Woodpecker was also vocal.
A Muntjac came close to the car on two occassions and wandered through the reservoir gates at one point. I thought it would be better left to walk quietly through rather than spook it and have a very large hole in my net. As luck would have it, there were no Muntjac size holes in the nets on the next net round.
Apart from the very muddy conditions it was an enjoyable morning.
Wednesday, 30 January 2013
Annual Report 2012
The Stanford Ringing Group 2012 Annual Report is now available here
SRG Annual Report 2012 (PDF - 267kb)
During 2012, 3786 birds were ringed at Stanford Reservoir (5531 birds processed) of 57 species.
Unsurprisingly the weather (rain) had a major impact on the breeding season, with numbers of most warblers, finches and buntings reduced in comparison to previous years. The odd exception to this observation was noted e.g. Willow Warblers and Lesser Redpolls were caught in record numbers.
SRG Annual Report 2012 (PDF - 267kb)
During 2012, 3786 birds were ringed at Stanford Reservoir (5531 birds processed) of 57 species.
Unsurprisingly the weather (rain) had a major impact on the breeding season, with numbers of most warblers, finches and buntings reduced in comparison to previous years. The odd exception to this observation was noted e.g. Willow Warblers and Lesser Redpolls were caught in record numbers.
 |
| Lesser Redpoll - 2012 was a good year! |
Wednesday, 19 December 2012
Garden ringing
The last few days have offered a break in the weather for a couple of back garden ringing sessions.
On Monday, the 30' was erected at 07:00 and it wasn't long before the first birds were in the net, a couple of retrap House Sparrows and Blue Tits. After that it was very quiet with one or two Goldfinches dropping in to feed on the sunflower hearts and niger seed but still managing to stay clear of the net.
With an hour of checking an empty net I decided it was time to take down. As I walked up the garden, a Woodpigeon flew into the net, the 4th this year. I had only just released the newly ringed Woodpigeon when a Sparrowhawk zipped through and landed in the net. A juvenile male and the 2nd this year.
I didn't plan to erect the net today but after seeing a flock of 10+ Goldfinches on the feeders late morning it was enough to tip the scales. Five Goldfinches, one Blue Tit and one Greenfinch later it was time to take down. After putting my shoes on I noticed a Sparrowhawk flash past the feeders and then disappear. I didn't see it come out and assumed it had got away. I cursed my luck as I walked up the path but as I got half way I could see it was in the net. This one was a cracking adult male and was no where near as feisty as the juvenile caught on Monday.
On Monday, the 30' was erected at 07:00 and it wasn't long before the first birds were in the net, a couple of retrap House Sparrows and Blue Tits. After that it was very quiet with one or two Goldfinches dropping in to feed on the sunflower hearts and niger seed but still managing to stay clear of the net.
With an hour of checking an empty net I decided it was time to take down. As I walked up the garden, a Woodpigeon flew into the net, the 4th this year. I had only just released the newly ringed Woodpigeon when a Sparrowhawk zipped through and landed in the net. A juvenile male and the 2nd this year.
I didn't plan to erect the net today but after seeing a flock of 10+ Goldfinches on the feeders late morning it was enough to tip the scales. Five Goldfinches, one Blue Tit and one Greenfinch later it was time to take down. After putting my shoes on I noticed a Sparrowhawk flash past the feeders and then disappear. I didn't see it come out and assumed it had got away. I cursed my luck as I walked up the path but as I got half way I could see it was in the net. This one was a cracking adult male and was no where near as feisty as the juvenile caught on Monday.
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