Manor Farm Bird Ringing - February 2015

Saturday 14th February
This weekend has been fairly hectic for me. It started with a low tide wader count on a part of Portsmouth Harbour Saturday morning, which was fairly uninspiring. There were small numbers of Redshank, Oystercatcher, Turnstone, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew and a few duck and geese species, the most numerous being Dark-bellied Brent Goose. It was nice to see a few Goldeneye and Red-brested Mergansers, as I don't often see them around Hill Head or on my patch. Three adult Mediterranean Gulls, two in winter plumage one in full summer, were the highlight for me though.

After the wader count I headed to Manor Farm Country Park to set nets for the planned mornings ringing session. I was joined by Rob and Megan and we put up six nets and then furled them in readiness for the morning session. We did catch four birds in the process, one new House Sparrow, two Dunnocks, one of which was a retrap and one Robin. Whilst putting up the nets a large flock of mainly Black-headed Gulls flew over, I picked out one adult winter Mediterranean Gull, but nothing else. We had hoped to catch some Fieldfares or Redwings as they went in to roost, but there were very few birds around. A flock of 40 Fieldfare was the most I had seen in a while, but there was less than 10 Redwing around.

As the sun began to set the resident Little Owls started to get active, and were putting on a very vocal display. We eventually tracked down two birds; they were sat together preening each other whilst making and variety of squeaks and squeals to acknowledge their appreciation. Other birds were flying around the main car park and we estimated at least four birds being present.

Sunday 15th February
Sunday morning began with a pre-dawn start for me Chris, Rob and Megan and as we arrived we were serenaded by the resident Tawny Owls. The Tawny activity seemed to inspire the Little Owls again as they started calling again, but only for a while. The ringing session was fairly mundane as there were very few birds but the total did include six new House Sparrows so some new additions to my RAS project. We also caught 11 retraps which included one bird that was ringed over five years ago and one that was ringed 4 years ago.

A total of 34 birds were caught which included one Wood Pigeon, six Dunnocks, three of which were retraps, four Robins, two Blackbirds, one retrap, a Song Thrush, Chaffinch and a few Blue Tits.

In the afternoon I opened a net at home and added another 21 birds. The highlights were another male Chaffinch and a Greenfinch, but the total included two Long-tailed Tits, a Dunnock and a selection of new and retrap Blue and Great Tits. Of the Blue Tits one was originally ringed 3 years 256 days previously and another 5 years 189 days previously. One of the retrap Great Tits had been ringed 3 years 115 days previously.

Over the course of the weekend we caught 63 birds of 12 species, with 38 new birds and 26 retraps. It was disappointing not to catch any Redwing or Fieldfares, but they should be around for a few weeks yet.

The First Ringing Session of the New Year

It was very much a weekend of two halves last weekend, on Saturday the weather was wet and windy, whereas as Sunday was mainly overcast and dry without a breath of wind. I had anticipated that Sunday would be good and arranged to meet Rob and Chris at Manor Farm Country Park. The Little Owls were very vocal when we arrived, and continued to call up to mid morning. I estimated at least three were present based on the calls, one individual was roosting in a small copse near one of our nets, but unfortunately we did not catch it, but it gave great views.

It was a steady session with 38 birds of 14 species caught, although 12 of the birds were retraps. The most numerous species were House Sparrow and Blue Tit with eight birds of each species trapped. Of the House Sparrows six were retraps, one of which was approaching five years since its original capture date, the others were all from within the last year. 

Redwing - Manor Farm Country Park. This bird is actually from last year, when the light was better

As is usual this time of year I had expected to catch loads of Redwings, but there were very few around, we did however manage to catch one. A female Bullfinch was a nice surprise and a species that we have not caught at Manor Farm for a few months. The Bullfinch was a first year female that was aged due to the presence of two retained greater coverts. The other species caught included four Great Tits, five Blackbirds, three Wrens, and single Wood Pigeon, Magpie, Robin and Song Thrush. The Song Thrush was also a first year bird and had six retained juvenile greater coverts.

Song Thrush - Manor Farm Country Park

Song Thrush - Close up of greater coverts showing retained outer coverts
visible due to large thorns and chestnut colouration. The break between adult
feathers and retained juvenile feathers is indicated by red arrow

We did also continue my recent quest for crests, catching four Goldcrests, one of which was a retrap from a couple of months ago. Other bird species seen during the session included Fieldfare (5), Greenfinch (20+), Green Woodpecker (1), Linnet (5), Little Egret (1), Common Gull (7), Goldfinch (5) and Moorhen (3).

