Cyprus - 21st to 25th January 2017

21st January

The first day was primarily a visit to a couple of sites to get a feel of what was around and conditions. First port of call was the Acheleia fields and the area around Paphos sewage works. The usual Cyprus wintering species were found, five Cattle Egrets, the usual party of Spur-winged Plovers, and a single Green Sandpiper, plus a Great White Egret flying in off the sea.

We next swung by Mandria, where we had the flock of Cranes that appeared on the Island this month, but only had 21 out of the 22 seen, a female Hen Harrier was quartering the fields, a group of 24 Stone Curlew were tucked away at the edge of the field, some partly under a row of Olives, 88 Golden Plover were in another field, which together with adjacent fields over 350 Sky Lark were present. The only orange grove in the middle of the fields, seemed to have attracted all the Chiffchaffs, with over a 100 seen flitting in and out of the grove, along with an unseasonal male Ruppell's Warbler.

 

Stone Curlew

We then swung by the Lower Xeros Potamos River down to the reed bed by the desalination plant, and then up to Anarita Park where the only bird of interest was a Long-legged Buzzard.

Long-legged Buzzard

22nd January

We started with what was supposed to be a ringing visit to Kouklia, but one of the areas we set one net had gone, along with part of the clump of tall reeds behind it, so the adjacent field could be expanded by 5 or so metres. It was also slightly windier than expected so we decided not to set up, but whilst wandering around the area we flushed a Quail.

We went back to Mandria, and the side of the Orange grove was sheltered and still harbouring a number of Chiffchaffs, along with a single Willow Warbler on the adjacent pile of decaying plants. We set a single net a little further down the access track into the grove, for about an hour and a half or so.

Totals: 40

Sardinian Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 1
Chiffchaff - 38

Whilst at the grove a Brambling was heard calling hidden in the conifers that afford part of the grove wind protection. A later drive around revealed 67 Stone Curlews and the party of Cranes was still present.

We then took a run up to Asprokremnos Dam where at the shallow end by the deserted Turkish village we had a male Finsch's Wheatear.

Asprokremnos Dam - still very low despite recent rain

A final visit back to the Acheleia fields again produced the five Cattle Egret, the pair of Spur-winged Plovers and a nice male Hen Harrier going across the fields.

23rd January.

In the morning we tried a ringing session at the soakaways in the dry Esouzas river bed at Acheleia. It was not a very busy session, but we had the Crane party fly over, a Black Kite, the usual Cattle Egret and Spur-winged Plover, plus 23 Song Thrush.

Female Stonechat

Song Thrush - a very flighty bird in Cyprus - whether due to their 

origins being from primeval Eastern European forests, or just simply 

a wary bird here as it is a quarry species with hunting on Wednesday

and Sundays.

Common Crane party

Totals: 11

Stonechat - 1

Song Thrush - 1

Cetti's Warbler - 1

Blackcap - 6

Chiffchaff - 2

24th January

Was effective house maintenance day and no birding or ringing.

25th January

A rather windy few days were forecast so we contented ourselves with a few walks here and there. First of all we went up the Secret Valley where the top end of the golf course has been abandoned and allowed to go wild and is where their home made reservoir can be found. Whilst up by the reservoir we had three Bonelli's Eagles and couple of Crag Martins at the start of the course.

We again went down to the Lower Xeros Potamos River down to the reed bed by the desalination plant and saw one of the resident Black Francolin's and heard at least two Penduline Tits calling.

We also tried an ringing session in the reeds in an effort to see if the local Song Thrushes utilised the reed bed, which them seemed to during the day, perhaps due to the number of snails that often can be found in there. We were not very successful, with only two Chaffinches that were ringable, as a number even in Cyprus are also blighted with foot growths as we have in the UK

Total: 2

Chaffinch - 2

Due to the windy conditions we stopped early and retired back to more domestic duties.

River Thames, Windsor - 19th January 2017

We spent a couple of hours reading Darvic rings and, with only four or five birds now fitted with plastic markers, more often trying to read the entire metal ring on swans hauled out of the river, harassing passersby for food. Some birds are so precocious that recording rings is nigh impossible as the birds insist on getting close enough to tug at sleeves and other clothing - just in case they had not been noticed.

We recorded one Canada Goose ring, 24 swans and more gratifying than that got the missing digit on a Black-headed Gull with an Arnhem ring. That's three attempts in total and a number of images from different angles - Darvic rings are so much easier!

The 24 swans including W10100 that seemed completely out of sequence to all the other birds - at least it was photographed so no possibility of it being a reading error.

 W10100 - tab out, which is better turned over.

Wraysbury GP - 17th January 2017

Todays session was mainly focused around having a look at another trainer's trainee to see how they were getting along, which was good, as otherwise it may have not been worth the effort, but that meant they did not have much to process and were not under very much pressure either. We only had 13 birds in total, though 8 were re-traps which is always very useful.

