End of summer update

Yet again I have been slacking with the blog updates following a holiday in Hungary & Slovakia and I'm currently in the process of moving in to my new house. I'll hopefully get sorted in the next week or two and be back in action.
I received some great news from the BTO midweek to say that my application was successful and I have now been granted my A permit and I am also now registered as a ringing trainer!

So...... we have been semi-busy in the past 6 weeks with some more Storm Petrel ringing, general passerines, a trip to Copeland Bird Observatory, waders and we have been back down to Lough Neagh.


Lough Neagh, Take Two

Back on the 13th of August, John, Steve and I met with Godfrey and returned to the west shore of Lough Neagh where we had the very productive catch of 102 birds on the 16th of July.  We had another brilliant session with a slightly lower catch of 93 new birds but it did consist of a greater diversity and a fantastic 17 Reed Warblers taking us to 30 for the year. As an extra to the two nets we used the last time, we placed a net across the channel that separates the island from the mainland which is much closer to the wet woodland and it produced the majority of the Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.
You'd like to think one or two of these 150+ acros will produce a recovery on the way south or during a later migration.

Reed Warbler

Lough Neagh                            
                                       New       

Blackcap                        17                                           
Blue Tit                           2                                              
Chiffchaff                        2            
Reed Warbler                17
Sedge Warbler               38
Sparrowhawk                  1
Willow Warbler              8                                        
Wren                                1               

Totals                              93                  

Sparrowhawk

We plan to return next year from mid to late summer and, with the right team, work the site to its full potential - 250-300 birds in a morning? A few trainees would be handy to carry the gear as the 1 mile walk through soaking reeds and swarms of flies is tough going :P



Mist-netting Waders

On August 25th John and I had a bash at mist-nesting some roosting waders with a decent forecast and a workable tide. With just the two of us on hand we stuck with just two 12m nets in a V over the main pool playing the 'Killer Redshank' tape. Ideally we could have had high tide two hours later and a bit of cloud cover but it wasn't bad.
There were plenty of birds about through the evening including 3 Greenshank, 2 Whimbrel and 100's of Curlew & Black-tailed Godwit and c30 Redshank. Early on there were 20 Teal in the pool but they were flushed by a Peregrine which I only noticed when 2 Teal landed right in front of me, which I thought was weird, when the Peregrine whizzed by and tried to nab them.

Black-tailed Godwit 

With the nets open we waited for darkness, catching one Redshank early on. The roosting birds began to move about around an hour after sundown and we ended the night with 16 birds of four species.

Curlew

Grangemore Waders
Species                       Ringed

Black-tailed Godwit      2
Curlew                           2
Dunlin                            2
Redshank                      10

Total                              16

Dunlin

We had hoped to have a few more attempts through September, as well as some Swallow roost catches but as mentioned I've not had the time but there are still a few weeks left yet to make it happen! 


Storm Petrels

On the Storm Petrel front we made our last two attempts of the season (six in total), again with a few visitors, this time from Northumberland.  We added another 5 new Storm Petrels and one control, taking us to a year total of 44 new, 1 retrap and 3 controls, which is our lowest since we started studying the species. We have yet to submit the details of the last control as yet but hope to sort that over the next month.

Storm Petrel

We had a little more luck with Redshank adding another 7 birds.

 Next stop Tiree in a due north path

Portstewart Strand

We have had three visits to Portstewart Strand on the 20th & 27th August and the 17th September and the combined ringing totals are below. There have been a few odds and sods around the estuary and my species total as of 19th Sep is now up to 115 including a roosting Long-eared Owl, Curlew Sandpiper, Sooty Shearwater, Great Skua and finally my first Collared Dove after 4/5 years of waiting! I've also been missed plenty in the estuary in the past month with Osprey, Sabines Gull (which would both be NI ticks for me), Little Stint, Arctic Skua and Ruff sighted by others. 

The Blue and Great Tits all appeared on the 17th September with 4 of the Chaffinches showing the changing of the guard. The final Willow Warbler of the year was caught on the 27th of August, one day earlier than the final bird of 2016. The Starling was caught in an evening catch.

