best birds: 2008

Last few days

A couple of late nights and early mornings up at Timble with Andy trying for Owls and Waxwings coming into and out of roost. No Luck but enjoyable. Also another 60 + birds ringed at Elland Gravel Pits, mainly Blue tits and Gt Tits with Greenfinch, robins, Dunnocks, Coal Tits and Wren.

A trip to Martin Mere to watch the Whoopers being fed at 3pm was great over 1500 there plus all the other stuff and some nice photos of a Whooper flying in with one of the sat tags showing.

Today spent the morning at Stainland dean putting up another 20 Nest Boxes and cleaning out the old ones . Caught a Blue Tit a retrap from 31/12/07 AMAZING have not re caught this bird before all year and here it is exactly a year later in the same net ride .

( HERE'S HOPING)

Waxwing control from Spurn

News from Raymond Duncan that the Waxwing i controlled in Halifax was ringed at Spurn Point if anyone wants the PDF file from Raymond about Waxwing ringing this year please let me know and i will pass it on.

Up at Clifton this morning 5 Wintering Meadow Pipits ringed as well as Blackbirds, Goldfinch, Robin , Dunnock and Tits

Meadow Pipit turns up in France

One of are Meadow Pipits ringed at Kex Gill in 2007 turned up in Pont Mahe, Asserac, Loire Atlantique France, sorry to say Dead it had hit a window. Distance of 453 miles.

Deer Hill Twite at Bawdsey, Suffolk

Info from Mr Dave Sowter, A Deer Hill bird ringed this Autumn { Blue White above Pink} has been photographed by a Mr James Kennerley on the 31 October at East Lane, Bawdsey on the Suffolk Coast. A distance of 178 Miles.

Cheers James let us know if you see anymore

A full Year

I obtained my C permit to ring birds in December last year and it is exactly a year ago today i put my first net up in Calderdale. I have had a fantastic first year with some great moments.

1435 New Birds ringed 48 species 4 Controls and a lot of memories.

Also 198 new Twite ringed and 67 recaptures all with the North West Twite Project. I would like to thank everybody who has supported me all the landowners for there permission, Dave Sowter, Andy Jowett, Theo Keuchel all the people at Martin Mere for letting me experience" The wonders of Wildfowl"

and anyone else who has let me place Nest Boxes and feed birds

again Thank you.

Nuthatch EGP

Spent today at Elland Gravel Pits. 25 birds ringed mainly Blue Tit and Gt Tit with Dunnock, Chaffinch a young male Gt Spotted Woodpecker and a Female Nuthatch.

End of a nice week

This Morning i spent at Elland Gravel Pits looking for Siskin and Redpoll. One Small flock of 14 Siskin seen feeding on Alders with Goldfinch. 2 Siskin ringed with Blue Tits and Gt Tits.

I was packing up as it had all gone quite

Maybe this was the reason

Cracking Male Sparrow Hawk

Found this on You Tube the other day. It's right good!

The Boys are Back in Town

They grew up here throughout the summer (if you could call it summer). They ate, scrapped, argued and were generally mischievous. In the evening they would enjoy a communal bath and last bite of supper before heading into the safety of the tall ??tree to spend the night. These were the fledgling Starlings, numbering around 30 before they disappeared.

Martin Mere

Another morning at Martin Mere, only a small catch today, but i could quite happily ring Pintail and Teal all day. Thanks to everyone involved its always a great experience.

More Whoopers being fitted with satellite transmitters

click on picture for info on Super Whoopers

last few days

Weekend was spent out at OGP with Andy over 40 birds ringed mainly Tits and Chaffinch with 8 Bullfinches as well . Oh and another new Kingfisher.

Tuesday up at Clifton, hoping for Tree Sparrow 2 seen none ringed , Blackbird and a few Greenfinches ringed very quite except for 170 Golden Plover in field right next to Garden where i ring.

Today up at Ringstone edge after finches and Reed Bunting, again very quite, Dunnock, Robin, and 2 Greenfinches ringed.

Waxwing Control

Out Ringing Waxwing again today 5 new birds today and one Control. Up to 70 birds on burdock way roundabout.

