Kinglets!!!

Well.....not exactly. Goldcrests to be more precise, but this mornings haul saw me and Moxey reminiscing of the mornings spent on the Riverside Trail at, the now defunct, Ausable Bird Observatory on the banks of Lake Huron, Ontario, Canada during which we could catch thirty or forty Ruby-crowned or Golden-crowned Kinglets, the North American members of the Regulus family. This morning we were targetting the 'crests specifically, with a two-pronged approach. John Dempsey reported earlier in the week that large numbers of Goldcrests were moving through the dunes to the north of us and Hilbre Bird Observatory, in the mouth of the River Dee, ringed a staggering number over the last couple of days. With this passage continuing, we chose the two sites we had our best chances at, Crosby Hall and the Woodhams.

I headed off for an early start at Crosby Hall, with more nets to deal with than Moxey would have I also had the feeding station in operation. By the time Moxey called in to pick up the nets and mp3 players, I had already caught and ringed five Goldcrest under the dull, overcast sky that all morning held the threat of rain.

 Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

Moxey headed off to the Woodhams, less than a mile away, with a couple of nets and two mp3 players and it wasn't long before he was texting (yes, Moxey can text!) to say he had six Kinglets in one 9m net - awesome! I stuck at operations at Crosby Hall, moving a couple of nets around based on where I was observing the activity and the feeding station kept things ticking over nicely. By 11am, Moxey returned having ringed 8 Goldcrest.

 Ruby-crowned Kinglet (Regulus calendula)

 Golden-crowned Kinglet (Regulus satrapa)

A brief shower decended about midday, but quickly cleared and somehow, that was the only rain we would endure through the morning as there was dark grey cloud all around us. Chaffinches featured prominently this week at the feeding station, quite a contrast to the Goldfinch numbers with only two caught - a complete reverse of the previous week. A retrap Treecreeper and a new Nuthatch were moments of quality, but the day really belonged to the 'crests.

 Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris)

The Goldcrest were all in excellent condition, the lightest bird was 5.1g, but the majority were at least 6g and the heaviest came in at 6.5g with a fat score of 4 and a muscle score of 3. Impressive, a clear indication of birds on migration.

We wrapped the session up by half past one and I headed to Brook Vale to check the feeding station there. The majority of the Siskin flock has now moved on, but there was significant Greenfinch activity at the feeding station and a couple of Goldcrest were also heard. It wont be long before we will be starting to hear the warblers in song as they arrive back for the summer...

Crosby Hall

Goldcrest -   10   (1)
Wren -   1
Treecreeper -   (1)
L.T.Tit -   (1)
Chaffinch -  14   (3)
Blue Tit -   9   (7)
Great Tit -   2   (7)
Coal Tit -   1   (2)
Robin -    2
Goldfinch -   1   (1)
Dunnock -   (1)
Nuthatch -   1   (1)
Greenfinch -   7
Blackbird -   1

TOTAL:    49   (25)

Woodhams

Goldcrest -   8
Great Tit -   (1)

TOTAL:   8   (1)

Barn Owls Burned

Last week at a meeting of the Liverpool Ornitholigist Club, Tony Duckells, the SWLRG Barn Owl Organiser, made me aware of this horrific discovery. The burned remains of six Barn Owls were found in an abandoned barn on Formby Moss, a Buzzard was also found, shot dead, within a mile of the site. You can read the article here.

Two of the birds were ringed and we are cooperating with the Wildlife Crime Officer of Merseyside Police to narrow down where these birds might have been taken from. This crime is particularly worrying because it suggests that the culprits of this horrendous crime have obviously visited a number of different roost sites in order to take as many as six birds - representing a significant portion of the adult population of the area.

Golden Time

Following Saturdays session at Crosby Hall, we headed to Kings Moss on Sunday, meeting Steve on site just before 6am. Now that the mornings are getting earlier and earlier, the optimism for Spring is also growing with talk of migrants - the mild weather we've had lately only serving to promote our prospects.

We have two feeding stations at Kings Moss, both feeding stations are located on the fringes of the plantation but offering different prospects. Feeding Station 1 incorporates the perimeter hedgerow and on a calm day, we are able to set lines of nets on either side of the hedgerow as well as a dog leg in the goat willow. This site is where we catch the majority of the Yellowhammer, Greenfinch and Chaffinch however the first net round today yielded the first Chiffchaff of the year in this spot.

Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)

Feeding Station 2 is located on the lowland fringe, close to the Highland Cattle field amongst the goat willow and hazel. This site is where we catch the majority of the titmice, although we did catch the first Yellowhammer in this spot during the session. Feeding Station 2 also picks up a decent number of Goldfinch, however, we're aware that the feeders haven't been topped up as regularly as we would have liked over the last two weeks, which is the likely explanation of our lower-than-average total for the session.

