best birds: January 2010

Big Garden Birdwatch 2010 (continued)

I have just submitted my results for the Big Garden Birdwatch for 2010.

I had been planning on doing the count yesterday but Ron was working on the roof of his garage which is located at the rear of our garden. Too much disturbance was going to have an affect on the birds, plus the fact that I did not fancy sitting behind the patio doors with my pen, paper and cup of tea, staring up the garden

End of week

Nice end to the week , picked Andy up at 730 and set off for OGP.Aden was there already and again we tried for Water Rail.

No Luck after about 2 Hours we decided to move round to the feeders and see what was about. 0ver 30 Birds caught mainly Tits and Chaffinch with a few Bullfinch as well.

Over 50 Goldfinch ringed this week at Ringstone plus the Siskin so a nice week all in all.

Ageing Chaffinch at Otley Gravel Pits

Some shots from Ringstone this week what a stunning little bird these are

King Harries my Mum use to call them, don't know if that is a Norfolk expression?

Oldest Twite to Dunwich??

Got some great photos of Twite down at Dunwich from Jon Evans

Rishworth birds again from 2008 and 2009.

Also a bird with Red over Blue Orange , Dave Sowter tells me

“Left below knee red over blue orange and right below knee metal (LBR,B,O;RBM) This Twite was ringed as one of a cohort in the Spring of 2003 and is very interesting because that makes it 7+ years old since it must have been born in 2006 if not earlier.”

Could this Twite be 7+ YEARS OLD

Many Thanks to Jon for the images

Big Garden Birdwatch 2010

Do not forget, for those of you living in the UK, that the Big Garden Birdwatch takes place this weekend, that is 30th and 31st January. It is organised by the RSPB but you do not have to be a member to take part.

All you need to do is to record the highest number of each species of bird seen in your garden, or local park (but not flying over) at any one time, during a one hour period on either

New Species for Ringstone Edge

Great day at Ringstone yesterday with 50 Birds ringed

40 new Goldfinch plus 3 retraps from November

4 Dunnocks 1 retrap from December 2007

1 Chaffinch

2 Blue Tits 1 retrap from February 2008

Today i went up at 730 Quite a nice morning to start

and what a start

6 Siskin {4 Males and 2 females} in net straight away a new species for Ringstone plus

8 more Goldfinch all new birds.

Then oooh it started to snow.

Rishworth Twite now turn up in Suffolk

Reports of a Rishworth Quarry Bird ringed in autumn 2009 now down in Dingle/Walberswick area of Suffolk.

I ringed over 80 New Twite last Autumn at Rishworth with the codes Red/white over Pink on Left Leg and Metal BTO over yellow Blue on the right Leg.

Distance of 177 Miles

Thanks to Dave Sowter for passing info on and to Jon for taking the picture and taking the time to report it.

Things I've never seen

1:Coots flying,

I've Watched them for Hours, fight, feed young, run along the water but never seen them actually Fly.

The weekend started off great with a text from Kane telling me one of the Coots we colour ringed at Southport on the 12 of January had turned up at Watermead County Park in Leicester yesterday a distance of 167 KM. FANTASTIC This is the first one of Kanes Colour ringed coots to move a good distance. So keep your eyes open.

2: Bittern sat 40ft up in a Tree

Picked Andy and Ian up at 7:30 and set off for OGP . Water Rail was on the agenda for the day so 4 Potter traps were packed in the car .

We also placed a sixty ft Mist net up as a few Siskin and Redpoll were seen.

After a few hour of Water Rails calling and seeing the odd quick view of a few , we were about to pack up when Ian saw a Bittern fly from Left to right over the reed bed and off towards the Sailing Club there it landed and sat 40ft up in a large Tree.

I think the bird has been reported at OGP for the last week.

We all grab are bins and scope {wished id packed big camera}and watched it for half an hour.

It was along way away but with the scope got some lovely full views of a bird you very rarely see. We all took some record shots and hopefully i will get sent some and post them, nothing great , but what a quite extraordinary behaviour for a bird that skulks around reed beds .

Believe it or not it is there somewhere.

Long Tailed Tits being ringed today

Aden, Ian and Andy

Ringstone edge reservoir

Up at Ringstone this morning, The Reservoir is still frozen in Parts.

2 Small nets put up and only 13 Birds caught. Where have they all gone , i went to Cooper Bridge yesterday, a nice day no wind and in 3 hours i caught one retrap Long Tailed Tit. TRADGIC .

Has the Cold spell affected them, moved them off to warmer climbs or has the big thaw made them find food away from feeding stations??

Anyway today

3 Reed Bunting 2 females and a Male ringed

6 Goldfinch

1 Gt Tit

2 Dunnock

1 Robin

it can only get better

Downloaded APP for I phone makes my 2 mega pixel camera a 5 mega pixel Camera, a bit of an improvement.

17 Jan 10 - An afternoon round The Norfolk Broads

My main mission today was to go and have a look at Barton Broad, which had Ferruginous Duck and drake Smew there. I tried last weekend, but it was blowing a NE gale right across the ice-covered broad straight into my face and I really couldn't be bothered to stand there in the freezing-cold looking right across the other side of the broad in the fading afternoon light. Today though, was to be different. With most of the snow gone, ice melted and the sun in the sky, I diverted to Wroxham Broad to have a quick check. Not much going on there. Lots of Tufted Ducks and lots of small gulls roosting, but not much else.

I arrived at Barton Broad at about 1.30pm and the 'Fudge' Duck, along with 3 drake Smew were showing really well in the, now ice-free, bay in front of the the observation platform.

Then it was off to Rush Hills Scrape where there was quite a lot of coming and going of ducks (mainly Teal and Shoveler). A nice Lesser Redpoll stopped to feed in a nearby Alder giving some nice photo opportunities. A walk a little further along the Weavers Way provided more Redpoll, a fly-over drake Goosander and a couple of roosting Tawny Owls.

