Colour Ringed Avocet Returns

The colour ringed Avocet which bred on the Allen Pool at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve last year has returned this week. It was originally ringed as a nestling at Bas Boulais Saint-Molf France on 30th June 2008. It spent its first winter quite close to the ringing site. In 2009 it was sighted from the 2nd of April  to 21 December  again within the same area.  In 2010 it also occurred in the same area from 4th March to 22nd of December. It was not sighted at all in 2011 but arrived at the Allen Pool in late March 2012 and bred successfully rearing three young. We have been in contact with the ringer in France and hope to get further details of any recent sightings.
Thanks to Brian Howson for the photograph.

John

How good are you at ageing/sexing Twite?

The Heysham wintering Twite, with perhaps a mix of  larger north Scottish birds and smaller south Scottish/the odd Pennine bird are not easy to age/sex.  Have a go at these.  Wing length given as a clue/misleader.

All these pics were taken on 29th March 2013

Please dont respond with a 'Comment' as this might influence others.  Please post to Pete Marsh at PMrsh123@aol.com

Please do comment on the pics and please say whether you want to remain anonymous when I post the answers & your comments in about a month's time.  Thanks.

Pic one:Wing length 76mm

Pic 2:Wing 78 mm

Pic 3:Wing 76mm

Pic 4: Due to a mix-up, not sure which bird this is!

Pic 5: Wing 79mm

Pic 6: Wing 81mm

Pic 7: Wing 76mm

Feeding Station Statistics

At a recent group meeting we discussed the results of ringing at feeding stations. I analyzed the results from two of our sites. One is a typical small garden in the  village of Over Kellet and operated by Andrew. The other which I operate is a woodland station at Teddy Heights near Arnside. The results for some of the species caught this winter compared with the previous five winters are given below. Ringing effort has been roughly similar over the years.

Coal  Tit.
This winter has seen the largest  catches to date at both sites with Teddy Heights at 164 being  34 up on the five year average and Over Kellet at 40 compared with 22. At both sites there was a very marked influx from September on right through until late December . Numbers then declined until a small further influx in early March. A first calendar year bird caught at Teddy Heights had been ringed 63 km to the  north in Cumbria in early October giving some clue as to where these birds come from. The oldest bird caught was three years and 28 days after ringing

Blue Tit
The 120 caught at Teddy Heights was the lowest number over the 20 years I have been operating the site and was well down on the average of 180 of recent years. By contrast Over Kellet at 145 was only 14 down on recent averages. Data from the Groups nest box studies suggested rather poor productivity last spring and the poor summer and autumn weather would probably not have helped survival. The oldest bird recaptured was eight years and 15 days after ringing.

Great Tit
The Teddy Heights catch at  84 was well down on the recent average  of 141. The smaller sample at Over Kellet at 28 was  only slightly down on recent years. Again nest box studies suggested well below average productivity. The oldest bird was five years and 115 days after ringing.

Chaffinch
Total catches at both sites were slightly up on recent years, suggesting a good population. The oldest bird was six years and 12 days.

Greenfinch
This species is only captured in numbers at Over Kellet. The population was quite high  until a collapse in the 08/09 winter reaching a low of only 15 in the 09/10 winter. It was thought the the disease Trichomonosis was the cause of the decline. However  they then bounced back to a total of 142 in  both of the next two winters. But this winter has seen a decline again to only 33.

Goldfinch
This attractive species has been the star turn at Over Kellet with 144 caught, slightly up on the average catch of recent years although somewhat down on the 250 recorded in the 2010-11 winter. One notable feature of the catch is the low re-trap rate with very few returning in successive winters. Of 1244 ringed over the last 12 years only three have returned in successive years.

 Bullfinch
This species  first started visiting feeders at Over Kellet in the 2006/.07 winter and ten were caught. They fluctuated over the next few winters to reach a peak of 43 in the 2011/12 winter. This winter though they have declined with only three caught. At Teddy Heights in a Bullfinch breeding habitat the numbes were around the average.

John

Fishermen Let Their Side Down

A Twite ringing session this morning resulted in a catch of 23 retrap/controls and 4 new birds. Around 80 birds were present and feeding first thing, but as the whoosh net was assembled and set, the birds lined up on the fence to stare at it but declined to feed. After a time, a few were bold enough to drop onto the feeding area and allow a catch.  The first ones down are invariably, and unsurprisingly, the unringed birds that pull a few of the bolder ringed individuals with them.  A second small catch later made up the numbers.

After the net was packed away, although the cars and ringers were still present, 60 birds were on the seed within 15 minutes.

Whilst awaiting further action, and gazing over the sea wall a movement was noted down the stone slope - it was a gull trapped by a fishing hook attached to abandoned tackle.  A lead weight was jammed between the blocks part way down the wall and two hooks, still baited were attached to this weight by a length of line.  The gull had its lower mandible pierced through from inside to out by one hook.

On retrieving the bird it was found to be the Belgian-ringed Mediterranean Gull that Pete, Janet et al had just spent days ring reading.  At least the ring number was confirmed! Some first aid was applied to the bill which was not badly damaged, a yellow darvic ring (2P96) was fitted to the lower left leg and the very fortunate bird was released in good health.  The condition of the bird suggested that it had not been trapped for long.

