A good start to December

Finally, a weekend without rain and it proved to be worthwhile getting out of bed!

Above: A female Blackcap. In all, I caught 4 Blackcaps (3 at Priory including the female above) and a female at Sandy Smith Nature Reserve (SSNR) that had a Strasbourg ring on its leg! More about the session at SSNR can be found here.

Above: An adult male Kestrel. Seen, unusually (perhaps because of floods and icy conditions), around the ringing area at Priory Country Park (PCP) all day. It got some bling & it then continued to spend the rest of the day in the area but keeping a respectful distance this time! Only the second to be ringed at this site (the other in 2003). More about this session can be found here.

More Lesser Redpolls were ringed at SSNR & PCP. 2 Song Thrushes were rare for SSNR and A good number of new Blackbirds were ringed at both sites.

Finally, a Chiffchaff ringed at SSNR on 15/07/12 was controlled in Letchworth on 27/08/12 - 43 days later. A movement of 11km in an ESE direction.

Heavenly singing, flashing lights - what was going on?

On Saturday 5th November, I went ringing at Bromham Mill again. There was a misty and cold start to the day, then conditions gradually improved. After a slow start, the numbers of birds caught increased. Most of the Blue Tits (see right) caught were looking really smart and seem to be in good shape.

Part way through the morning, I could hear singing coming from nearby. It was unusual, but not unpleasant. Not much later two police 'panda' cars parked at the entrance to the mill. Two others also turned up as well as an ambulance, all with their lights flashing. It turns out that an African religious group have been meeting for evening services by the river bank, combined with baptising (or maybe washing away sins/spiritual cleansing) in the River Ouse. Now the clocks have gone back, they had decided to meet on the Saturday morning instead. Someone saw this and misinterpreted what was going on. Hence the arrival of the emergency services!

Totals ringed for the day were (with retraps in brackets):

• Blue Tit 30 (2)


• Great Tit 7 (1)


• Chaffinch 1


• Nuthatch 1


• Blackcap 1


• Coal Tit (1)


• Total 40 (4)

3 of the retraps were ringed on Apple Day, 16th October; 1 Blue Tit had been ringed on 28th August. The Nuthatch (above left)was the 2nd I've ringed at the Mill this year. The female Blackcap (2nd from top, on the right) was the first I've ever ringed at Bromham Mill.

Other photos: Coal Tit (3rd from top, on the right), Chaffinch (lower right).

Thank you to Adrian Fett for the photos of the Chaffinch and Blackcap.

On Sunday 6th November I went back to Marston Vale Millennium Country Park, to see (in particular) what might be coming in to roost. With a northerly breeze, the temperate was low. The numbers of birds ringed was much less than on Saturday, but the ringing of the Cetti's Warbler, one of the 'star birds' of the site, more than made up for this. Totals ringed were as shown below (no birds were retrapped):

• Blue Tit 1


• Cetti's Warbler 1


• Wren 1


• Total: 3

Priory Country Park - CES & other

The Constant Effort season is over at Priory Country Park. All 12 visits were completed (including the odd extra visit). I haven't posted CES totals for a while and on this occasion, for my ease, I'm going to lump visits 8-12 all into one (including non-CES birds/sessions).

238 new birds, 57 retraps (in brackets) of 23 species:

Wren 8 (1)
Dunnock 6 (6)
Robin 6 (7)
Blackbird 10 (8)
Song Thrush 8 (1)
Sedge Warbler 1 (0)
Reed Warbler 24 (1)
Whitethroat 25 (6)
Lesser Whitethroat 2 (0)
Garden Warbler 19 (2)
Blackcap 91 (8)
Chiff Chaff 2 (3)
Willow Warbler 2 (1)
Blue Tit 8 (5)
Great Tit 6 (3)
Long Tailed Tit 0 (1)
Chaffinch 3 (0)
Goldfinch 10 (0)
Greenfinch 1 (0)
Bullfinch 4 (3)
Treecreeper 0 (1)
Sparrowhawk 1 (0)
Wood Pigeon 1 (0)

We'll start with the standout total for Blackcap. This site has always been good for Blackcaps - more Blackcaps have been ringed than just about all other species in the park. The total above includes birds caught outside the CES. On Saturday 27th August I caught 26 Blackcaps (the majority new and the majority male). These birds must have moved on and another lot moved in as by the following Wednesday (31st August) I caught 30 Blackcaps (only one retrap from the weekend and only because it's from a late brood & not ready to go yet).

