Wraysbury - 27th October 2017

Out with MEH this morning, we'd just got the last of the nets up when a very distinctive call was heard from a single bird in the lakeside trees, Before the bird was seen flying off low after leaving its roost. We were very pleased to have glimpsed a Hawfinch, and saw a further two overhead, then three more singles, all moving south westwards, in the first hour or so.

We caught a reasonable number of Goldcrest, one being control KKD760, three Chiffchaff, one Cetti's Warbler and a mix of common garden birds. A juvenile Jay was a first for MEH.

Juvenile Jay

Totals: 28 (3)

Wren - 1 (1)
Dunnock - 0 (1)
Robin - 1
Blackbird - 1
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 3
Goldcrest - 10 (1)
Long-tailed Tit - 6
Blue Tit - 2
Great Tit - 2
Jay - 1

Stanwell Moor GP - 26th October 2017

The wind forecast was low and we took the chance to take MEH, a trainee that usually trains at the Bedfont site, to Stanwell. It was very misty and rather colder than we have become used to. Nets were deployed in the reedbed ride, on the track and on the mound.

We got a few Redwing, from groups that were flying over in the murk. There were also a few Goldcrests and tits. Interestingly, three Cetti's Warblers were caught, two on the track net, where they do not usually frequent. This may indicate that birds are moving away from their natal grounds and they may not have been youngsters bred in the immediate area. All were females.We also had a couple of Chiffchaff that are known to winter at Stanwell. However three were carrying quantities of fat scoring either two or three suggesting they still had a distance to travel.

Redwing - of the birds caught so far this autumn there seems to 

be a higher percentage of adult than young birds.

The Meadow Pipit nets didn't do well at all. Only one Meadow Pipit was captured.

At around 11:30am it started to drizzle and we took down. The last bird was a female Blackcap with a fat score of three, more likely to be a late departer than a wintering bird.

Blackcap aged 3, fat 3 muscle 2

So, no controls today ( BPCP has been spoiling us) and not a fantastic number of birds and that would have been very different had the Meadow Pipit nets caught, but MEH gained her first experience of handling Redwing and Meadow Pipit so a good morning nonetheless.

Totals: 35 (4)

Meadow Pipit - 1

Wren - 1

Dunnock - 1

Robin - 1

Blackbird - 0 (1)

Redwing - 5

Cetti's Warbler - 3

Blackcap - 1

Chiffchaff - 3

Goldcrest - 8 (2)

Long-tailed Tit - 7

Blue Tit - 2

Great Tit - 1 (1)

Chaffinch - 1

Black Park Country Park - 25th October 2017

It was drizzling  when we arrived on site, and a bit windier than we would have liked. We had to decide whether to stick to our usual place or try another area where gorse has grown up and paths were cut through in spring as part of the park management. Not knowing this new area so well, we stuck with what we know.

While four nets went up without a hitch, we became aware of a stream of vehicles passing by as there was filming going on somewhere in the park and as it turned out not very far from where we were. The birds were a bit slow to start moving, but it soon became clear that Goldcrests numbers would be lower than last time, whereas Lesser Redpoll numbers would probably be up.

We tried the tape for Redwing, attracting a few birds and catching just one of them. Lesser Redpolls were frequently dropping into the alders and fifty were caught over the course of the morning, 49 new and a control. As we thought, Goldcrests were down to 15 with one retrap from Monday.

Control S101959, aged 3

Adult Redwing

A shuttle bus service was running back and forth from the filming all morning - we though it must be something historical when we'd seen props going by on an open backed truck. The rustic wagon had us thinking it may be a western, then we began to hear whooping sounds from the direction of the filming, then the sound of the Redcoat drums. It seemed to be about the American Indian wars.

Now, we always notice those TV programmes with the wrong natural sounds in the background, Poldark with Bee-eater calls springs to mind, but if at some stage in the future, you are watching something set in North America history and can hear the Redwing Latvian love song or persistent Redpoll song in the background, then it's our fault!

It was just as well we didn't go for the other location because the track was completely blocked by their vehicles, we would have struggled to get out and may even have been in shot.

Totals: 76 (2)

Wren - 2
Robin - 1
Redwing - 1
Goldcrest - 15 (1)
Blue Tit - 5
Coal Tit - 3
Lesser Redpoll - 49 (and 1 control)

Black Park Country Park - 23rd October 2017

After too many days of strong winds, rain or both we spotted a brief window at the start of the day that would allow us to get out and put a few nets up. We know that the forecasts have tended to vary from each other a lot lately, so we hoped that our notification to the park would not need to be cancelled for a second time.