The Continuing Quest for Crests

The wind over the last couple of days has been getting steadily stronger, and the blustery conditions have made it much more difficult to find sheltered sites. Yesterday, I headed back to Manor Farm Country Park to try and catch some more Firecrests there. I initially retrapped the two birds that I had ringed with Rob on 20th December, but after trying a few different sites, I caught a new female. Five new Blue Tits were the only other species ringed.

Firecrest - Manor Farm Country Park

This morning the wind was even stronger and so I headed to a couple of local sites that I had been saving for such conditions. At the first site I could hear a Goldcrest singing and quickly caught two, followed by another new Firecrest and a Robin.

Goldcrest - Funtley

Firecrest - Funtley

My final destination of the day was another very sheltered site, about a mile south of the first. This area is dominated with yew and cherry laurel, and therefore there is plenty of cover. I sat and listened for a while but did not hear a crest, undeterred I set a net and yep you've guessed it, I caught another new Firecrest and also a Goldcrest.

Firecrest - Funtley

So that is now 10 new Firecrests and 17 new Goldcrests that I have ringed at four sites since the beginning of November. All of the birds have been using areas that were dominated with evergreen shrubbery, usually holly and yew, but cherry laurel and rhododendron is also used. Such sites presumably provide the best shelter and food, and it will be interesting to see if the same birds use the same sites next winter. I have previously seen wintering Firecrests at all the sites I have visited so far, so time will tell. 

A retrap Little Owl, Redwings and Firecrests at Manor Farm Country Park

After the success of last weekend, this morning Rob and I headed back to Manor Farm Country Park for some more ringing. Our plan was to try and catch more House Sparrows and Redwings, so it was a pre-dawn start to set the nets. As it turned out it was a bit breezy and so we were unable to set some of our usual nets, and instead had to settle for setting some in more sheltered locations. We had instant success on the first round, with two new Redwings and a Little Owl. The Little Owl was one of the birds that we had caught back in early November; it had put on some weight since when it was last caught, but the best thing was being able to get a good look at it in daylight.

Little Owl - Manor Farm Country Park

Little Owl - Manor Farm Country Park

The second net round produced another two Redwings and eleven Long-tailed Tits, but as the wind was really starting to pick up now we decided to call it a day at the farm and move into the woods.

Redwing - Manor Farm Country Park

Last winter I had regularly seen Firecrests in the woods at Manor Farm, particularly where evergreen shrubbery, such as Holly and Yew, was present, so we decided to go and see if any were there this winter. We only had about an hour so stopped off at a couple of likely places; the first location produced a male Firecrest, in the same bush as last year, although it was not the same bird as this one was a first year bird. 

Male Firecrest - Manor Farm Country Park

The second location also proved to have a Firecrest present, another male and also three Goldcrests. These are the fifth and sixth Firecrests I have caught since the beginning of November, and may not be the last of the year. I have now finished work until the new year and hope to get out and search for more.

Male Firecrest - Manor Farm Country Park

Female Goldcrest (left) and Male Firecrest (right) - Manor Farm Country Park

Bringing up the half century, Bird Ringing and the Barred Warbler on Portland

It has been a bit of a milestone for me this week in that I celebrated my 50th birthday, as a result much of my time has been spent on social events, or recovering from them! That said I have still been able to get in a couple of ringing sessions, and also a visit to Portland Bill to catch up with the Barred Warbler.

The first session was on Friday 12th December, I met Rob at Curbridge in the hope of catching some Goldcrests and Firecrests. Unfortunately we didn't succeed on the Firecrest front but did catch five Goldcrests and a couple of Blue Tits. After Curbridge we headed to Manor Farm Country Park, to set nets for the following morning, but left the nets open for a while just in case. A Treecreeper was the only notable capture, the other seven birds were a re-trap Goldcrest, five Long-tailed Tits and a Great Tit.

Eurasian Treecreeper

The morning of Saturday 13th December was cold, with a light frost, which fortunately hadn't frozen my furled nets. I was joined by Rob and Megan for a pre-dawn start, but was on a tight deadline as I had to be home by 11am. The pre-dawn start proved well worth the effort as we caught seven Redwing on the first round, with a further seven caught throughout the session. In total we caught 28 birds, which other than the 14 Redwing included two Blackbirds, one Song Thrush, eight House Sparrows, four of which were retraps and single Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Dunnock.