Total: 5 (8)

Wren - 1
Robin - 0 (2)
Dunnock - 0 (1)
Redwing - 1
Song Thrush - 3
Blue Tit - 0 (1)
Long-tailed Tit - 0 (3)
Chaffinch - 0 (1)

Bletchingley Garden - 8th January 2017

We made arrangements to spend the day 'chez Pat and Ralph', monitoring the birds that make use of their many feeders. We have been doing yearly winter visits here since 2012. This year we were accompanied by our two trainees as it is our only chance of high numbers during the winter period and extracting a lot of tits around feeders helps develop extracting skills,

 After some uncertainty as to whether there would be favourable weather conditions, the day dawned with light mist rather than rain and the planned ringing was able to go ahead. The standard five nets were put up, with additional ground and potter traps, although nothing was caught in either of these.

It wasn't long before there were birds to extract and both trainees had plenty of extraction practice, mostly with Great and Blue Tits. As well as the glut of tits, and opportunities to compare multiple individuals of the same species, there were other species that we rarely catch at our usual sites and Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch, Ring-necked Parakeet and House Sparrow provided some really useful experience.

We had recaptures from each of the four previous sessions held here and these are shown in the table below.

K052235	Blue Tit	Ringed as adult on 16/02/2014
K052236	Blue Tit	Ringed as adult on 16/02/2014
K052348	Great Tit	Ringed as 2Y on 14/03/2015
K052358	Great Tit	Ringed as 2Y on 14/03/2015
K052379	Great Tit	Ringed as 2Y on 14/03/2015
K052387	Blue Tit	Ringed as 2Y on 14/03/2015
K052393	Great Tit	Ringed as 2Y on 14/03/2015
LC56820	Great Spotted Woodpecker (female)	Ringed as 2Y on 14/03/2015
TJ77614	Nuthatch (male)	Ringed on 9/12/2012 and recaptured 16/02/2014
TJ77616	Nuthatch (female)	Ringed 16/02/2014
Y823552	Great Tit	Ringed as adult 30/11/2013
Y823587	Blue Tit	Ringed as juvenile 30/11/2013
Y823622	Goldfinch	Ringed as juvenile 30/11/2013

 Recaptured 

TJ77616 Nuthatch female

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker LC56821

Male House Sparrow VB90911

First time handling Ring-necked Parakeet (with an audience too)

6F Ring-necked Parakeet

Many thanks to Ralph and Pat for their wonderful hospitality, all the tea, coffee, biscuits and rolls and especially that fantastic vegetable soup!

Totals: 116 (13)

Ring-necked Parakeet - 1

Great Spotted Woodpecker - 1 (1)

Wren - 1

Robin - 3

Dunnock - 7

Blackbird - 4
Coal Tit - 3

Blue Tit - 43 (4)

Great Tit - 36 (5)
Nuthatch - 0 (2)
House Sparrow - 1

Chaffinch - 5

Goldfinch - 11 (1)

Broadwater GP - 7th January 2017

It was one of those mornings when we were on site well before it was light, the nets went up without a hitch, the food was going (perhaps it's squirrels with hindsight) but there was still some there to keep birds coming........and yet catching started slow and continued in the same fashion.

The Redwings began calling after the nets were ready - and yet we caught none, the feeders were replenished - but the only bird from that net was a Chaffinch responding to tape, there were no large flocks of birds and much of what we did see didn't respond to audio-lures.

5F Chaffinch

EPV864, ringed 29/12/2014 and retrapped 25/11/2015 and 07/01/2017.

Of the 14 birds we had 8 retraps including a Chiffchaff recorded on site for 3 successive winters.

Total: 6 (8)

Dunnock - 1
Robin - 0 (1)
Chiffchaff - 1
Goldcrest - 2
Blue Tit - 1 (4)
Great Tit -  0 (1)
Long-tailed Tit - 0 (2)
Chaffinch - 1

Frensham Ponds - 6th January 2017

A birding trip to a location less than an hour away, and yet we had never been there before. There had been a sharp frost and the surface of the ponds were frozen, all but a few narrow margins near the reeds, but we still saw the Long-tailed Duck, which at one stage flew off, but later had returned to the same small area of unfrozen water.

We then walked towards Vampire flats, so named for an aircraft that crashed there in 1948, hoping to catch a glimpse of the Great Grey Shrike. We did, but it was a distant view. There were a few other birds to see, though we managed to see four Dartford Warblers and a couple of Stonechat.

Great Grey Shrike

Goldcrest

 Frensham Ponds

One of several Robins in the cafe garden

 Grey Squirrel

Wraysbury GP - 5th January 2017

We planned a morning out with Scott, one of the Bedfont regulars today but it was not to be as he was laid low with flu. We still went out and managed some 20 or so birds. There were a good number of re-traps including a Green Woodpecker first ringed in September.

 Green Woodpecker DE40577

6M Chaffinch

We were also pleased to get a Chaffinch with undiseased legs.

Total:   12 (9)

Green Woodpecker - 0 (1)
Wren - 1
Robin - 2 (3)
Dunnock - 0 (4)

Blackbird - 4

Redwing - 1

Song Thrush - 1 (1)
Blue Tit - 1

Goldfinch - 1

Chaffinch - 1