Winter Scrub Ringing & Patch Birding

We have made two more visits to Castlerock Golf Club in the Bann Estuary since the last visit on the 7th of January. The Fieldfare numbers increased massively during the cold weather with 800+ birds there, joined by 150+ Redwing and a number of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes.

Redwing

The conditions were a little restrictive on the first visit and produced just six new birds and two retraps and no Fieldfare caught.
On the second visit the numbers had dropped significantly to perhaps 150 Fieldfares with the Sea Buckthorn berries having been depleted to only a few hundred from what were once millions.
Yet again the Fieldfares eluded us and we had to make do with 12 new birds including a Redwing and winter Blackcap.

Blackcap

 Castlerock Ringing Totals - 04/02 & 04/03/2018
         
                      New    Retrap

Blackbird               4              1

Blackcap               1

Bullfinch                2              1      

Dunnock                2
Goldcrest               1              2
Greenfinch             1           

Redwing                 1
Robin                      1

Song Thrush          5             1
Wren                      

Totals                    18            5      

 

 

 

 

 

On my last update about my Patch Birding in the Bann Estuary on the 11th of January I was sitting on 58 species for the year. As of this morning I have flipped that number and hit 85 before the arrival of the summer migrants.
I've added two new species to my full patch list with a nice drake Goosander and a few sightings of Glaucous Gull.

Goosdander

 



Glaucous Gull

Iceland Gulls have been regular with at least four different individuals including a nice 3rd winter/adult bird and two present on a number of visits. Other nice records locally have included Purple Sandpiper, a winter Blackcap and a pair of Shoveler  A Greenshank yesterday followed up with a Great Crested Grebe today and a Collared Dove which can be hard to get on the patch, took me to 7 ahead of this stage last year.


A bit of birding in the hills this afternoon produced my first Red Grouse of the year plus a pair of Hen Harrier which are always fantastic to see, taking my Northern Irish year total to 114 species (+ Barnacle Goose in the south).

 

Turn of the year - 2017/2018

It has become a reoccurring theme that on recent posts I begin with an apology for the lack of updates and again I'm a week shy of two months without a post, so....sorry!

We have been pretty idle on the North Coast and haven't done any ringing since our last visit to Portstewart Strand on the 27th of October through issues of weather, free time and the others cooped up indoors with a three week bug.

John and I finally got back into action on the Sunday the 7th with a the first visit to Castlerock since last February. The Sea Buckthorn scrub and the millions of berries have been absolutely bubbling with birds since the end of autumn and we had been itching to make our first visit. It was a cold start at 07.30 - -3°C, crystal clear skies, still and a hard frost which we thought we would be perfect to entice the ground feeding winter thrushes from further afield. Throughout the winter I had only noticed around a dozen Fieldfares amongst the scrub daily but we called the weather correct and many more appeared with c75 plus c50 Redwings, which aren't regular.

Redwing

We did try our various tapes to try and lure them into the nets but were absolutely unsuccessful and only caught two Redwings which were caught before the tapes - even the infamous 'Latvian love song' failed. We are restricted with the placement of our nets to the bottom of the hollow and generally the thrushes stick to the bushes on the safer higher slopes so we need to think up a new plan to catch them. There were also decent numbers of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes but only caught two of the former.

Our nets are all along the bottom centre of the scrub but thrushes prefer areas to the left

The thrushes aren't the only interest at the site but also the finches. These days Castlerock is about the only site where we encounter Greenfinches and another 6 caught today was nice. As with recent winters there is a healthy population of Bullfinches with probably 15-20+ and another three were trapped. Chaffinch numbers were a quarter of what they normally are with perhaps a dozen about. We finished with a nice mixed catch of 24 new birds of 9 species.

Greenfinch

Castlerock Ringing Totals - 07/01/2018
                  
                                New     

Blue Tit                  4

Bullfinch                3     
Chaffinch               2            
Goldcrest               1
Greenfinch             6           

Redwing                 2
Robin                     3

Song Thrush          2
Wren                       1

Totals                    24      

The second Copeland Bird Observatory winter training session took place back on the 17th of December with seven in attendance all together. The forecast had been looking pretty ropey but the rain stopped just before arrival and started as we slipped onto the motorway home so it worked out great. 

It was much quieter this time out with the wild bird seed field being less productive with only six each of Chaffinch and Linnet compared to the last visits 22 and 29! Like this period last year the Blackbirds descended on the apple trees but we didn't match the catch of  21 new birds but 12 in one session is still great. Another winter Blackcap is nice catch and going by reports across Ireland this year they are increasing rapidly or simply visiting feeders more!  

