Other Ringing and Recoveries

I updated on our ringing activities since early summer at both Portstewart Strand and Lough Neagh in previous posts but we weren't just limited to those sites. Through this time we continued our summer Storm Petrel ringing, seven/eight trips to Copeland Bird Observatory between us and a few other bits a pieces.

There was another new species for the group in Grey Heron caught by Ken and James on the 9th of June. Usually when river ringing we are fearful of these massive brutes blundering into the nets and ripping them to shreds but on this occasion it stuck with out any damage to the bird or net and was extracted quickly. Handling Grey Herons is a two man job so no pictures were taken.

One of the nicest birds in this time was this stunner of a Long-eared Owl caught at the University campus in Coleraine by John and Ken on the 4th of July.

Long-eared Owl

We had our first Long-eared Owl recovery but in unfortunate circumstances. One of the chicks ringed at the University campus back in 2011 (pictured below) was hit by a car on the 13th of June this year around 9.5 miles away near the town of Ballymoney. Although sad circumstances, it is interesting to see the dispersals of the birds.

The Storm Petrel season was a poor one yet again and it really is on a downward trend and so to is effort because of it. This year it was just the three visits with catches of 5, 16 & a control and 17 & a Redshank.

As well as our control, we had two birds recovered making it a hat-rick of bird observatories.

The controlled Storm Petrel was ringed at North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory, Orkney, Scotland on the 2nd of August 2018 and controlled by us 18 days later at Rinnagree Point at a distance of 529km.
North Ron is one of those enviable observatories that see and catch what we would deem rare by the bucket load - check their blog out here - http://northronbirdobs.blogspot.com/

A Storm Petrel ringed by us Rinnagree Point on the 17th July 2017 was caught at Skokholm Bird Observatory, Pembrokeshire, Wales on the 11th August 2018.  398 km distance and 390 days.
Skokholm, like North Ron, makes us very jealous and we'd love just a fraction of their birds! Visit their blog  - https://skokholm.blogspot.com/

The final bird was one of our 2016 birds ringed on the 1st of August which was retrapped at the Calf of Man Bird Observatory on the 9th of June this year. We have never caught a bird before the 1st of July so perhaps these guys have picked up breeder (which arrive earlier) on route to its breeding site. I'm not sure if they breed on the Calf again yet after the recent eradication of rats. 174km distance and 677 days.
You can keep up to date with these guys on Facebook - 
https://www.facebook.com/calfofmanbirdobservatory/

Storm Petrel Movements

I haven't updated the Storm Petrel control maps or info in a while but you can click on the tabs above to check out all the other movements.



This control isn't particularly impressive but considering I just caught my first Greenfinch retrap a few weeks ago, it is nice to see where they go. The said bird was ringed at Castlerock on the 7th of Jan 2018 and found dead by a member of the public 4km away in Articlave on the 15th of May 2018, dead within a week. It was presumably breeding along the local hedgerows which are quite good and hold a population of Yellowhammers, the only decent one I'm aware of in the wider area.

Back in March I updated about the ringing in Kens garden and the good numbers of Siskins and a brilliant control all the way from Cape Clear Bird Observatory 454 km at the very south of Ireland. (http://causewaycoastrg.blogspot.com/2018/03/siskins-and-garden-ringing.html) The Siskins continued to visit and 78 new birds were captured. One of these birds itself was then controlled elsewhere making its way to Salsburgh, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was originally ringed on the 13th of March and recaptured on the 6th of May - 54 days apart, 193km away. This is the second of our Siskins that has been controlled at this same site following one from my parents garden in the Loughan a few years back.

Siskin to North Lanarkshire 

I've finished with a picture of the Portstewart Strand Cuckoo just because its a stonker bird!

Siskins and Garden Ringing

Ken has been back in action in the garden since mid-February, ably assisted by John and James. Over the handful of sessions over 200 birds have been processed with nice numbers of Siskins and a couple of winter Blackcaps - Goldfinches continue to be noticeable in their near absence.

Siskin 

Kens Garden - February/Early March
  

Blackbird               3             

Blackcap                1
Blue Tit                  40              
Chaffinch               6              
Coal Tit                  54              
Dunnock                2

Goldfinch               11                             
Great Tit                 15

Greenfinch              2              
Long-tailed Tit        4              
Robin                      15              
Siskin                     37                

Totals                     190                  

Those totals were topped up this morning with another 32 birds processed including another 6 Siskin and a Blackcap.
I opened a net in my new garden for the first time to catch some of the visiting Siskins and have added a further 9.

One of the Siskins caught by Ken last month was a control and it was rather nice recovery at that. The adult male bird was originally ringed at Cape Clear Bird Observatory on the 26th of October 2017 and trapped 117 days later. The distance is about as long as can get within Ireland at 454 km.

Mid January Ringing

On Sunday morning, John, Steve and I headed down to Antrim to meet with the guys from Copeland Bird Observatory for the next instalment of their winter ringing training program.  It is a great opportunity for trainees who visit the Obs to get in some extra ringing and keep themselves well practised over the closed season.  I had been eagerly anticipating the freezing forecast conditions for the weekend but they didn't materialise, particularly on Sunday when the forecast -8°C came in at +5°C.  The plus side was safer driving conditions and all fingers & toes are still attached. 

