brewood ringers - Latest Blog Entries

Feeders in action at last

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:51:00 +0000

Tuesday saw us try at the feeder station on the Chase for the first time this winter. I miscalculated sunrise and we got there about half an hour too late--the site erupted with birds as we arrived. Two nets were quickly erected and the first catch was very good with 34 birds of a good range of species including 3 cracking male Brambling, 6 Redpoll including a control 5 Bullfinch and 4 Robin. Things dropped off quickly after the first catch and we ended up with a slightly disappointing 54 new birds, with quite a few Chaffinch--but no Siskin or Goldfinch--nor any more Brambling. However, the site looks good for a while yet, especially as these cold temperatures persist

Early activities

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:58:00 +0000

It has been a very mild winter and feeding stations and roosts have been generally quiet--with a couple of exceptions. The first exception has been the Reed Bunting roost at Belvide. We have had 2 visits in 2012 and ringed another 25 new birds bringing the total number of new birds ringed in the reeds since the end of october to almost 350! This is many more than we expected, and an analysis of the retraps shows that some birds are hanging around while there is a definite in/outflow of birds. We hope that some of these will be recaptured by others to see just wher they are coming from.

Secondly, the mild weather has kept a lot of Redwing in the area since they have not carried on south to France/Spain. A large Blackthorn bush is being favoured as a roost site by this species and to date we have ringed 30 birds over the last few weeks--not a lot, but more than we have ever done at Belvide.

Team members have carried out a couple of very successful public demonstrations at Northicote Farm catching lots of birds and enthusing lots of visitors, great news.

Finally, we have been getting some tips from Tony Cross in mid Wales who has shown us how to catch roosting waders--we hope to ba able to emulate him this year--watch this space!

Yet more Reed Buntings

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 18:38:00 +0000

A small group of us used the really mild conditions this afternoon to have another try at the larger reedbed at Belvide--and try a couple of nets by the Redwing roost bush. 17 new reed bunts and 4 redwing was a decent catch for not a lot of effort. It gave our trainees some great experience of the whole process at a steady pace. probably no more until after Boxing day--but you never know...

Sorry for no updates

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:44:00 +0000

Many apologies for lack of updates--no excuses other than bone-ideleness. Anyway, various members of the group have been engaged in several activities since the last blog posting:-

Several trips to the reedbeds at Belvide have resulted in record-breaking catches of Reed Bunting, with a current total of just under 250 new birds with 2 controls from where we don't as yet know. We are trying again soon so we will let readers know the final 2011 tally.

A small group put on a ringing demonstration for Wolverhampton City Council on Saturday. Very successful it was too, with quite a few visitors, and lots of birds both for the visitors to see--and for our trainees to get experience. Most of the birds were tits, but some Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Great spotted Woodpeckers added variety and interest.

Glynn and colin visited our friend Fergus in deepest Worcestershire on a bright crisp morning last Sunday. he has found a superb orchard with lots of apples still around. We had 10 Fieldfare and a good selection of 14 species totalling 50 birds. This site will be really good if ever we get a really hard sustained frost because the thrushes will pour in to feed on the apples. We have found that they prefer feeding on invertebrates, then berries with apples as a last resort.

Trips to the new site at Aqualate have been a bit disappointing with 28 Starlings the biggest catch ( out of about 40,000!!). However, it's early days and we are still getting to know the site. We are looking to 2012 to reallt start generating some interesting results.

Last night a select band tried a new venture at Belvide. We had suspected that Redwing were roosting in a big Blackthorn stand so we gave it a try. Bingo. 12 Redwing, 2 Song thrush and a Sparrowhawk.

You win some, you lose some!

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 20:48:00 +0000

We've had a couple of reedbed roost sessions this week with very different results. On Thursday we tried for the Starling roost at Aqualate. Only a small number of nets because we didn't want to get swamped by the several thousand birds roosting. No need to fear, they all dropped in on the opposite side of the lake. final score= 2 Reed bunting!

Tonight we went back to Belvide and caught 45 new Reed bunting in the Scott hide reedbed, with 3 retraps from 2 weeks ago. this means we have ringed around 140 of this species roosting at the reserve--and given the small number of retraps it suggests that there is a bit of movement through the site. we will give it another couple of weeks and try again

Pastures (reedbeds) new

Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:11:00 +0000

It looks like the Redpoll bonanza is over for now. We are sure that later we will start to catch big numbers at our feeders--but for now the birds are using natural food mainly in the form of birch seeds. So swe have moved on to reedbed roosts especially for Reed Bunting and a little later--Starlings. We had our first session this evening at Belvide and managed enough ringers to net in both reedbeds. Good job we had so many folk--the buntings simply poured into the nets especially in the reeds outside the Scott hide. Final score was 96 new birds with 9 retraps--most we think from Belvide but so far we have not hecked them all out. A bonus was a young male Blackcap. We will leave the reeds for about a month now--unless the Starling roost develops. On Tuesday we are trying a new reedbed--deatils later.

