Little Tern update

Back in June we caught a little Tern ring Number NV95538

we now have the info back on it

This Little Tern was ringed as a chick back in 1998 in a colony at 

Gt Yarmouth Norfolk .

13 years ago

now nesting in the isle of Man

{ANOTHER NORFOLK COME-OVER}

another great record 

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Linnets Stonechat and GANNET!!!!!

This Morning i went up to check woosh site as i had placed seed down two days ago. 8 linnets feeding when i got there so i set up. No big flocks coming in yet but small family parties dropping in.

10 Linnets Ringed

1 juv Stonechat

As i was ringing the Stonechat, Eddy from the gravel Pits turned up and told me he had a Swallow in the car that had flown into the crusher. 

I took it out the box and it was dazed, no sign of damage to wings. I left it in the box so it could rest.

He then said I've got a Gannet sat on the main track as well

A Gannet! 

Yes its sat on the main track in the way of all the vehicles, can you come and have a look.

When i got there the bird looked fine i picked it up and it was full of fight. There was a small amount of damage to the carpel joint but it was flapping its wing ok .

I decided to take it down to one of the big lakes and see how it went on. 

As soon as it got on the water it was bathing and flapping and paddling around .

I watched it for ten minutes and it seemed ok. 

I didn't Put a ring on it

The Swallow was taken out the box an hour later  it was flapping its wings like mad so i ringed it and off it flew quite happy.

Gannet

Gannet on Lake

Stonechat

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Rock Pipits season starts again

Waiting in all morning for the heating oil to be delivered. This afternoon went down to Port Moar to check on the Rock Pipit situation only 5 Pipits about all unringed and the beach was very clean not much seaweed about. I place two spring traps out and caught 2 juv Rock Pipits which i colour ringed. 

This evening another 3 Herring Gulls wooshed in the garden

Also yesterday we had 7 retraps at the new feeder site 

1 of the Blue tit retraps was ringed as a 3J in July 2006 at the wildlife park 

by our very own Kev Scott. 

Nice one

Rock Pipit

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Back down to earth

Last few days been out checking the Gull Colonies at the gravel pits and the tip 2 new Herring Gull Chicks ringed and colour ringed. And a bird we had just metal ringed as we ran out of Darvics last visit  we recaught and added a colour ring, all the Gulls are now flying and will soon be moving off.

Also another 20 Sand Martins caught 19 new birds and 1 re trap from last year.

Today the first 3 hours were spent at Close Sartfield

Only 6 Birds ringed

Song Thrush
Willow Warbler
Blackcap
Blue Tit
Gt Tit
Treecreeper

Mark is back over on holiday and came out with me today we had a walk down the lane from Close Sartfield. There is a garden there with a fantastic feeding station so we knocked on the door and asked
 if we could ring. The owners a Mr Mrs Colvin said yes. 1 40FT net and 2 hours later we had caught 81 birds

7 re traps the rest new

Mainly Tits, Blue, Gt and Coal with a good number off Chaffinch
Siskin
Goldfinch
Tree Sparrow
and
Blackbird

Hopefully we will ring here once a month from now on

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Starlings go for a Day Out

I sat outside with my bowl of cornflakes, enjoying a rare moment of peace in the early morning sunshine. In the uppermost branches of the tall conifer that overlooks our garden, were a multitude of Starlings. How many, I could not hazard a guess at, some were in full view while others were merely ghostly heads showing through the foliage.

The Starlings were unusually quiet, normally an endless

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Ringing on the island of Flatey

A short video of the visit to Iceland a great time was had by all, Me and Kev returned on Friday, Kane and Chris are staying on. They leave the island tomorrow where they go north to start catching the Whooper Swans for WWT

i received a text from kane today saying the weeks totals were as follows

663 Kittiwake

180 Shag

71 Black Guillemot Chicks

61 Red necked Phalarope

55 Arctic Terns

27 Puffins

24 Fulmar

21 Snipe

16 Snow Bunting

12 Mallard

11 Eider

9 Ringed Plover

9 Redwing

6 Meadow Pipits

5 Redshank

4 Oystercatcher

1 Whitewagtail

1 Grey Phalarope Chick

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4 Go to Iceland

Just a quick post to say i have just got back from a fantastic week on the island of Flatey. 

Flatey is the largest island of the western island, a cluster of about forty large and small islands and islets located in Breiðafjörður on the northwestern part of Iceland.

Me and Kev had been invited out by Kane and Chris who have been going for the last few years

A great week with Aevar Petersen and his family and Sverrir Thorstensen 

Here are a few photos and video of what we got up to 

More to Follow....................

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Sand Martin first ringed in Cheshire

Last night i blogged about a Sand Martin i had controlled 

Today i got great reply from David Norman of the Merseyside ringing group

Sand Martin X308602 was ringed by me as a 3J roosting at Oxmoor Local Nature Reserve, near Runcorn, Cheshire (SJ5584), on 30 July 2009.