Also ringed 3 Mistle Trushes

6 Blackbirds

Halifax Waxwings

I was all set to get over to Otley this morning to meet Andy. Sent the text message ??? at 6:05 am to see if the weather was OK to get out . Back came the reply

******* weather to windy here.

i got up and looked out of my window not a breath of wind which makes a change up here in Stainland. So i thought Waxwings Halifax no wind clear skies lets go.

The flock has grow over the last 3 days from 23 up to 49 today.

15 new birds ringed today with no recaptures from the previous days.

in all 36 Waxwings ringed .

28 birds hatched this calendar year

5 Adult Females

3 Adult Males

As i am ringing the birds as they leave the Rowen's, their crops are full of berries

some they drop some they hang on to but some { a surprise to me } are kept around the back of the neck under a thin membrane which must be part of the crop? up to 4/5 at any one time are stored here .

Waxwings, Halifax

A great morning in Halifax with 21 Waxwings ringed {Quality not quantity}

15 birds born this year 4 Adult females 2 Adult Males

Thank you to all the people who have shown an interest in what we do and have given there permission to ring on there land.

1 adult Mistle Thrush and 1 juv Redwing ringed as well

This years young below, primaries showing no chevrons

Adult Male wing showing chevrons and white tip to outer most primary

Wax Tips longer and bolder in adults

thinner and shorter in young

Martin Mere start of another winter

I was Invited back to Martin Mere for there first winter catch. Another thoroughly fantastic morning with over 130 Duck caught, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Coot and 7 Greylag Geese. Also 37 Whoopers processed. Six of them had satellite transmitters fitted. Thanks to everyone involved.

Quiet few weeks

As the weather has been awful these last two week ive only had a couple of days out ringing. Last week at OGP with Andy a nice morning with Gt Spotted Woodpecker, Kingfisher ,Bullfinches and all the normal stuff around the feeders. This week another Grey Wagtail and some more Goldcrest down at Stainland Dean with Blue Tits and Gt Tits, Goldfinch, Greenfinch ,Wren and Chaffinch.

Stainland Dean

A very wet and windy week, but quite sheltered down at Stainland Dean today, had a nice movement off Goldcrest through the valley. Having ringed only 8 in nearly a year of first starting at this site to catch 28 today in 2 hours was fantastic. Especially when i only had a 20 ft net up and 12 conifers to ring in. It makes you wonder how many were moving through the valley.

Other birds ringed were, Gt Tit Blue Tit,Treecreeper, Song Thrush, Chaffinch and a retraped Kingfisher from September.

I hate Carmarthenshire!

Not for the first time in my life (Glaucous-winged Gull) I found myself spending all day staring across that blessed Gwendraeth Estuary in Carmarthenshire , seeing absolutely bott-all, this time for Britain's first Little Blue Heron. Loads of mega distant Little Egrets didn't make the job any easier and we left the site at dusk thoroughly pissed-off. It's a pity really, as through the day I saw Hen Harrier, 3 Pergrines, 2 Little Stints, Green Sands and 50+ Little Egrets, but they stood for nowt after not seeing the LBH. I wonder if I'll end up there next weekend?

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Twite in Snowden

Supported by the Kirklees Environment Grant Scheme

Deer Hill Two visits last week, weather was so bad put seed down and left .

2 birds seen on wires today.

Yesterday got news of a Deer Hill bird seen in the Ogwell Valley near Snowden

the bird was reported as Blue White/Pink which means it was ringed at Deer Hill this Season August> October.

Andre did have sightings of Twite from this area before ,i think it was a Lighthazzels Bird.

Twite

A busy few weeks with 2 visits to Deer Hill last week and a visit yesterday bringing a blank, no birds at all.

where as

46 Twite caught at Rishworth in the last week with 37 new bird ringed

and 9 controls.

1 from lighthazzels a 2006 bird

2 from Deer Hill 2007

1 from Deer Hill 2008

3 from Nicks RSPB Nestling scheme

2 with just BTO metal on waiting to find out where from.