I call on all ringers north of Bedfordshire to get a move on and ring some Blackcaps! Out of all the Blackcaps I've ringed here in the last week or two, none have been ringed other than on site. You can increase my chances of catching one of your birds!



Above: Female Blackcap



Above: Male Blackcap



Above: This bag contains a big living ball of feathers (see below)!



Above: A Wood Pigeon (the big ball of feathers).



Above: A Lesser Whitethroat. This bird represents one of two ringed on 27th August. This species used to be more regular in the park but there have been very few records this year. I assume therefore that these two birds (juveniles) were migrating through the park (we would likely have caught the adults & juveniles earlier if they had bred).



Above: Normally seen in the skys above & normally too good at airobatics to be caught. This juvenile Sparrowhawk is obviously still learning then!

Priory Country Park CES 1

The Constant Effort Season is upon us once again and now Errol has moved away, I am left to run the CES at Priory Country Park. The weather forecast said there would be little difference between Sunday (the first day of the CES season) and Monday. Sunday came first so I chose Sunday!

It was sunny all morning. Chilly first thing with the wind picking up intensity throughout the morning probably resulting in a reduced catch in the second half.

18 birds of 12 species: New (retrap)

Bullfinch 3 (0)
Cetti's Warbler 0 (1)
Dunnock 2 (0)
Wren 0 (1)
Whitethroat 1 (0)
Reed Warbler 1 (0)
Blackbird 0 (2)
Garden Warbler 1 (1)
Goldfinch 1 (0)
Blue Tit 0 (1)
Chiff Chaff 2 (0)
Blackcap 1 (0)

Interesting info on some of these birds:

1 female Blackbird was born in 2008.
1 male Blackbird was born 2007 (first caught in 2008)
1 returning male Garden Warbler was ringed as an adult in 2010
The female Bullfinch's have well developed brood patch's
A male Blackcap with a false brood patch.



Above: A male Blackcap



Above: A Chiff Chaff



Above: Cetti's Warbler

A ringing demonstration was held for the 'Dawn Chorus' Walkers who were treated to close up views of the Cetti's Warbler (first ringed in April in the park). They learnt how we catch, age and sex the birds and what measurements we take. A donation of £5 to Ivel Ringing Group was gratefully received.

Future walks at Priory could coincide with ringing sessions more frequently from now on!

Priory totals for 2010

All newly ringed birds plus "incomers" in brackets.

Mute Swan (2), Pochard (1), Red Kite (1), Woodpigeon 1 (1), Green Woodpecker 1, Gt. Spotted Woodpecker 4, Wren 33, Dunnock 39, Robin 29, Blackbird 53, Song Thrush 14, Redwing 9, Sedge Warbler 3, Reed Warbler 37, Lesser Whitethroat 3, C.Whitethroat 29, Garden Warbler 27, Blackcap 97, Chiffchaff 39, Willow Warbler 6, Goldcrest 7, Long-tailed Tit 15, Marsh Tit 2, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit 79 + 117 pulli, Great Tit 55 + 73 pulli, Treecreeper 2, Magpie 1, House Sparrow 4, Chaffinch 23, Greenfinch 9, Goldfinch 9, Bullfinch 10, Reed Bunting 2.

The Marsh Tits were the 2nd & 3rd ever, the Coal Tit was the 1st, the Blackcap total was the 2nd highest (in 20+ years), and this year's total is the highest apart from 2004 when we ringed over 400 Sand Martins.

The Red Kite was identified as an ex Chiltern's pulli released at Harewood, West Yorkshire in 2000, there were at least 3 Dunnocks from 2004, a 2003 male Blackbird ringed the following year and a group record breaking Garden Warbler ringed on its return from Africa in 2003.

Haar, haar.

Got out early in anticipation of maybe a bit of 'grounded scarce'. The heavens were obscured by a layer of cloud as I put some nets up. The wind was also a lot stronger than the 5mph forecast. The next hour was busy with 19 birds to extract and process. First up was a Song Thrush that was being 'got at' by a juvvy male Sparr - but my intervention saved it and it got away with a few ruffled, and bloodied, back feathers.
Some minor damage to the rear end of today's Song Thrush

The bird was a Euring code 4 and much bigger than our known locals, so was probably a continental arrival.

With a little more light in the sky a couple of female Blackbirds popped by, both birds of the year and like chalk and cheese. The smaller one (123mm wing) had just 1ogc and the larger (133mm) had 4ogc. Here is the larger one that also had a fat score of 2.5
The 'continental' female Blackbird in a hurry to get away.