The site was heaving with birds on arrival around 8.30 with large flocks of finches drifting about.  There were much fewer thrushes around, compared to the last visit but a flock of c30 Redwing  appeared late in the morning and a flock of mixed thrushes were noted in the open fields on departure. 
The catch itself was much smaller than previous visits but it was nice to get 11 Lesser Redpoll following a record year at the Observatory with over 500 ringed and also 7 Linnet from the cereal cover crop. 

Ringing Totals   17/01/2016                                     
                                      
                                      New       Retraps          

Blackbird                       1                1

Blue Tit                          2                3

Chaffinch                       3             

Coal Tit                                            2         

Great Tit                        5                6

Goldcrest                       1                1

Goldfinch                       4                                                                           

Lesser Redpoll             11               2

Linnet                             7

 

Total                              34              15       

  

 

 

 On Saturday morning I opened the nets in the garden bright and early in cold and crisp conditions.  I only had the nets open for around an hour before the rain started and I had to close up.  I had opted for an extra 12m net, so the rain was probably a blessing in disguise as the birds were coming thick and fast and I only have one pair of hands.  The catch was decent for the limited time and it was pleasing to ring another three Siskins.  The majority of the retraps were from the last session but there were two Great Tits from Dec 2012, who would appear to be a pair. 

 

 

Ringing Totals   16/01/2016                                     

                                      
                                      New       Retraps          

 

Blue Tit                          4                8

Chaffinch                       6             

Coal Tit                          2                6         

Dunnock                        1    

Great Tit                        4                5                                                               

Long-tailed Tit              1                1

Robin                                               1  

Siskin                             3

 

Total                              21              21       

 

 

Ken also had a one to one session in his garden for one of his trainees on Saturday, but like myself, were held up by the rain.  They were able to open the nets in the scrub after 1pm and managed to process 22 birds

 

Christmas Ringing 2015

 Over the Christmas period we managed to get out on a few dry mornings and set up a new ringing site at Castlerock Golf Club.  It is the same scrub habitat as our Portstewart Strand (PSS) ringing site but on a much smaller scale.  The lure of the site is that the Sea Buckthorn differs (apparently all the bushes are female??) from PSS in that they are laden in berries, whereas the bushes are now bare at PSS.  Whatever the difference is, the area is full of birds feeding on the hundreds of thousands of berries.  The new site is on the other side of the estuary from PSS and only a distance of 450 metres as the Bullfinch flies but by road/foot some 17.8 kilometres.   

We have now cut 39 metres of net rides and hope to use the site until the berries are gone.  The scrub has its own population of breeding warblers and the potential for migrants, so it may be used through the main season alongside PSS.  While cutting the net rides we stuck up a couple of nets and managed to catch a few birds.  Three of those were retrap Bullfinches ringed at PSS, one from 2014 and two from 2015.  One of the Blackbirds was a monster continental bird with a wing of 138mm and a decent weight of 120.5 grams.  The target species was the flock of c40 Fieldfare but unfortunately we didn't connect with them.  Maybe next time. 

Blackbird

 

Ringing Totals    27+29/12/2015                                 
                                      
                                       New        Retraps         

Blackbird                        3

Blue Tit                           1

Bullfinch                         5                 3

Chaffinch                        2

Song Thrush                   1         

                                                          

Total                               12                3      

Apologies for the shadow but the picture sets the scene with the open Atlantic Ocean to the North

 On the 3rd of January I managed my first session of 2016 and started the winter ringing in the  garden.  I had been pretty slack in topping up the feeders, leaving them empty for a day or two, but I was a bit more consistent over Christmas and the numbers have been building.  The conditions on the morning were quite windy but the single 12m net was mostly sheltered.  The rain started around 10am and cut short the ringing.

Siskin

 
The catch was distinctly average but it was very pleasing to get the first (hopefully of many) Siskin of the winter, following the 36 caught in the garden late Feb to mid March last year.  I also caught my regular male Sparrowhawk and it is now the fourth time he has been caught since Jan 2014.  It has bounced from the nets a few times also and would have again this time had I not been standing below it extracting a Blue Tit.  I'll have to wait until February before the finches start to arrive in any numbers.  I was very surprised to re-catch only one Tit considering there have been over 500 ringed here in the past few years and they are usually much more prevalent in catches.   

Sparrowhawk

Ringing Totals   03/01/2016                                     
                                      
                                      New       Retraps          

 

Blue Tit                         11

Chaffinch                       3             

Coal Tit                          5                1         

Great Tit                         6                                                               

Robin                              1  

Siskin                              1

Sparrowhawk                                  1

 

Total                               27              2       

 

 

I will hopefully post the groups ringing totals for the year in the next few weeks but I am just waiting for the guys to submit their data on IPMR.  I have also started the next post on the Irish Bird Ringing data which will cover the Owls.  I have now received all the data from Cape Clear BO and a portion from Copeland BO, so I've been a little distracted compiling it all.