Patch Birding and Ringing - February 2015

I haven't had much spare time since my last post, but have managed to squeeze in one visit to Curbridge, on 9th Feb, and also one ringing session in my garden. My visit to Curbridge was another lunchtime dash and as usual I only had my Panasonic FZ200 bridge camera, just in case. The tide was rising fast and as such there was very little exposed mud left. A Greenshank was making the most of the last opportunity to feed in shallow creek water as I pulled up into the Horse and Jockey car park. I grabbed a couple of photos making use of the digital zoom, so not the best quality but a good record shot.

Greenshank - Curbridge

My regular visits to Curbridge of late have not produced any new species recently but there have been some good records. This week there was a peak count of six Greenshank, a good count for this time of year and the second time I have recorded six birds this winter, and a Common Snipe was only the second one this year. The usual fare included one Common Sandpiper, five Redshank, three Teal and a Little Egret.

Six Greenshanks - Curbridge

Common Snipe - Curbridge. A record shot on full digital zoom

There were only a handful of gulls around due to the state of the tide, which included 10 Black-headed and one adult Mediterranean Gull. It is interesting to see Mediterranean Gulls making regular appearances this year after so many years without recording them at Curbridge.

On Sunday 8th in the morning I opened a net in the garden. I only had a couple of hours before going out, but that was enough time to catch 21 birds. The majority were as expected, Blue Tits, with 10 birds trapped, the next most numerous species was Long-tailed Tit, with six birds ringed. The highlights were single Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Robin, Chaffinch and Coal Tit.

Male Chaffinch 

Tail of Male Chaffinch showing pointed tail feathers suggesting 2cy bird. 
This bird also had two retained greater coverts in the wing.

Coal Tit 

More Birding on the Patch and Beyond...

With the weather set fair this weekend I was hoping to get in some spring ringing, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Instead I spent the time birding at various locations within my patch and on Sunday (April 21st) I ventured further afield to Hampshire County Councils Hook with Warsash Local Nature Reserve. Saturday began with another stroll around Botley Wood, every visit this week has yielded new species, but not today. Willow warblers, whitethroats, chiffchaffs and blackcaps, all seem settled on territories, and a fly over raven was a good record, but the best news was the return of my second nightingale of the year.

Male Nightingale - Botley Wood

I have been colour-ringing nightingales at this site since 1998 and so always spend a bit of time trying to track down a bird when I hear one. After a bit of of stalking I was able to track down a male in full song. Initially it didn't show its legs, but after a bit of maneuvering I got a good view. Unfortunately this bird was not colour-ringed, but its good to see new birds still returning to the site.

Male Nightingale - Unfortunately not a colour-ringed bird

My next stop was Manor Farm Country Park. I had been asked to do a dawn chorus walk on Sunday 21st and so thought I would go and have a look around to plan my route. But no visit to Manor farm would be complete without checking the resident house sparrows for colour-rings. After a couple of hours, and some very patient observing I had manged just two birds...not what you would call a raging success.

Male House Sparrow - Manor Farm Country Park

My patience was rewarded in a way though, as whilst watching a couple of sparrows I noted a couple of robins carrying food. Pretending not to watch, I was soon able to track down the nest to a metal jug hanging in a garden shed.

This Robin is clearly not an arachnophobic since it had a pretty big
Tegenaria sp. spider in its beak

The brood was snuggled down in the bottom of the jug, out of sight of predators and in the dry and warm.

Happy family Snuggled in their Nest

Fortunately, I had brought my ringing kit with me and quickly put a ring on each of the brood of four before moving on. 

Robins certainly do look better with Feathers

Ringing birds in the nest (pulli) is a valuable resource since it provides the precise age of a bird and its place of origin, and therefore in the case of longevity and dispersal studies it can be extremely useful. I will be watching this brood over the next week to see how they get on.

A handful of Robins

After a couple of hours at Manor Farm my next stop was Curbridge. I had timed my arrival with the falling tide, and by the time I got there it was pretty low. Several wader species were present, including two common sandpipers, 10 common redshank, two oystercatchers and nine greenshanks. Greenshank numbers tend to be at their highest in the spring at this site, with two or three birds usually spending the whole winter.

Three Greenshanks and and Oystercatcher

Whilst scanning the waders I noticed another medium sized wader on the mud and was pleased to see my first whimbrel of the year. The number of whimbrels present at Curbridge in the spring has previously reached over 100, but in recent years those numbers have dropped off, and now they rarely number more than 20 or 30 individuals, at any one time. 

Sunrise over the River Hamble

Sunday began with, what can only be described as, a ridiculously early start. I was up at 03:45 and at Manor Farm by 04:30, but I was not alone. The enthusiastic attendees for my dawn chorus walk arrived not long after me, and before long skylarks began to sing, along with little and tawny owls. Before long blackbirds, song thrushes and robins had joined in and the dawn chorus was in full song. We took a route around the park, and more by luck than judgement, were perfectly placed to watch the sun come up over the River Hamble. Great, blue and coal tits soon joined in the chorus, as did nuthatches, green and great spotted woodpeckers. A lone whimbrel fed on the inter-tidal and three oystercatchers flew overhead, kleeping as they went. Every year this dawn chorus walk seems to coincide with great weather and this year was just amazing, however hard it is to get up in the morning...on a day like this it is always worth it just to watch the sun come up.