On our arrival earlier, we had noted that masses of debris and rubbish left by fishermen was present.  I am sure it is only a minority, but these people seem to have no regard for their surroundings or for the wildlife around. The abandoned weight was not too far down the wall to be retrieved, but it was far enough for the bird to be drowned by the tide if it had not died in the meantime through exhaustion/starvation.

 

Why didn't the fisherman bother to retrieve his tackle?  Why can't these rogue fishermen take home their food debris, cans, cigarette packets, tackle packaging, plastic bags, abandoned line and tackle etc? 

They are an absolute disgrace to their sport (!) and to their more thoughtful colleagues.

ajd

North Lancs 2012 Ringing Report

North Lancs Ringing Group has produced a ringing report for group activities during 2012.  It can be downloaded here.  We hope it provides additional information about our activities over the last year than the blog.

The Usual and the Unexpected

A recent batch of recoveries continued a handful of records that follow the usual pattern but also three that break new ground.

The usual first. Two Sand Martins  both in the same locality in France brings our total to 40 recoveries that we have had  in that country, almost all on their way south in late summer. These two  were both adults ringed while nesting in the colonies in the sandy banks of the River Lune. One though was  a little unusual  as it was caught on 26th July in Charente-Maritime 933 kms to the south. It was an adult female and in a normal year one would have  expected it to be busy raising a second brood at this time of year. But the summer of 2012 was anything but usual with heavy rain flooding out some colonies, so this bird probably headed south earlier than usual. The second was also quite early, a male already in France  by August 10th.

Two Sedge Warblers were also reported from  France and again both at the same locality in Loire-Atlantique both had been ringed in 2012 and both were re-trapped in August in France bringing our total recovered there to 39, the bulk of them in August. One was  a juvenile and it was in France just 17 days after ringing.

The controlling of a Twite in both November and  December at our Heysham feeding station from Machrihanish Bird Observatory in Argyll & Bute is the 23rd bird to move between the two sites, establishing a strong link between the breeding and wintering areas.

Turning to the unusual. This year Goldfinch have also been using the feeding station at Heysham and a juvenile caught there on November 5th had been ringed on 21st August near Oban in Argyll & Bute. Had it moved down with the Twite? It is only our second Goldfinch from Scotland.

Coal Tits have been present in good numbers at our feeding stations this winter. We  postulated that they had  originated in the Lakeland conifer plantations and the catching of one in early December at our feeding station near Arnside that had been ringed just 58 days previously 63 km to the north in northern Cumbria proved us right. It is the second longest movement we have recorded for Coal Tit only one from Durham 92 km in 1987 beats it.

Finally the most unexpected was a Reed Bunting ringed as a juvenile female at Middleton on 18th August and  caught on  6th May at Cardiff Wetland Reserve. One presumes that it was a locally bred Middleton bird but had moved the 286 km  to South Wales to breed. All our other  distant movements of Reed Bunting have been to  wintering sites in the south of England or the Midlands.

John

An ancient darvic ring?

Administration at the ringing office ground to a halt when a Kittiwake with a darvic ring black on yellow H32 was photographed at Heysham about a week ago.  There was no trace of it!  It is still at Heysham and here is a much better pic taken today:

I dont know what the longevity record is for darvic rings of this size, but the wintering Broadway (now metal-ring-only) Med Gull used to possess one which lasted about 7 years and similarly, the last time Polish P96 was seen around Lancaster (2 winters ago), the ring looked like it was about to drop off - and this bird is either an intermittently seen 'unread metal-only bird' or it has disappeared altogether.  So 10 years sounds a reasonable age for a darvic ring, but this one should be 24 years old!

Assuming this is the same bird which was originally ringed with H32, the history is as follows
Ringed:  as a pullus at Waterford, Ireland in 1989
Seen: Seaforth Nature Reserve 25/5/1991, 11/6/1991, 16/8/1998
This information was obtained in the late 1990s by Steve White but he cannot remember how (Steve deals with hundreds of darvic and metal-ringed birds at Seaforth)

Subsequently:
Seen: Seaforth Nature Reserve 23/8/2008 (photo). 
Unbeknown to Steve White, this had been sent in by another observer, but 'no trace found of origin'.  It came to light after the Heysham sighting was posted on the Heysham Obs Blog:

Seen:  Heysham Harbour 5/2/2013-(at least)11/2/2013   
This bird is currently residing around the waterfall in the harbour.  Whilst it might have seen the Peel Ports logo and felt just at home here as at Seaforth, this area of the harbour is very much a rehab or zimmerframe zone....and this is the last remaining Kittiwake after the strong onshore winds.  Hopefully it will survive and perhaps reappear at Seaforth or, better still, prove to be one of the nesting birds at the "new" colony along the docks at Liverpool

The metal ring was photographed today, albeit underwater but the photograher said that there didnt appear to be any visible letters or numbers - that would certainly fit with it being a 24-year old ring!

However, the jury is still slightly out on this one until it can be proven beyond doubt that a darvic ring can stay on a seabird for 24 years.  The case does seem pretty compelling however.  In no way should this account be interpreted as a slight on the efficiency of the BTO as they were not involved in monitoring colour rings at the time of ringing and this is an old scheme which had neither registered on the BTO radar, nor the Dirk Raes site - probably the only bird left alive and almost certainly the only up and still running darvic ring from the project!

Thanks to Janet Packham for the published pics.

Pete Marsh