We had a slight delay, getting held up in the staff car park by a team from Pinewood Studios that  were there for filming, then made out way to the area where we have usually ringed in the past.  We only put four nets up and quickly began to catch.

The first two rounds provided decent numbers of birds and we continued with  continually clearing nets and ringing birds as there were a couple of brief showers. By 9:30am capture numbers were reducing and we packed up with 60 new birds and a control Lesser Redpoll.

Leading species was Goldcrest, followed by Lesser Redpoll with a few tits and a Chaffinch. We are often unable to ring Chaffinches in this area as many have infected legs, but this individual showed no sign of the infection.

 S270083, 4M control Lesser Redpoll

Goldcrest

3F Chaffinch

Totals: 60 (1)

Robin - 2
Goldcrest - 27
Long-tailed Tit - 2
Blue Tit - 10
Coal Tit - 1
Great Tit - 1
Chaffinch - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 16 (and 1 control)

Swan darvics and metal rings - Windsor and Truss's Island - 22nd October 2017

Another very windy day so we headed to the Thames at Windsor to record darvic codes and any metal rings that we could see. There are fewer birds with colour rings now, very few from the Edward Grey Institute - black print on a white background and some of these with a rather poor print quality as some codes are becoming extremely difficult to read. We saw K2U, S2H, S2Z and V3O - the last would have been impossible were we not already familiar with that colour ring. There were a further 6 orange darvic swans ringed by MR and a blue ring T029 fitted by TW in or around Winchester. Added to that another 11 metal Swan rings and a Canada Goose already made the effort worthwhile. We then found that the Polish ringed Black-headed Gull with darvic TLLN was back again.

TLLN - back for a second winter

Moving on to Trusser's Island there were 33 colour rings from MR's project, one EGI bird and 3 birds that came out on to the boat slip allowing for metal rings to be read. Three Canada Geese metal rings were also noted.

So, quite a good return for a few hours out on a windy day. Chris decided to enter these records using DEMON, the new BTO recording programme that we're trialling before its complete release. These were the first records that we've actually entered and the ease of entry and immediate response of when ringed were impressive. We look forward to going live with Colne Valley Ringing Group recording in January.

Two of the metal ring codes recorded. Both birds carry just one metal ring so are candidates for MR's colour ring scheme, should they demonstrate the same bold behaviour when he next goes to catch and darvic mark birds.

Windsor
Totals: 0 (24)

Mute Swan - 0 (11 darvics, 11 metal rings)
Canada Goose - 0 (1 metal)
Black-headed Gull - 0 (1 darvic)

Trusser's Island, Staines - 0 (40)

Mute Swan - 0 (34 darvic, 3 metal)
Canada Goose - 0 (3 metal)

Broadwater GP - 15th October 2017

The wind turned out to be rather more gentle than forecast and we could actually have gone to a more open site. However, hindsight is all very well, but no use whatsoever once committed to a particular course. Nets went up without a hitch and WA & LON were soon processing birds.

We caught quite a few Goldcrest and Blue Tit and got one of at least two Cetti's Warbler that could be heard in our immediate earshot.

 Cetti's Warbler with dramatic fault line on tail.

3M Cetti's Warbler

Two Redwing were also captured, one with contrast within greater and median coverts, and tertials.

Totals: 30 (4)

Wren - 1
Dunnock - 2
Robin - 1
Redwing - 2
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 1
Goldcrest - 9 (1)
Blue Tit - 8 (1)
Great Tit - 5 (2)

Broadwater GP - 13th October 2017

Broadwater GP was monitored today, our only real option, being a very sheltered site in rather blustery conditions. MRB and Margaret were also present and a total of eight nets were used.
There had been quite a few birds, thrushes and Robins mainly, along the track as we accessed the site. We could also hear plenty of Goldcrests in the surrounding vegetation during setting up. We caught some, but the catch was not particularly large. The Long-tailed tits came down to net level, and boosted our numbers somewhat. Our best birds were Lesser Redpoll and Redwing (first of the winter), just one of each and a Treecreeper.

Redwing, age 3

Treecreeper, age 3

3F Goldcrest

3M Coal Tit

Lesser Redpoll, age 3

Retrap Goldcrest DPH887 was ringed on 30th September 2015 by PD. Since that time it has been captured a further five times, always between August and November although absent in 2016, and never processed by someone that's handled it before - until today. MRB processed it this morning and he was also the processor, two years ago to the day.

Totals:   33 (4)
Wren - 1
Dunnock - 0 (2)
Robin - 0 (1)
Redwing - 1
Chiffchaff - 4
Goldcrest - 9 (1)
Long-tailed Tit - 10
Blue Tit - 5
Coal Tit - 1
Lesser Redpoll - 1
Treecreeper - 1