The main success story of the session was the Yellowhammer total, our largest single total at the site to date. The majority of the birds that we caught were males, some of which provided interesting discussion with regards to plumage details. Some of our observations of 'obvious' males highlighted a number of features not detailed in Svensson and whilst I'm not an expert on this species and there are many ringers more experienced with Yellowhammer than I, I've included a few comparative photo's here:

Adult Male (above), Juvenile Male (below)

Note the markings on the central undertail covert - the adult (above) has a more diffuse chestnut centre to the feather whereas the juvenile (below) has a much narrower black centre.

Adult Male Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

The rest of the ringing session was relatively sedate, with a steady trickle of birds, we were checking the nets much more frequently than normal, due to the number of individuals out and about. Alan and Edwina at Fir Tree Farm have done a fantastic job, with the help of a number of dedicated volunteers, in creating an ecologically valuable site. The site is open to members of the public to enjoy nature with a number of trails through the plantations and around the surrounding fields, the only stipulation is that all dogs are kept on a lead and all waste removed. Now as a (relucant) dog owner, I wouldn't dream of letting Canela off in an ecologically sensitive area - so whenever we encounter dog walkers with their dogs off the lead at Kings Moss, we politely to ask them to put their dog on a lead and explain what we are doing. Yesterday however, me and Steve were met with a degree of hostility from one individual - a relatively disappointing experience, but we didn't let it get us down.

Long-tailed Tits (Aegithalos caudatus)

The last bird of the day was a Greenfinch control, ring number TJ67406, most likely one of Pete Alkers birds, but we shall wait and see. Onwards we march....

Dunnock -   2   (3)
Goldfinch -   6   (1)
Blue Tit -   5   (4)
Chaffinch -   (1)
Great Tit -   3   (1)
Greenfinch -   2   (1)
Blackbird -   1
Yellowhammer -   9
L.T.Tit -   2
Chiffchaff -  1
Coal Tit -   2
Robin -   2

TOTAL:   35   (11)

Amongst the Clouds of Pollen...

I met Charlie bright and early this morning at Crosby Hall for another session in the woods. We had a brief and relatively unsuccessful session last week, cut short by incoming rain squalls, so we were hoping for am improvement this week. John Dempsey posted earlier in the week about Chiffchaff singing on Rimrose so we had our ears peeled from the outset for any early passage birds moving through. No joy however.

Sticking with the usual nets, we had all the nets up within the first hour but we got off to a slow start. Blue Tit, Coal Tit and couple of retrap Goldcrest making up the early numbers. There were a number of Song Thrush calling throughout the morning, although none made their presence felt, along with a couple of Blackbirds, once more however, we had a low turnout of thrushes with only one retrap Blackbird, originally ringed in 2009.

 Goldcrest (Regulus regulus)

A short five minutes of drizzle left us briefly worried for the future of the session, but it quickly passed and the Sun emerged leaving a very spring like feel. Conversation wandered to the potential of spring, the possibilities of early migrants and the plethora of opportunities that our variety of sites might offer. Daydreaming over, the Goldfinches started to arrive, as did a retrap Nuthatch, a male originally ringed in 2009.

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea)

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

By midday, we were basking in the balmy sunshine getting sprinkled with pollen from the Yew trees - Charlie looked like the before shot from a Head and Shoulders (other leading brands are available) commercial. By the time that we packed away, we had added a retrap Treecreeper, a couple more Goldcrest and a few more Goldfinches to the total.

Goldcrest -   2   (2)
Wren -   1
Treecreeper -   (1)
L.T.Tit -    (2)
Coal Tit -   (1)
Goldfinch -   11
Chaffinch -   2
Blue Tit -   11   (10)
Great Tit -   2    (4)
Robin -   3   (3)
Greenfinch -   2
Nuthatch -   (1)
Blackbird -   (1)


TOTAL:   34   (25)

Later on this afternoon, I headed in to Brook Vale to start the feeding station up again. The Rangers had been into the reserve and had completed some management work on the marginal willows as part of the ongoing work to manage the willow carr and preserve the wetland. Hopefully some more of the isolated willows within the reed bed will be removed over the coming week or so. As I was leaving, a flock of thirty-odd Siskin were perched in the Alders near Beach Road but that was about all that was about.

Top Ten so far...

In a blatant rip-off of Seumus' Fleetwood Birder blog, I have compiled the top ten species ringed so far this year by myself and Moxey. As a duo, with associated trainees Dumb and Dumber....sorry....Charlie and Steve, we had a disappointing finish to 2011, largely due to weather hampering efforts. However, the start to 2012 has been somewhat more promising with almost six hundred birds ringed so far leaving us just a few birds short of the Fylde RG's current total. It's interesting to compare ourselves to our neighbours further north on the Fylde. Despite our close proximity, weather conditions can often be completely different and we both similar sites - farmland, coastal and scrub - as well as netting on moss woodlands.