After a night away in Dorset I decided to pop into the bird observatory on Portland to look for the wintering Barred Warbler. I arrived expecting the bird to be performing well, as it had been for the last week, but chose the time when it decided not to show for about an hour and a half. Eventually, though it was back in the apple laden Sycamore in the Obs garden. It was a very active bird which rather than sitting and feeding on one apple, jumped around sampling a piece of each one that was on offer. It had one of its outer tail feathers hanging off, but otherwise was a very smart bird, performing much better than the usual skulkers that I have seen. I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first Barred Warbler that I have seen in the UK for many years, so it was good to catch up with this bird. My most recent Barred Warblers have been spring birds that I have encountered whilst guiding for Ornitholidays in Turkey.

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Manor Farm Country Park - November 2014

It was an absolutely glorious start to the day this morning, and well worth the pre-dawn start.  We had arrived on site at 6:30 with the aim of getting at least some nets up and open before first light, and achieved that goal. Chris had to leave at around 9:30 so we limited ourselves to just six nets, which in the event was ample.

Sunrise over Manor Farm Country Park

The target species was as ever House Sparrow for my RAS project, and to colour ring birds for next years breeding season, but of course anything else that happens upon a net is also ringed. The session was very successful with a total of 33 birds ringed, 21 House Sparrow (16 new and five retraps), four Goldcrest (all new), two Dunnocks (one new and one retrap), two Robin (one new and one retrap) and three Blue Tits (two new and one retrap).

In a previous post I have discussed ageing House Sparrows in the winter, and have spent considerable time looking at the bill colour of birds, particularly males. The bill colour in males is a secondary sexual characteristic, and when sexually active in the breeding season, it becomes jet black. According to various published papers it reverts back to the pale brown or horn colour of females in the winter months.  Studies have shown that the change in colour is driven by the presence of testosterone, but one study concluded that the darkening of the bill was the result of synergistic effects of gonadotropins and testosterone (Anderson, T.R. 2006: Biology of the Ubiquitous House Sparrow - from Genes to Population. Oxford University Press).

Given that we are now at the end of November, the bill colour of male birds should no longer be black, yet two of the males clearly still had black bills.

House Sparrow - Manor Farm CP. This bird was originally ringed 2nd January 2010 and is now approaching five years since its initial ringing date

House Sparrow - Manor Farm CP. This bird was first ringed on 7th March 2014 so presumably bred in 2014

By contrast the bird below was ringed as a 3J on 22nd June 2014 and therefore is a first year bird and will not yet have bred. The bill colour of this male is the typical colour of a juvenile or female, indicating that the bird has yet to become sexually active. Another thing to note about this known juvenile is the extent of fringing on the head feathers, which is considerably greater than in the two known adult males.

First year male House Sparrow - originally ringed on 22nd June 2014 as a juvenile.

The three male below were all new birds. Given that I have been ringing at the site for over 15 years there is a pretty good chance that the majority of the new birds ringed each winter are juveniles. I admit I am never going to catch every single new bird at the site, and it is often surprising how many unhinged birds I see each visit, but a fair percentage of the adult birds at the site will be ringed.

Therefore looking at the images of the three birds below, the colour of the bill and the extent of fringing on the head feathers, could these three be juveniles too? Of the three the first bird is perhaps the least likely since it does have very dark lores and mask, and fringing is not as extensive as the other two birds below, nor in fact the known juvenile above. Looking at the two adult birds, they are showing very obvious white patches above the eye and where the black mask meets the grey feathers of the forehead, which the bird below is not exhibiting. Personally, I think all these three birds are juveniles.

House Sparrow Manor Farm CP, first ringed 29th November 2014

House Sparrow Manor Farm CP, first ringed 29th November 2014

House Sparrow Manor Farm CP, first ringed 29th November 2014

Whilst ringing the other birds of note recorded were one Raven, 27 Redwing, two Fieldfare, one Little Egret, one Grey wagtail, five Pied Wagtails and two Little Owls.

RAS Ringing at Manor Farm - June 2014

For the second time this weekend I was up at 5 am, this morning though it was for bird ringing rather than twitching. The plan was to visit Manor Farm Country Park in the hope of catching some House Sparrows for my BTO RAS project. I have blogged about the project on previous occasions so won't go through it in detail again. But for those who don't know, the aim is to catch or see as many previously ringed birds between the breeding season (March to September).

