Charnwood Ringing Group

Winter Thrushes whooshed!

2012-02-13T04:12:00.000-08:00

There have been plenty of winter thrushes coming to the apples in the garden and I was able to put my whoosh net to good use. Three Fieldfare and a Mistle thrush were trapped. I also caught 32 Blackbirds and a Pied Wagtail.

Adult female Fieldfare above and a first winter Mistle thrush below.

Mistle Thrush.

The juvenile Whooper Swan is still at Thornton.
First winter male Pied Wagtail.

Redpoll Recovery

2011-12-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

Just received a few recoveries from the BTO the other day, and among them was one for a Lesser Redpoll. Out of all the birds that Andy caught at Thornton Y473221 was retrapped at National Park de Groote Peel, in the Netherlands, only 508km and 48 days later. What a good result.

1000 UP.

2011-11-14T14:56:00.000-08:00

Ringing at our Charnwood Forest site this weekend saw us ring our 1000th bird of the year there, and that honour went to one of the Redwing that come to roost there. Our previous best total was 724 that we only reached last year! Our totals for the last few weeks include 87 Chaffinch, 52 Blue Tit, 92 Goldcrest, 30 Redwing, 31 Blackbird and a late Blackcap.
We also had 4 redpoll with one being an adult male Common and this female Blackbird with a deformed bill. This time of the year the forest has a wonderful variety of fungi including a lot of Fly Agaric

and this little, bright yellow thing which I think is a Parrot Wax Cap. Beautiful.

Sorry Chris!

2011-10-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

My first ringing at WCP since September was aimmed at clearing the rides and perhaps catching some very late Reed or Sedge Warblers. Well you don't know unless you try! Once the rides were clear and it was light enough to see,( I got there at 7am, and it was still dark!) I put Reed and Sedge Warbler on the tape lures and bingo, I caught two CETWA.

Both were males and one was an adult as I was able to see that it did not have tongue spots.

Ken Goodrich was with me at the time and he was able to confirm that while these two birds were in the net, there were two other males calling.

I also caught 6 LESRE out of a meagre total of 13 birds.

Common Redpoll at Thornton,at last.

2011-10-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

One of three Common Redpoll caught with LESRE at Thornton today.

The COMRE had a much greyer colouration and the GC were much paler and not buff. Below I have included a LESRE for comparison.

The COMRE is on the left and the LESRE on the right. Note the buff tinge to the chest which contrasts with the white belly, whereas the COMRE has a white chest aswell as belly. Both these were first year birds. I also think that the head structure seems different. The LESRE seems more rounded.

At first I was concerned that perhaps I was looking at juv. LESRE, but I eventually got my eye in. I can see how it could be difficult with just one bird for comparison.

The bird below is very pale but it had a streaked rump and therefore is a COMRE and not an Arctic, so sorry Dave, but I shall keep trying!

My total for Redpoll at Thornton this autumn is now 131.

Goldcrest Tails.

2011-10-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Male Goldcrest

Pointed tail of first year bird and below the rounded tail of an adult. So many of the crests we do at this time of year are first year birds that it is nice to see an obvious adult.

Redpoll Envy!

2011-10-21T12:11:00.000-07:00

An adult male Lesser Redpoll, one of 116 that I have caught at Thornton this Autumn.

Note the generally brown colour of the mantle and the buff tipped greater coverts.

A smart Common Redpoll, caught with two Lesser Redpoll by Nigel and Chris at Charnwood Lodge recently. The following photos show the more extensive white feathers in the mantle and the white rump. The greater coverts are also tipped white rather than buff as in Lesre.

The white extends from the mantle to the rump.

An obviously white rump.

The bird has a much paler appearance and none of the116 Lesser Redpoll ( Have I mentioned this before? I'm not bitter, I prefer LESRE actually, anything with the name Common, well it just sounds abit ordinary, apart from Rosefinch!!) that I have caught were any where near that pale.

There is hardly any streaking on the under tail coverts.

I had a catch of 33 Lesser Redpoll today. Out of the 116 I have caught this autumn only 14 have been adults.

More Redpolls.

2011-10-10T12:51:00.001-07:00

A pleasing net full of Lesser Redpoll at Thornton.

A total of 27 were caught bringing the autumn total to 39 so far. All were Lessers and most were young birds, with only four adults caught.

A smart adult male with a photo of its rounded tail below. Adult birds also have fresher primaries than juveniles.

Chaffinch are back

2011-10-09T12:06:00.000-07:00

It may be only 15 Chaffinch that we caught on Saturday but it shows that they are finding their way back to our roost site among the Rhodedendrons. We started the afternoon as usual, knowing that the feeders would provide us with a few of the usual tit species to keep us going until the roost birds started to come in. What we didn't expect was to find on our first net round, were 3 nets (away from the feeders) holding a large flock of tits, 'crests and creepers, this would continue all afternoon. Surprisingly the feeder nets didn't see much action at all so they were taken down. We heard plenty of Siskin and redpoll but no time to catch them, and 6 Crossbill flew over. As for the roost a few Blackbird and Song Thrush but no Redwing , yet!
The day ended on 127 new and 15 retraps.
Wren 4 (1)
Dunnock 2
Robin 2
Blackbird 6 (1)
Song Thrush 2
Blackcap 2
Chiffchaff 1
Goldcrest 25
Long-tailed Tit 21 (2)
Coal Tit 4 (2)
Blue Tit 20 (4)
Great Tit 15 (2)
Nuthatch 2 (2)
Treecreeper 5 (1)
Chaffinch 15
Siskin 1

Redpolls at Thornton.

2011-10-03T15:15:00.001-07:00

I managed to catch 12 Lesser Redpolls at Thornton this weekend. These birds will probably move south eastwards towards the low countries and France.

I also caught this adult Collared dove. They normally get out and I have only rung 2 previously at Thornton. They also seemed to be a species in decline.

Meadow Pipits at Charnwood Lodge.

2011-10-03T14:51:00.000-07:00

Nigel and Chris have been having some success catching Meadow pipits as they pass through.

They are not easy to age as the greater coverts show considerable variation. Adults should have one generation of feathers at this time of year.

This bottom photo shows the right hand bird with little variation in the G.C. which are buff , while the left hand bird has paler G.C. Is the left hand bird a first year and the right, an adult?

We chickened out and 2 it!

September totals

2011-09-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Having set up our feeding station a few weeks ago its now time to start using it, a couple of sessions has resulted in the following totals.
Wren 1, Robin 1 (2), Blackbird 1., Blackcap 2, Chiffchaff 2, Goldcrest 14 (1), Marsh Tit (2),
Coal Tit 17 (5), Blue Tit 15 (4), Great Tit 10 (11) one being from 2007, Nuthatch 5 (2), Treecreeper 1, Chaffinch 2, Greenfinch 1, Bullfinch 1 and Reed Bunting 1, making 83 new and 27 retraps. We also have a small breeding population of Meadow Pipits on the site and some chicks have been ringed this year, so with all the Mipits on and around the site at the moment we are hoping we might retrap them, but so far among the 43 that we have had, no luck as yet.

