Late December 2018

Following on from the work done on the visit on the 16th (just below in this post) we were able to set up the two new 18 metre net rides along with the usual three. The new nets worked with the one in the top patch of scrub catching a Fieldfare, Starling, 2 Blackbirds and best of all a Mistle Thrush. Mistle Thrushes are very difficult to catch and we've only caught 2 fledged birds in the past 5/6 years.

John and I were joined by Ken and his trainee James, who was able to add three new species which is always a good day. One of the three Fieldfares caught was released unringed but it happens!
We are really noticing the drop off in Chaffinch numbers, or should I say, the number that we are catching - perhaps the ones present are all ringed!

Mistle Thrush

Castlerock Golf Club - Saturday 24th December 2018
                      New      Retrap
Blackbird        3            
Bullfinch         1             1             
Fieldfare          2
Goldfinch         1
Greenfinch      6
Mistle Thrush  1
Robin                             3
Song Thrush   1
Starling           1
Wren               1

Total              17              4                

Starling

16th December 2018

This morning the focus was more so on preparing the new net rides and together we have cut two new 18 metre net rides and a 6m dog leg off once of these. We are eyeing up another 12m ride also but we will see how these new ones work and see if we can increase the catch of the Fieldfare!

We had the three usual nets open and caught a few birds and again another single Fieldfare, caught in the same net. I did have another in the nets but it flipped out on approach. We will probably use 19x19mm 4 shelf nets in these new rides which are better for catching larger birds as the finer mesh 15x15mm 5 shelf nets have cost us at least 3 Fieldfares so far this season (but do catch the smaller passerines better).

Fieldfare

Castlerock Golf Club - Saturday 16th December 2018
                      New      Retrap
Blue Tit           3             1
Bullfinch         3             3             
Fieldfare          1
Greenfinch                    1
Linnet             1
Robin              1
Song Thrush   1
Wren               1

Total              11              5                

A Merlin made an appearance mid morning and made a kill over the river which appeared to be a Fieldfare. The bird was certainly very heavy as the bird made a sharpish landing on the rocks before slipping into the Marram Grass.

The local Otter family also gave us a bit of a show with three feeding right along the rock armour and it looks as though they had been running about the shoreline before I arrived.

One of three Otters present

Otter tracks

Portstewart Strand 15/06/2015

I usually find June to be a quiet month for ringing but with nice birds still popping up around the UK & Ireland, I dragged myself out of bed at 05.15.  It was a warm and cloudy day for the most, with the thermometer hitting 18°C by midday.  The winds were light southerlies, rising to c12mph by the afternoon when the sun came out. 

Starling

The scrub is now alive with the sound of young birds with Robins and Dunnocks in particular.  Other notable birds were the first Redshank (2) and Curlew (3) for a month or more; which may have been failed breeders on the way south, c20 Swifts feeding low over 'Grangemore' across the river and c170 Black-headed Gulls, which is way up on the recent dozen birds or so.  A new pair of Sedge Warblers have taken up residence close to the gorse nets which should hopefully breed.

Dunnock

The ringing is yet to pick up with only 12 new birds and 7 retraps but 5 new birds of the year is good to see.  I packed up west ride around 10 am and took an attempt at the small Sand Martin colony.  Watching the birds I reckon there are 7-8 active nests, 6-7 in a cluster and a single nest further over on the bank.  The two smaller banks further to the west that were utilised last year are empty this year.  I set a 9m 2 shelf net in front of the main cluster and caught 3 birds but the conditions at that stage were very bright and a little breezy.  The hope is to record interactions between the local colonies and perhaps pick a few of the birds in roost catches.
The Starling and Sand Martin are new ringed species for the site!       

Sand Martin

 

Ringing Totals 15/06/2015

                                        New         Retrap         

Blackcap                                             1

Bullfinch                                              2   

Dunnock                           3                 2                        

Linnet                               1

Meadow Pipit                   1

Robin                                1

Sand Martin                      3 

Song Thrush                                        1

Starling                             1

Willow Warbler                 2                 1                                    

Total                                12                 7