Blackbird

Antrim Ringing Totals - 17/12/2017
                  
                             New       Retraps

Blackbird              12              1

Blackcap                1
Blue Tit                  3              2
Chaffinch               4              2
Coal Tit                  6              3
Dunnock                2              
Goldcrest                                1
Great Tit                 2               6
Lesser Redpoll      1
Linnet                    5              1
Long-tailed Tit      3              2
Robin                     1              2
Wren                                      1

Totals                   40             21         

Earlier this week I had nipped across to the local retail park and noticed a large number of Pied Wagtails sprawled across the car park so I decided to watch them for a while. I've seen them here before when visiting the Supermarket across the park but never in such numbers and wasn't sure where they roost. I arrived at the right time as I was able to watch them go in to roost and estimated there to be around 250 birds. 

Where they roost looks quite difficult to set nets and there is a 30 foot vertical drop over the hedge so it will take a little bit of ingenuity but we are going to give it a go if we get a chance. Given the sheer numbers, some must be travelling quite a distance so it will be interesting to see if we can produce any results.

72 Pied Wagtails after the main portion had entered the roost

With the turn of the years starts a new season of the Patchwork Challenge. Last year I finished with a total of 130 species which was seven species up on 2016 and gave a score of 164 points. In my Coastal Irish League I finished fifth on points but had the second most species recorded. In the comparative score league I finished third. My CBO patch didn't get as much attention as I had hoped with only 5/6 visits but I achieved an encouraging 81 species and a score of 101 and finished fourth in the comparative league.

I've kicked off the 2018 list and recorded 58 species so far including two which I didn't get until October last year, Great Northern Diver and Redwing. I've set myself a high-bar but with equal effort and a bit of luck I could better it!

Phone/Binocular record shot of one of two Great Northern Divers on the 7th 

Portstewart Strand 14th &18th October

On Saturday morning I was out by myself with the others off on a day trip to Copeland Bird Observatory in the hopes of seeing the recent Yellow-browed Warblers, Wryneck and anything else that might appear.
I again restricted the number of nets but it was quiet with not a huge amount about.  I caught a total of 31 new birds which was boosted by the capture of 14 Linnets, plus 4 early Blackbirds and 2 Song Thrush by the winter woozle tape.

Linnet

One of Long-eared Owls was again out and about until 07.22 and the regular juvenile Peregrine was busy terrorising the waders with a total of 51 species sighted.


On Wednesday morning John and I were out again for a couple of hours before work in what appeared to be ideal conditions. The birds started to move and call early on including the first 3 Redwings of the autumn but around 8am thick mist rolled in and killed off any activity, particularly in the open. We did catch one of the Redwings and a new trickle of Goldcrests and a couple more Song Thrushes but little else. A Merlin and a single Twite were present around the 'gorse nets' but not caught.  A number of Whooper Swans were grounded on the estuary in the mist with over 50 throughout the morning.

Redwing

As we were departing at 10.30 the mist started to clear and things would have livened up again but unfortunately be had to be in work. The total was a rather tame 12 new birds but there was a little bit of quality in the species at least.


Portstewart Strand 14+18/10/2017                            
                             New         Retrap
Blackbird               4                1               
Bullfinch                2
Chaffinch               1
Goldcrest               7                1       
Dunnock                3                1    
Linnet                   14
Redwing                1 
Reed Bunting        2    
Robin                     2          
Song Thrush         5

Wren                      2

Totals                    43               3         

Fly-by Whoopers and the incoming mist

John visited the University River site on the 12th for the first time in a while and had a good catch for the site with c25 new birds. He had a good run of Blackbirds and Goldcrests with a few other bits and pieces.




The patch birding in the estuary this October has been great and I added a further four ticks over the weekend and another two on Wednesday morning. On Saturday morning I picked up a flock of 13 Pink-footed Geese which dropped in to Grangemore. These were a full patch tick for me and still a vary scarce bird in NI.
On Sunday I spent a bit of time around the bird hide and there was plenty more activity on the water with a Red-throated Diver (large red throat patch), 4 Eider, 13 Red Breasted Merganser in front of the hide and a large influx of Black-headed Gulls (500+) which included a patch tick Mediterranean Gull, a species I failed to get in 2016. I then picked up a black duck species whirling about the estuary at full speed which didn't look like an Goldeneye. Thankfully anther birder present had a large camera and was able to snap a record shot to show a fine Tufted Duck, my first in the estuary since 2012. I then headed over to Grangemore to see if the Pink-feet were about to get a closer look and managed a couple of record shots. On route I also ticked a single Twite, sighted only my second Kestrel of the year and had 4 Brent geese overhead.