Lesser Whitethroat

2011-08-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

A smart juvenile Lesser Whitethroat caught at Thornton.

The grey eye and lack of white on the 5th tail feather(next to the outer) makes it one of this summers young.

This bird will most likely migrate south eastwards down through Italy or the Balkans and over winter south of the Sahara in northeast and central Africa. Common Whitethroats from Britain take a much more westerly route and end up in West Africa.

Last of the Treesparrows

2011-08-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Over the last couple of weeks, among other things, we managed to ring our last brood of 4 Treesparrow pulli. This has took our grand total to 101 ringed from 140 eggs laid and provided 25 nest records for the BTO Scheme, 3 of the boxes had a birds laying for a successful 4th time . More Swallows have been added bringing the total to 114 inc 63 pulli so far. Other species include 10 Blackcap (84 for the year), another 9 Whitethroat (78 for the year) 2 3J Marsh Tit, 2 3J Linnet, Redstart, Chiffchaff, Wheatear, Willow Warbler, 3 Meadow Pipit first of the Autumn, 2 3J Goldcrest first of the Autumn and a 5 year old Blackbird.

Whitethroat year

2011-08-10T00:17:00.000-07:00

Another session at the sewerage works was sadly cut short by a brisk wind that came up. Before wind stopped play we were able to add yet more Whitethroats. This site alone has already produced 62 new individuals this year.

Ringing at Church Farm.

2011-08-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Reed Warbler. A ringing tick for me at Thornton and this juvenile possible evidence of breeding.

Plenty of Willow warblers were feeding in the recent plantings, especially the Willow.

A male Blackcap was out numbered by the 7 Whitethroats that we caught. The first capture of the day was this adult male Great Spotted Woodpecker. In total we had 24 birds of 11 species. We only caught one Sand Martin. This brings our total to 30 for the year at this site.

Warblers, warblers everywhere!

2011-08-05T15:59:00.004-07:00

With just one 18m and a few single panel mist nets in scrub by Wigston sewerage works we ringed 70 birds in just 3 hours this morning. Most were Whitethroat with a secondry supporting cast of Blackcap, Willow/Chiff and the odd Lesser Whitethroat (above). The conditions were perfect, overcast and still following overnight drizzle. With more time and more nets we would easily have cleared 100 birds in the same time. We'll try that in the week ahead.

Last weekend we did a session at Watermead adding to the Reed Warbler totals. The reed bed was (unsurprisingly) silent. The clear impression was that the local breeders have just got on with it and many have already dispersed.

Update

2011-07-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Since our last blog we have been busy honest, although nothing too special to report, so to update:- Another visit to the tern colony is planned as the eggs on the last visit have now hatched and the chicks visible on the rafts. Nest checking/finding continues with another 40 Tree Sparrow pulli ringed, these are now on their third broods and 28 eggs still left to hatch any day now, if all goes well the end total will be 102 pulli ringed from 9 active boxes. Whitethroat, Dunnock and Meadow Pipit pulli have also been ringed and successful outcome codes recorded for them. As the weather has been too windy most of the time we have not been able to do much mist-netting, but an oppurtunity did arise to get into the reedbed breifly one Saturday morning, which resulted in just 25 birds, it did include however, our first juv Reed Warblers and Reed Buntings of the season.
Some of our totals from the last few weeks out of 175 new birds include, Swallow 13 (pulli) 37, Sand Martin 20, Blackcap 10, Sedge Warbler 3 juveniles, Reed Warbler 12, Tree Pipit 3, Meadow Pipit (pulli) 5 along with loads of Blue and Great Tit juveniles, but only 8 Chiff and a shortage of Willow Warblers.

First Terns since 2007.

2011-06-19T12:53:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the efforts of LROS and the quick information feed from Ken Goodrich we were able to ring our first Common Terns since 2007. There is scope to increase the artificial nesting sites for this species. We manage to ring 3 healthy youngsters and hope to do more in the next few weeks.

The first Sand Martins.

2011-06-12T03:19:00.000-07:00

Dispite a discouraging weather forcast , an early morning ringing session at WCP resulted in a good total of 55 birds. This included 32 Sand Martins, our first of the year. These were mostly adults, but there were also 6 juveniles. Thirteen species were caught, including Chiffchaff, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Blackbird and Reed Bunting. A fly over Little Egret added to a great mornings ringing.

The class of 2011

2011-06-10T10:24:00.000-07:00

Short session at the Sewerage works revealed a host of young Whitethroat foraging around the scrub. The class of 2011 looks like being the best in recent times after what has been a definite 'Whitethroat year' in many areas.

You reap what you sow!

2011-06-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

Wake up bro.

When we are bigger we shall be ferocious killing machines!

Oi it's the class photo. There's always one.

This week we have had great success ringing owls and kestrels.Thanks to the sterling efforts of Little Owl and now Barn Owl man Paul Riddle we were able to ring 3 Barn and 11 Little Owls. These were all in boxes that Paul and his team have made,with the financial help of LROS, and erected. This involves countless hours of dedication and liasing with land owners. A massive thank you from CRG and of course the Owls.
We were also able to ring a brood of 5 Barn Owls and 5 Kestrels in boxes that CRG had put up. It is immensely satisfying when a box you have made, found a site for, obtained access and finally erected , eventually bears fruit.

Two of Paul's Little Owls looking well fed.

Young Blue eyes!

2011-06-05T10:33:00.000-07:00

Two Jackdaw pullus were rung at Thornton today. They were using a Barn Owl box and were at an ideal age to ring ,with feathers just coming out of pin.

Tawny Owls rung.

2011-05-24T14:14:00.000-07:00

A brood of Tawny Owls were rung recently at Thornton. They are using a Barn Owl design style box.

A very snooty youngster!

The female was also very tolerant and allowed herself to be lifted from the nest and rung. We returned the chicks and then replaced her in the box.

Bumper year for the Blue Tit

2011-05-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

We spent Sunday afternoon checking our nest boxes, as its till too windy to do any mist-netting. The Tree Sparrows have already successfully fledged their first broods of which we ringed 27 chicks a week ago and are now on their second clutches. In the big wood the Blue Tits are doing very well as we ringed 74 chicks, brood size was 1 with 12, 1 with 11, 2 with 10 and several with 9. All the chicks were in good condition with no casualties found apart from the odd egg that hadn't hatched. We still have another 8 boxes containing 47 Blue and 25 Great Tit to ring later in the week, as these were too small to ring.
With a possible 121 Blue Tits from this one site compared to only 47 last year I think we can call it a bumper year for the Blue Tit. (here at least anyway)

Apus

2011-05-16T07:22:00.000-07:00

Conditions for catching at the sewage works were not ideal, mainly due to the wind, but a handful of Swifts were caught along with Swallows and House Martin. What you can see in the hand but not the field is the subtle pale fringing around the white throat and just how short the legs are.

