True Grit (2)

Bearded Tits continue to use the grit trays at Leighton Moss despite the wind and rain. To date we have logged 265 sightings of 73 colour ringed birds. Thanks especially to Keith Kellet and Alan Gallagher and several other birders for colour ring sightings.

This year the birds have followed the pattern of previous years- adults coming in first from early October to be replaced by birds of the year from late October/ early November on.Two birds have been recorded coming back for the past four years. It is too early to analyse this years sightings but our results from 2006 when we had 331 sightings of 97 different birds may be of interest. Of the 97 birds identified 55 birds were sighted on just one or two days but some visited much more often with one bird being recorded on 15 days. Of course we missed many sightings as coverage was incomplete. Close observation suggests that they are to sorting through the fine sand for the right sized particles. They can stay on the trays for up to 15 minutes

A German study of 12 Bearded Tit gizzards found an average of 608 (range 470- 830) stones in the gizzards in autumn. No wonder they need to visit the trays often! They need grit at this time of year to help grind up the hard seed of the winter diet of reed seeds.

I have been asked by several birders if the taking on of grit increases the weight of the bird. We have lots of weight data but it would take a lot of effort to analyse it. However what we have done so far shows an increase of ca 0.7 grams from September to December, Bearded Tits average ca 14.5 grams. Of course other factors may be responsible for this weight increase.

John Wilson

Where are all the Goldcrests?

At the Heysham obs ringing site we generally catch a good number of Goldcrests during the Autumn southward passage. This year, however, we have managed to capture just 5. This compares with 61-2008, 36-2007, 24-2006, 108-2005 & 119-2004.

Although the ringing effort may have been less this autumn owing to the atrocious weather recently, this is still a very low number. Lack of Goldcrests is also backed up by regular observations at the site which have recorded very few seen or heard.

Recently, a ringer from Hilbre Island has reported NO Goldcrests ringed this Autumn (they have ringed an average of 50 birds per autumn over the past 10 years). This report has resulted in a flood of replies from around the country in similar vein.

One suggestion put forward has been that the windy and wet conditions could have prevented the birds from using the normal passage route southward and they might have moved south on a much more easterly line, avoiding the UK altogether. However, at Falsterbo in Sweden, they too have ringed only a quarter of their normal total so another explanation may be a very poor breeding season in the northern forests.

(AJD)

Ringing on the telly

from a posting on a ringers' blog site:

Last Thursday morning Wash Wader Ringing Group were accompanied by Countryfile on a catch of Sanderling. We are told this will air on BBC1 onSunday (at 6pm) though countryfile schedules can be a bit flexible. They should have some good footage of a cannon net being fired. Listen out for a shout of spoonbill as one flew past - and I missed because I was talking to camera at the time, how's that for dedication ... Cheers rob

thanks to Rob Robinson for the info

paul

Leighton's Bearded Tits and Bitterns Break Records

Great excitement today at the grit tray at Leighton Moss when a male Bearded Tit with BTO ring over Blue on the left leg and Red over white on the right leg appeared. This bird was first ringed on 8/8/2002 as a juvenile male 7 years and 92 days ago making it the oldest Bearded Tit for the British Ringing scheme and beating the previous record of 7 years and 6 days also held by a Leighton Moss Bearded Tit, a male ringed in 1992. The bird visited the grit tray today on two occasions. It was re-trapped or sighted 5 times in 2007 but not at all in 2008 then re-trapped on 5/7/2009.

A Bittern ringed in the nest by the RSPB on 8/5/02 was sighted at the Lower Hide recently and the ring photographed nine years and 157 days after ringing again another British record. This bird was sexed a female by DNA analysis.

Yesterday at our feeding station at Teddy Heights near Arnside we caught a Coal Tit which was ringed 6 years and 290 days previously. A record for the group but the British record stands at 9 years.

John Wilson

Good year for Pied Flycatchers

It seems like a long time since May and June (and the birds in question will be thousands of miles away by now) but it was a good year for birds using nest boxes in the Lune and its tributaries. There were at least 43 nesting attempts in our nestboxes, of which, 35 successfully fledged young.

Great Tit and Blue Tit numbers were down following two poor breeding years, but productivity and survival have been good and there are tits in the woods - there is so much food around that it may be a while before they make it into gardens and towns.

Many thanks to the ringers, helpers, nest box providers and landowners who have supported our project - if you wish to get involved next year, please let me know at paul.cammack@cumbria.ac.uk

Hidden Reed Buntings

Today I asked two very regular birders who visit Leighton Moos several times a week how often they see Reed Buntings at this time of year. Both replied that the most they see in a day is up to two feeding or gritting on the paths. When I told them that today we had caught 18 in one small area they were amazed. Obviously the birds are feeding quietly within the reedbed not calling or showing themselves.

Since October 1st this year we have ringed on 12 days and caught 117 Reed Buntings. The interesting thing is that we have only retrapped one of these. This means either there is a steady movement through of birds or that there is a very large population indeed.

Ringing returns suggest that there is a movement from the reserve at this time of year. In total over the years we have had eight birds found wintering in the Merseyside to Cheshire area. We have also had one that went to the south coast being ringed at Leighton in August and caught the following October in Dorset 386 kms south.

True Grit

The use by Bearded Tits of the grit trays at Leighton Moss have been exciting a lot of interest this year. I thought some back ground information on the development of the trays may be of interest along with our findings from colour ringing the birds.
For many year Bearded Tits used to grit on the gravel paths. The rather poor photo shows a shot taken c 1993 with 22 bearded tits all gritting on the paths. In c 1996 I had the idea to provide grit trays and they have been used ever since and use of the paths has stopped. Birds gritting on the path were subject to a lot of disturbance but the present arrangement allows lots of people to see (and photograph) these super birds.
Bearded Tits need grit at this time of year because they are changing from the soft insect diet of summer to the harder mainly reed seed diet of winter. The grit sits in the gizzard and so grinds up the seeds.
We are also responsible for the colour rings you can see on all but a few birds. The birds are colour ringed as part of a long term (25 years) population and DNA study of this very local species. Remember Leighton Moss is the only place you can regularly see this evocative species in the North West.
The colour rings have also enabled us to study their gritting habits. Every year the adult birds come first to the trays from about mid September to mid October almost all the birds gritting are adults but as the season progresses birds of the year move in. This year to date we have identified 51 different birds using the trays 23 of them adults and 28 this year's young ones. So far this year we have ringed 104 young bearded tits the largest number since 2000 so many more may yet visit the trays.


John Wilson