Adult Male House Sparrow

To make this easier, all of the birds I catch are ringed with a BTO metal ring on the right tarsus, and a yellow coloured darvic ring, with a single letter and two numbers, on the left tarsus. I started the project in 2000 and have to date ringed over 700 birds,

The Colour Rings used for my RAS Project

It is the peak breeding season for House Sparrows at present, and I had timed this visit in the hope that the first broods had fledged. We set six nets, around the farm buildings in locations that have previously proven to be good capture sites. Our first bird was a Carrion Crow, a species that I had not trapped at the site until last year, and now have ringed four. I think this reflects the number of birds present around the farm, which has increased dramatically in recent years. The next birds were a couple of Dunnocks and then we started catching sparrows. It was now 6:30 and the farm opened to the public at 10, so we had three hours to ring. 

It was a productive session that resulted in a total of 36 birds, of which 27 were House Sparrows. The total was made up of eight re-traps and 19 new birds, of which 15 were juveniles. Both adult and juvenile sparrows have a complete moult post breeding/fledging, therefore usually all wing and tail feathers will be replaced. Typically this will commence later in the season for adult birds, since they can have two or three broods. However, juvenile birds commence moulting in mid June, these will be the first broods.

Juvenile Male House Sparrow - note the white patch behind the eye and
rufous feathers coming through, more rufous feathers were present in the wing.

Of the birds we caught, five were in primary moult. This was generally not very advanced in that only the innermost primary had been replaced and the next was growing; all of the other feathers were old. One individual was in a curious state in that it had replaced all of its primaries, primary coverts and greater coverts, and only some of its tertials and secondaries (see below). It will be interesting to see how this bird progresses its moult, so hopefully I will catch it again over the next couple of weeks.

Wing of Juvenile House Sparrow

During the session we also caught a few other species that are breeders at the site; Wren, Blackbird and a couple of Greenfinches. The female was very tatty, but the adult male was still relatively fresh which was quite surprising for this time of year.

Adult Male Greenfinch

The only other species ringed was a juvenile Robin. I always say to my trainees that when you have a bird of a known age it is worth looking at features, such as tail feather shape and size, shape and colour of tips of greater coverts, so that they are familiar with the features when they catch a contentious bird. There was certainly no doubting this Robins age.

Juvenile Robin

Spring has finally sprung in Hampshire - March 2014

There is no better sound than that of the sound of spring, and the start of the dawn chorus. Blackbirds, song thrushes and robins are usually the first to start and their song makes the pre-dawn start for bird ringing all the more worthwhile. With the lengthening days the weather has calmed too, which has meant in the first 10 days of the month more birds have been ringed than in the whole of January and February. The majority of the sessions have been at Manor Farm Country Park, but this weekend I ventured back to Botley Wood for the first session of the year.

The sessions at Manor Farm have again been targeted on gathering data for the House Sparrow RAS project. The RAS season started on the 1st March and so the aim was to get as many retraps as possible. The season started well and with 16 new birds ringed and 15 birds either sighted or retrapped. The usual species were also ringed including Wren, Dunnock, Robin and Blue, Great and Long-tailed Tit.

A species that is grossly underestimated by many is the Common Starling, a striking species in the field but truly stunning in the hand. The pale tips contrast strikingly with the metallic violet and green sheen to the main part of the feathers. In the summer months the bill becomes bright yellow, except for the base that is, which turns blue in a male and pink in a female. The image of the male below illustrates this perfectly.

Male Common Starling - Manor Farm Country Park (Rob Skinner)

Six new Redwing have brought the total this year to 20 and another Fieldfare was the second of the year. According to the pattern on the head feathers, which showed very little black other than along the shaft, this bird appeared to be a female.

Presumed Female Fieldfare - Manor Farm Country Park (Rob Skinner)

The session at Botley Wood was more about cutting in net rides in preparation for the arrival of spring migrants, particularly Common Nightingales, but we still put a couple of nets up just in case. Surprisingly there were no spring migrants around not even the odd Chiffchaff, but two Eurasian Woodcocks, a Siskin and a Kingfisher made the visit worthwhile. In contrast to the ringing which resulted in two each of Blue Tit, Wren and Robin, so not really with the effort.

The warm spring days have seen the level of invertebrate activity increase dramatically, Brimstones were abundant at Botley Wood and when I returned home there were Small Tortoiseshell's and Red Admirals in the garden.