Sunrise over the River Hamble

After a well deserved afternoon nap, a nipped out for a bit of of patch birding. There have been a couple of little gulls at Hook with Warsash over the last couple of days, so that seemed like a good place to start. I arrived in time to see both birds feeding over the lake along with an Arctic tern, which was an unexpected surprise. Both of the little gulls were 1st winter birds, one had a complete tail band and one just two dark tips on the outer tail feathers, so the two birds were easily separable. They fed over the lake for about 30 minutes before heading off north and up The Solent.

First Winter Little Gull

Other species present included lapwings, gadwalls, swallows, little egrets, redshanks, black-headed, common and herring  gulls, three oystercatchers a curlew and a very obliging whitethroat.
 

Common Whitethroat

Patch Listing in the Snow

Last year I decided to take part in some Hampshire patch listing and opted for a 5km x 5km square covering my home, Curbridge and part of Manor Farm Country Park. I have to admit that my effort was sporadic to say the least, and I ended 2012 with a total of 121 species recorded on 'my patch'. This year I have decided to patch list again, covering the same patch, and with the aim of beating last years total. To make things more interesting, during quieter birding periods, I am also going to record other taxa that I encounter, such as mammals, butterflies and dragonflies etc., hopefully this will make my posts more varied!

A view of my Patch

My patch listing activity during 2013 to date has been limited to the area around my house,  a couple of visits to Manor Farm Country Park and a snowy visit to Curbridge. My garden has provided the usual suspects, with the common tit species bolstered with the usual wintering marsh tit, great spotted and green woodpecker, nuthatch, house sparrow and sparrowhawk. The surrounding area, in particular the River Meon valley and surrounding patches of woodland have, unsurprisingly produced a greater range of species, after the recent snow, some of these have become more visible. On the 13th January I wandered around the local woods and was rewarded with siskin, mistle thrush, nuthatch, goldcrest and the star bird of the day a cracking male firecrest.

Flooded meadows, a bird feeding Haven

Today I ventured out into a snow covered landscape, starting at the River Meon, where the high water levels are still breaching the river banks and flowing across the adjacent fields. With most of the grass snow covered, the flowing flushes were the best areas for feeding birds, and they flocked to them, 20 lapwing, 11 snipe, over 70 fieldfare, 80 redwing and a grey wagtail were present. A mixed flock of finches including siskin, lesser redpoll and goldfinches were also present in the alder trees, occasionally dropping down to the flush to drink.

Curbridge - on the rising tide

Moving on, my next stop was Curbridge; I had timed my visit to coincide with the rising tide in the hope of seeing birds that were pushed further up the estuary as the mud further down stream was covered up. My timing was perfect and I was able to add common redshank, greenshank, curlew, oystercatcher and common sandpiper to my patch list. Two little egrets and a mixed flock of several hundred gulls, black-headed, common, herring and lesser black-backed, were also present.

Greenshank, Curbridge

So by 19th January my patch list stands at 67 species, the recent snow has certainly made some species more visible, so whilst its still hanging around I will make to most of it, and back out again tomorrow.

Wader Ringing - Farlington Marshes 18th August 2012

With the tide again right, and the weather set fair, we headed off to Farlington Marshes for another wader mist-netting session. We arrived early and set a couple of nets on the scrape in the hope of catching another Common or Green Sandpiper, before heading off to the lake, and our main ringing site for the evening. A Spotted Crake had been reported earlier, so on the way to the lake we stopped to chat to a couple of local birders, and timed it just right to catch up with the Spotted Crake, plus a Little Stint, several Green Sands and a Spotted Redshank, but a reported Wood Sand was not in view. Whilst some of the group set the nets on the main lagoon, I headed back to the scrape and was pleased to see a new Common Sandpiper in the net along with six Starlings, not what was expected on a wader ringing session.

Colour-ringed Common Sandpiper

The Common Sand was colour-ringed, the third of the autumn to be so, and it was released to go on its way. 

We were fairly optimistic tonight, the tide was high, and there was no moon, but as the sun set the wind picked up and a heavy sea mist drifted in, which was certainly not expected. Presumably the conditions weren't right for some birds, such as Dunlin since we only caught one, and there were none on the lake, when normally it would be teaming with them. However, it was better for others; Common Redshank was the most numerous species with 12 new birds and one retrap, all adults again, but for me the bird of the night was Greenshank. This species has long been a favourite of mine, and tonight we caught three; all adults and all colour-ringed as part of an on-going study.

Adult Common Greenshank

Adult Common Greenshank

Being adults they were of course in primary moult, which is usually carried out in a progressive manner, in that one feather is dropped and starts to grow before the next is dropped. One bird however had dropped all of its secondaries, and was moulting its primaries, and so didn't have many feathers left in the wing to fly with!