If you've ever wondered how Swift species can just hang on to a wall vertically then I can attest that they have needle sharp claws which are deployed with a vice like grip from above and below. One bird in particular just locked on and took some effort to extract from my finger. The other thing I always find with Swifts is the parasitic flat flies that are used to the host being airborne 99% of the time must wonder why everything's gone quiet so come out for a look. I ususally 'remove' them as a parting gift before the birds go on their way.

New Site Tick.

2011-05-15T13:29:00.000-07:00

An early morning start at WCP reedbed resulted in a site tick in the form of this smart Jay. The black lines on these feathers are in line so it is an adult.

We also caught a family party of recently fledged Long tailed tits. Does the crown remind you of Jedward or is it just me!

Herons at WCP.

2011-04-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

Our annual visit to the heronry at WCP resulted in 2 young herons being rung. There seem to be fewer nests than in past years and they are less concentrated. Some nests are also too high for us to reach. While at Watermead we saw 5 Swifts and heard Garden and Grasshopper warblers. Thanks again to Dale for his time and effort in helping us reach the islands.

We recently checked 2 Barn and 3 Tawny Owl boxes at Charnwood lodge. Unfortunately we did not find any owls. However, in one Tawny box we found a recently dead female Mandarin. It seemed to have a broken neck but no other obvious damage. I can only presume that perhaps a Tawny owl landed in the box unaware of the occupant and in its shock killed the duck. A pity for this Mandarin , but at least some evidence that owl boxes are potential nest sites for a range of species.

'Greenland' Wheatear

2011-04-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

After a couple of missed opportunities one of the 'traditional' ploughed and rolled fields held a couple of Wheatear today. This first year male was quickly enticed and on biometrics was found to be yet another 'Greenland' bird which is now to be expected in the third week in April.

A paper written by Tim Collins and NH for the next LROS report will demonstrate that most Wheatears moving through the Midlands from this time in to May are likely to be of this race. Tim has had over 20 at his site in Rutland this week and I have found 10 or so in fields round Whetstone & Blaby in the last three days (but most in places where I don't unfortunately have permission to ring).

Warbler Fes!

2011-04-22T13:16:00.000-07:00

Cetti's

Female Whitethroat.

Male Whitethroat.

Sedge Warbler.

Willow Warbler.

Seven species of warbler were caught at WCP on the 21st. 5 Blackcap, 2 Whitethroat, 5 Reed Warbler, 1 Sedge Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 2 Chiffs, and a retrap Cetti,s .

Equals the record!

2011-04-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

An early spring session ringing at the reed bed resulted in 2 Chiffs, 5 Blackcaps, 1 Willow Warbler and this very early Reed Warbler. It was a returning bird that I had rung as an adult in June 2010. When I checked the earliest arrival dates it equalled the earliest ever. I had not heard any Reed Warblers singing, but I hear that they were singing at Cossington the next day.

'Til the rain came

2011-04-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

This morning was used as a net ride tidying session in the wood and we had the joys of a few Chiffchaff and the odd newly arrived Blackcap serenading us. So afterwards we put a net up and tried our luck, moving the net around the area we caught 4 Chiff and a male Blackcap, this being our first for the year. We also saw 4 Buzzard, Peregrine, Raven, Siskin and Redpoll flying over, and the sunshine brought out the butterflies with Peacock and Comma the most common; not a bad few hours before the rain came and spoilt it all. But things can only get better.

Thanks and Sorry!

2011-03-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

Marsh Tit box at WCP.

Male Cetti,s.

Possible adult Chiffchaff(6)

My first ringing session at WCP since the end of January produced only 10 birds and 4 were retraps. However , the new ones included 3 Chiffchaffs and a male Cetti,s. I will now be the most hated member of CRG as both Chris and Neil are keen to ring the latter species. Oh, and Neil, it was in the new ride you had cut for me!!! One of the Chiffs was perhaps a 6, as it had less worn primaries. (see photo) Thanks to LROS and Russ and Jim we now have some smart Marsh/Willow tit boxes in the woodland at WCP. We will monitor these and hope they are successful.

More Mandarins.

2011-03-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

Here are some more photos of the 10 Mandarin we caught. Baker is the I.D. guide that we use to age non passerines, but it does not include Mandarin. Anyone out there with ageing criteria we would like to hear from you. The females seemed to show a difference in colour, some being greyer and others more brown. Some individuals had more of a crest on the nape, which we thought might be adults.

Mandarin x 10.... more to follow

2011-03-12T09:08:00.001-08:00

Andy will be posting a full account of this remarkable event but we ringed TEN Mandarin today at a site in the north west of the county.

Based on the latest totals we have, that's about a third of all the Mandarin ringed in the whole of the UK in a year.

Red Billed Blackbird

2011-02-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

With a respite in the weather Saturday saw us back up the woods. A nice sunny dry day. With the feeders well stocked we were kept quite busy, although it was mainly 'tits' a Treecreeper and Lesser Redpoll were welcome additions. One of the retrap Blue Tits was ringed as a nestling in 2008 and this was the first time it had been retrapped since then. Also one of the retrapped Great Tits was ringed by me last year, but in my garden this is 2.5 km away, it's not often we see any movement between these sites. It was interesting to note that the new Blackbird had a red bill rather than a yellow one, (sorry no pics). All the birds were in good health and carrying various amounts of fat. We had 41 new and 17 retraps. Retraps in ( )
Robin 1 (1)
Blackbird 1 (1 )
Goldcrest 1 ( 1)
Long T Tit (1)
Marsh Tit (1)
Coal Tit 1 (2 )
Blue Tit 17 (3 )
Great Tit 10 (5)
Nuthatch (1 )
Treecreeper 1
Chaffinch 7 (1 )
Lesser Redpoll 1
Bullfinch 1

Whoosh net Christened!

2011-01-11T12:31:00.000-08:00

First winter Black Headed Gull. Rung as a pullus at Lommel in Belgium in May 2010.

Happy ringer having been successful with his Christmas present.

The trapping site.

Most people get socks or a new jumper for Christmas, I got a Whoosh net. I was at last able to try it out at the weekend and my first and only capture was the colour ringed Black Headed gull that has been frequenting Thornton and my garden since November. I had already contacted the Belgium ringers responsible for ringing this gull and they were very grateful for the data. I am however new to ringing gulls and I failed to measure the length of the bill and head, which would have enabled me to possibly sex it. With ringing there is always more to learn!

