Some of our Boxes

Keeping the locals informed.

 

Some of the group run nest box schemes for Pied Flycatchers etc.  Although they are just coming to completion below is a report produced for  a  Deer Reserve  and Environment Education Centre in the South Lakes which no longer supports many Pied Flycatcher. Apologies for the simplistic style it is for "Joe Public." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Mixed Year



 

Being too close to the sea our group's main site is not a constant effort site and so we have no accurate means of comparing years.  Having said this the general consensus is warbler adult numbers are down but breeding success is high. The Marsh Tit study indicates a good breeding season and hopefully will arrest the decline. Other nest box species were successful although box occupancy indicated lower numbers.  Little and Artic Tern again had a disastrous breeding year and also the waders.

Below is the totals for the 34 species the group is involved with the exception of  Twite and waders which are on separate databases and my lack of skill does not allow me to combine these easily. 

 

PEREGRINES SOUTH CUMBRIA

The Peregrines in Cumbria have had a poor breeding season.  There were high hopes this year as most of the local birds had  a years rest from breeding the previous year. The average successful clutch was 1.66 and some birds did not attempt to breed for the second year. The photographs below were taken at a site where the birds had a second attempt.  Four eggs laid, two young raised with one infertile egg. The other, the chick died during chipping out. The eggs were sent to Lancaster University for storage and possible future analysis. 


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Wader/Tern Recoveries and Controls

Possibly a little radiation is no bad thing? See below

WADER AND TERN RECOVERIES

These were reported to the group last year.

SPECIE                  RINGED                     REC/CONTROL                 YEARS
Ringed Plover        Annan Scotland           Bardsea Cumbria                     8
Oystercatcher         Sellafield Cumbria      Seascale Cumbria                   18
Ringed Plover        Betenti Senegal           Bardsea Cumbria                     8
Bar-tailed               Allonby Cumbria        Wainfleet Lincolnshire            10
L B B Gull             Pitsea Essex                 Barrow Cumbria                      2
Little Tern              Foulney Cumbria        Rue Pt . Isle of Man                 2
Artic Tern              Foulney Cumbria        Foulney Cumbria                      4
Artic Tern              Rhosneigr Wales        Foulney Cumbria                      14
Artic Tern             Foulney Cumbria         Gambia                                     53 days

Non-Stick Mist Net Pole Joint.

The first connecton between the pole that is pushed into the ground and the next standard pole often sticks because I tend to push one in to the ground with the other. The plain end rides over the swaged end. My solution is simply to hacksaw 6 mm off the plain end of a standard pole and push it onto the swaged taper. It is not advisable to do this with the remaining poles as they will slip out when raising the net. If on occasion you need to temporarily lower a net the fact that this lower joint comes apart easily is of some advantage. I hope this stops people having to lower their back seats in order to transport their poles.

Ken Hindmarch

 

Recent Dunlin Recoveries and Controls

RECENT DUNLIN RECOVERIES AND CONTROLS

Although other people were involved outside of our unofficial ringing group it has been decided to publish these and other Wader recoveries on our blog where some of our team has been involved. Distances and direction of travel have been omitted where time is greater than 50 days.     The time referred to below is the approximate date between the two handling occurrences in years.
SPECIE                   RING NO    RINGED                   CONTROLLED                        TIME
Calidris alpina        SB49705    Moeze    France                 Bardsea ,Cumbria                   3
Calidris schinzii     NT48863    Bardsea ,Cumbria              Leverton,Lincolnshire            8   
Dunlin                    NR93148    Tummerhill,Cumbria         Snettisham,Norfolk               13
Dunlin                    NS18903    Tummerhill,Cumbria         Terrington,Lincolnshire         9
Dunlin                    NS18942    Tummerhill,Cumbria          Holbeach,Lincolnshire          9
Watch this space more to follow. Please note this is not a response to the latest omissions in Ringing and Migration.