Fair Isle post-script

All ended well with the flights. Mark managed to get off Fair Isle on the Saturday flight and we had a good 24 hours birding round Shetland. Saw Ring-necked Duck, Little Bunting, Yellow-browed Warbler, a few summer plumaged Great-Northern Divers and Long-tailed Ducks and caught our flight back to Heathrow on the Sunday afternoon.
All in all, it was a great trip, despite the lack of easterly winds and I'd definitely head back for another visit. It's been 24 years since I last visited Fair Isle and not that much has changed to be honest. The crops around the crofts are much smaller nowadays and more people have cars on the island, but I'm struggling to note many other changes over the last quarter of a century. Hopefully though, I won't leave it that long until I pay my next visit.

Fair Isle - Eviction day in The Puffinn Household

It all happened rather quick really. I was just about to head out into the field when I thought I should check on the status of tomorrow's flights. "Not looking too promising" was Sandra's reply (the lady from Direct-Flights), "are you interested in a seat on today's?" Mark and I both agreed that this was a good idea. We had on confirmed seat and on "90% certain" standby seat. Unfortunately, when the plane arrived, the 90% certain seat became a "no chance" seat, so Mark was left on the side of the runway, bag in hand. I really felt bad taking off from Fair Isle. Not because I was sad to leave such a lovely island that I'd spent 12 great days on, but because I'd had to leave my best mate stranded, helplessly not knowing if he was going to get off the island either today OR tomorrow! Hopefully the wind won't pick up too much tomorrow and Mark will be on the 11am flight.

The Whitburn side of the Puffinn Crew managed to get a flight off too. Their scheduled Sumburgh flight was bought forward to this afternoon, but was also full, so Mark couldn't even get on to that flight either.

We didn't have much time for birding today. The only bird of note was the Common Rosefinch (above) which we had managed to entice down to the front of the house with some bird seed. It certainly seemed to have a penchant for black sunflower seed. Interestingly enough, Mark and I found a Common Rosefinch on The Scillies a few years ago, and it too was feeding in a sunflower seed crop.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Mark will get off on tomorrows flight - here's hoping.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Fair Isle - Day 11 in The Puffinn Household

6.55pm and Brian is in the kitchen. Mark, Cooky, Fos and Graham are in the living-room.

What a contrast from yesterday! After the good birds, light winds and bright sunshine that day 10 brought us, out penultimate full-day on the island proved to be the total opposite. The first hour of day light was lovely, with clear skies and only a light breeze, but that didn't last very long. It was immediately obvious this morning that there had been a big clearout of birds. Hardly any of yesterday's thrushes and warblers could be found and there was a definite feeling of birdlessness. The sunshine didn't last long and by 9am there was 100% cloud cover and a strong wind. The only decent bird of the day for us was a Common Rosefinch feeding next to The Puffin and a Lapwing (island tick) over the south end today.

Tomorrow will be out last full day, but I don't hold out too much hope for anything rare as it's forecast for 25mph southwesterlies. Ah well, you never know….

Mark and I paid an extortionate amount for a Fair Isle hat today (£25 each), but we were not tempted by the £135 jumpers! Terry F-W and Marmaduke were around the Puffin this afternoon, looking to flush more birds. A spokesman for The Puffin is quoted as saying "We think they flushed the Common Rosefinch, a couple of Chiffys and a Woodcock - it's quite a concern, although we obviously can't confirm at the moment whether the Rosefinch was flushed straight into the path of an oncoming Eider".

I'm giving a talk at the obs tonight on 'Birds of Eastern Australia'. At least I'll be able to reminisce over what nice weather feels like.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Clifton

A good morning at Clifton today with 28 birds rings.

Tree Sparrow, Greenfinch, Coal Tit, Blue Tit, Gt Tit, Chaffinch, Wren, Pied Wagtail and Grey Wagtail.

Timble ings Monday

Up at Timble with Andy for 730. Over 30 Goldcrest ringed plus Coal Tits, Long Tailed Tits, and Treecreeper

other birds about were Crossbill, Siskin, Redpoll and 3 Red Kites Over.

Another White’s Thrush Wednesday!