Then, with the MP3 lure on, it was the turn of 2 male Blackcaps to 'weigh in'. The smaller of the two was the heavier.
Shy 'teenage' Blackcap (3M) with 2 ogc; the lighter one .

By now the light was about as good as it was going to get all morning. The tits started to visit the feeders for a while starting about half an hour after (theoretical) sunrise. However, after a bit of a flurry, interest in the easy come by source of food failed to attract much enthusiasm. Four Bushtits did the honours, three of them newbies and most likely young of the year with their red eye rings.

So, after three hours of boredom, when I processed 3 more tits and a Dunnock and was thinking of taking down as the wind had backed to a worse direction, what should pop by but a young Treecreeper that I ringed a couple of weeks ago. So that was it. 24 birds of 10 species, of which one third were re-traps.
Last bird of the day - Treecreeper, aged 3, male on bill & hind claw.
Young Treecreeper with 2 ogc's and unmoulted, large white tip to alula.

Blue Tit 4 (3)
Great Tit 1 (2)
Long-tailed Bushtit 3 (1)
Blackcap 2
Treecreeper (1)
Wren 1
Blackbird 2
Song Thrush 1
Dunnock 2
Chaffinch (1)

No Chiffs, no 'crests, no Redwings, no King Harry's. The day started as it had begun - gloomy!

Observations made up for it some what, with the Sparr, 8 Lesser Redpolls, a Green Sand, 5 Swallows, 1 House Martin, several small parties of Chaffinch, 8 Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, a Grey Wag, a Pied Wag, 4 Mipits, 3 Sky Larks, a count of 180-200 Starlings west, just 1 Redwing ... and about 2 thousand Jackdaws as I was unlocking the gate on arrival.
Pie in the sky today! Next time? I've put a request in for light winds, as well.

Ever hopeful

Ed and I went out ringing this morning, despite a stiff northerly wind and grey skies. The breeze had got up quite a bit since yesterday, which was also beautiful and sunny. Still, you never know. The "Rough" is well sheltered from northerly winds so it might work out, nevertheless.

And so it did. The main run of 160' did catch the wind, but not until it had delivered a pair of Blackcaps in the early morning gloom, then a retrap 1CY Marsh Tit and a Blackbird. Despite the wind, a Chiffchaff 'came to tape'.

Today's target species - Blackcap (1cy male)

Ed got the feeding station net up and, to begin with, all we had were re-trap Blue and Great Tits. As it was in the lee of 'the Long Hedge', I moved the lure over there with a modicum of success. Hey Ho, apart from lots more new Blue and Great Tits, two Goldcrests, a solitary Blackcap and five more Chiffs!

The two extremes of Chiffies this morning - adult male & late brood female (juv doing PJ)

Other birds we noticed were a couple of migrating Jays (scarce birds round here, you know), a few Swallows and 110 Starlings beetling south-west, once upon a time a common bird hereabouts. Of course, the local "Bushtit" flock was moving around, 'around' being the operative word since we could see them and hear them - but not catch them!

We took down after four hours and beat a hasty retreat home before the forecast rain caught us out. We had caught 42 birds of which 27 were new and 15 were recaptures. This time the re-trap tits produced four more youngsters from our various boxes situated around the park.
Goldcrest 2
Blue Tit 8 (8)
Great Tit 5 (3)
Marsh Tit (1) - that same youngster
Chiffchaff 6
Blackcap 3
Blackbird 1 (1)
Dunnock (2)
Chaffinch 2

Promise of things to come - Goldcrest (young male)

Another good day; probably worthwhile trying again in the week. Weds? The feeders will need filling in couple of days, anyhow.
Today's pics by DK.

Magnificent Seven

Great Spot. - note the dull eye of this juvenile and the emerging red crown feathers, indicating 'male'.

A lonely vigil today, starting at a dewy 7 o'clock and finishing at a (comparative) sweltering 12 noon. My main intention was to catch a few more Blackcaps, which I achieved. It was also a chance to try out - and learn how to use - the new MP3 player and speaker with a bit of tape luring. It is certainly a tad better than my 30-year old tape set-up, but then that is capable of blasting them out of the sky. I had to join the 21st century sometime!

Well, it went very well. An early Reewa and a Chaff followed by a couple of Blaca cheered me up so I set about putting a net by the new feeders. A Goldf, two more Blaca and another Reewa, plus loads of immature Bluti and new Greti kept me busy for a couple of hours, by which time I decided it was the right juncture for a cupp'a.
Just love the black and white uppers of the King Harry's
A recently fledged juvenile Reed Warbler -all three in different fitness to emigrate
One of two male Blackcaps included in the seven new individuals.