 

2012 Ringing Totals

    
    
    
    Full grown    Pulli    RecoveriesRetraps    Total

    Sparrowhawk    2    0    0    2

    Peregrine    0    2    0    2

    Woodcock    1    0    0    1

    Tawny Owl    0    2    0    2

    Great Spotted Woodpecker    5    0    4    9

    Tree Pipit    3    0    0    3

    Meadow Pipit    23    0    0    23

    Wren    42    0    10    52

    Dunnock    74    0    11    85

    Robin    81    0    22    103

    Stonechat    5    0    0    5

    Blackbird    64    0    11    75

    Fieldfare    48    0    0    48

    Song Thrush    34    0    1    35

    Redwing    9    0    0    9

    Lesser Whitethroat    2    0    0    2

    Whitethroat    2    0    0    2

    Garden Warbler    2    0    0    2

    Blackcap    41    0    3    44

    Chiffchaff    39    0    2    41

    Willow Warbler    22    0    0    22

    Goldcrest    28    0    5    33

    Pied Flycatcher    1    29    1    31

    Long-tailed Tit    21    0    10    31

    Marsh Tit    22    14    46    82

    Coal Tit    30    0    40    70

    Blue Tit    128    92    103    323

    Great Tit    58    11    62    131

    Nuthatch    13    10    4    27

    Treecreeper    8    0    2    10

    Jay    1    0    0    1

    Magpie    1    0    0    1

    Starling    6    0    0    6

    House Sparrow    1    0    0    1

    Tree Sparrow    4    0    0    4

    Chaffinch    150    0    3    153

    Greenfinch    7    0    0    7
          
    Goldfinch    2    0    0    2

    Linnet    4    0    0    4

    Lesser Redpoll    10    0    0    10

    Bullfinch    76    0    21    97

    Yellowhammer    1    0    0    1

    Reed Bunting    47    0    1    48

    Total:    1118    160    362    1640

Kirksanton Moss

Present AM, RG and CG.

A few wind free days made this a very productive site.  The table below shows the species and numbers caught on 4 recent visits.

KIRKSANTON  MOSS

GROUPS RUNNING 2012 TOTAL

Leisurely West Coast Migration

Present AM, RG and CG.

Part of the team are exploring the migration potential of a West Coast site called Kirksanton..  It is where the western most mountain of the lakes, Black Combe, meets the Irish Sea. In certain conditions large visual migration can be seen,  At the time of writing this blog they are having a third ringing session.  Two sessions in  September have produced the following. I have a feeling they will be lucky  today 

Mipit Net Inspection

Some sit Tight in the Hedge

Is this a First year Bird?

Easy Species to Age.

Present CG, RG, JS, and KH.  A nice number of species considering, the site is a wet broad-leafed wood.

Photographs of two species we did not debate the age of, unlike the Marsh and Coal Tits.

Part of our Ringing History.  Members will know the details. 

Eskmeals Saturday 21/07/2012

Present JS, RG, CG, LH and KH.

Bright sunshine and the poor breeding season reduced our normal July catch size by approximately 50%.  A total of 56 birds were processed of 14 species.  They were as follows, (retraps). Wren 3(1), Dunnock 9, Lesser Whitethroat 1,  Blackcap 4, Blue Tit 8(1),  Robin 7, Song Thrush 2, Chiffchaff  8, Willow Warbler 4, Great Tit 2, Treecreeper 1, Jay 1, Bullfinch 1, Lesser Redpoll 3

Reduced Activity

Our main ringing site being out of bounds until recently due to security clearance problems, the groups activities have been much reduced.  The  following is a summary of our activities during April, May and June,
a total of only 137 birds processed of which there were 25 species. They were as follows (retraps) :
Peregrine 2, Tawny Owl 2, Great Spotted Woodpecker (2), Tree Pipit 3, Wren 1, Dunnock 2(1), Robin 5, Blackbird 5, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Garden Warbler 2, Blackcap 3, Chiffchaff  9, Willow Warbler 6, Goldcrest 1, Pied Flycatcher 10, Long-tailed Tit 1(1), Marsh Tit 15(11), Coal Tit 1(2), Blue Tit 11(1), Great Tit 9(12), Nuthatch 11, Treecreeper 1, House Sparrow 1, Chaffinch 3, Greenfinch 2.