Hot on the heals of last Wednesdays White's Thrushes, today bought another one which showed really well to the amassed birders and dudes (although Sphyrapicus Steve did an excellent impression of Mr. Magoo, looking up in the air as the White's Thrush flew about 5 metres past his knees and then landed under a van behind him and yet he still didn't see it!).
But, I'm jumping the gun. The interesting birds started on Tuesday night. Fos was having his last fag of the night at the doorway of The Puffinn, when a Brambling flew in to in the reception (above). It obviously wasn't too happy as it flew around in circles and when it did alight it was obviously panting. We switched off the lights and it landed on the ground and after a couple of attempts I managed to dazzle it with a head torch and grab it, releasing it outside so it could make alternate accommodation arrangements.
This morning when I rose, the first thing I did was to check on the Guillemot - it was still alive. I decided that there wasn't much else I could do. It had a good rest overnight and it was time to release it and let it do-or-die in the sea. I let it go in South Harbour (above) and it splashed around fairly happily.
So, now on today's birds….
Well, obviously the White's Thrush was great. It was found by Rebecca Nesquick who was happy-snapping one of the two new Bluethroats at the time when the boy jumped out in front of her. I'm sure her photos are much better than mine! There were a bunch of new arrivals on the island today, and thankfully they were birds and not more clueless birders. There were at least 2 new Common Rosefinches and 3 Yellow-broweds on the island today, plus lots of Blackcaps, Redwings, a few other Pylloscopus and Silvia warblers, lots of Brambling and a Short-eared Owl. A 'strange' bunting at the obs started off as a Rustic, then Pine, and finished as a Yellowhammer.
I really thought there would be something really big today (OK, White's Thrush is pretty 'big' but I was hoping for something even bigger than that). Hopefully there'll be some stuff left on the island tomorrow, or there'll be new stuff in overnight for us to find tomorrow.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Fair Isle - Day 9 in The Puffinn Household

Another day of south-easterly winds and very heavy rain. It was pretty obvious from early on that there were new birds in. Lots of Redwings and some Bramblings were immediately evident as well as some Phyloscopus warblers. Unfortunately, the wind, rain and bad light made birding very difficult, with most of the Puffinn crew having to return to base at least once during the day to dry off. Many of the birds around today looked pretty knackered due to their waterlogged plumage. The best find of the day was by Dave who found two Richard's Pipits just inland from The Reevas, whilst Paul and Mark were watching yesterdays bird at Bull Park. Mark also found a probably Siberian (tristris) Chiffchaff at Schoolton. The Reevas and the Western Geos were the busiest places, birdwise, with lots of thrushes (mainly Redwing and Song Thrushes) and a few Wheatears, Goldcrests and Brambling being among the haul. A Pied Fly was seen by most of us in the Bulls Park area, ending up at Setter.

No sightings of 'Sphyrapicus' Steve in the field today - most likely telling the new arrivals about the flocks of Yellow-bellied Sapsuckerss he had in his garden. Apparently, he took some lovely photos of the Bluethroat today. Upon inspection, the photos showed the characteristic dull streaked underparts, dark olive streaked back and black legs. Shame he didn't get it on video - he may have captured the characteristic sharp, high-pitched "tseeeep" call, which separates it from the similar Meadow Pipit.

After the successful rehabilitation of the Meadow Pipit the other day, we have a new guest in the cardboard box. I watched a Common Guillemot very close inshore this afternoon, which was having a hard time of it, being swamped by the surf. It disappeared out of view towards the shore and as predicted was lying on the beach exhausted 10 minutes later. I popped down and pounced on it and it's now snoozing away in my room. I'll check on it in the morning and let it go in a sheltered area somewhere (if it makes it through the night).

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Fair Isle - Day 8 in The Puffinn Household

A day of south-easterly winds and south-eastern fuckwits.

The winds were from the south-east today, but unfortunately so were the birders. Mark and Paul found a Citrine Wagtail which gave everyone the run around. Mark and I also relocated the Richard's Pipit, but just as we were about to get great scope views of it on the deck, some clueless fuckwits with posh London accents just bowled straight up to it and booted it - thanks boys, it only took us 2 hours to find it!