Lots of Chaffinch

2011-01-10T09:26:00.000-08:00

It was good to get back to our roost site this weekend, as Dec 12th was the last time we were there due to the bad weather. The afternoon session with 5 nets produced 40 birds, 24 new and 16 retraps. Unusually we didn't catch any Blackbird or thrush but there were lots of Chaffinch moving about and 21 were caught. We would have had a few more titmice but the feeders had only been replenished a couple of days before and only a few had returned to them. The only Goldcrest of the session was an adult male first ringed in August 2009 and was in good condition, as was most of the birds we caught. Totals as follows retraps in ( )
Chaffinch 17 (5)
Nuthatch 1 (1)
Great Tit 1 (6)
Blue Tit 2
Coal Tit 1 (2)
Dunnock (1)
Goldcrest (1)
Wren 2

Silent assassin.

2010-12-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

It was a real privilege to catch this male Sparrowhawk at Charnwood Lodge this weekend. I took the opportunity to take some photos and then started playing with the cropping. I think the eye photos demonstrate just how well this raptor can keep both his eyes firmly targeted on his victim. The odd brown secondary and bright yellow eye confirm this as a second winter male.

Brrrrrrr it's Cold

2010-11-28T03:16:00.000-08:00

With only a sprinkling of snow compared to other parts of the country we braved the cold to continue with our roost ringing. With 8 nets up we were kept busy all afternoon, not even having time to make a cuppa to warm ourselves up. We ended with 48 new birds and 30 retraps. Of the few tits we checked for fat some were carrying large amounts, up to 50ESP in some cases. Interestingly most of the Chaffinch caught were males with only 2 females among them.
Totals. Retraps in ( )

Chaffinch 20
Great Tit 11 (13)
Blue Tit 1 (7)
Long-tailed Tit (1)
Wren 4 (1)
Coal Tit 1 (4) with one from 2007
Robin (1)
Blackbird 3 (3) with one from 2007
Redwing 4
Song Thrush 1
Nuthatch 2

Male Cetti's.

2010-11-22T12:50:00.000-08:00

The Watermead reed bed was a dank and misty place on Saturday morning as I set five nets, hoping perhaps to catch a Bearded Tit. Thinking positively was not having much affect as all I was catching were Blue and Long Tailed tits. Still, at least I was discovering what was in the reed bed and that Reedlings were not here yet. I live in hope. Then I was rewarded with this fine male Cetti's. I was able to sex it on size, it weighed 15.2 gms, females only reach 12.5 gms. Also the wing was 61 mm, which is at the extreme upper limit for a female. The female that I caught back in September had a wing of 58 and only weighed 12 gms. Having been ringing at Watermead for 12 years and never having caught a Cetti's, these captures are good evidence that they are increasing. All thanks to great management by Dale and his team.

More Lesser Redpolls.

2010-11-15T14:17:00.000-08:00

Another 12 Lesser Redpoll were caught at Thornton at the weekend. This brings the autumn total to 35. Two adults were identified by their more rounded tail feathers. There was also a smart adult male with more extensive red on the breast feathers. Redpolls migrate to the south east at this time of year and there are many recoveries from Belgium. I have also recently had a control of a male Blackcap that I rung as an adult on the 22nd May 2004 at Thornton. It was retrapped in September at Dairsie, Fife, by the Tay Ringing group. It was an adult when I trapped it so it is at least 7 years old.

Lesser Redpolls?

2010-10-24T10:58:00.000-07:00

Over the last few days I have managed to catch 16 Lesser Redpolls at Thornton. Most have been young birds, with well worn and pointed tail feathers. One was an adult female and the tail feathers were more rounded and less worn. All the wing lengths have been in the range 67 to 72, apart from one first winter male that had a wing length of 76. This puts it in the range of Common Redpoll or flammea. I regret not taking more photos of this bird, although it did not appear very different to the other Redpolls.

A Good Day Had.

2010-09-27T11:56:00.000-07:00

Sunday 26th.
With the weather holding out we managed to get into the woods and put some nets up. The feeding stations looked busy and we were not dissapointed. It was a late afternoon start, as we planned to stay 'till it was dark to see if anything was beginning to come into the roost area. From the first net round things were busy as the feeder nets produced plenty of tits, nuthatch and treecreepers. The second round produced just as many as the first,(no time for a cuppa), but a nice surprise was a male Siskin still in moult, the first of the autumn. A last net round as darkness fell produced a nice Song Thrush and chaffinch, which is what we were expecting, albeit in larger numbers. Hopefully it should build up over the coming weeks, all in all 79 birds, 57 new and 22 retraps.
Wren 1
Dunnock (1)
Robin (1)
Song Thrush 1
Goldcrest 3 (1)
Long-tailed Tit 1
Coal Tit 9 (4)
Blue Tit 15 (4)
Great Tit 18 (8)
Nuthatch 1 (2)
Treecreeper 3 (1)
Chaffinch 4
Siskin 1

Disappointment,No!!

2010-09-18T12:49:00.000-07:00

An early start at the reed bed at Watermead found me struggeling to put up nets with increasingly cold hands. My target was to catch 7 more Reed Warblers and reach 100 for the summer. By the end of the morning I had only 3 more Reed Warblers and this left me on 97, tantalisingly close to my goal. However, I was not disheartened, because on the first net round I had at last trapped a Cetti,s Warbler.

This species is increasing in the county, no doubt thanks to the management of areas such as Watermead country park. I was confident that I had identified the species correctly and the 10 tail feathers was confirmation of this. The under tail coverts are brown and fringed white, as can be seen in the photo.

More Warblers at Watermead!

2010-09-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Another session at Watermead produced some more Reed Warblers which brings the year total to 92. I am determined to break the ton, so hopefully some will linger into September. Other species caught included Sedge Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and a juv. Great Spotted Woodpecker. The photo shows the odd red feather on the nape which indicates a male.

Colour ringed Reed Warbler at Watermead.

2010-08-03T02:25:00.000-07:00

Ringing at Watermead on 31st July was going quietly with only 27 birds caught. This did however include new Reed Warblers, Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers. Then as I was approaching a net a bird flew in that seemed very colourful. On extracting the bird I noted it was an adult Reed Warbler, adorned with pink and white colour rings. I processed the bird and noted all the details, especially the fact that the colour rings were on the left leg, with two pink above one white. The metal ring was on the right leg. I have now contacted the B.T.O. and they have informed me that the bird was likely to have been rung by Brandon Ringing group. I am now awaiting confirmation of this. The ring used was of a recent sequence so it is likely that the bird was rung earlier in the year and then relocated to WCP. It had a brood patch score of 4 ,which would indicate recent breeding.

