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!

Number 11

Today was the 15th. CES 11 due to be done today. 15th bird today was special. Lesser Whitethroat - our 4th this year. Maybe it was bred here.

A funny old day; no Swifts seen, for a start. A Sparr over the nets just as they were opened set the scene. Another dire first half (like the previous two weekends). Quite a few screaming young Common Terns flying to and fro with their parents.

It turned out to be quite a good day for the Borin Warbler; we managed to get 4 new ones.

The full line up was as follows:
Blue Tit 2 (1)
Gt. Tit (2)
Blackcap 4
Garden Warbler 4
Les. Whitethroat 1
C. Whitethroat 1
Reed Warbler 2
Wren (1)
Blackbird 1 (3)
Robin (1)
Bullfinch 1
... making 24 birds of 11 species, a bit "off the pace" for the time of year.

There was a fly-through Kingfisher (well above the top shelf), a few Swallows, both Gt. Spot and Green Woodpeckers and a Common Sandpiper over the nearby old lake (Fingers) mid-morning.

A little disappointed that we didn't catch more Whitethroats, just this one mid-session.

The weather was 8 oktas decreasing to 7, breezy but moderating, from the NE going NW'ly, light drizzle initially after four damp days and nights. Will we do better next weekend?

And while we're at it, here is a report from Mark Boyd, who did The Thorns today:

"Hi Everyone

You missed a rare opportunity to say that you were at the least productive Waterloo Thorns CES visit ever yesterday. Conditions were fine, a little breezy towards the end of the morning, but nothing exceptional. There were birds around - a bouncing sparrowhawk, a flock of 40 mixed finches, etc - but not many in the nets. All nets were up by 5.30 am. By 07.40 I had caught two birds. I caught the rest at 10.45.
Here are the totals:

Robin 1 (0)
Bullfinch (1)
Treecreeper 1 (1)
Long-tailed tit (2)
Goldcrest (1)

That's right. Just seven birds in total, of which only two were new."

One bit of good news - we had a Blue Tit leave this same CES site near Sandy and travel to Wicken Fen, a distance of 42km. This is our 4th longest distance, the best being 88km for the species.

Two days from Priory

With rain persisting through much of the daylight hours on Saturday, ringing was obviously dropped from the wekend program. Looking out at first light on Sunday, it was apparent that we would have to ring somewhere with a bit of shelter. So we, of three different rankings, had a makeshift session at the back of "the sheep pen".

The main accomplishment was picking up several young birds, evenly split between Blackbird and Robin.
So the tally was 10 new birds and 9 re-traps as under:
Blue Tit 1
Great Tit (1) - this had 'moved house' from the CES area
Blackcap (1) - a 5M
Garden Warbler 1 - a 5F
Whitethroat (1) - another 5M
Wren (1)
Blackbird 4 (2)
Robin 4
Dunnock (3) - oldest, a 4F in July '08

Female Blackcap with "gunge" from feeding her youngsters.

Bank Holiday Monday took us back to CES, visit 4/12. My 'C' ringer from Bucks joined us for some practice in extraction and looking at "funny little birds". [He spends much of his free time checking birds of prey and ringing things in boxes].

Regular Ed with 'newby' Dave (but permit numbers say otherwise)

We were lucky enough to catch seven 3J's, considering the conditions; 1 Dunnock, 3 Robins, 1 Blackbird & 2 Greenfinches.


Young Robin and young female Greenfinch

The best moment for me was catching both of a pair of LESWH, that had arrived about three weeks ago. You never know when these are around because of the very short song period of the males and their 'hushed' contact calls.

Lesser Whitethroat (2CY female [5F])

Ed proudly presented us with the 12th species of the day, a 2nd year Reed Warbler; note the abrasion.

Immature male Reed Warbler - prospecting?

Today's tally was a modest tit-less 23, 16 new and 7 re-traps.
Long-tailed Bushtit 1
Chiffchaff 1 - a breeding female
Blackcap (1) - nesting female
Lesser Whitethroat 2 - a pair
Whitethroat (2) - a pair with young nearby
Reed Warbler 1
Wren 1 (1)
Blackbird 1
Robin 3 (1) - re-trap male was ringed as a '3J' exactly 3 years ago!
Dunnock 1 (2) - one time juveniles from '04 and '07
Greenfinch 3 - 2 juveniles and a female novice breeder
Bullfinch 2 - both 2CY females

Female Bullfinch

Because of the gentle/moderate westerly, a lot of insects were been blown off the willows. To our delight, we were entertained by the comings and goings of 150 to 200 Common Swifts for much of the morning. And I nearly forgot; something has been nobbling our nestlings. The evidence was found in the middle of the rack.