Wing of Adult Greenshank

Our total also included a Black-tailed Godwit, a Ringed Plover and Eurasian Curlew, the latter two species were also colour-ringed, so I hope that readers of this blog will keep their eyes peeled for any colour-ringed waders and make sure you report them to the BTO.

Adult Curlew

Ringed Plover (Duncan Bell)

We ended our session on 27 birds, which included six starling, so a lower total than expected, but a much better variety, and a 3am finish, which was earlier than I expected.

Bunny Meadows again.....

The weather was fantastic today, full sun, flat calm but it was extremely cold...although not as cold as Norfolk last weekend!! Since I had been away last weekend, today was all about spending time with my wife, so we decided to go for a stroll along the shingle spit at Bunny Meadows, but not before a spot of lunch at a nearby pub. High tide was at 13:25 so we timed our walk to coincide with the last hour of the rising tide.

Roosting Waders Bunny Meadows

We arrived about an hour before high tide, just in time to see birds concentrated on the last remnants of inter-tidal mud before they were covered in salt water.

Dunlin and Wigeon

Around 200 Dunlin were feeding on the exposed mud, along with Wigeon, Greenshank and Grey Plover. The Dunlin were scattered around on the last remaining exposed areas of mud frantically feeding, whilst other species such as Grey Plover and Greenshank were opting for a quick snooze.

Dunlin and Grey Plovers

There were at least five colour-ringed Grey Plover visible on the mud but unfortunately I did not have my scope with me to allow me see the colour combinations, although zooming up on the photo above has enabled me to see three.

Greenshank and Dunlin

Five Greenshank and a single Black-tailed Godwit were present whilst two Grey Plovers roosted on the old wooden walkway.

Grey Plovers

I have tried to capture Rock Pipits at Bunny Meadows on many occasions, so I was intrigued to see that birds were very approachable on the shingle spit as the tide came in. 

Rock Pipit

In fact one bird kept walking up to me and I am sure it would have been attracted in by a well positioned meal worm in a spring trap.

Rock Pipit

Given the close views I was getting I thought it might be possible to age the birds present. Adults undergo a complete post breeding moult, whereas juveniles a partial moult and therefore I was hoping that it might be possible to see a moult limit within the greater coverts, but unfortunately there was nothing obvious visible.

Rock Pipit

A subtle cough in the background reminded me that I wasn't alone, so I packed up my camera stuff and continued my walk with my very patient wife.

Manor Farm Country Park and Curbridge - 5th and 6th March 2011

Another weekend and another ringing session at Manor Farm. The weather was good on Saturday, albeit cold, so I decided to get up early and give it a go. It was also the first weekend of the new RAS season...and therefore was the ideal time to catch some house sparrows.

This male House Sparrow was obviously aware that I was watching him; this image
was digiscoped  using my Swarovski scope and Sony compact

The session itself started slowly, with only a wren and a redwing on the first two rounds. I was beginning to wonder whether it would have been better to have stayed in bed, snuggled under the duvet, but by the next round things had picked up; three blackbirds, four house sparrows, a song thrush and a pair of Bullfinch's were soon added. By the end of the session we had amassed a total of 28 birds, of which 13 were re-traps; 9 house sparrows were captured, seven of which were re-traps, with the oldest being a female that was originally captured in January 2007, 4 years and 37 days before.


Highlights were the pair of bullfinch, which I didn't photograph, and this cracking female green woodpecker.......

Green Woodpecker, Manor Farm Country Park 2011

.......there is a fair amount of variation in this species within its range, but the nominate sub species, which is the one occurring in the British Isles, can be sexed by the colouration of the moustache. This bird had no red and therefore was a female. This is only the fourth individual captured at the park, the last one was six years ago.

Green Woodpecker, Manor Farm Country Park March 2011

I usually run a moth trap and intend to post my captures when I do, but the moth below was disturbed from vegetation in my garden as I was cutting back some shrubs. In 11 years of moth trapping I have recorded 569 species in my garden but this is the first time I have recorded this one. Ypsolopha mucronella is a local species of woodlands, but fairly widely distributed across Hampshire. Adult moths hibernate, but can be recorded flying on mild nights during the winter; the larvae feed on spindle.

Ypsolopha mucronella March 2011

A late afternoon stroll around Curbridge on the evening of 6th March, was timed to coincide with the falling tide. I positioned myself at the mouth of one of the narrow creeks in order to count wading birds. During spring the number of greenshank present can reach double figures, and previously the odd bird bearing colour rings has been present. However, this time only two un-ringed birds were present. 

Greenshank Curbridge March 2011

Two common sandpipers were also feeding on the intertidal mud; two birds have been present all winter, perhaps foolishly I assumed these two birds were those, but it is perfectly feasible that they were in fact returning spring migrants. The supporting cast included 17 redshank, two little grebe  and a little egret.

Little Egret, Curbridge, March 2011

The little egret was once a very rare bird in Hampshire, in fact I remember climbing a tree that overlooked Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve to get a view of my first. Now the species is well and truly established in the British Isles and breeds all along the south coast.