From then on, it slowed down but became the more interesting. A young male Grswo dropped in, two Robin, more tits, another Blaca, a Treec, a couple of adult Lotti, another Goldf, two more Blaca, a third Reewa and finally, at half eleven, a Coati.
On measurements, this young Treecreeper should turn out to be a male.
Coal Tit - I claimed this immature bird as a ringing tick for the park.

Now these are rare in the park; one was seen by DK in Feb 2009, but the previous record was one I and another birder saw back in 1995. Bingo.

At the end of the morning, I had bagged 50 birds of which 10 were retraps. Four of the six tits recaptured had been ringed 'at the nest' as pulli, in different plantations. Twelve species at this location is just above par. I didn't manage to catch any of the 3 Chiffs feeding on Ivy blossom, nor the lone Whitethroat that had been seen here up until yesterday. I only saw 2 Blackbirds all morning and heard an alarm call of a Dunnock without seeing one. The Marsh Tit came to the feeder but not the net! A Hobby came over, too. About 6-8 Meadow Pipits passed west-south-west during mid-morning.

The all important ringing list (re-traps in brackets, as usual):
Gt. Spotted Woodpecker 1 - second for the year
Blue Tit 8 (6)
Great Tit 12 (1)
Coal Tit 1 - 'ringing tick' for the park
Long-tailed Bushtit (2) - both lone adults
Blackcap 7 - now 2010 total (89) beats last year's
(2nd highest annual figure in 20 years)
Reed Warbler 3 - makes 37 youngsters for the year
Treecreeper 1 - second for the year
Wren 3
Robin 1 (1)
Chaffinch 1
Goldfinch 2

Blackcap is the most ringed species on the site. At present it accounts for 11.35% of all new birds. Blue Tit is next (10.49%), then Reed Warbler (5.63%), Blackbird (5.48%) & Sand Martin (5.09%).

A typical young Blue Tit, still a bit scruffy as it comes to the end of its post-juvenile moult (mainly body feathers are replaced).
Surprisingly, only one Great Tit was a retrap (ringed as a pullus, too). Not an adult among them.

One other bit of news - DK picked up a Cetti's on call/song (remained hidden - so only brief views) by the STW bridge, our first since winter 06/07.

Fatty & skinny

... went out today; that's the Blackcaps, not us!
First up - a 3F Blackcap, fat 4, wt.22.3g
Another session at Priory in the 'rough' from sun-up 'til late morning produced 23 birds, including 6 retraps.
Next up - 3M Blackcap, fat 1.5, wt. 19.2g
Retraps often mean winter is on its way and today we were also delighted to catch 4 tits. These in themselves seem to appear about now, reminding us that we ought really to get the feeders up. Instead, we just cut out the rack through the waist high nettles.

To clarify today's efforts, we have:
Blue Tit 3, still with small signs of their juv plum
One of today's 3F Blue Tits
Great Tit 1,
Blackcap 6 (1), weights from 19.2 - 22.7, except the retrap which we have handled on the last 3 visits without any appreciable weight gain over the 9 days.
Blackbird 1 (2), a couple of adults ending primary moult
Robin 2 (2), all except one were youngsters
Adult male Robin in fresh/winter plumage
Dunnock 1 (1), young males of the year
Greenfinch 1, 3J
Goldfinch 2, both 3J's but only just out of the nest, many primaries in sheath.
Underwing of 1J/3J Goldfinch, showing primary sheaths.
Other birds around included 4 Tufted, 4 c.Swift, 14 House Martin, a C.Buzzard, a Jay and a singleton Spotted Flycatcher.
One man (Ed) and my (new) dog (bitch), Cerise.

PS. New Blackcaps now only 4 short of last years total for the site.

Black Friday

A short session today, starting ~9am, after the fog started to lift.
Chiffchaff - 2
Blackcap - 12, 10 of these were females!
C.Whitethroat - 1
Wren - 1
Blackbird - 1
Song Thrush - 1, (1)
Robin - 1, (1)
Dunnock - 2
Greenfinch - 1
The only adult birds were two of the female Blackcaps and a male Chiffchaff (with an abietinus call).
Brings the Priory total of new Blackcaps this year to 71. Best year by far was 1994 with 107; next best was last year with 88 and then 2007 with 87. So far so good - at least 4 more weeks to go before passage ceases.