There was quite a substantial roost in phragmites alongside a narrow brook, and I caught 462 Sand Martins and 68 Swallows in three sessions 24, 25 and 30 July.

Thanks David for such as fast reply this Sand Martin was sexed as a female and is now nesting at the Point of Ayre in the isle of Man distance 99 Miles away from where it was first ringed

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Winter in the NSW Mallee

Departing Sydney on Saturday morning with Max, we started counting birds as we crossed the Hawkesbury. On the drive to Forbes, the best birds seen included Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos, Brown Falcons, Black-shouldered Kites, and a juvenile Spotted Harrier. At the Forbes Caravan Park, we had a quick 5 minute look around, and surprisingly managed to get a dark morph White-bellied Cuckoo-shrike, Hobby and Sacred Kingfisher. We hadn't even started to do proper birding and we'd already recorded 45 species for the trip list!

We had a few hours of daylight left, and what way can you spend time at Forbes other than Gum Swamp? My unfaltering optimism (perceived as a flaw in my personality by Max), hoped for a nice and obliging bittern. Unfortunately, life doesn't work like that, though we did get some great birds around the swamp including, but not limited to, Blue-billed Duck, Pink-eared Duck, Sea Eagle, Hoary-headed Grebe, plus some early migrants in the form of Rufous Songlark and Australian Reed-warbler. If this winning streak kept up, the next day looked promising!

Being my birthday (:D), we convinced our lovely driver, my mum, to leave at 7:00 to maximise time at Round Hill Reserve. The 2 hour drive included highlights such as Yellow-billed Spoonbill, Brolga, more Spotted Harriers and various western parrots such as Cockatiel, Ringneck and Mulga. We arrived in Round Hill Nature Reserve, and were very amused when we accidentally drove past the entrance to the "old wheat field" and found a large number of tyre tracks made by cars performing u-turns, obviously made by other birders missing the road (the sign was partially hidden behind a few bushes). Time for the real birding to begin!

The famous "old wheat field" is recognised as the best birding spot in Round Hill. It consists of an area of less-dense mallee that hasn't quite grown back after the area was cleared for farming many years ago. I'm not sure whether the birds prefer it, or we can just find them more easily here, but it didn't disappoint. The first target of the trip, White-fronted Honeyeater, was heard as we exited the car, but they proved to be extremely frustrating and neither of us had particularly good views. A pair of Shy Heathwren entertained for a few minutes, and Max alerted me to a pair of Chestnut Quail-thrush feeding only 3 metres away (the most obliging quail-thrushes for the whole trip… AKA, the only ones that didn’t run away!)

The track to the west of the wheat field was supposed to be reliable for Red-lored Whistler. No cigar, but we did find Yellow-plumed Honeyeater and Southern Scrub Robin. We did go to Whoey Tank, but there was nothing there worth mentioning (dead in all aspects of the word). By this point, we were getting a bit tired, and mum wanted to have a break from driving, so we opted to head to Lake Cargelligo for the famous STW. A quick stop at Chat Alley on the way out was very disappointing, not even a peep from anything remotely feathered. The STW however, that's another story!

A first for me, Australian Shelduck, was just about the first bird seen - a pair sitting right next to the bird hide. A walk round the STW proved to be fantastic, with White-fronted Chats, Horsfield's Bronze Cuckoo, Brown Quail, Little Grassbird, White-winged Fairy-wren, Little Eagle, and fantastic views of both Baillon's and Spotted Crakes feeding in the open as the sun started to dip below the horizon.

The next morning was an even earlier start, and we arrived at the wheat field just after sunrise. It was VERY cold, and the only lifer found here was Grey-fronted Honeyeater. It was only when we turned the car back on that we realised we'd just been walking around for an hour in NEGATIVE FOUR DEGREES!!! I couldn't feel my nose...

The road leading south/west from the wheat field allowed us fantastic views of all 3 target honeyeater species (we'd only had brief views at the wheat field), and we sighted two Pink Cockatoos next to the railway, along with another Spotted Harrier. The only Malleefowl we managed for the whole trip decided to be invisible and just leave us a small trail of tantalising footprints…

On the way back to Lake Cargelligo for lunch, we stopped at Booberoi Creek, which was great with Brown Treecreepers, many Diamond Firetails and I finally got sitting views of a Painted Button-quail (albeit the dull male, but you can't have everything!). Absolute highlight of the day was to follow - we were on the track of a female Button-quail, when we flushed it and it flew off... right into a large flock of Choughs which let off a number of very loud screeches and most jumped straight up into the air. A very confused (and probably very frightened) quail kept going and disappeared into some long grass, where we decided to leave her be.