Didn't they do well

2010-07-29T10:31:00.000-07:00

We had a short session at the Sewerage works this morning with just TWO nets but still managed 60 birds. Almost all of them were juveniles, which adds weight to the conclusion that the 2010 breeding season has been a very successful one for many species. One of the few adults was this Grasshopper Warbler, a bird we very rarely get to photograph in broad daylight.
Todays catch included a remarkable 24 juvenile Whitethroats.

The French connection!

2010-07-25T14:58:00.000-07:00

A good days ringing at Watermead produced a total of 64 birds. This included 17 Sand Martins, one of which had a French ring. We caught 20 Reed warblers, which brings the site total for the year to 66. We also caught 8 Whitethroat, 4 Garden Warblers and 4 Blackcaps.

French fancy

2010-07-25T14:57:00.000-07:00

We were mixing and matching at Watermead this morning. Within 200m of each other are the now full blown reed-bed and the artificial Sand Martin bank. We ran the two sites side by side and together they produced a great mix of summer migrants. Reports suggest that 2010 is shaping up to be a bumper breeding season for many species. Our catch profile today looked good on that count but it did include some old friends like several Reed Warblers who have been back and forth to Africa a number of times. Highlight of the morning was French ringed Sand Martin bearing a Paris Museum ring. We are now regularly controlling foreign ringed Sand Martins at this prolific site.

Squabs

2010-07-04T05:28:00.000-07:00

Back for another year, the garden Wood Pigeons have nested in the Wisteria and the little squabs were ready for ringing this morning. The parents are coming periodically to feed but also to brood them, especially important in today's cooler breezier weather.

More Willows

2010-06-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Nigel and I had a late afternoon session at our summer site yesterday, the conditions weren't the best - sunshine and breezy but all in all we didn't do too bad, with 28 new birds and 4 retraps. We first checked an owl box that we knew had 2 Stock Dove eggs in it at the last visit and found 2 ringable chicks. At the site there was still plenty of birds singing so we felt hopefull. Each net round contained Willow Warblers 15 in all, with 7 adults showing various stages of moult and 8 juveniles. At one stage I thought we were never going to get a juvenlie Garden Warbler but we had 3, and an adult female.
Over the 3 visits we've made to this area, so far we have ringed 30 Willow Warblers,our previous best for the whole area has been 7, with only 5 last year.

Stock Dove 2 pulli

Blue Tit 3
Willow Warbler 13 (2)
Great Tit 5 (2)from a brood of 7 pulli ringed 31/05/10
Garden Warbler 4
Wren 1
Blackcap 1
Treecreeper 1

More Owlers than Robert Green

2010-06-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd start a new game, the corniest World Cup word plays ever!
Last night, forfeiting the excitement of Italy v Paraguay, 6 'Owlers' set off in to the shire to ring Little Owls. Paul and Daz of 'Owls About That' blogspot fame have spent hours and hours finding and recording nest sites and what a good job they've done. In the space of a couple of hours we visited only 5 of them and ringed 16 birds, 1 adult and 15 chicks. Here's just one chick from a recently erected box site in south Leics.

Nest Record Scheme Course

2010-05-30T23:16:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Chris and I spent an enjoyable weekend at The Nunnery in Thetford on a Nest Recording Course run by the NRS of the BTO. The weekend started on the Friday evening with the usual welcomes and an excellent presentation by Carl Barimore (NRS Organiser). This was followed by an delicious meal at the Black Horse, which gave the course participants time to meet and exchange experiences. The following day started at 7.00 meeting in the Nunnery car park, we then ventured to the Nunnery Nature Reserve to try and find nest of species like Linnet, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler and others. After a break for breakfast we went into Thetford Forest to find woodland birds' nests. Most of the day was spent in the field nest finding.

The following day (Sunday) followed a similar pattern. We were soon fully au fait with such devilish techniques as 'tapping off' and 'watching back'.

All in all as a team we managed to find 21 nests that had not been found previously which, I believe, is a record for the courses that have been running since 2008.

For anyone that is interested in Nest Recording then one of the BTO organised courses is a must. Not only does it introduce you to new ways of finding nests, but it also introduces you to other like minded people that it would be nice to keep in touch with.

Special thanks must be given to Dave Leech, Carl Barimore, Lee Barber and Mike Toms for making the course such a success.

Snake in the grass

2010-05-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

An absolutely beautiful morning at Watermead started with 4 Grass Snakes warming up in a traditional spot and it just got better. We ringed 32 birds of 11 species including this lovely male Bullfinch.

Warblers at Watermead.

2010-05-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

An early start at the Watermead reed bed was rewarded with 6 species of warbler today. Two Sedge and three Reed Warblers were caught along with 2 Willow, 2 Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler and a Blackcap. A very young recently fledged Robin was also caught.
On Thursday evening a final attempt at Heron ringing resulted in 5 pullus being rung. It does not seem to have been a good year for the Heron colony with most nests only having 2 young. Better news was the 2 Tawny Owl chicks rung at Thornton.

Warblers a plenty

2010-05-10T11:40:00.000-07:00

We had our first session on Sunday at our 'Summer' site and was greeted with plenty of birdsong from Chiffs, Blackcap, Willow Warblers and Garden Warblers. So our expectations were high. Over the few short hours we were there 17 new birds were ringed, and one retrap from November last year. As an added bonus we also found a Willow Warbler nest with 7 eggs in it, maybe belonging to the female we caught. This will be visited again in due course, as we also take part in the Nest Recording Scheme. Totals are
Robin 2
Blackcap 1 male
Garden Warbler 5, (3 females Bp 1,2)
Willow Warbler 6 (5 males, 1 female BP3)
Chiffchaff 1
Long tailed Tit 2 (1)

Ringing at Watermead.

2010-04-11T11:38:00.000-07:00

The first ringing session at the reed bed at Watermead resulted in 6 Chiffchaffs, 1 Blackcap and 2 Reedbuntings. There was no sign of any Reed or Sedge warblers, but they will be with us soon. It was nice to see 2 Grassnakes basking in the April sunshine.

Quack Quack

2010-04-06T12:35:00.000-07:00

If a situation presents itself you've got to at least give it a go.
This is what I thought when a pair of Mallard started coming to my pond last week, at least twice daily. They looked as if they'd made it 'home'. So my whoosh was reassembled and a bit of duck food put out for good measure. At first they were a bit cautious but they soon got used to seeing the whoosh set.
Well on Sunday, I eventually managed to get the Female and today I got the Male.
For my efforts it left me with a present all down my jumper! but never mind eh, it'll wash.

Warblers

2010-04-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

A brief ringing session this morning at Thornton resulted in a male and female Blackcap and a Chiffchaff being caught. The latter had been rung as a juvenile last July and has returned to its natal area. It is always pleasing when birds return to the area in which they were reared. This demonstrates a continuity and that the area fits their requirements.

