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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Ringing near Gifford : winter 06-07 (1 Viewer)

Mist netting was impossible this weekend due to wind. Whoosh netting was carried out at two stations at site 1 on 11/2/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

At Skylark feeding station, catching one new grey partridge and one new skylark.
Also seen/heard around the ringing site :
Tawny owl
5+ Golden Plover
and at the adjacent main feeding station :
100-120 finches / bunting, mainly yellowhammer, quite a lot of chaffinch, c.10 brambling, reed bunting.

At linnet feeding station, catching 30 new linnet
from several modest flocks moving around. On Friday 115 were counted here.
with a buzzard nearby.

In my garden :
pr Grey partridge (feeding for long periods, not too feart)
Greater spotted woodpecker
1 redwing
c.20 chaffinch
6 greenfinch
2 goldfinch
1 yellowhammer

600-800 woodpigeons in one rape field - easily the biggest flock I have seen this winter.

And at site 3 :
6+ Tree sparrow
Greenfinch
30+ chaffinch
c.150 Yellowhammer

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.
 
Ringing at site 3 on 18/2/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

Blackbird new 8
retrap 2
Blue tit new 3
retrap 1
Chaffinch new 4
retrap 2
Coal tit new 2
retrap
Dunnock new 3
retrap 6
Greenfinch new 3
retrap
House sparrow new
retrap 1
Tree sparrow new 8
retrap 1
Yellowhammer new 23
retrap 4
TOTALS new 54
retrap 17

Also around ringing site :
Tawny owl 3+
Barn owl
Kestrel
Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Peewit
Grey partridge
Greater spotted woodpecker 3+
Starling
Pied wagtail
Skylark
Jays
Mistle thrush
Reed bunting

Whoosh netting on 18/2/07 at linnet feeding station, site 1 :
Linnet new 114
retrap 1

Also present around netting site :
Kestrel
over 200 linnet altogether

Whoosh netting on 17/2/07 at linnet feeding station, site 1 :
Greenfinch new 2
retrap 0
Linnet new 24
retrap 1

Also around netting site :
Buzzard
Kestrel
Merlin
loads of skylark

18/2/07 Winter plover count :
43 Peewit * see below

also seen :
3 pairs grey partridge
scattered linnet flocks
several skylark, well scattered

At Site 1 main feeding station 18/2/07 :
Buzzard
100+ mixed finches and bunting, mainly yellowhammer, many chaffinch, 2, probably 4 brambling

17/2/07 :
Buzzard
Pr. Grey partridge
c.20 chaffinch
c.40 yellowhammer

another small flock of chaffinch nearby.

In my garden (17/2/07) :
pr Grey partridge
c.20 chaffinch
2 greenfinch

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.

* told the farmer concerned who immediately started considering how he might manage this area so as not to damage their breeding.
 
Ringing at site 1 main feeding station on 25/2/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

Blackbird new 1
retrap
Brambling new 4
retrap
Chaffinch new 8
retrap 4
Dunnock new 6
retrap 2
Reed bunting new 1
retrap
Robin new
retrap 1
Song Thrush new 1
retrap
Tree sparrow new 1
retrap
Yellowhammer new 21
retrap 4
TOTAL new 43
retrap 11


Also seen/heard around the ringing site :
Tawny owl
Golden Plover
3 Wigeon
Fieldfare
Greenfinch

Flocks of linnet still present at the linnet feeding station.

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.
 
Ringing at site 3 on 3/3/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

Blackbird new
retrap 4
Blue tit new
retrap 1
Chaffinch new 5
retrap
Dunnock new 1
retrap 3
Great tit new 2
retrap
Greenfinch new 1
retrap
Robin new
retrap 2
Yellowhammer new 2
retrap 6
TOTALS new 11
retrap 16


Also around ringing site :
Tawny owl
Buzzard 3
Peewit
Woodcock (roding)
Greater spotted woodpecker
Starling 2
Skylark
Pied wagtail 2
Jay 2
2 Mistle thrush
Greenfinch

and a Barn owl at Colstoun Mains

Whoosh netting on 3rd & 4th/3/07 at linnet feeding station, site 1.
Total :
Linnet new 52
retrap 12

