Oxfordshire and Stanwell Moor roost - 29 August 2010

We took our over night roosted birds back to Stanwell site for release this morning.

 

 Reed Bunting

Reed Buntings are being colour-ringed, so keep a watch for any with BTO + colour and 2 colours.

Sand Martin

 

 Swallow

A quick vist to Oxon for Adonis Blue and Brown Hairstreaks proved negative.

 Meadow Brown - Lardon Chase

 Common Blue - Lardon Chase

A return to Stawnell Moor ringing site tonight produced another 14 Sand Martins and 7 Swallows, plus a Reed and Willow Warbler.

We were joined by Emma, Helen and Vick Inzani and Mike and Margaret Beatley from the ringing group (Hilfield Res contingent).

Garden and Stanwell Moor ringing site - 29 August

The morning started off looking good, lots of finches coming into the garden, and down onto the ground to feed, including a ringed Goldfinch, so we thought we would see what we could come up with. Finches have better eyesight than Blue Tits or are Tits just stupid? Up goes the net and off go the finches, we ended up with 19 Blue Tits, 5 Great Tits and a single Coat Tit (first of the winter).

Coal Tit - 3

Despite the disappearance of the finches, a surprise was a single Chiff-chaff, always good to get a warbler in the garden, rounded off with a single Collared Dove and juv Blackbird.

Chiff-chaff

The evening was spent at Stanwell Moor ringing site, where at dusk a good pre-roost gathering of Hirundines was present about 100/150 birds resulting in a catch of 16 Swallows and 13 Sand Martins, along with 2 Reed Buntings and a Reed Warbler, with a re-trap Robin.

Stanwell Moor ringing site - 28 August 2010

Late afternoon/early evening visit.

This site is unlikely to be a good one for Redstarts or flycathers, so despite the good scattering of both around the London area (though not many reported on the west side as usual) we did not expect to find any. A brief walk around did not disprove this theory. The adjacent Staines Moor with it scattering of hawthorne bushes at the northern end can be more productive for these species.

The recent rain had unfortunately increased the water levels, submerging the area of mud at the end of the ringing ride with the water almost up to the first pole. The site proved to be surprising and it would be interestig to see how the RRG session at Wraysbury GP had gone in the morning. One Sedge Warbler caught was clearly on its way with a fat/muscle score of 7/3. At dusk there were a number of Swallows and a group of 30/40 Sand Maritns present.

 

Sedge Wabler - age 3 fat 7 muscle 3

Catch total: 15, Sand Martins (2), Swallows (8), Reed Warbler (2), Sedge Warbler (1) and 2 re-traps.

Garden - 27 August 2010

A moment of madness but soon came the realisation that it was going to be all Blue Tits - so after 5 plus and one Great Tit the ringing session was finished.

Lagoa de St Andre 14 - 21 August 2010

We spent a week (6 days) ringing at St Andre, during which time we joined the Fearon family. The week was fairly quiet, with nothing too exciting and bird activity both ringing and visible migration being fairly slow, with evening Swallow roost being the must productive. We ringed 43 species and managed 3 new species each. Further details of the birds ringed at St Andre during August can be found at Peter Fearon's blog

Some of the birds ringed......

Crested Tits

Western Bonelli's Warbler

Woodchat Shrike

Common Sandpiper

Melodious Warbler

Red-rumped Swallow

Savi's Warbler

Iberian Chiff-chaff

White Stork

An interesting ride!

The area had a fair number of Cattle and Little Egrets, Glossy Ibis and Flamingos present with a few Purple Herons, Great White Egrets, Spoonbills and a Little Bittern seen on the 17th. Other birds in the area were the resident Black-winged Kite and Booted Eagles, with a Short-toed on 19th. Parties of Bee-eaters together with local groups of Azure-winged Magpies were present.

Some other wildlife:

Butterflies included Laing's Short-tailed Blue, African Glass Blue, Geranium Bronze (nearby at Santiago) and a couple of other Blues awaiting identification.

Can you ID this one?