Typical March

2010-03-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Not much happened yesterday at The Lodge. A bit quiet, with most of the winter visitors having left and the summer warblers not yet arrived.

The roost produced a couple of Chaffinches with long wings - males of 90mm or above - which may be continental birds. Interestingly these were the birds with the highest fat score of 40 -50 on the ESF scale, which is high for a site in our geographical position. So these birds may well have been getting into condition for the journey back to the breeding grounds.

One of the retrap Great Tits caught was originally ringed at the site in December 2006, and caught each winter since, but always before Christmas. This is the first time that it has been caught in the spring. Sometimes you think that the more you ring then the more questions you ask.

In total we caught 20 birds of which only 5 were retraps. Here are the totals:-

Blackbird 2
Song Thrush 1
Great Tit 0 (2)
Dunnock 1
Chaffinch 7 (1)
Long Tailed Tit 2 (1)
Goldcrest 1 (1)
Wren 1

.... as I was saying and Bruce Almighty

2010-03-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

Today Chris and I decided to have half a day ringing at our Blackbrook site, where the Tree Sparrow colony is situated. The weather was cold with the sun breaking out later in the afternoon. Steve and Mandy had told us that Yellowhammers were coming into the Partridge feeders. and before long we had a couple in the nets.

Male Yellowhammer

Like the Chaffinches in the previous blog, Yellowhammers obtain the breeding plumage by the action of abrasion of the feathers. The brown tips gradually wear away to reveal the bright yellow of the feather.

Female Yellowhammer

Like a lot of birds the female of the species is duller, this helps camouflage them while breeding.

We also caught a first year (age code 5) male Great Spotted Woodpecker, which was unusually incredibly quiet, but with cracking markings.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

When Mandy returned from feeding the Pheasants, she let Bruce the Springer Spaniel (and father of two of my dogs) out of the farmhouse. He promptly decided to wee in Chris's ringing box, not a bit was spilt outside the box. We just have to teach him to put the lid down afterwards and he will be a real "Renaissance Man". Hence he's called "Bruce Almighty".

We ended up with a total of 45 new birds (no retraps):-

Great Spotted Woodpecker 1
Yellowhammer 6
Tree Sparrow 6
Blue Tit 13
Great Tit 3
Dunnock 6
Robin 2
Blackbird 4
Chaffinch 3
Greenfinch 1

Worth the wait

2010-03-07T01:17:00.000-08:00

We started at our usual Saturday afternoon ringing site on Charnwood Forest at about 1.30pm. The feeders hadn't been filled as our seed supply had run out and in any case we would be moving from this site for the summer in a couple of weeks and didn't want to leave seed in the ringing lab for the mice to eat over the summer.

So no feeders no birds. I thought I would take some photos while we waited for the roost to develop. This is the old Stable Block and our ringing lab is the door and window below the upstairs window.

The Old Stable Block, Charnwood Lodge

I say ringing lab with tongue in cheek, what else do we call it? It's not a hut - far too grand!

At this time of year there are a lot of semi-wild Snowdrops around the site. These will be followed by an equally impressive display of primroses and finally the woodland floor will be covered with bluebells.

Snowdrops

Finally, after nearly four hours and only four birds, a Blue Tit, Dunnock, Long Tailed Tit and a retrap Great Tit, but plenty of tea and walnut cake, the Chaffinches started to fly over and come into the roost. Here is a photo of the start of the main roost ride between stands of Rhododendron.

Roost net ride.

Chris went round for the first batch of Chaffinches from the roost only to bring back two Brambling as well. A male and a female, both first years (age 5).

Male Brambling

You can see from this photo one of the strategies some male finches and buntings use to aquire breeding plumage. Instead of having to go through the trauma of a moult , the new head feathers when moulted in late summer and early autumn have brown/grey tips to them. As the feathers abraid during the winter the tips wear and the underlying colour shows through, Black on Brambling and Reed Bunting, Yellow on Yellowhammer and Blue on Chaffinches. Of course the females are subject to the same degree of moult, but the underlying are colours are not so contrasting.

Female Brambling

So, in the end, it turned out quite a good session with a total of 30 birds ringed, (of 10 species), with 16 new Chaffinches, the 2 Bramblings, 3 Blackbirds (one female had the startings of a brood patch - code 1) and a Song Thrush.

So it was worth the wait.

.........and then it rained !!!!

2010-02-28T10:30:00.000-08:00

Another afternoon at the Lodge to ring around the feeders and finish off with the Chaffinch roost at dusk. The feeders brought in the usual tits, with a pair of Great Tits that were ringed as pulli from the same brood in 2009. So at least 2 of the brood of 8 chicks have survived the winter so far.

We also caught two new adult (6) Treecreepers, one of which is shown below. Ageing Treecreepers has always been tricky, when I started ringing in the '70s all treecreepers after they had undergone the moult were aged as 2 (fully grown, hatching year unknown). Not until relatively recently has it been discovered that the size of the spot at the end of the 3rd primary covert can indicate the age of the bird. A small spot, as in the photo, would be an adult. A larger tear drop shaped spot would indicate a first year bird (3 or 5).

Adult treecreeper showing small spot on 3rd pc.

The weather was showery most of the afternoon until dusk when the heavens opened. Luckily we had just finished getting the last birds from the roost and quickly furled the nets while we processed the remaining birds in the ringing lab. In the end we caught 48 birds of which 30 were new birds. The roost produced 16 new and 3 retrap chaffinches together with a song thrush and a couple of blackbirds. Four of the male chaffinches had long wings of 90mm and above. I have heard it said that birds with wings over 90mm can be assumed to be wintering birds from the continent, although I have not read any papers on this.

We finally went home wet and cold and Chris kindly offered to put the nets in her airing cupboard to dry out for next weeks excursion.

Yesterday

2010-02-21T09:15:00.000-08:00

We were able to get a session in Roost ringing yesterday afternoon, the first since 23rd Jan and was very successful with 58 birds caught. 30 new birds included 19 Chaffinch, a Nuthatch and a Goldcrest. The Chaffinch were carrying good amounts of fat and weighed between 19g and 24g.
Among the retraps we had 2 Coal Tit and a Great Tit that were all first ringed in 2004.

Nice Jay at the Lodge

2010-01-23T10:31:00.001-08:00

A pretty good roost session at Charnwood Lodge with 35 new birds including 2 Brambling, 1 Redwing and 25 Chaffinch. We don't catch Jays very often but they really are quite stunning. One of the ageing features is to compare the lovely black on blue 'barcodes', adults basically look 'regular' (like this one) first year birds look as if they've been shuffled.
It was also encouraging to catch some Goldcrests and find that despite the recent extreme weather their weights were 'normal'.

The worst may be over?