Pink-footed Geese

On Wednesday the ticks were the Redwings and the nice male Merlin, with a single Twite present amongst the Linnets. I am now three species ahead of my record year in 2016 and I am hopefully of adding a few more new species before the year is out!  Of the 158 species I have seen in NI this year, I've seen 126 of those in the estuary!

Merlin

Yet another storm is due this weekend, this time Storm Brian, so chances are slim of getting out, perhaps a short window on Saturday morning!

Copeland Bird Observatory 28-30th October

On Friday evening Richard, David, James, Laurence and I (Steve) were joined by 2 non-ringers Andy and Pat to begin our journey to Copeland Bird Observatory from Donaghadee Harbour. Of course we could not begin our trip without grabbing our usual pre-CBO feed from the local chippy – delicious!  The journey across on The Mermaid is much slower than on the Observatories RHIB but it did give us a chance to observe Turnstones, Cormorants/Shags, Red-breasted Merganser and many gulls off Big Copeland.  The weather was good, with a slight South Westerly breeze, we were fairly optimistic that the weather would remain calm and fine for the weekend ahead.

Yellow-browed Warbler   (DS)

On reaching the island at dusk, we set about getting the mist nets up in the usual net rides at mid garden, NW Garden, Heli 60’, Heli Extension, Thicket, Pond 60', Withy, Millennium Wood, the Ditch and a new net ride at Bluebell.  We also set the four Heligoland traps, the Crow trap and a few Potter and Spring traps.  The Potters were baited with sardines as they have been producing the goods with Water Rail recently.  It was well into darkness by the time we got finished so all nets were furled as we went, ready for a busy day on Saturday.  While erecting the last net c30 Greylag Geese came in to roost on Mew Island – and what a racket they made!

Fieldfare

The next day Richard and I got up earlier than the others to prepare the nets and tape lures before dawn.  Being so late in the autumn, the main migrants passing through were thrushes with Blackbird, Song Thrush and Redwing.  The species that really caught our attention though were the Fieldfare.  Two of the Fieldfares wound up in mist nets and both, with beautiful speckled markings on their orangey throats.  This set the mood for the rest of the day. The first weekend of October 2015 saw us with high hopes of catching a Yellow-browed Warbler; a bird ringed less than 10 times before in Northern Ireland.  Being so late, the chances of getting one were slim but by 10am, I had a Yellow-browed Warbler in my hand and it was beautiful.  Lesser Redpoll numbers tend to dwindle around late October but we still had a few passing through, including a Goldpoll (a Redpoll with a golden crown in place of red) and a BTO Control (ringed somewhere else in the UK or Ireland).

Lesser Redpoll   (DS)

Song Thrush (top) and Redwing (bottom)   (DS)

Later that morning a flock of c120 Starling and a mixed flock of c150 Redwing, Fieldfare and Song Thrush passed over the island.  As well as the Yellow-browed Warbler we added another new species for the year in the form of two Wigeon amongst a flock of over 90 Teal off Mew Island. In the evening we caught a glimpse of a female Sparrowhawk but it made its way back towards big Copeland and a Buzzard was perched on the Mew Lighthouse.  A Short-eared Owl was spotted on Big Copeland although not by us unfortunately, as this would have been a nice addition to the CBO year list.

Redwing

The next day the Yellow-browed Warbler was relocated in Bluebell Gully where it had been last heard on Saturday afternoon.  There were a few more Lesser Redpoll, Redwing, Song Thrush, Goldfinch, Linnet and Blackbird on the move.  The Gully heligoland trap performed well producing a six Meadow Pipit but with the trap being unfinished it could have possibly caught more.  There were a good number of Grey Seal pups scattered around the island, snuggled in amongst the rocks with their mothers close by.  The glorious weather on Sunday, which felt like earlier September, produced a late migrant butterfly - a Red Admiral. 

Grey Seal Pup   (SF)

Ringing Totals for Copeland Bird Observatory 29-30th October

                                             New    Retraps  Controls

Blackbird                               3           5

Blackcap                               2

Chaffinch                              4

Dunnock                               5           4

Fieldfare                               2

Goldcrest                             1            2

Goldfinch                              2

Linnet                                    1

Lesser Redpoll                    24                          1

Meadow Pipit                      6

Redwing                               14         1

Robin                                     1          8

Song Thrush                         5           1

Wren                                      3          4

Yellow-browed Warbler    1

Total                                     74        25             1 __      

As this was the last visit of the season we were set with a list of end of season chores.  After these were completed we were able to relax and wait for the boat to arrive.  We brought five lawnmowers ashore for servicing and it must have been quite a sight watching us lift the heavy machines off the boat and carrying them up on the steps of the harbour walls on our return to Donaghadee.