Other than that, not much on the rarity front to report. There was a nice Short-eared Owl flying around near the Store, plus a few common migrants, but not as many as we hoped on the south-easterlies.

I also found an exhausted Meadow Pipit near The Puffinn, so I took it back and stuck it in a cardboard box in a warm room for a few hours until it had time to recover, then let it go in the gardens of one of the crofts where it started to feed actively. Good luck fella!

Oh, well, let's hope tomorrow will bring some birds. It's still forecast for south-easterlies over the next 24 hours, but the wind speed it still quite high, so rare-finding might prove a challenge. Let's hope the newbies on the island will learn some fieldcraft overnight, but I won't hold my breath.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Clifton

A Great Morning up at Clifton today i set up for Tree Sparrows, some about but none caught. As i walked down the lane the 2 ploughed fields were alive with wagtails, counted over 40 Pied Wagtail and 3 Grey Wagtails.

So i set up for Pied Wagtail and caught 3 as well as Starlings, chaffinch, greenfinch and one lone Meadow Pipit.

Other birds about were 60 + Lapwing

46 Black Headed Gulls

3 Lesser Black Backed Gulls

Green Woodpecker

27 Linnets

16 Goldfinch

4 Robins all singing at once

8 Swallows

2 House Martins

Kestrel

Wrens

2 Coal Tits

Blue Tits

Gt Tits

Fair Isle - Day 7 in The Puffinn Household

7.05pm - Brian is in the kitchen (as ever).

It was a very quiet day today, with hardly any passerines to speak of. Cooky had a Richard's Pipit at Field croft, plus a mystery pipit in the Heligoland trapping area. A few Wheatears were along the western slopes and that was about it.

More geese over the island today, including more Barneys and some Pink-feet, plus lots of Greylags. Mark had a summer plumage Great Northern Diver past south light this morning, and that is about it.

Tomorrow is forecast as south-easterlies, so there'll be no lie-in tomorrow. The next couple of days might be our last chance for something big.

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Fair Isle - Day 6 in the Puffinn Household

Raging winds and heavy rain was the order of the day today. Unfortunately, all the winds are from the west. Monday night is forecast to be South-easterly, so we're all hanging on for that. 3 members of the Puffinn Household headed out to the obs for the weekly pub quiz (swizzle-me-quizzle you mother!). Unfortunately, a good 36/45 wasn't good enough to beat the Essex boys, whose 41/45 was a reflection on the types of questions in the quiz (and the fact that they had about 6 people on their team). It was quite interesting to hear the latest exploits of Steve the garden lister, from Surrey. Steve must have THE most amazing garden, as he's already seen about 5 species of bird which haven't even been recorded in Britain before. The December records of Red-footed Falcon and Bluethroat in his garden are most interesting! Apparently he had an Icterine Warbler the other day. He knew it was an Icky as he knows the calls of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler, and it wasn't one of those! Apparently, he rings up the Surrey county recorder when he sees something interesting. I bet it's endless fun having him on the phone.

Anyway, another lie-in was in order and then I spent most of the morning seawatching from my bedroom window. Sooty Shearwater was the best seabird I managed to muster and a Puple Sand on the rocks below the house was also the first of the trip. A few blue Fulmars passed by, identifiable by the lack of contrast between the back and the head, were seen in amongst the thousands of pale Fulmars.

Lots of geese arrived on the island today, mainly Greylags, but 10 Barnacle Geese were also a nice sight over The Puffinn, but possibly not as nice as the 120 over the obs.
The rain stopped and the sun came out at about 3pm, but the wind kept up quite a head of steam, but I headed out anyway to see if I could turn anything up. 2 Whooper Swans flew over the island and a couple more Barnacles hung around with some Greylags. The best(?) bird of the day was a Common Rosefinch (above) at Field croft, complete with ring, which has been hanging out at various places on the island for the past week. You take your life in your hands when you visit Field croft though, as the resident snarling-devil-dog will probably chomp on your leg given half a chance - keep away from the backdoor!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device