Also present around netting site :
Kestrel
Goldfinch

At Site 4 3/3/07 :
c.8 skylark
c.6 yellowhammer
few chaffinch
song thrush
blackbirds

At Site 1 main feeding station 4/3/07 :
Buzzard
150-200 mixed finches and bunting, mainly yellowhammer, many
chaffinch
c.15 brambling
c.6 greenfinch
2 reed bunting
2 robin
2 dunnock

In my garden recently afternoons have been busy with up to :
23 yellowhammer
c.20 chaffinch
4 greenfinch
4 goldfinch
1 Greater spotted woodpecker

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.
 
Far too windy for mist netting outside. Whoosh netting at linnet feeding station, site 1 on 11/3/07 :
Linnet new 16
retrap 3

Also seen / heard :
Kestrel
2 Grey partridge
3+ singing skylark


Ringing in my steading on 10/3/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

House sparrow new
retrap 3
Starling new 1
retrap


Also around my house over the weekend :
Fieldfare 13
Greater spotted woodpecker
Skylark
Song thrush
Mistle thrush
Goldfinch 1
Greenfinch 3+
Chaffinch 10
Yellowhammer 5

At main feeding station, site 1, total 80-100 birds :
Blackbird 2
House sparrow 1
Dunnock
Chaffinch many
Greenfinch 2
Brambling c.15
Yellowhammer many
Reed bunting 2

At site 3 :
Blackbird
Chaffinch 1
Yellowhammer 6
I am mystified as to why sparrows, finches, and buntings have suddenly more or less disappeared from this site, while the equivalent feeding station at site 1 is still hoaching.

At site 4 :
Blackbird
Dunnock
Chaffinch 4
Yellowhammer 3
Reed bunting 2

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.
 
Whoosh netting at linnet feeding station, site 1 on 17/3/07 :
Linnet new 37
retrap 18

Also seen / heard :
Buzzard
Kestrel

Ringing at site 1 main feeding station on 17/3/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

Blackbird new 1
retrap
Blue tit new 4
retrap
Brambling new 3
retrap 1
Chaffinch new 20
retrap 9
Dunnock new
retrap 5
Goldfinch new 2
retrap
Great tit new 1
retrap
Greenfinch new 1
retrap
Robin new 1
retrap 1
Wren new 1
retrap
Yellowhammer new 2
retrap 1
TOTAL new 36
retrap 17

Also seen/heard around the ringing site :
Buzzard
Grey partridge 2+ (one bounced off a net)
Golden Plover
Meadow pipit
Skylark - loads !
Mistle Thrush
Song Thrush
Reed bunting
and
March hares

and on Sunday, late morning :
Buzzard 2
Stankie juv (moorhen)
Chaffinch 80+
Greenfinch
Brambling 10+
Goldfinch 6
Reed bunting 4+
Yellowhammer 50+

and a stoat. The stoat ran through the finches, a few of which hopped up out the road, then immediately settled again. It disappeared into the hedge where the stankie had recently withdrawn. The stankie burst out, pretty flustered, but soon settled to feeding again.

Around the farm over the last few days :
80-90 Fieldfare on grass, building to 150 on wheat behind my house after a skiff of snow early on Sunday;
Pied wagtails - especially on new sown barley;
3 roe deer near linnet feeding.

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.
 
Whoosh netting at linnet feeding station, site 1 on 24th and 25th March, 2007 :
Linnet new 75
retrap 28

Also seen / heard :
Buzzard

Ringing at site 1 main feeding station on 24/3/07. Many thanks to all concerned.

Blackbird new 3
retrap
Blue tit new 2
retrap 2
Brambling new 13
retrap 1
Chaffinch new 18
retrap 7
Dunnock new 2
retrap 5
Goldcrest new 1
retrap
Goldfinch new 1
retrap
Great tit new
retrap 1
Greenfinch new 2
retrap
Reed bunting new 4
retrap
Robin new 2
retrap 2
Wren new 1
retrap
Yellowhammer new 14
retrap 8
TOTAL new 63
retrap 26


Also seen/heard around the ringing site :
Buzzard
Kestrel
Tawny owl
Golden Plover
Stankie
Grey partridge
Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Siskin
and also
stoat
masses of honey bees on whin when the sun warmed up.