Getting a bit blase now

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 20:46:00 +0100

We had another session on the Chase hoping for Redpoll again today, but only ringed 38 new birds. At any other time this would be regarded as a superb catch, but after the numbers we have been having recently--we were a tad disappointed! This may herald the end of the passage--or else just a day when birds weren't moving for some reason. Some of the boys are trying again tomorrow just to check this out. What was noticable was the number of Chaffinch and Brambling feeding on the abundant beechmast this year--lets hope they stick around for a good while and end up roosting in our rhododendron patch.

They keep on coming!

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 18:50:00 +0100

Yet another trip onto the Chase today for a full day session after Redpoll. Yet again the flocks kept migrating up the Birches Valley with 207 new birds ringed, plus one control from a british site as yet unknown. We also finally managed to encourage 6 Crossbills to drink at our pool which made for several ringing 'tick' for the team--pictures are on the previous blog. We have now ringed almost 1500 Redpoll--when will they stop? Not for a while we hope

Crossbills

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 14:12:00 +0100

Redpolls keep coming but today the catch included the elusive Crossbill and a photo of Jim with a cracking male. The four trapped during the morning session were visiting a small drinking pond.

Redpolls everywhere

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:24:00 +0100

A few of the groupd joined Jim on the Chase today for a mega bash at Redpoll. Using one 30ft net and one 20ft net about 50m apart--each with a sound system underneath, we managed to ring 299 new birds!! The site appears to be on a migration/dispersal route as new birds kept coming all day long. We had no same day or same site retraps suggesting that birds were moving through and continued on their way after ringing. The weather was pretty appalling for ringing with strong winds all day, but fortunately the 8year old Corsican pines were close enough to give some protection. This session was the sixth in recent days and brings the total of new redpoll ringed to 1100!! To date there have only been 2 same site retraps, 1 control, but no Common ( Mealy) redpoll in the catch--they have all been the smaller, shorter winged Lesser Redpoll.

Home and Away--Again!!

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 19:04:00 +0100

A couple of group members spent a family 'non-ringing' week on my favourite island--Lundy. Weather conditions prevented mass ringing ( on those occasions when family matters allowed) but on two days the conditions did produce masses of birds. On Tuesday it quickly became apparent that there had been a fall of migrants-mainly Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. During the day we ringed 240 new birds in 2 forty foot nets. Hundreds of birds were about. During the week we ringed 530 birds with other main species being Swallow, Meadow Pipit and Goldcrest. We didn't manage any of the 2 rarities on the island--Rosy Starling and Wryneck. But as luck would have it, as we handed over on the last Saturday to other friends--they caught a Common Rosefinch within an hour of arrival--typical!!

Back home we were getting reports from Jim who was having fantastic success with Lesser Redpoll at our forest site. In the last 2 weeks he has ringed 691 new birds with last Thursady being a mega day with almost 300 in a couple of nets simply by using a recording of their song. Redpolls at this time of year simply seem incapable of resisting the sound of their song. In tthe coming months we should be getting some recoveries of these birds and be able to build a picture of their movements.

Home and Away

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:01:00 +0100

Several team members travelled to Portugal last week for our 5th annual ringing expedition to Vilamoura. Unfortunately Pete and the 'home' team had a very disappointing time at Belvide with 2 catching sessions netting fewer than 50 birds in total--with no sign of any Meadow Pipits in the nets--a species which we had been expecting to ring in big numbers.

It can't have been easy the, receiving texts from those of us in Portugal ringing big numbers of exciting birds. In summary, 1941 new birds, with an additional 5 controls of birds ringed in France Belgium and Germany, illustrating the international importance of the Vilamoura reedbed for passage and wintering birds. Some of the highlights were--a Booted Eagle, 4 Kestrel, 6 Red Necked Nightjar,8 Hoopoe,334 Red Rumped Swallow,84 Yellow Wagtail,40 Bluethroat,28 Whinchat,93 Cettis warbler,206 Reed warbler, 32 Subalpine warbler, 2 Woodchat Shrike, 38 Spotless Starling, 91 Willow warbler and 1 Spectacled warbler--whjat a great week!! Roll on next year.

So windy!

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 14:01:00 +0100

It's amazing we even got a session in today--the south wind was very strong, but the site provides some shelter from this direction. The temp was very warm and cloud cover pretty well 100%. We managed a respectable 67 new birds of which 24 Chiffchaff were most numerous--this species is really coming to the fore as a principal migrant through the reserve--again.We also had 2 late Reed warblers, and 7 Blackcaps was typical of this time of year--as was only 1 Willow warbler--most of this species have already left.

The finches showed quite well with 6 Goldfinches caught out of the growing flock feeding on numerous patches of suitable seeding plants.

The only ( but big) disappointment was that the Long Eared Owl which roosted in the trapping area, had moved on through the night so didn't respond to the tapes in the morning--perhaps it is nearby and will return--our last LEO stayed around for seeral weeks.