An early tickle

An early start at the crescent before the winds got up. Not very many dog walkers around this morning. However, there has been a blue-green algal bloom in the main lake for a week or so. These winds will shift it by creating turbulence and chilling the water temperature.

First up was my first moulting Blackcap of the year, a male with two primaries dropped on both wings. The main thrust here is always the Reed Warblers. We can't get into this small reedbed as the sub-strate is very unstable (an old silt trap) if you continually walk on it. Therefore we suffice with ringing the perimeter paths. Today it was 15 birds in total, with 7 retrap adult Reed Warblers and 3 juveniles.

With the absence of dogs, some of the 100 or so swans came to the beach, (bottom right corner of main lake - see map), to haul out and do a bit of 'toiletry' and 'have a natter'.

"Here we come"
"Now for a good scratch"


Abraded plumage of an adult Reed Warbler
Fresh plumaged juvenile Reed Warbler.
Juvenile Blackcap showing soft body feathers.

The end tally was 15 birds including 8 recaptures:
Great Tit 1 juv
Garden Warbler 1 juv
Black cap 1 juv (1)
Sedge Warbler 1 juv
Reed Warbler 3 (7)
One of the male Reed Warblers was ringed as a 6M (hatched 2 years earlier or before) in 2006, making it at least 6 years old and another one was a 6Female when caught in 2007. This year to date, I have caught 17 males, 10 females, 5 unsexed (poss females as they were caught early on) and 3 juveniles at this tiny reed bed.

Today's surprise extraction ...
... only the second this year over the whole site.

Number Seven

It has been a fortnight since the last CES visit and, since then, the weather has been on the "warm side". Still, if you can't sleep because of the heat, you might as well get up and go ringing!

"First up" - [3J(F)J "Prune"]

First bird up was a juvenile Dunnock and, on the next round, 2 adult female Blackbirds off the nest and out foraging before 6am. Just the one juvenile Garden Warbler this morning and we noticed a small cyst on the gape of this bird. Not something we see very often.

Juvenile Garden Warbler
The first of two juvenile (male) Blackcaps.

Things were looking good. Three early morning Blue Tits turned out to be from very different sites; one to the east, one to the south and the other from a natural hole or a bat box. Two hours in and it was time for a spot of breakfast and pill taking. Munching on a sandwich, I went through a moult sequence with Davy on an adult (6F) Robin.

Adult Robin moulting its primaries, tertials and tail (03/07/10)
Same bird - primary moult score = 12 (3332100000).

Blackcaps were dominannt with 2 juvenile male types (see photo above showing the darker crown colouration), 2 juvenile female types and a new 2CY male. This in fact doubled our juvenile numbers for the year, bringing them level with the adults. It should be noted that one in every nine birds that we catch throughout the broader site is a Blackcap.

A Green Woodpecker tantalised us, but with the bright sunshine that dominated the session, it could see the nets probably better than us!! We caught young Robin number 8 and as yet it has to start its post-juvenile moult.

Spotty, juvenile Robin.

Also in the bag were three adult Dunnocks. The first was a juvenile female last year, the second was one of our oldest birds, a male that was ringed as a juvenile in earlyAugust 2004 and the last was a bird caught in May 2007 as a 2CY male. Unfortunately, this year it has developed "bumble foot", similar to Sedge Warblers and Chaffinches. The ring is now tight on the leg but doesnt seem to be restricting circulation to the foot.


The final tally was 20 new and 9 re-traps. Every thing stopped at 10am and no more birds were caught in the fourth quarter of "our alloted time slot". C'est la vie!
Blue Tit 1 (2)
Great Tit 1
Chiffchaff 2 (1)
Blackcap 5
Garden Warbler 1
Whitethroat 2
Reed Warbler (1)
Wren 1 (1)
Blackbird 3 (1)
Robin 2
Dunnock 1 (3)
Chaffinch 1.

Additional highlights of the morning were a passing Sandwich Tern and two Little Egberts over. DK went to photograph the second "whitey" but all we heard after a shutter whirring were some mild expletives - as he had left his 2Gig card in the computer!

Instead - here's one I nicked off Phil Slade

Also spotted the first Common Gull of the autumn whilst looking up at a Sparrowhawk in with a party of 50+ Swifts. Soon after, we picked up a "Buzzorant" while scanning with binoculars, an extremely high Cormorant drifting eastwards, invisible to the naked eye, and pondered on where it had come from and where it would end up.