 Nest and eggs of a ground nesting Tawny Owl against a large conifer. Two pulli ringed and survived as the nest was in the middle of a fox proof  pheasant pen.

Some people spend money on fibre optic endoscopes. This photograph through a mirror shows a correctly designed nest box and a mirror is all you need. 

One of two ringed with a Schedule 1 Licence.  A very poor year in our area for this species. 

Ground Nesting Tawny Owls

Present RG, CG, KH, LH and JS.

When this bird was found we could not believe how early she was nesting and that it was on the ground.There is a definite shortage of natural holes in this large larch wood. All three eggs hatched but only two have survived to this stage. 

March - Ringing Totals

Present RG, CG, LH, JS, AM and KH
The highlight of the month was a returning Chiffchaff that was ringed and re-trapped on two occasions last year, therefore, it would be reasonable to say it is returning to breed. The other thing worth mentioning was the Blackbird with the de-formed bill, was re-trapped and does not appear to be losing any condition, see earlier blog for photographs.  A total of only 13 species was processed during the month. They were as follows, re-traps being the second number shown.
Wren 4,4; Dunnock 4,1; Robin 1,0; Blackbird 0,2; Song Thrush 2,0; Chiffchaff 7,1; Marsh Tit 0,4; Coal Tit 1,1; Blue Tit  9,3; Great Tit 1,5; Treecreeper 1,0; Chaffinch 6,0; Bullfinch 0,2.

Eskmeals - Old Robins Re-visit.

Present KH. LH. RG, CG, and JS.                                                                         Date 11/02/2012

A total of 48 birds were processed of which 33 were re-traps. They were as follows (re-traps).
Sparrowhawk 1, Wren 1(2), Dunnock (2), Robin 2(7), Blackbird 1(1), Blackcap 2, Goldcrest (1), Long-tailed Tit (3), Coal Tit 1(1), Blue Tit 5(15). Bullfinch 2(1).

Two of the seven re-trap Robins were a minimum of five years old and although re-trapped previously one had not been seen for two and the other three years.

This got me thinking about winter visitors to Eskmeals.
It has long been a disappointment, that in ringing 1194 Blackcaps since 1988, our group have never had a control at Eskmeals.  I have investigated, using IPMR, and found that if you regard the beginning of November through to the end of  February as winter, then we have had birds returning consecutive winters on 8 occasions. This is with only 44 other re-traps, summers and same winters. There have been no occurrences of a summer bird being re-trapped in this winter period.  This, I believe, shows how important this west coast Sea-buckthorn site is for Blackcaps.
It is not a site for other over wintering warblers with only 2 Chiffchaffs out of 658 and 1 Willow Warbler out of 3497 caught in what I would call deep mid-winter.

Marsh Tit Bycatch

Present RG, CG and KH.               Roudsea  08/02/2012

We were hoping to colour ring some Marsh Tits with no success at all . The usual suspects were caught in the usual numbers. Then our day suddenly brightened. Three Haw Finches a fourteen year gap since the last one. The first picture shows the relaxed ringers grip.  The second shows how to prevent being nipped.  You have to keep the index finger gently under the birds chin. You can see on the second photograph and I can still feel the pliers like nip that you will get if this procedure is not used. 

Interesting Blaca

Present KH, LH, AM, RG and JS.       Eskmeals  28/01/2012

Perfect ringing conditions and, as a fortnight ago, a slow start but a good final total.  The Bullfinch obviously roost away from our net sites, as we are there two hours before they honour us with their presence.  On our last visit to this site the blog was entitled "Bullfinch Bonanza", today we had  twice as many new birds and went well past the 100 colour ringed. 