[Click on picture to enlarge, then click again (+)]

Now that we've managed to get this visit in, we can think about ringing a new site next weekend. We've had 2 "out of season" recce's, so we'll see whether it's worthwhile ... or not, as the case may be.

Two away days

A couple of pre-breeding sessions in areas away from the main Priory CES net lanes. Often we pick up returning 2CY migrants in these patches and also young birds that have moved out for good.

Friday - it was the small reedbed known as 'the crescent' (because of the shape of the path we net along). A swathe has been cut through the middle by the rangers for the first time in 30 years. This is the second of three cuts that will see the patch undergo some rejuvenation. It hasn't been done before now as it was the 'wash out pit' and the phragmites has grown up on the 'quicksand', a less than welcoming sub-strate for welly-booted ringers.

Still, a small catch - since the forecast light winds did not materialise but remained a good F4, straight off the water.

2CY female Chaffinch (BP=1)

Wren (1), Blackbird 1 (1), Chaffinch 1, Reed Bunting 1.

2CY male Reed Bunting in full summer plumage

Saturday - further down the 'long hedge' from the main site, in amongst the blackthorn and elder. Our No.1 target was the Common Whitethroat that arrived yesterday. Frustratingly, two Lesser Whitethroats arrived in the area of the CES extra net on the Thursday. But ...

Wot? - No vapour trails? [taken in the 'sheep pen']

Ed and I managed to get 400' up (7 nets) by using both of our sets of poles. It turned out to be a reasonable day, once we got going. There was nearly an air frost (0.5C) but we soon warmed up in the sunshine after handling frosty poles and that.

V064467 - about to celebrate his 4th birthday

"Top of the poles" was this Blackcap; we also caught 5 others, 3 females & 2 males. Matey above sang lustily to one of the females, who called back fiercely, with much wing-flapping, either in anger or anticipation!

Quite a 'how do you do'!

We also caught a returning male Chiff for the 5th time since ringing in early April '08; its wing was now 65mm. This bird is a bit of a roamer, as we have caught it in three different locations some ways apart.

One of two male Chaffinches caught today

To sum up, here is the total of our efforts today, 23 new & 15 retraps:
Blue Tit 3 (2),
Great Tit (1),
Long-tailed Bushtit 2 (2),
Chiffchaff 1 (1),
Blackcap 5 (1),
Wren 1 (1),
Blackbird 2 (1),
Song Thrush (1),
Robin 2,
Dunnock 3 (4),
Chaffinch 2,
Greenfinch 1,
Bullfinch 1 (1).

Today's 'rare'! A 5M Greenfinch in good nick.

Day 3 - not bad

Retrices - with much white.

Once again we (Ed & I this time) got things going at 7 am. The 240' run just had to be unfurled and so we then set up 2x forties, one by the feeding station, the other in the bottom corner where it doesn't catch much but turns up the odd 'goodie'.

First job, ring three 3M Blackcaps, then a stint at the feeders before Ed left for work. One of those birds was a Blue Tit, A761442, which was a shade under 7 years & 3 months since it was ringed as a juvvy at the end of June 2002. Two more 'old' Gt. Tits were captured after Ed went, but not in the same league! Prize of the day was a Lesser 'throat, that caused IPMR to "cough" when I put in a wing length of 72.5mm. Halimondendri type I ask myself? This is the 2nd latest, the other being a scraggy female (on size) that had fat1/muscle 1 caught on the 27th last year. [Late Sept. records - there have been 2 on 14th, 1 on 16th, 1 on 18th (involving 3 birds) & 2 on 19th before] .

Iris

Todays count, 19 (9): Woopi 1 (a juv), Robin 1 (1), Blaca 3, Leswh 1, Chiff 1 (our 59th this year here), Bluti 5 (4), Greti 3 (5), Chaff 2, Goldf 2.

Coverts

There was a weak passage of Mipits, a few Sky Larks through and, to top it all, a Nuthatch [8th record] calling like mad, close by where I had the first record for the park back in August 1991. DK had a Jay.