Starling

 Portstewart Strand/Grangemore                            
                                       New       Retrap    

Blackcap                         11
Blue Tit                            3              1                 
Bullfinch                          2              1
Chaffinch                         5                                                       
Dunnock                          5              2
Goldcrest                         7              4
Goldfinch                        1
Great Tit                         5                        
Lesser Redpoll                2                                   
Linnet                              6          
Meadow Pipit                                  1  
Reed Bunting                  3
Robin                               5               1
Starling                           1                          
Willow Warbler             1                                        
Wren                               5             

Totals                              62              10                

We are approaching peak season at Portstewart Strand and John has 3 weeks of holidays coming up so we will be hoping for plenty more ringing in the coming weeks. We have also not had a suitable team where we can use all the nets so it will be nice to have some of the lesser-spotted trainees in tow.



Copeland Bird Observatory

On the 1st of September I headed over the Copeland Bird Observatory with a team of 11 others on a special trip to ring Manx Shearwater chicks during the peak emergence. I was planning on staying through to Sunday but the terrible forecast meant that we had to be taken off the island on Saturday afternoon.
In the down time waiting for darkness I had a shot at ringing some waders and was successful in catching one Redshank. Very little wader ringing has taken place at CBO in the last few decades and wader numbers are still very low on the island at this time of year but if I get another weekend visit this autumn I'll make a bigger effort. When the sun went down we headed out across the island in three teams of 4 and caught 173 new Manx Shewarwaters and dozens of retraps. I headed for bed at 1am so I could be up for 6am to open the mist nets to catch some migrant passerines. Some of the others lasted until around 4.30am.

Manx Shearwater youngster (DS)

I didn't actually record the number of birds caught in the nets in the morning but we did get 30+ birds made up mostly of Goldcrests, Robins and Swallows plus 4 Chiffchaff, Wren, a Blackcap and some of the resident retraps. We also found a late Woodpigeon nest with two chicks which were ringed.


There have been a few more birds processed with two mornings at the river site with a catch of 30+ birds made up mostly of Warblers, particularly Chiffchaff, of which we catch very few of.  I also had an attempt of catching the Jays in my parents garden but ended up catching the same Magpie three times and the rats have now eaten my big of peanuts yet again! 

Magpie



Copeland Bird Observatory 24-26th March 2017

Last weekend Steve and I made our first visit of the year to Copeland Bird Observatory and it turned out to be a great early trip.  We were joined by Ed from County Down and were set for a fine settled, sunny weekend and were actually worried that it looked too nice (which is a rare thing in NI). 
We set sail from Donaghadee a little earlier for this trip so we had plenty of time to open up the four heligoland traps and put up the nets before dark.  With the calm conditions we had no restrictions in regards to net placement so we set 11 nets around the main treed areas of the island.

Goldcrests

On arrival it was clear there were a few Goldcrests on the island and it was an early sign of what to expect for the weekend.  We were able to leave a couple of the nets open for an hour or so before sundown and managed to catch 7 new Goldcrests (plus a British control), a Robin and a Chaffinch.
We had a nice little surprise when we found c30 Twite coming in to roost at Millennium Wood but unfortunately they stayed high in the Sitka Spruce trees above the net we had set there.  We closed up and settled down for dinner as we waited for full darkness before we went in search of some early Manx Shearwaters. The crystal clear skies opened up a window to millions of bright stars but probably not the best conditions for Manx Shearwaters making landfall.  We came across seven birds and managed to catch and ring two of them. 

Manx Shearwater

We opted for an early start on Saturday and begrudgingly skipped breakfast to head out in to a cold and frosty island.  We were very optimistic after the great start last night and had all nets unfurled and traps set by 7am. It was apparent after the first half hour that more Goldcrests had arrived with calls coming from all over the island.  By 10 o'clock we had caught over 70 birds with Goldcrest topping the bill with 43 new birds caught and ringed.  A few thrushes were also passing through with 5 new Blackbirds and a Redwing trapped, plus some other migrants in Chiffchaff, Lesser Redpoll and Meadow Pipit.

Redwing

With the Twite spending the night in Millennium Wood we had made an attempt to intercept they as the left the roost but without success once again.  We did manage to catch a single Twite in the Garden but couldn't tempt any more of the flock.  We repeated the attempts for Saturday evening and Sunday morning and although the birds returned to the same spot, we failed again...

Twite

The first Swallow of the season glided through on Saturday afternoon as we took a break in the sun but it didn't hang around long. Later we decided to give the South (heligoland) Trap a little TLC.  In the last year or so the Elder bushes inside of the trap had become a little tall, dense and leggy and have made access very difficult for both people and birds.  To make it more effective we re-opened the paths down the centre and along the inner walls of the trap and snipped back the vegetation in front of the catching box.  The vegetation in the trap will need a proper overhaul at the end of the breeding season but it should at least be accessible until late summer.  Earlier in the day we had baited some of the potter traps with sardines and placed them in shallow pools around the island.  One of these produced the goods in the evening with a nice male Water Rail.