Underwing of Small Tortoiseshell

Upperwing of Small Tortoiseshell

Moth numbers have also increased as has the diversity of species and in just three session 15 species have been recorded in my garden. The species list has produced nothing as good as the recent Acleris literana recorded at work but has included Small Brindled Beauty, Clouded Drab and Twin-spotted Quaker.

Twin-Spotted Quaker

Twin-spotted Quaker is common and widespread throughout Hampshire and the Isle of Wight with the peak month for its emergence being March. The other species recorded included  Early Moth, Early Grey, Hebrew Character, Early Grey, Diurnea fagella and the Common Plume Moth Emmelina monodactyla.

Ringing and Mothing on a chilly spring like day

Another lull in the weather combined with a day off, and yep you've guessed it back to Manor Farm for a spot of bird ringing. But not only that, given the good conditions I decided to put the moth trap out for the first time this year.

One of nine new Redwings caught during the session

The day started early as I was keen to get the nets up long before first light in the hope of catching more Redwings. This time I suffered no equipment failure and before long nine new Redwing had been trapped. The total included three adults and six first years, which gave the two trainees, Rob and Megan, the chance to gain some invaluable experience in ageing the species.  I had purposely chosen not to put too many nets up and subsequently the number of birds caught was low but it meant we had time to study the birds in more detail.

Male Golcrest

Our total included an adult male Blackbird, a Goldcrest, single Great and Long-tailed Tits, three Goldfinch's and a Chaffinch. All the birds were new with the exception of the Chaffinch that had originally been ringed on 26th November 2011, two years and 87 days previously.

Oak Beauty

Returning home I checked out the moth trap and was pleased to see six moths of four species within it. There were singles of Oak Beauty, Dotted Border and Tortricodes alternella and three Common Quakers, so not a bad start for the year.

Dotted Border

January Ramblings

A combination of a busy social calendar and short days has meant I have had little time for birding and blogging activities, and to be honest there has not been much to report. I did manage a bit of a New Years Day bash around a few local sites, which produced about 70 species, including a red-throated diver in Stoke's Bay, Gosport, very close to the shore, an adult Mediterranean Gull at Walpole Park, and of course the regular ring-billed gull that winters at this site. I cannot remember exactly how many years this bird has been returning to this site, but I think this is its 10th year, which is quite amazing.

Looking Down the Throat of a Ring-billed Gull

The light was fantastic the morning of New Years Day, and so I had the opportunity to get more photos of this very confiding bird. At one point the bird was trying to swallow some food stuck in its gullet, and gave some interesting views of the inside of its bill and throat, unfortunately in my haste to get the shot my focus was slightly off, but you can still get the picture.

Adult Ring-billed Gull

Identifying an adult ring-billed gull is as straight forward as it gets, the pale iris, yellow legs and bill, and broad black band across the upper and lower mandible, are all good features which will clinch the species' ID.

Adult Ring-billed Gull

Bird ringing activity has been limited to four mist netting sessions one nocturnal wander around Manor Farm Country Park in search of woodcocks. There was no joy with the latter, in fact, I did not see a single woodcock, in stark contrast to last year when there was a peak of 12 birds on one visit.

Eurasian Nuthatch - A retrapped bird from early December 2012

Two garden ringing sessions have produced the usual blue and great tits, a retrap nuthatch, coal tit, a large flock of long-tailed tits and a few goldfinches.

Long-tailed Tit - One of 12 Birds Captured Today

Ringing sessions at Manor farm have been relatively quiet numbers wise, but have provided a bit of diversity including blackbirds, song thrushes, redwings, chaffinches and goldcrests. A stunning adult male pied wagtail was caught out by my single shelf nets, the only one of over 12 birds feeding in the fields.

Adult Male Pied Wagtail

With no contrast in the greater coverts, its very dark upperparts and pure white forehead, this bird was easy to age and sex.

All dark rump and back of adult male Pied Wagtail

So far this year I have caught five bullfinches, four females and one male, all of them were first winter birds. One of the birds was infected with the mite Knemidocoptes mutans making the leg very crusty and too large to take and A size ring, so I had to let it go un-ringed.

Bullfinch leg infected with the mite Knemidocoptes mutans 

Of all the birds captured, several were retraps, the most notable being an adult goldcrest that was first ringed as a first year bird in November 2010, 2 years and 58 days previously.