 The team ready for home

Fully packed boat home

As we left Copeland Bird Observatory behind us, the sun was dropping behind the mainland and brought a close on a very successful weekend and yet another brilliant season at Northern Ireland's only bird observatory.  Bring on next year as I'm sure everyone who has been to the island is desperately longing to return.

The Observatory building locked up and ready for winter

 Sunset over Donaghadee

Myself (Steve), Richard and David

Richard will be back at the weekend with an update about the goings on back at home over the last week. 

Steve Fyffe

Thrushes plus Sandwich Tern and Storm Petrel Recoveries

It has been yet another quiet week in the Bann Estuary and we still can't manage to find a warbler of any form!  The week was split into two weather wise with windy and wet conditions from Saturday to Tuesday and warmer settled weather for the rest of the week, with the winds still generally from the east or south.  Wednesday marked the first day of northerlies for almost 3 weeks and it brought some new birds with it.

Redwing (JC)

The first half of the week was the quieter period with little obvious passage or grounded migrants with only a handful of Blackbirds, Chaffinches, Song Thrushes and singles of Redwing flying over early morning.  Goldcrest numbers have dropped off quite substantially with only one bird caught and only a few heard.  Things on the estuary have been a little better with lots of Golden Plover, Teal and Wigeon, a constant stream of Whooper Swans flying over from Wednesday, six Greylag Geese, six Little Egrets (3 more than my previous patch max count), three Great-crested Grebes and only the second Little Grebe of the year.  Thursday seen a better movement of thrushes with larger numbers of Redwing and a new wave of Blackbirds and Song Thrushes.  Skylark movement also picked up with flocks of up to 50 birds passing through on Thursday.  At least one Long-eared Owl is still frequenting the area and was spotted on two mornings pre 7am. 

Whooper Swans (JC)

Again we managed a couple of ringing sessions before work or on days off so generally shorter restricted sessions when working by ourselves or in twos.  A sprinkling of northern migrants has helped boost the numbers as the local bird numbers continue to struggle.  The first Redwing of the autumn is always nice and a further two Skylarks are welcome as they can be a challenge to catch! 

Blackbird

PSS Ringing Totals 15 - 20/10/2016
                                New      Retrap
Blackbird                   6                
Blue Tit                      1  
Dunnock                    1              3
Goldcrest                   1
Goldfinch                                   1
Great Tit                    2              1
Linnet                        2
Meadow Pipit           18
Redwing                    4
Robin                        1               5  
Skylark                      2   
Song Thrush             2
Wren                         4           

Total                       44               10            

Skylark (JC)

The feeding station has been relocated as it has become very exposed since the leaves have fallen off the trees so the birds are steering clear when the nets are up.  The feeders have also been plagued with rats with up to three large brutes spotted at a time so a new location was certainly in order.

Linnet

It has been a while since we have had a Sandwich Tern recovered in Africa but news came in of our 66th bird to the continent.  The bird was retrapped in La Somone, Senegal, which is our second bird from the site and 25th to Senegal.  The last one was controlled some 14 years ago so it has been quite a wait to get one from La Somone!
The bird was ringed by us as a pullus at Inch Island, Donegal on the 4th of June 2014 and re-caught by a South African (at least registered) ringer on the 6th of April of this year.  The straight line distance between the sites is 4585 km with the time lapsed of 672 days. 

Sandwich Tern recovery in La Somone, Senegal

As mentioned in the previous post we had news of another Storm Petrel controlled elsewhere in the British Isles and since then we've had another two reports in!
The first bird was controlled at Rhuba nan Sasan, Loch Ewe, Highland, Scotland on the 3rd of September 2016 at a distance of 305 km.  We had trapped the bird 38 days earlier on the 27th of July at Rinnagree Point, Portstewart. 

The other two birds are quite interesting and almost associated.  They represent an exchange from the Calf of Man Bird Observatory in both directions.  The first of these was a bird that we ringed at Rinnagree Point on the 19th of July this year which was controlled only 4 days later at the Observatory at the southern tip of the Isle of Man.  On that same night the Obs staff ringed another Storm Petrel which made its way to us nine days later, taking the reverse route as the first.
These are not the first Storm Petrels that we have exchanged with the Calf (174km straight line distance away) with two of ours going there and two of theirs coming our way.  Two of those birds were also caught within less 15 days apart so it is clearly a natural route for the birds through July and August. 