On the way back, the number of duck had risen quite markedly up to 250 Common Teal, but Andy Kane appeared on the opposite bank (presumably to do some maintenance work) and all the duck got up and flew off. Presumably there was a redhead Smew with them as one was reported there around the same time. Anyway, a nice day around the broads and it's good to see the back of the snow and ice.

Nice to get Nets up.

The Big Thaw is on thank god, another 15 Birds caught in the Moudry Trap this week in my Garden , Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Gt Tits and Robins.

Today went to Cooper Bridge still very quite, but 15 Birds ringed,

3 Bullfinch all Females

2 Robins

5 Chaffinch 3 Males 2 Females

1 Female Reed Bunting

3 Blue Tits

1 Gt Tit

NO retraps

Nice to get a mist net up again.

Other birds about 4 Goosander on the river with 2 Mute Swan

and a Moorhen.

Southport Yesterday Cootastic

A Fantastic Day at Southport Yesterday with 50 New Coots being Colour Ringed with 3 retraps.

Also we were placing Grain in the Shallows for Tufted Duck to eat and it proved a big Success with 25 being Caught 2 of them Controls.

Peter and Thomas Fearon turned up which made processing the birds much quicker. We normally take full biometrics on the Coots but with it being quite cold at the moment - we only took wing measurements.

Kane and his group have Colour Ringed over 260 Coots this winter, Great Project.

Me and Thomas with 3 Tufted Duck

Out For Buzzards and Kites

Andy was out at the weekend baiting his sights for Buzzards and Kites no luck so far , another Moudry Trap being used. Under the snow so you and the birds can not see it. All traps are watched from a distance and never left unattended.

I think thats a rabbit??

Cage Trapping

Due to the weather decided to do a bit of cage trapping in the garden.

i bought a wireless webcam a few weeks back and set it next to the trap so i can see it on the PC all the time.

I use a few different cage traps but this one is the Moudry universal cage trap UCT30.

check out Mr Moudry website for all different traps.

www.moundry.cz/

12 Tits caught this aft 2 from December 2007

No Ringing

Due to Cold weather no ringing this week , i have been out to certain sights filling up feeders and putting down seed .In the garden this week have had a lot of enjoyment out of watching 3 Mistle Thrushes that have suddenly turned up . They spend the day Fighting over two cotoneaster bushes, more time is spent chasing Blackbirds and each other that eating the berries.

The Fieldfare | a bird new to my Garden

It is always exciting to spot a bird that you have not seen before. Today I saw a Fieldfare, a species of bird new to my Garden. And not just one, but upwards of 25 in total, they have been around for most of the day. I did not identify them as being Fieldfares when first seen this morning, I merely thought they were Starlings that appeared different because of the way the sun was shining

Totals for 2009

Retraps/
Full grown Pulli Recoveries Total

Sparrowhawk 1 0 0 1

Redshank 0 8 0 8

Common Sandpiper 1 2 1 4

Woodpigeon 3 0 0 3

Collared Dove 1 0 0 1

Tawny Owl 1 2 0 3

Kingfisher 2 0 0 2

Green Woodpecker 2 0 0 2

Gt Spotted Woodpecker 9 0 3 12

Swallow 0 5 0 5

Meadow Pipit 382 0 0 382

Dipper 1 0 0 1

Wren 11 0 0 11

Dunnock 34 0 5 39

Robin 42 0 4 46

Stonechat 1 0 0 1

Wheatear 4 0 0 4

Blackbird 23 4 0 27

Song Thrush 2 0 0 2

Reed Warbler 1 0 0 1

Lesser Whitethroat 1 0 0 1

Whitethroat 4 0 1 5

Garden Warbler 1 0 0 1

Blackcap 10 0 0 10

Chiffchaff 30 0 0 30

Willow Warbler 17 0 0 17

Goldcrest 2 0 0 2

Long-tailed Tit 72 0 1 73

Coal Tit 30 0 0 30

Blue Tit 207 33 19 259

Great Tit 133 26 15 174

Nuthatch 2 0 0 2

Treecreeper 1 0 0 1

Jay 1 0 0 1

Starling 32 0 0 32

House Sparrow 20 0 0 20

Tree Sparrow 30 12 4 46

Chaffinch 59 0 0 59

Greenfinch 153 0 5 158

Goldfinch 111 0 2 113

Linnet 42 0 1 43

Bullfinch 20 0 0 20

Yellowhammer 1 0 0 1

Reed Bunting 16 0 1 17

Twite 227 0 80 307

Herring Gull 7 0 0 7

Total: 1750 92 142 1984

Another year Begins

Out with Andy today , nice to get out again after this awful weather we are having up here in Stainland still have about 8 inches of snow on the ground. You drive 5 miles in any direction and its all green fields.

Anyway another year starts with a few more Reed Bunting and Chaffinch ringed at Ringstone edge and at Cooper Bridge, no big numbers of birds about at all, i thought my feeders would be busy but the birds have obviously moved on to warmer climbs.

Today 5 more Blackbirds and a few Tits and a Robin out with Andy we set up spring trap for Kites and Buzzard but there was no interest, we will keep trying.

2009 Saw me Ring 1610 new birds in and around Calderdale, highlights were new species like Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Green woodpecker, no Waxwing in 2009 and Wader Pulli numbers were down on 2008 But a good year non the less.

Also 0ver 300 Twite were caught in 2009

and i started ringing in the Isle of Man and was back at Martin Mere

thanks to everybody who read

s this blog and to all the people who have help me ring over the last year.

Happy New Year to you all.

Here are a few 2009 Memories ,

View 2009

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