More Redpoll

Managed to get out for a couple of hours before the weather kicked in during the last few days.

another 20 Redpoll ringed with 4 Redwing, 5 Blackbirds 2 being Continental bird's, few more Goldcrests and Coal Tits another Jay and a Drake Mallard that came to close to the car while we were ringing

Redwing ageing as well as Tail shape white wedges show on the young birds

Tertials

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Twite season ends

Reports this week from Dr Guy Anderson down on The Wash at Terrington Marsh that he had a good flock of Twite with a mixture of colour rings some Nicks and some ours from this Autumn RED/WHITE above Pink and a few 2008 birds and 2007 birds.

So they are on there way again.

This year i have caught 307 Twite in the Pennines with 227 of them being new birds

{Unringed}

Since August i have ringed 143 birds that were born this year.

That with Nicks pulli project of 250 birds

makes 393 1st year birds ringed in 2009.

Also report of unringed Twite still being seen, so all in all not a bad year for this cracking little bird, again lets hope all is being done to try and improve Breeding grounds, wintering grounds

feeding areas etc so this bird can keep making its journey back and fourth for years to come.

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Meadow Pipit Turns up

Just got news of a Meadow Pipit we ringed at Kex Gill Quarry in 2007 {two pink rings on left leg} was recaught at Thistledown, nr Nympsfield in Gloucestershire on 13/10/2009 . Nice to know they are still out there.

Thanks to Phil Williams for letting us know.

Also had a quite week as have been laid up with the most awful cough since Sunday

managed to open net in the garden with a few more Starlings ringed

and the Goldfinch number is now touching 70 well 69.

hope to be out at the weekend weather don't look good.

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Timble

Another great morning at Timble with 35 more Redwing Ringed and 26 Redpoll.

Also 4 More Goldcrest and Coal Tits and Blue/Great Tits.

Good Flock of 29 Crossbill near nets but not playing.

Like most Thrushes you can Age Redwing on Tail Shape

The rounded tail feathers belonging to the Adult birds

Euring age 4

{Hatched before current calendar year}

Pointed tail Feathers belonging to the juvenile bird

Euring age 3

{Definitely hatched during current calendar year}

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15 Oct 09 - Pied Wheatear, Horsey Gap, Norfolk

Dashed out for an extended lunch today for a quick twitch up to Horsey Gap to see the 1st-winter male Pied Wheatear sat on the pillbox just south of the NT car park. The bird called quite often, a soft "chit", similar to a Stonechat, but without the hard 'tacking' property. It often flew in the air and hovered a-la Eurasian Skylark and this enabled viewers to see the sooty underwing and characteristic tail pattern.

The bird was really co-operative and sat on the pillbox at close range for extended periods. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the Paddyfield Warbler at Snettisham. After sitting on news of it for 6 hour, word finally got out but the bird had gone. Thanks guys - not!

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13 Oct 09 - Raptors in Oxon

Whilst driving around Oxfordshire looking for gulls, there was a number of photo opps for raptors, particularly a nice perched-up Common Buzzard and numerous Red Kites.
Here's a selection....

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13 Oct 09 - Azorean Yellow-legged Gull in Oxon

After seeing London's Brown Shrike I headed off to Didcot and spent the rest of the day searching for the Azorean Yellow-legged Gull that Ian Lewington found last week at the dump between Didcot and Appleford. After going back and forward between the fields and the dump pool for 5 hours, I finally decided enough was enough and decided to give the fields one last look, but before I could start sifting through all the gulls a Perigrine attacked them and all the gulls from all the fields flew up and headed to the dump, so I decided to give the pool one last look and sure enough, there it was swimming around with the LBBG's. Azorean Gull is a real beast as can be seen from the photos below.

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13 Oct 09 - Brown Shrike in London

OK, I know most* people will say that Staines is in Surrey, or Middlesex or somewhere like that, but as far as I'm concerned, if it's inside the M25 - it's in London.

*southerners

After not having time to go to Flanelborough last autumn and not bothering with Marcus Lawson's 'Red-backed Shrike' on Bryher those many moons ago, it was great to finally catch up with Brown Shrike. I've only seen adults in Asia, so it was nice to see a first-winter so well.
There are a number of features which identifies the bird as Brown. The black mask with flaring white supercillium, the very short primary projection, the round head and round body, giving it a rather rotund appearance, the quite long, but more importantly, thin tail with the outer-tail feathers being about 2/3 the length of the longest tail feathers, the plain looking tertials and the fairly unmarked flanks.

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More Redwing

I Could not make it out today more's the pity. Andy reports another 32 Redwing ringed and 6 Redpoll.

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A touch of Autumn

A fantastic morning spent at Timble with Andy. We initially went for Redpoll and Crests, as we were setting up 100s of Redwing were moving through. So the plan changed.

Species Ringed

30 Goldcrest

5 Coal Tits

1 Jay

6 Redpoll

1 Robin

49 Redwing

other birds about

Crossbills

Brambling

Sparrowhawk

Lapland Bunting Heard

All morning Redwings passed over must have been 3000

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Cooper Bridge

A nice morning at Cooper Bridge today.

Species ringed

2 Blue Tits

2 Long-tailed Tits

2 Gt Tits
1 Chaffinch

3 Bullfinch

1 Blackbird

7 Greenfinch

2 Goldfinch

1 Gt Spotted Woodpecker

and

2 Chiffchaff

Also

50 Goldfinch ringed in the garden now in two weeks with only 1 retrap

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Twite at Rishworth

Another good Morning at Rishworth 25 new Twite ringed today with 4 retraps form 2 weeks ago none from last week and 3 of Nicks Birds.

Dave Sowter and Myself have always started catching more new birds as October kicks in we think its new parties of birds that are now moving down the Pennines. Maybe small colonies that have nested further up on the moors on the move . Who knows, maybe as it gets colder and food starts to run out they come into a food source.

148 New birds Colour ringed since August

72 of them at Rishworth.

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Ringstone comes to me

After 4 years of going to Ringstone edge reservoir watching, photographing and ringing birds there. Today it came to me . A Dunnock i ringed there on 06/12/08 turned up in my garden today.

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Twite at Rishworth

Met Up at Rishworth yesterday with Kane and set up for Twite. A beautiful sunny morning with up to 46 Twite seen. The birds were very flittish at first and would not settle on seed. After about 2 hours i moved my car and firing string back away from the catching area another 60ft. That seemed to work and within 10 minutes we had caught 15.

23 Twite caught with 11 new birds being colour ringed.

6 of Nick Wilkensons birds

and 5 retraps from september

ALSO

1 control from Deer Hill a 2007 bird, which was a nice surprise as

i have not seen any of these birds this year ?

and we ringed over 200 with Yellow/Blue Blue/Yellow .

also 1 female linnet ringed.

birds about

1 sparrow Hawk

1 Wheatear.

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