Edited note: I've only just noticed that the bird of ours trapped at the Calf was the same bird also caught at Bardsey Bird Observatory 19 days later. 

Storm Petrel Recoveries

The settled weather looks set to continue into the weekend so we will hopefully get another visit in and potentially carry out a bit of habitat management.
Our final visit to Copeland Bird Observatory for the season is pencilled in for next weekend so fingers crossed the weather is kind to us and we actually manage to get to the island and get some nice birds!

Mid March 2016 Ringing

Over the past week or so we managed to utilise the calm, settled weather and got the first two full ringing sessions of the season in at Portstewart Strand.
The first session was on Saturday the 13th, attended by myself and John, in decent conditions.  I managed to leave my full net kit at home, so we made so with Johns gear.
It is still a little early for the summer migrants but a few winter migrants were still in attendance.  Whooper Swans were a feature of the morning with a constant trickle of birds heading out over the Atlantic Ocean, with a single flock of Greylag Geese.  A couple of Redwings passed over early on and the Reed Buntings are still gathered in a small flock of c8 birds. 

Whooper Swans migrating north

    
The catch was augmented by the feeders, which have been attracting small flocks of Goldfinch, Linnet and a few other species.  Two new Redwings have added to a healthy winter total plus the bonus of a new Stonechat, after 9 new birds last year.  The unringed male Stonechat avoided capture but it may well hang around.  The two Redwing were actually obviously different in size in flight and the biometrics backed this up.  The figures don't quite go as far to definitely differentiate the birds to race but appearance would be supportive.

 
The larger, darker bird on the left would certainly appear to be of the Icelandic race 'Turdus iliacus coburni', which, for us on the north coast of Northern Ireland, is probably the nominate race.  The bird on the right may well be of the Northern European race ' Turdus iliacus iliacus'. 

The undertail coverts on the Redwing were also very different, again with the 'coburni' on the left and suspected 'iliacus' bird on the right. 


Ringing Totals                                     
                                      
                                      New       Retraps          

Blackbird                        1                1

Chaffinch                        1                  

Dunnock                         1                2             

Goldfinch                        3               1

Great Tit                          1                                 

Linnet                              1                                             

Redwing                          2                    

Stonechat                        1                              

 

Total                               11               4      

I went solo on Thursday morning hoping Saint Patrick might bring me a little bit of luck.  The conditions and birds were very similar to the previous session, minus the Greylag Goose flock and the Stonechats.  The conditions were very sunny mid morning and it was very pleasant to be out along the estuary.  During the quiet spells I was able to do a little more tidying along the shore but there is still a lot of work to do! 

Image looking across the areas of the Gorse Rides, East ride behind and West Ride in the distance

The ringing was slightly busier than the previous attempt with the feeders catching 3 Linnet, 4 Goldfinch and a Lesser Redpoll.  The first Bullfinch and Meadow Pipits of the year take us up to 14 different species; hopefully on the way to improve on last years total of 29 species. 
 
If last year is anything to go by we should expect the number of Bullfinch and Lesser Redpoll to increase over the coming weeks, as the birds return to breed and the first Willow Warblers should arrive around a week into April. 


Ringing Totals                                     
                                      
                                      New       Retraps          

Bullfinch                         1               

Dunnock                                           2           

Goldfinch                        3                1

Lesser Redpoll               1                                     

Linnet                             3

Meadow Pipit                 2                1          

Redwing                         1                                           

Robin                             1                1                                                                                 

Wren                                                1                    

 

Total                             12                6      

John and I helped out at the final Copeland Bird Observatory Training session of the winter on Sunday morning.  There was a good turn out at the site near Antrim, with 11 people, but warm sunshine and blue skies resulted in a quite morning.  The catch was a mixed bag of Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Great Tit and Goldfinch with around 25 birds in total. 

The observatory is now operational every weekend right through to October, so the trainees have ample opportunity to get out and improve their skills. 
The Observatory is open to everybody and is cheap and easy to visit.  For more information, check out - http://www.thecbo.org.uk/
The 2016 ringing at the Observatory has kicked off nicely with catches of c20 Goldcrest, 6 Redwing, 1 Twite, c10 Robin, c5 Blackbird, 2 Song Thrush, 2 Pied Wagtail, 1 Skylark, 1 Meadow Pipit, 5 Chaffinch and a few other odds and ends over the first two weekends. 


Easter is coming up next week, so hopefully the weather (and birds) will be kind to use and we can fit a few sessions in.