Water Rail

That night we again tried our luck to find some more Manx Shearwaters and had a little more success.  There were certainly more flying around making their strange calls and in total we ringed one new bird and retrapped nine.  One of these retraps was wearing a geolocator and we were able to retrieve it for Oxford University who lead the shearwater studies.  We are not sure which project the geolocator relates to but believe it is for wintering feeding locations of adult birds - so likely to have returned from the east coast of Argentina. 

Geolocator on Manx Shearwater

Saturday night/Sunday morning marked the spring clock change so getting up was a struggle with an hours sleep lost!  We seen an influx of a few more migrants with the arrival of yet more Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, Blackbirds, a couple of Dunnocks and the appearance of a second Sparrowhawk.  We ringed another c25 new birds including 3 Chiffchaff, two Blackbird, three Linnet and the male Sparrowhawk.  Another nice capture was a retrap Woodpigeon which had originally been ringed back in 2012.

Woodpigeon

We closed up by lunchtime on Sunday, still in glorious sunshine and jumped abroad the Mermaid for our journey back to mainland to bring a close to yet another great trip.  It has been a really good start to the CBO season, including Northern Ireland's first spring Yellow-browed Warbler ringed on the first weekend of the year, so we are already looking forward to the next visits in April and May.

SF & RD 

Sparrowhawk

Copeland Bird Observatory 24-26/03/2017 Totals
                              New       Retrap     Control
 
Blackbird                 7               2
Chaffinch                 1               3
Chiffchaff                 4
Dunnock                  3               2
Goldcrest                57              1               1
Goldfinch                 1
Lesser Redpoll        3
Linnet                       3
Manx Shearwater    2               9
Meadow Pipit           2
Redwing                   1
Reed Bunting           2              3
Robin                        6              5
Sparrowhawk           1
Twite                         1
Water Rail                1
Woodpigeon                             1 (5+ years old)
Wren                         4               2


Totals                      99             28              1       

Sun down over the mainland

Apologies for the lack of updates recently but we have still been a little idle on the ringing front around the North Coast but we plan to get the spring ringing underway this weekend.


The only thing we have really done around the estuary was to prepare the ringing site and new net rides at Portstewart Strand (at the end of Feb) following the loss of East Ride, which was around 100m long.  We are supportive of the habitat management undertaken by the National Trust, Golf Club and NIEA and it will be quite interesting to see what effect it will actually have, although it has certainly reduced the available breeding habitat for many species.

New mist net ride

Steve and David have also found and developed a new site in the south-east coast of County Antrim and it looks like a very interesting spot.  They hope to start ringing there next month and we will keep you all updated on how they get on. 

Copeland Bird Observatory 17-18th of September & PSS

After our 13 hour delay getting to Copeland Bird Observatory due to the tide, we set sail from Bangor at 7am, all a little weary eyed.  As well as Dean, Steve and myself, we were joined by Laurence from the Belfast and Down Ringing Group for the weekend.  The trip out was a new route for us leaving from Bangor and it was a real treat with perhaps 500+ Razorbills all around the mouth of Belfast Lough with a scattering of Black Guillemots, Guillemots and Eiders along the way. 
We arrived on the island around 8am and immediately set about opening the traps and getting some mist nets up.  We used the usual lot of the favoured net rides and opened the 4 helgoland traps, crow trap and a few potters baited with sardines.

Water Rail

The weather was decent with moderate westerlies for Saturday morning switching to southerlies in the afternoon for the rest of the weekend.  Saturday was a hot sunny day, where as Sunday was a little greyer with light drizzle as we were getting ready to depart mid-afternoon.

The range of migrants on show was lower than expected but a couple of species passed in large numbers.  Swallows and Meadow Pipits were the main feature with probably 800+ of the former and 500+ Mipits passing over the two days.  As usual in September, Robins begin to arrive back on the island after heading elsewhere for the breeding season.  A number of adult birds were reencountered that hadn't been seen since the spring plus a number of new juveniles.  Finches arrived on Sunday with 80+ Goldfinch, 40+ Linnets, a couple of Chaffinch and a single Lesser Redpoll.  Lesser Redpoll will soon become the dominate passage species as the autumn progresses with over 800 ringed last year!  There was a light scattering of Chiffchaffs, Goldcrests, House Martins and singles of Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Willow Warbler and a migrant Blackcap. 