We scoped the lake, and added a few more birds to the trip list, and saw a few more Spotted Harriers (an extremely common bird this trip, we saw at least 12!). We headed back out to the reserve at dusk for some spotlighting. On the way, we thought we may as well try Whoey Tank again with our last hour of remaining daylight. In a perfect example of Sod’s Law, what do we find but a stunning, and very compliant Gilbert’s Whistler! Grant's "dead cert" Spotted Nightjars didn't show (though we're pretty sure we heard one), but at least we had great views of a pair of Barn Owls and an Owlet Nightjar at Booberoi Creek.

We drove back to Bathurst the next day (adding a few more Spotted Harriers and a Black Kite to the list), and I managed to spot Max a nice and close-up pair of Ground Cuckoo-shrikes next to the road. Later in the day at Boundary Road Reserve, Bathurst, I finally found a much needed Western Gerygone, as well as a few Speckled Warblers. The night was spent at my Grandparents and we drove back to Sydney the next day.

In the end, Max and I both got 9 lifers, and we saw 146 birds on the trip. A great way to spend the winter holidays!

 Malleefowl Print

Gum Swamp, Forbes 

Southern Scrub-robin 

Round Hill NR, Old Wheat Field 

Chestnut Quail-thrush 

Lake Cargelligo STW 

Australian Owlet Nightjar 

Find the Shy Heathwren... 

Ground Cuckoo-shrike 

Grey-fronted Honeyeater

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Controlled Sandmartin

Another 25 Sandmartins caught tonight 23 new birds 

1 retrap from 18/08/2010

1 control  ring number X308602

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Photo

Just a photo of one of the Lesser Black-backed Gull we have colour ringed

This bird was ringed back on May 18 this year by Kane 

and was seen again this Monday 11 July 

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Tonight

Me and Kev decided to go up the gravel pits to try for some more Gull Chicks, on the way  i got a call of a mate to say he had just found a Sparrowhawk nest, well accessible with some biggish chicks in. I told Kev who was on way and we all met up.

2 Female chicks

and 

1 Male chick ringed

a great find and ready to ring as well.

We then set off up to the Gull Colony,  14 more Gull chicks ringed, over 70 large Gull Chicks now ringed here in last few weeks

Herring Gull chicks waiting to be ringed

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Unusual Young House Sparrow

Here are a few pictures Of the unusual Young House Sparrow with white wing and tail feathers ( mentioned in previous post here )



This was a recently fledged young Sparrow, able to fly, but still reliant on the parent birds to provide the food.

I saw it for a period of about half an hour, but have not seen it again since that time.

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Tuesday till now

A mixed few days with another 80 odd birds ringed

12 More Swallow chicks

13 more Herring Gull chicks

3 Adults ringed in garden as well

1 Lesser Black-backed Gull chick

1 Oystercatcher Chick

38 Sandmartins

Sandmartins

4 Blackbirds

2 Siskin

5 House sparrow

1 Dunnock

1Chaffinch

1Robin

1 Blue Tit

1 Coal Tit

and 

1 re trap Meadow Pipit from last year 

L579614 ringed at the Point of Ayre 01/09/2010 re caught yesterday 600 metres from where first caught 

This Morning was at the sulby site with Chris and Kay

 91 New Birds ringed

 mainly 

Blue Tits and Gt Tits

with a few 

 Coal Tits 

Blackbirds

Chaffinch

House Sparrow

and a

Family party of Blackcaps

and 

Greenfinch

off out this eve with Kev, Chris and Kay to finish of ringing at the Cormorant Colony

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My Garden Birds | This Week

Looking back at the week with my Garden Birds.
It's been a funny old week - weatherwise that is - one minute it's sunshine, then heavy downpours of rain, then the next thing you know, out comes the sun again. But wind, rain or shine, nothing on the weather front stops the birds from visiting the garden.
Reflecting on the past week, it has been a rare moment indeed to look out on the back garden

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TODAY

Today 2 more Herring Gull chicks ringed  plus two Oystercatcher chicks as well.

Last few days i have been out and about on my new purchase

Today of Maughold Head we fed the Gulls and out of 30 which came in to the boat 2 were ringed

T5TT ringed in my garden 4 June 2010 First re sighting

T9TU ringed in my garden 12 June 2010 First re sighting

Also 3 Puffins off Maughold Head

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Another week goes by

A busy week with the small Swallow project being a great success with 83 pulli ringed and more nest with eggs to ring in a few weeks. Also busy in the garden with Goldfinch, Siskin and House Sparrow.

The last few days me and Kev have been concentrating on the small, large Gull Colony up at the Point Of Ayre. Last two afternoons we have Colour ringed over 45 Large Gull chicks 

32 Herring Gulls at tip and 2 in Kevs Garden

with 9 Lesser Black backed Gulls

and 2 Gt Black backed Gulls

LBB GULLS

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

GBB Gull Chick

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