2010-01-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

Further to the Fieldfare catches, it's good to know that the average weights of Chris's birds was close to 100 grams (although the sample size was small). Compare that with Portland where birds evidently forced out by cold weather averaged 96.3g on the 7th January and 92.4g on the 8th. BWP indicates that exhausted, moribund and birds killed by cold weather weigh in the 50's to low 60's so if the worst is over, birds that have managed to hold their own should now survive.

I was pleasantly surprised earlier today to hear and then see two Goldcrest in a small ivy clad clump who were there before the snow and I feared had succumbed but must have been able to feed and get some protection from excessive heat loss.

Ringing totals 2009

2010-01-13T05:57:00.000-08:00

Chris has been doing a great job with our data and has just produced our totals for 2009. CLICK FOR TOTALS

Although we have largely suspended ringing activities until the extreme weather passes Chris has made some selective catches of the well fed birds in her garden including a few Fieldfare.

Cold weather movement Shawell to Spain.

2010-01-12T01:26:00.000-08:00

Just had confirmation that a colour ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull which was at Shawell last week when the weather closed in is now on a beach at Coruna in northern Spain! (there's a lesson there somewhere).
The day after I saw that bird another LBBG, a third winter, which had previously wintered in Spain was also at Shawell no doubt regretting the decision to spend this one in the UK.

Too cold to ring .... what to do? .....

2010-01-08T12:29:00.000-08:00

.... go and find some colour ringed birds that's what.
A couple of days this week I've combined Gull watching at Shawell with reading colour rings. Until the freeze ends I've decided not to ring so birds can concentrate fully on feeding. In the meantime frozen water is a great attraction for gulls and when they stand in full view colour rings are easier to read. I've already had a German ringed Mediterranean Gull (see pic), 3 Lesser Black-backs and 2 Herring Gulls. One of the LBBG's ringed in Gloucestershire has previously wintered in Spain, I bet he/she is regretting staying in the UK this winter! Another LBBG ringed in 2004 was seen all over the place but then disappeared for 2 years until yesterday. Here's just one life history. I think it likes junk food:-
Lesser Black-backed Gull
FH21367 N 10 Ringed 22/11/08 SGD Stoke Orchard landfill site, Gloucestershire. 51.56N 02.06W
S 12 Sighted 07/02/09 RC Stubbers Green, Aldridge, West Midlands (77 km, N, 77 days)
O 12 Sighted 12/11/09 JDS Grundons landfill site, Gloucestershire (2 km, N, 355 days)
O 12 Sighted 17/11/09 JDS Grundons landfill site, Gloucestershire (2 km, N, 360 days)
O 12 Sighted 05/12/09 JDS Grundons landfill site, Gloucestershire (2 km, N, 1 yr 13days)
O 12 Sighted 10/12/09 JDS Grundons landfill site, Gloucestershire (2 km, N, 1 yr 18days)
O 12 Sighted 03/01/10 PFS Throckmorton landfill site, Worcestershire (22 km, N, 1 yr 42days)
S 12 Sighted 07/01/10 SH Shawell landfill site, Leicestershire (82 km, NE, 1 yr 46days)

First birds of 2010 (2)

2010-01-02T14:08:00.000-08:00

Andy beat me to it but I also managed to get out today. First visit to the sewage works but there were contractors on site trying to sort out frozen valves etc and I was getting in the way so only a few Pied Wagtails to show for it. Some years ago when I first started with Pied Wags, Chris Mead was kind enough to give me some pointers. I remember to this day that he said, 'make the most of January as the early spring moult messes up what you thought you knew'. What he meant by that is that in just a few weeks time birds start pre-breeding moult and it's all change. For now it's easy to spot 1st year birds (age code 5) as in the lower image where the two outer brownish original juvenile greater coverts (the ones the bird fledged with back in summer 2009) clearly contrast with the blacker, white edged coverts it replaced the inner ones with in the early autumn. This is what ringers refer to as a 'moult limit' and is frequently used to age birds. There are other things to see such as one 'new' tertial etc but that's enough ringer speak for now.

First ringing for 2010

2010-01-02T11:12:00.000-08:00

A 2 hour session on the rough produced 22 birds of 8 species. 4 Blabi, 8 Housp, 2 Goldf, 1 Chaff and 1 Grefi were the highlights. Must organise a whoosh net so that I can bag me some garden gulls. I have had a reply from John Wells for the colour ringed B.H. Gull that I found at Thornton. It was rung in 2009 at Cotswold water park and was last recorded in Wiltshire.

Christmas ringing at Thornton.

2009-12-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

During the cold weather I have managed to ring about 80 birds at Thornton. Highlights include 8 Goldfinch, 2 Reed buntings, Starlings and House sparrows.

Woodcock & Brambling at the Lodge

2009-12-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Over the years we have caught a few Woodcock at Charnwood Lodge and today we found this stunning adult in one of the mist nets. Everyone knows about their incredible eyes. These two upper images show very well how large and high set they are (top) ideally suited to their nocturnal habits and how they protrude to allow wide field near 360 degree vision (middle). We also caught a nice male Brambling (bottom).

This weeks roost at the Lodge

2009-12-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday Chris and I were up at the Lodge in the afternoon. After a slow start things started to pick up as dusk fell. In the end we captured 25 birds including; 13 new Chaffinches and 3 new Redwings as well as a handful of the usual, Dunnocks, Wrens, Tits and Blackbirds. Interestingly two of the retrap Blackbirds had put on a considerable amount of weight since first capture. One had gained 10g since July 2009 and the other the same amount since it was first captured only a few weeks ago. This weight gain represents about 10% of the body weight.

'stockamsel' Blackbirds - the Naumann link

2009-11-30T16:17:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe but it's almost December! Dark nights and slow birding days, so time to scratch around for something mildly interesting. On Saturday we caught two apparent continental Blackbirds and the word 'stockamsel' came to mind (see below). Nigel kindly added a comment but has since rooted out a link to an old ringers bulletin from 1969.

Not only is it a bit of nostalgia but from Clare College, Cambridge some light on the subject. Evidently the expression 'stockamsel' was first coined by Johann Andreas Naumann he of (naumanni) Lesser Kestrel and Dusky Thrush fame. It relates to young males resembling well marked females. There is no English equivalent but perhaps 'lady boy' will do? I'm not intending to refer to it any further blogs mind!

First cold weather at the Lodge

2009-11-28T10:29:00.000-08:00

Anticipating the first cold weather at Charnwood Lodge we set a small number of nets in the Rhododendrons and waited for dark to descend. In just a few minutes we were catching finches and thrushes including 23 Chaffinch and 2 Redwing. One of the Redwings had an engorged tick near the base of its bill (above & inset). We don't generally risk trying to remove individual ticks trusting that they will quickly drop off anyway. We also caught several Blackbirds including two apparent continental birds. The old ringers used to call them 'stockamsels'. I can't remember why, anyone know?