1. Blue Tit (213)
2. Chaffinch (83)
3. Goldfinch (80)
4. Great Tit (52)
5. Robin (31)
6. Greenfinch (28)
7. Dunnock (16)
8. Coal Tit (15)
9. Goldcrest (11)
10. Yellowhammer (10)

TOTAL: 595

Our current total is dominated by Blue Tits, as usual, but the totals of Chaffinch and Goldfinch, largely caught at Kings Moss, are promising. Whilst we haven't caught large numbers of Yellowhammer in the past, unlike the Yellowhammer specialists in South Notts RG, we are starting to catch them regularly at Kings Moss. Hopefully this species will continue to occupy a space in our top ten however, once the migrants start to return from southern Europe and Africa, I fear it might be bumped off the bottom!

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

BOB on at Rimrose

On Friday I headed straight from school to another school, Savio High School in Bootle, to pick up a consignment of BOB boxes. The BOB boxes are a multi-use (Bird Or Bat) nest box, designed by Steve Burrowes and manufactured by the students at Savio. Savio have kindly donated thirty boxes to Rimrose Ringers to use on Rimrose Valley.

Last year, Savio won an Observer Ethical Award for Kids for the design of the box, highlighted by a successful project in Knowlsey Safari Park. This video features an interview with Steve, the students and some of the judges:

This weekend we got started on putting up the boxes. In the first instance, we have erected nineteen bat boxes, and eleven bird boxes as part of the pilot. We are hoping that Savio will be able to secure funding to be able to provide more boxes for next year so that we can grow the project outside of the pilot areas (Fulwood and Brook Vale).

Scouse Ringer and Box 5

Moxey showing off a BOB box set for bats

 BOB box set for birds

BOB box set for bats

The bat boxes will be monitored by members of the local bat group, under licence, and we will monitor the bird boxes. A massive thanks go to Savio for all of their hard work on the boxes, hopefully this will be the start of a successful and fruitful partnership!

The BOB boxes retail for £10 with £2 of each sale being donated to the Bat Conservation Trust and the rest being reinvested into the project. The boxes are also available in flat-pack and are easily assembled. Comment on this post if you are interested in purchasing boxes.

A Busy Weekend

Last Saturday, fresh from our Portugal trip, me and Moxey headed to the North West Ringers Conference organised by the North Lancs Ringing Group picking up Charlie and Chris Bridge along the way. The conference was excellent - a number of fantastic talks and a great opportunity to catch up with various scallywags from across the North West. A big well done must go to NWLRG for all their hard work.

 The Ringers Meeting

On Sunday, I picked up Chris and met Steve at Kings Moss for another session at the two feeding stations, we were later joined by Moxey. Despite the breeze, we persisted with the usual nets around the feeding stations and a line along the hedge in the field. The hedge line certainly paid off early on, picking up a couple of Yellowhammer and this, rather scabby Chaffinch that was, quite obviously, released unringed.

Scabby Chaffinch

Moxey joined us by 8:30 in time to watch the Buzzard find a new regular perch now that the big hay bail stack has been moved. There were no signs of the Barn Owl in the morning, but Alan assures us they are back in the box as the recently installed cameras inform!

Goldfinches were the order of the day early on, along with the usual titmice, but the breeze definately affected the catch rate. By 10am, we had closed the net line along the hedge, despite another Yellowhammer and one escapee. We have now reached double figures for Yellowhammer for the year and whilst that is only ten birds ringed, it is a massive improvement on the groups totals for recent years. Hopefully over the coming months and years, we will build up some decent totals of this species at this site to give Steve a little project to work on!
 

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella)

By midday, the breeze had got too strong for us to continue and the number of dog walkers that failed to obey the 'ALL DOGS MUST BE KEPT ON A LEAD' signs was really starting to get annoying. As Chris has just started working with us, and managed to rip the crotch of his jeans (a tribute to the fantastic work of Kevin Bloody Grundy and his world famous 'fannypants') we debated whether we should sacrifice Chris for the greater good. Luckily for Chris, and the mental stability of dogs everywhere, we left Chris to learning how to fat and muscle score Blue Tits!

L.T.Tit -   (1)
Dunnock -   4   (1)
Blue Tit -   10   (8)
Willow Tit -   (1)
Great Tit -   3   (3)
Robin -   2   (1)
Chaffinch -   7   (4)
Yellowhammer -   4
Goldfinch -   10   (3)
Greenfinch -   5
Blackbird -   1   (1)
Jay -   (1)

TOTAL:   46   (24)