Swallows

The ringing was pretty decent in terms of numbers which were bolstered by the three main movers with 22 Swallows, 14 Meadow Pipits and 13 Robin.  The first couple of rounds on Sunday morning produced the majority of the new Chiffchaffs (5) and Golcrests (3).  The Chaffinch caught is more than likely a controlled bird although it could have been ringed on the island 6+ years ago. 

Willow Warbler (left) and Chiffchaff

 

On Saturday night, as we were heading out shearwatering, we got a nice a surprise when we captured a Water Rail in one of the baited potter traps.  The bird was already bearing a ring and was originally trapped on the island back in 2012.  Despite the very bright full moon we managed to ring 29 Manx Shearwaters which were all pulli or recently fledged birds.  We also set the moth trap to run through the night but the catch of 5 moths of three species was pretty low and they were outnumbered by Sexton Beetles who do a great job clearing up the bird and rabbit carcasses across the island. 

Song Thrush

Copeland Bird Observatory Ringing Totals 17-18th Sep 2016

                                 New      Retrap    Control
Blackbird                                  1
Blackcap                    1            1
Chaffinch                                                  1
Chiffchaff                   6             1
Goldcrest                   6             1
Goldfinch                   4
Manx Shearwater      29  
Meadow Pipit            14
Reed Bunting             1
Robin                         13           9
Song Thrush               1
Swallow                     22
Water Rail                                1
Willow Warbler          1
Wren                          4            3            

Total                        102           17               1           

All in all it was a very enjoyable weekend and we are looking forward to the next visit in mid October is the weather allows it. 



On Tuesday morning John and I squeezed in a quick visit to Portstewart Strand to make the best of the conditions before a delayed start to work.  There had been a report of a possible male Common Yellowthroat a couple of hundred metres further along the shoreline a few days before and although the bird had been searched for by others unsuccessfully, a number of Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs had been sighted. 

Sunrise

We were on site bright an early and had the nets up by 7am.  The wind was a little brisker than forecast but that is usually the case with southerlies where they blow straight off the river.  It was evident that there had been an arrival of Robins with a number ticking throughout the scrub before first light.  Other new birds included Blackbirds and a few extra Bullfinches than of late.  Once the sun had risen and things heated up a few Chiffchaff began to call amongst a roving flock of Goldcrests and a few Blackcaps appeared. 

Chaffinch

The main entertainment for the morning was the local juvenile Peregrine who has been terrorising just about every bird in the estuary.  Today it was testing out 4 Ravens, 11 Grey Herons in the roost and every duck and wader in sight.  It seems to have the most luck lifting the Black-tailed Godwits of which there were 140+ this morning.  It eventually made a kill before the tables were turned and the Hooded Crows tried to muscle in.  A second juvenile Peregrine appeared before we left around 10. 

The ringing was slow in the shortened sunny, breezy session but it is nice to see the arrival of some migrant Blackcaps and Goldcrests and hopefully a sign of the start of proper autumn migration.

Blackcap

PSS Ringing Totals 20/09/2016
                                 New      Retrap  
Blackcap                    3           
Blue Tit                                     2
Chaffinch                   1             1                 
Dunnock                    1            
Goldcrest                   3            
Goldfinch                   5
Meadow Pipit            1
Robin                         3             1
Wren                                                  

Total                        17           4              


The weather forecast is looking grim but there is a chance of short session on Sunday morning.  Dean and David S are heading off to the south coast of Ireland tomorrow to the fabled Cape Clear Bird Observatory (I'm just a bit jealous) for a weekend ringing course.  Cape Clear is easily the best birding spot in Ireland for autumn passerines, particularly from North America and if they hit the winds and weather right, they could be in for an amazing weekend.  Dean and David will be back next week with an update and pictures of their trip. 

 

Copeland Bird Observatory 2nd - 4th October

After our routine pre-CBO 'chippy', John, Ken, Steve and I were ready to jump into the RHIB and set sail for Lighthouse Island.  We met up with Island regulars David, Philip and Ian at the harbour in Donaghadee, who were accompanied by Olli, on his first trip.  As forecast, the winds were very light and the sea was flat calm for a change.
On arrival on the island, we set about readying the nets and traps.  With 6 ringers on hand we set a few extra nets than the norm, covering most of the north and east of the island.  In total we set 10 mist nets, with the 4 in situ Heligoland traps, the crow trap, plus 7 spring & potter traps.     