Muggy is good for Martins

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 13:32:00 +0100

Although the weather was quite warm today, it was very heavy and at first light the flies were low--and so were the martins. A tape lure and a fine net were just the ticket and within about an hour we caught 36 House and 21 Sand martins until the air cleared and they sought insects at much higher levels. There were still a few warblers around--we caught18 new Chiffchaff, 4 Willow warblers, 4 Blackcaps and 2 late Reed warblers, within a total of 101 new birds ringed.

Mipits on the move!

Sat, 03 Sep 2011 20:30:00 +0100

Quite strange weather this morning--very heavy, warm, thick cloud with a strengthening southerly wind. First net round boded well with 4 Blackcaps together in one net--but this flattered to deceive unfortunately, with only a trickle of birds in the main nets all morning. However, the feeder nets did very well with big numbers of finches and a few warblers also. Unfortunately there were no Tree pipits attracted to the tape again--but we did have the first of what we hope will be large numbers of passage Meadow pipits.

A total of 88 new birds ringed, highlights of which were 17 Chiffchaff, 4 Willow warblers, 9 Blackcaps, 20 Greenfinch, 8 Tree sparrow, 6 Goldfinch and of course the Meadow pipit.

Double header scores quite well!!

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:42:00 +0100

A couple of us had some spare time on Tuesday so we decided to set the nets very early and have an extended session prior to the normal Wednesday catch. Most of Tuesday was quiet--but quite without warning at about 5pm, the Sand martins and House martins started to respond to to the recording next to one of our very fine nets. For half an hour we caught really well--with 25 Sand and 24 House ringed--then the sky brightened and the birds disappeared as quickly as they had appeared. Still--72 new birds was a good total, with Yellow wagtail and Lesser whitethroat being an excellent supporting cast.

This morning was very quiet. Perfect ringing conditions--falt calm and cloud cover flattered to deceive unfortunately. However, towards the end of the session the nets by the feeder became active and several Tree sparrows and Long tailed tits were ringed--this latter showing a good resurgeance after being hammered by the cold winter. A total of 64 new birds was comprised mainly of resident birds with a small number of Chiffcahffs, Blackcaps and 2 late Reed warblers.

And again!

Sat, 20 Aug 2011 13:18:00 +0100

Warm, still conditions from the start, when it became obvious that the first significant arrival of birds this season had occurred. 25 birds on the first round isn't stunning--but good compared to recent visits. We ended with 99 new birds, and the effect of migration can be seen in the species caught--Chiffchaff 23, Blackcap 12, Willow warb 6, Sedge warb 6, Reed warb 6, Whitethroat 4.A young male Sparrowhawk added a bit of spice--the photo shows the salient features of juvenile plumage--brown edges to the mantle and many wing feathers. Heart shaped blotches on the breast, and bright hyellow irises rather than orange for adults. The small size meant it was a male.

The other pic shows a young male Blackcap which had white patches on the cap, and one white primary feather--it caused a bit of a stir as the team saw it from a distance in the net.

Perfect conditions

Thu, 18 Aug 2011 15:43:00 +0100

This morning dawned chilly but warmed up ok, with hardly a breath of wind and high thin cloud. There had clearly been some movement because we caught 5 Blackaps, which have been very scarce so far. We also had a Lesser Whitethroat, another 7 Reed Warblers, and 4 Willow warblers plus a control ringed elsewhere.

On the domestic/resident front, the mixed tit flock is building nicely, and the Long Tailed Tits seem to have had a decent breeding season and are starting to rebuild their numbers after the hammering they got during the very cold winter.

Hard work--not much reward

Sat, 13 Aug 2011 14:24:00 +0100

Light overnight rain, dull, warm and fairly still produced hope in the small team that set out this morning. However, it quickly became clear that yet again very little was about. The final 'score' was 33 new birds--although the first Spotted Flycatcher of the year was a very welcome addition. Reed warblers (7) continue to dominate, with a second brood of Sedge warblers on the wing producing 3 new juveniles. Willow warblers (4) continue to outnumber Chichaff (3) unlike recent years.Encouraging news that we are starting to catch Wrens--it looks like they took a long time to get going after a pounding over winter--but they appear to have been successful so far this year. Reports on the reserve about a large mixed tit/warbler flock are well received but frustrating in that they have not appeared in the trapping area when we are there--next time maybe....

Back to Wednesday--briefly

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:27:00 +0100

A change in childminding and weather conitions meant a trip out this morning which for the most part was perfect--warm, still and dull--although the wind did pick up towards the end.

Overall. not a bad session, with a total of 50 new birds ringed of which 30 were migrants, comprising 9 reed, 7 Sedge, 10 Willow. 4 Whitethroat,3 Chiffchaff, 1 each of Blackcap, Garden warbler, Goldcrest and House Martin--this latter being one of a large group feeding low as the insects were kept down in the early morning cool. These Reed warblers bring this year's total to just over 100 new birds so breeding seems to have been quite good.

Of the resident species there was not much of interest, but the 3 Goldfinches may be the start of decent numbers coming to feed on thistles.