Around the farm Sunday :
Buzzard (up to 4 at once);
Kestrel;
Oystercatcher;
Pied wagtail;
Mistle thrush;
Goldfinch (6);
c.250 birds at main feeding station, mainly chaffinch, lots of yellowhammer, also brambling, reed bunting, robin, dunnock, blackbird; 2 grey partridge nearby;
and on one recently sown barley field 60-80 linnet and 15-20 lark.

At site 3 Sunday ;
80-100 birds, mainly yellowhammer, some chaffinch, also greenfinch.

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Mike.
 
Whoosh netting at linnet feeding station, site 1 on 28th and 31st March, 2007 :
Linnet new 39
retrap 41

Also seen / heard :
Buzzard
Merlin
Sparrowhawk
Meadow pipit
Skylark

and around the farm on the 31st
up to 4 Buzzard at a time
Grey partridge pr
Greater spotted woodpecker
Fieldfare 150+
Treecreeper
Skylark
Starling - several groups 6-20 moving east
250+ chaffinch / yellowhammer, few reed bunting, and one stankie at main feeding station

also Roe deer, fox barking and loads of hares

Walking into Gifford I was pleased to see how many House sparrows were there.

Ringing at site 3 on 1/4/07.

Blackbird new 1
retrap
Blue tit new 3
retrap 1
Chaffinch new 42
retrap 1
Dunnock new 2
retrap 7
Great tit new 2
retrap
Greenfinch new 2
retrap
House sparrow new
retrap 1
Long tailed tit new 2
retrap
Reed bunting new 2
retrap
Robin new 2
retrap
Yellowhammer new 46
retrap 10
TOTALS new 104
retrap 20


Also seen/heard around the ringing site :
Buzzard up to 6
Kestrel
Tawny owl
?? Canada goose
Mallard 3
Jay 4
Stock dove 2
Greater Spotted Woodpecker 4+
Skylark
Meadow pipit up to 5
Starling 4
Mistle thrush
Chiffchaff

and one of the ringers saw a Barn Owl on the way up.

At site 1 main feeding station on Sunday ;
c.100 chaffinch / yellowhammer (c.50/50)
Brambling 5+
Reed bunting mmf

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Many thanks to all concerned.

Mike.
 
Ringing at site 1 main feeding station on 7/4/07.

Blue tit new
retrap 2
Brambling new 5
retrap 1
Chaffinch new 2
retrap 1
Dunnock new 1
retrap 1
Long tailed tit new
retrap 1
Reed bunting new 2
retrap
Robin new 1
retrap 2
Wren new 1
retrap
Yellowhammer new 11
retrap 3
TOTAL new 23
retrap 11

Also seen/heard around the ringing site :
Buzzard 2
Tawny owl
Oystercatcher 2
Greater Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Blackbird
Song thrush
Mistle thrush
Chiffchaff
Greenfinch

Spring pair Partridge count, Sunday 8th April :
7 pairs, one odd hen
usual problems avoiding double counts

Also noted
Buzzard (several singles)
Kestrel
Starling 3
Meadow pipit 5
Pied wagtail 2 prs
Fieldfare 35
Mistle thrush pr
Goldfinch
Linnet 25 and several small groups
general generous scatter of yellowhammer, chaffinch and skylark

and loads of hares, 2 Roe deer.

During this count noted dwindling numbers at main feeding station, mainly chaffinch, lots of yellowhammer, also 2+ brambling, reed bunting, robin, dunnock, blackbird; goldfinch. By the evening the wind was quite cold, and there were loads of birds at the feeding stations again !