2009 - the story so far

2009-11-24T13:44:00.000-08:00

Our totals so far are 1757 new birds ringed with Charnwood Lodge on 570 only 42 down from last years total so it looks like we'll crack that at least. The grand total of birds ringed last year was 1824. Our best year was 2005 with 2274 when we had six active ringers. Numbers always fluctuate depending on availability and activity but also the weather. Some years the ringers (who can often only make weekends) are thwarted by bad weather.

During November we've ringed 14 Blackbirds, 2 Song Thrush, 5 Redwing but only 3 Goldcrests so far at the lodge. Last month we had 9 Blackbirds, 7 Song Thrush, 7 Redwing and 7 Goldcrests so we're down on crest numbers. Autumn 2009 has been one of the worst Goldcrest seasons for many years. One coastal site which averages 250 in October had only 5 birds! Just a reminder how to determine the sex of a Goldcrest (if you're luck enough to catch one that is!) is by the colour of feathers in the crown. The bird on the left has fundamentally sulphur yellow feathers (female) whereas the bird on the right is a male with vivid orange/gold.

Common Rosefinch

2009-11-13T14:23:00.001-08:00

The most unexpected bird of this autumn was a Common Rosefinch caught during a routine mist netting session at Thornton. Thanks to Dave Wright (in hand) and Matthew Berriman (after release) for permission to use their images. Andy Smith has kindly posted the following account:-

COMMON ROSEFINCH AT THORNTON 26/9/2009 A LEICESTERSHIRE FIRST
On the evening of Friday 25 September I had put up four mist nets on land adjoining my garden with the intention of an early morning ringing session. The forecast was good with calm weather, ideal for mist netting. Hauling my body out of bed at 8 am, ( a miserably late hour to start ringing) I regretted the extra pint and heavy rock band who had entertained us at the Thornton beer festival the previous night!
I opened the nets and commenced ringing. I was immediately catching good numbers of birds, including Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs. The calm but overcast conditions were ideal and it was good to catch migrant birds. One net had been positioned with the intention of catching finches that were coming to my neighbours feeder (they own the land I ring on and have taken to wildlife gardening). Target birds here were Goldfinch, Chaffinch and Greenfinch.
At about 9 am I made a catch of six birds. The first bird I extracted was a strange looking finch, which on first glance I had presumed was going to be a juvenile Greenfinch. As I examined the bird I noted that there was no yellow on the wing and the bill and head structure were unusual. I put the bird in a bag and completed my net round. I quickly processed the other birds leaving the strange finch to last.
Removing the bird I immediately knew that it was something special. Before a bird can be rung you have to be able to identify it. It is not a situation that you are often in. I considered the obvious species such as Greenfinch and Bullfinch, but the plumage and structure were wrong. I had already wondered about Common,( I prefer the old name Scarlet) Rosefinch) but I needed to reacquaint myself with the species. As I looked at page 359 of the Collins guide it was immediately obvious that it was a first winter Common Rosefinch. At this time I was not aware that it was a county first. It was certainly a ringing and Thornton tick for me, although not a British tick as I had seen one in Norfolk.
I also looked up Common Rosefinch in Svensson, where it is still referred to as Scarlet Rosefinch. On page 309 a sketch of the head shows the well curved culmen and black beady eye. These features confirmed my identification. I measured the wing at 82 mm and then checked Svensson which gives a range of 79-86. I also measured the bill at just over 9mm. Svensson gives a range of 9.5-11mm. The plumage was fresh and tinged olive, with two pale buff wing bars. The tail was wet from being in the bag and stained from droppings which indicated that it had been feeding on Elder berries.
I now needed a second opinion and someone to take some in the hand photos for future reference. My vision of releasing the bird and it towering off high into the stratosphere, never to be seen again was making me collect as much evidence as possible. I phoned Dave Wright and asked him to come round as I had trapped an interesting bird. I quickly closed the nets processed the other birds so I could give the situation my full attention.
Dave arrived and inspected the bird. I had already let it slip that I thought I had caught a Common Rosefinch. Dave very calmly suggested that we should first rule out any other species such as Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting and Reed Bunting, but I think we both knew what we had. The bird was ringed and Dave took a selection of in the hand photos . It was now that I had the chance to check the Leicestershire Avifauna and realised that we had a county first. It was time to release the bird. On release it flew to a nearby Elder and started to preen. Much to our relief it looked like it would stick around. Dave and I considered the implications of releasing the news. How many birders could we expect? I had previously considered what I might do if I was to trap or find a rarity on the land behind my house and I was now faced with this predicament. I decided that it would be good P.R. for ringing if I allowed people to view the bird and access was easy.
We contacted Andy Mckay and made the arrangements to release the news I also asked for £1 donations to the Charnwood ringing group. It was not long before the first birders were arriving and the terrace was covered in scopes. The Rosefinch performed admirably for the weekend and approximately 250 birders visited. The majority enjoyed good views of the bird with only an unlucky few missing out late on the Sunday. The bird was last seen at about 3.15 when it flew off with Greenfinches.

Many people gained a lifer without adding much to their carbon foot print, and all a county first. Jim Graham has already made a request that I catch another rarity next week, perhaps a Red Flanked Bluetail! (It was not as it says in the Avifauna the Charnwood R.G. That caught the last one) I would like to take this opportunity to stress the importance of ringing and the vital information that can only be gained from mark and recapture methods. I know that there are conflicts between the various factions but ultimately we are all fascinated by the same things.
For me it was wonderful to share this experience with so many likeminded people and friends. People were wonderfully well behaved and extremely generous. We raised £200 for the Ringing group, oh as well as two bottles of beer and a jar of damson jam! (Thanks I.M). At the height of the twitch 40 people were crammed on my terrace and due to queuing I had to put people on the terrace next door. Common Rosefinch has a complete winter moult starting in November. Perhaps this bird will stick around and I can invite you all back to scope a handsome male. How smart would that be!

Andy Smith. Thornton 29/9/2009.
The closest breeding for Common Rosefinch is in Denmark. Common Rosefinch winters in Pakistan and India. The range has expanded recently and 4 pairs bred on Flamborough Head in 1992. More than 60% of records are in the northern isles. The only ringing recoveries are of birds rung in Norway, presumably on passage and then retrapped on North Ronaldsay. There is still much that we do not know about the migration routes of this species.

We've moved!

2009-11-11T15:36:00.000-08:00

Well not really 'moved' more like evicted and rehoused. Thanks to the mighty Yahoo just deleting all the Geocities web sites, the original and comprehensive Charnwood Ringing Group site disappeared on the 27th October. I have tried to archive it and may be able to draw from it in due course but for now this blog represents our only web resource.