Lesser Redpoll

When setting up it was evident there were a few birds knocking about and we caught a couple of Blackcap, Goldcrest and Song Thrush before sunset around 7pm.  After dark, a few us headed out in search of a few Manx Shearwaters but with little hope.  It is very late in the season and the majority of the chicks should have fledged and be on route to the southern hemisphere.  Luckily we managed to find 12 new chicks within half an hour and the following night added 5 more. 
  The CBO team along with Oxford University were successful in retrieving 3 geolocators from adult birds over the summer.  These had been attached 3/4 years ago when the birds were chicks in their burrows.  It is not known exactly what young shearwaters do from their first migration south until they return to the breeding colonies 3/4 later.  Hopefully the data can be extracted and it will shed some light/confirm peoples thoughts in what they do!  For updates on the project, follow Copeland Bird Observatory on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/copelandbirdobservatory?fref=ts

Linnet

The next day, we were up before dawn (two of us anyway!) to open the nets and get ready for the mornings ringing.  Again the conditions were ideal and the birds started trickling out of the bushes and into the mist nets.  The birds consisted of Blackbird, Blackcap, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Robin, Song Thrush and Wren.  It wasn't long before the finches got moving with flocks of Goldfinch, Lesser Redpoll and Linnet moving around/over the island plus c30 Skylark.  With the help of tape lures we picked up 73 Lesser Redpoll and 11 Linnet, before closing the nets early afternoon.  A Hooded Crow found it's way into the crow trap for a second time, following its initial foray in April.  The sea remained quite for the most but totals of 1000+ Razorbill, 500+ Gannet, c40 Eiders, c50 Harbour Porpoise, a few Red-throated Diver and other bits and pieces kept Ian content.  The Grey Seal breeding season is in full swing with at least 40 seal pups spotted at the Observatory and on the near side of Mew Island, with probably many more around the rest of Mew and Big Copeland.  The bulls (males) were also getting very frisky, as the females come in to season. 

                                            Grey Seal pup           (© Steve Fyffe)

  Adult Grey Seals

On Sunday morning the conditions were perfect, with next to no wind and a good covering of cloud.  The initial net rounds showed there had been an arrival of Chiffchaff, with 14 ringed in the first few hours.  The catch was similar to Saturday but with an added Wheatear from the 'Heli Trap' at first light, a Woodpigeon from the 'Thicket' net and a Meadow Pipit in a spring trap.  Again the finches got moving with Linnets (including a flock of c50), hundreds of Lesser Redpoll, plenty of Goldfinches and a single Chaffinch.  The Lesser Redpolls surpassed the previous days totals and this corresponded in the ringing totals, with 103 new birds.  The sea was again pretty quite but 3 Great Skua, c100 Curlew and a few extra Black Guillemot was something.  No Hirundines were noted all weekend.

Wheatear

Chiffchaff

 



Overall it was a very enjoyable weekend with lots of birds ringed and some good weather.  Unfortunately we couldn't produce one of the Yellow-browed Warblers, that have pouring down the coasts of the UK and Ireland, that we were hoping for. 


CBO    Ringing Totals         02-04/10/2015

                                        New        Retrap           

 

Blackbird                         1                4                   

Blackcap                          6                1                            

Chiffchaff                       14  

Dunnock                          3                             

Goldcrest                        27               2

Goldfinch                         1                                      

Hooded Crow                                    1

Lesser Redpoll              175  

Linnet                              14

Meadow Pipit                   1

Manx Shearwater           17               2

Robin                               13              5                                                                                

Song Thrush                    4                                                                            

Wheatear                         1      

Woodpigeon                    1

Wren                                4                1                                

 

Total                               282             16        

 



A bird laden Pond 60' net

 



 

Other bits and pieces from the weekend included Peregrine Falcon, Sparrowhawk, up to 7 Buzzard, a possible Harrier spp., Stock Dove, Water Rail, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Snipe Turnstone, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Kittiwake, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull Fulmar, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Magpie, Jackdaw, Raven, Rook, Cormorant, Shag, Teal, Mallard, Starling, Reed Bunting, Pheasant, Small-tortoiseshell and Red Admiral. 

 

 

Home time at 'East Landing'