Good Friday, 6th April, cultivating set-aside to create greater variety of habitats. thicker grass had good numbers of voles, pursued by two buzzards and rooks. Saw a vole evade a rook twice and escape into thick grass. On neighbouring ground 10 peewit were sitting waiting for fencing contractors to move off their patch.

Mainly forgetting corvids, game birds, gulls, pigeons and tits.

Many thanks to all concerned.

Mike.
 
Ringing has finished for winter 06-07. Here are the winter's totals, with previous years with reasonably comparable methodology shown for comparison. If you have difficulty with column alignment use a non-proportional font such as Courier 10.

Remember retraps are not counts of individual birds – an individual may apear in the retrap count more than once. However, an individual can only be counted once on any one day.

Winter 06-07 05-06 04-05 03-04
new retrap new retrap new retrap new retrap
Blackbird 42 60 78 79
14 35 18 29
Blackcap 3 1
1 0
Blue tit 45 55 80 47
16 13 14 5
Brambling 25 10 11 4
3 0 1 0
Bullfinch 1 0 0 1
0 0 0 0
Chaffinch 155 132 160 246
38 25 25 29
Coal tit 3 10 7 7
0 3 0 0
Dunnock 53 45 70 54
43 90 68 46
Fieldfare 0 1 3
0 0 0
Goldcrest 2 17 7 12
0 7 1 3
Goldfinch 3 3 2 18
0 0 0 2
Great tit 17 14 22 9
1 4 4 2
Greenfinch 13 29 105 39
0 0 4 2
Grey 1
Partridge 0

House 20 42 23 24
sparrow 9 25 6 9

Linnet 1 6 10 2
0 0 0 0
Long 4 12 13 12
tailed tit 1 5 7 5

Redwing 1 5 6
0 0 0
Reed 21 11 82 30
bunting 0 4 9 7

Robin 26 22 33 39
24 44 34 26
Skylark 2 7 0 5
0 1 0 0
Song Thrush 3 4 6 2
0 1 5 0
Sparrowhawk 0 0 0 1
0 0 0 0
Starling 1 0 0 5
0 0 0 0
Treecreeper 0 2 1
0 0 0
Tree 23 3 4 12
sparrow 3 0 0 1

Woodpigeon 1 0 1 1
0 0 0 0
Wren 14 9 29 10
3 8 23 0
Yellow- 225 128 309 261
hammer 75 46 58 44

705 232 628 311 1062 277 920 210
New Retrap New Retrap New Retrap New Retrap


In addition we added whoosh netting on rape bait at a new site this winter. Here we caught 2 new greenfinch, 387 new linnet and 104 retrap linnet. We intend to continue this in future years

Comments :
Overall a modest increase in new bird numbers and a drop in retraps. The drop in retraps is probably simply a consequence of the low catches last year, following two very good seasons.

I suggest you don't read too much into the data, especially for species where numbers are low. Natural variation will be compounded by our inability to repeat methodoly consistently from year to year for many reaons such as variations in weather, labour availability, success of wild bird cover. For instance methodological factors affected :
sparrow numbers in 05-06, boosted by an extra effort in my steading;
linnet, greenfinch and reed bunting, boosted in 03-04 and 04-05 by the success of wild bird cover in those years.

It is interesting to compare brambling and tree sparrow. Both have seen record catches this season. This is a complete surprise for brambling, as reports from all over the UK suggest it has been a poor year for migrants from Scandinavia / Russia (mild with plenty food there). However, brambling are very mobile, and we have just been lucky. By contrast tree sparrow are pretty sedentary. I am hopeful that the increased catch represents a real increase in population (at one site). Fingers crossed :)

In general, this season got off to a very slow start except for yellowhammer. I was pretty certain that there was loads of natural food availbale, and that I was seeing plenty chaffinch around, but not at the feeding stations. Yellowhammer are more attuned to cereal seed, so with fields being effectively cleaned (a dry harvest and easy autumn, leading to a high proportion of autumn sowings) would be more attracted by the feeding stations. Late on good numbers of birds appeared at the feeding stations, suggesting there had indeed been good supplies of natural food which were becoming exhausted.