A total of 142  birds was processed of 16 species, re-traps shown in brackets. They were as follows: Wren 1(1), Dunnock (4), Robin 5(6), Blackbird 8(3), Fieldfare 3, Song Thrush 4, Redwing 2, Blackcap 6(2), Goldcrest 2(1), Long-tailed Tit 4(4), Coal Tit 3(7), Blue Tit 5(17), Great Tit 3(5), Treecreeper 1(1), Chaffinch 3(2), Bullfinch 34(5).     

Blackcaps always remind me of little boys whose mothers cut their hair with the use of a pudding bowl.  The bird below looks like his mum has given him some highlights

Bullfinch Bonanza

Present : JS, AM, RG, LH, KH.                                                  Eskmeals  14/01/2012

Although we knew we were close to processing a 100 birds the cold wind got into old bones. Too cold to do a count we finished and found out later we were 1 short of the ton.  

Ninety-nine birds of  sixteen species were processed.They were as follows with re-traps shown in brackets; Sparrowhawk 1, Wren 1(1), Dunnock 2, Robin 4(4), Blackbird 7(2), Fieldfare 7, Song Thrush 3, Redwing 4, Blackcap 5, Coal Tit 3(1), Blue Tit 3(17), Great Tit 2, Treecreeper 1, Chaffinch 5(1), Greenfinch 1, Bullfinch 17(7).

Below are three photographs of some interest taken on the day.

Song Thrush Replacing Lost Feathers

Notice How Sunlight changes Eyes

Blackbird Twisted and Crossed Bill

Black Highlight and Colour Ringed Twite

NOVEMBER SO FAR

This November there has been three ringing sessions at Eskmeals one at Askam and one in Roudsea Wood.  Active KH, AM, RG. JS and CG.

A total of 355 birds processed of 23 species. 

They were as follows,(re-traps).  Sparrowhawk (1), Great Spotted Woodpecker 1(1), Wren 9(2), Dunnock 11(2), Robin 16(10), Blackbird 24(4), Fieldfare 6, Song Thrush 16(1), Redwing 2, Blackcap 14, Goldcrest 10(1), Long-tailed Tit 3(4), Marsh Tit 3(2), Coal Tit 19(11), Blue Tit 38(11), Gret Tit 11(7), Nuthatch 2, Treecreeper 1(2), Carrion Crow 1, Chaffinch 5(1), Greenfinch 3, Bullfinch 58(16), Twite 19(7).

TWITE

The Twite catching season kicked off with a catch of 26 birds and some interesting colour ring re-sightings.  Three Heysham (Morecambe) ringed birds.  Two Mull of Kintire and one Isle of Man ringed bird.

RINGED PLOVER

The  details of a controlled Ring Plover with a Belgian ring were received this month.

Ringed as a 5 in January 2002 in Senegal (for those with poor geography skills see location indicator at the bottom of the page). It was controlled at Priory Point (Morecambe Bay) May 2010.  4650 kilometres and 15 degrees NNE. 

CARRION CROW

The team could not  remember when if at all we had caught a Carrion Crow in a mist net.  All were presently surprised at how easily the bird was to handle.   

Marsh Tit R.A.S. in Roudsea Wood

Present KH, RG and CG.

The group has decided to continue the work that Jim Fowler had been doing over the last 6 years on  a Marsh Tit RAS in Roudsea Woods (to see location see link below).  We colour ringed 3 Marsh Tits and had the following bye-catch, re-traps in brackets.

Great Spotted Woodpecker (1), Wren 1, Marsh Tit 3, Coal Tit 10(3), Blue Tit 10(2), Great Tit 10(2), Chaffinch 4, Greenfinch1.   

White Ring Being Placed Over Carmine - Marsh Tit.

Marsh Tit - Typical Ring Combinations