In that context, I am pleased with this year. I suspect numbers have recovered after a very poor year last year. I am particularly pleased at the recovery in Yellowhammer. Chaffinch have shown only a small improvement, but I am not sure there was much to worry about with them. They are adaptable, abundant nationally, and the BTO suggested absence from feeders (in favour of natural food), rather than low numbers even last year when numbers were so low. They are also much more difficlt to re-trap than yellowhammer. Low catches might suggest a large reservoir of birds that have been caught once and learnt to stay away.

Blackbird catch may be down because fewer birds have visited from the continent. The same might be true of Goldcrest. The only other species I feel worth commenting on is Greenfinch. It is impossible to read anything into the very poor catch this year. We have been deafened with greenfinch calls on occasion and not caught any. They are there, but for some reason they don't want to help :) It is this sort of anomaly that persuades me to say - don't read too much into the data.


Many thanks to all concerned.
Mike.
 
Pigging thing, why does BirdForum scrub the extra spaces which give the column format ?

Sorry, I don't have time to try to find a work around. There should be eight columns : new and retrap numbers for each of the last four winters. For each species these are split into two rows, top row New, bottom row retraps.

Mike.
 
There has clearly been a lot of hard work put into this Mike, well done. I thoroughly enjoy following your ringing totals and look forward to next years figures.

Are there any plans to do a breeding bird survey on your land?
 
Steve G said:
There has clearly been a lot of hard work put into this Mike, well done. I thoroughly enjoy following your ringing totals and look forward to next years figures.

Are there any plans to do a breeding bird survey on your land?
Mike

Ditto

Alan
 
Steve G said:
Are there any plans to do a breeding bird survey on your land?
If you are talking survey with a small "s" as opposed to BBS :
I wish. I don't have the id skills. If I wasn't colour blind I'd train as a ringer, but that is a major drawback for general survey work. I think it also makes it difficult to learn the calls, cos I can't id the source, which is vital for survey work.

There have been quite a few surveys done on the farm : Volunteer and Farmers' Alliance; at least two years for the SAFFIE project, then last year part of a SEERAD survey comparing farms in conservation schemes with those that are not. I am classifed as not, which caused the (Polish) surveyor some amusement. She "accused" me of trying to ruin their trial :) I'd like to see if it is possible to pool all the data and look for trends.

VFA was supposed to be repeated, but I haven't heard anything about that (the surveyors have flitted to Aberdeen which might not help). The SEERAD survey is also supposed to be repeated. Let's see if the funding materializes.

I don't like to press BTO for a surveyor, because the BBS squares are randomly allocated and there aren't enough volunteers in our area. The BBS would be a better indicator of national populations than a cherry picked site, like mine - exactly the weakness off CBC. So I think the BTO would be correct to prioritize BBS.

On the other hand surveying my bit might give an idea of what was achievable through conservation on a general arable farm. That could be used to inform SEERAD. That is more RSPB's pigeon - but they prefer to own the land. SEERAD's own survey might help, but they may not consider it valid for this purpose (since the initial objective was different). I would have considerable sympathy for that view. I work in medical research, and a clear message from more rigorous analysis of the results published is that taking data and doing things that were never intended with it can give mis-leading messages.

The other danger is that a sample of one farm might be very misleading. I am always trying to improve management. I have just written another letter to SEERAD seeking permission to break set-aside and LMC Tier II rules in response to a paper I read in Aspects of Applied Biology Vol 81 (Henderson et al). It seems that seasonal variation can be very large. You need a lot of data to sort out such complex season / management interactions.

As an aside, I think the importance of conservation management is to produce a healthy enough situation that a really bad season is not a catastrophe, that vulnerable species maintain a critical mass from which they can recover even when dealt the worst nature can throw at them.

Are you doing BBS Steve ?

Mike.
 
citrinella said:
................................................................................

Are you doing BBS Steve ?

Mike.
Called my bluff on that one Mike. ;)
I will be 'helping' another but the honest truth is I won't have my own BBS survey area. Pressures of work prevent me taking on a distant area whilst my own home patch is being covered by another (retired) birder.
 
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