Chris's Bird Ringing

Cheshire Coot Catching!

2012-02-14T13:11:00.002-08:00

This weekend just gone was spent down in Atherton with Kane, Ciaran, Gillian and Andy. Cold weather had captivated Cheshire and the surrounding areas of Atherton so the weekend was made up of our hand catching method. Good numbers of Coot were caught during the weekend, as well as Black-headed Gull, Canada goose and 1 Tufted Duck.

I have to thank Kane for this bird, as this is the 2nd Tufted Duck I have ever ringed. One day I will catch my own but as always it was great to familiarise myself with the ageing criteria for this species for when the time comes when I catch a few in North Wales.

Redesmere Lake in Cheshire was covered in ice, so the catching was pretty constant and as you can see the railings provide a bit of cover to hide behind when we catch our Coot.

Huge thanks to Kane for an awesome weekend and thanks also to Gillian, Ciaran and Andy for making it a very enjoyable weekend.

A small mist-netting session in Atherton Woods was also carried out with several Blue, Great and Coal tits caught, as well as Chaffinch and Robin.

It all amounts up!

2012-02-09T07:47:00.000-08:00

I spent yesterday down at Rhyl Brickworks with the aim to catch a couple of Coot during the day. I invited Matt along as well, so he could gain some more valuable ringing and ageing experience of Coot.

Unfortunately just 2 Coot were caught during the day. I am not disappointed by the number, as each bird amounts up to my target of 30 birds which I need to reach before April, so the next few weeks ahead are going to be busy but I'm looking forward to it all..

Rhyl Brickworks is owned by Denbighshire County Council and is home to around 40 Coot at the moment with most coming in to a small area where the birds are fed regularly. However, these Coot are very skittish and each time I catch a Coot they all flush and won't come back for some considerable time. Several other methods are in hand at this site, with the means to boost the catch rate per day so next visit could be more interesting.

A quick visit to Pentremawr Lake where at least 3o Coot reside; these are also in need of ringing and just 1 Coot on Tir Prince in Towyn.

A quick visit to another site on the outskirts of Bangor today to see if there are any Coot on site revealed there to be 5 birds un-ringed so there is another job, for one late night when the new moon arrives next week.

North Wales Coot Project!

2012-02-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I decided to swap from trapping; giving it a break for a while and change to our hand catching method around North Wales.

I have very recently started the North Wales Coot Project which is running in conjunction to the main project, run by Kane in the north-west. Sorting permissions and site access has been main our main priority but I am happy to say that the project has now begun and well under way. I now have at least half a dozen sites for Coot whether they be small or large lakes.

Sunday 5th February I took Zac and Matt along to my new site at Rhyl Brickworks Local Nature Reserve to see what I could catch. After gaining permission from the site warden, (Adrian Hibbert) and also thanks to local North Wales birder John Roberts; I set about catching. During the morning 3 Coot were caught and colour-ringed. A Juvenile Black-headed gull was also caught by Zac, (not what I was after but a welcome bird all the same).

Birds are being given a BTO Metal ring on their right leg and colour ring on their left; white darvic with black lettering. If you happen to see a Coot wearing a colour ring, please can you report all sightings to kanebrides'@'gmail.com.

If you know of any Coot around North Wales, whether a single bird on a local park lake or a nice sized flock, please could you get in touch with me or leave a comment on the blog and I will get back to you.

Huge thanks to Kane Brides for helping hugely with the project in North Wales, to John Roberts for gaining permission to ring on Rhyl Brickworks Local Nature Reserve and to Adrian Hibbert for giving permission.

I will be out again tomorrow catching so check back then for a full update.

Traps bring 200th bird!

2012-02-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

When I last did a post about trapping, it was back in January (25th), when I caught my 150th bird! Since then and only in a 2 week period, I have managed to capture over 200 birds in traps. I have now caught a grand total of 208 birds, (193 New and 15 Retrap) with my C Permit.

These last few weeks have been exceptional for trapping with some rather scarce species being caught. A late afternoon session in Matt's garden in Bangor produced this gorgeous female Blackcap in the potter trap along with this stunning male Siskin in the Chardonneret trap!

A very late lamping session around the shores of Bangor produced this lovely Adult Female Shelduck (my 1st 'lamped' bird and hopefully the first of many).

A session in Alex's Garden in St. Asaph produced an exceptional 42 birds throughout the day. 33 Blue Tit, 3 Great Tit, 2 Blackbird, 1 Goldfinch, 2 Robin and another female Blackcap. If you would like to see Alex's report of this amazing trapping day, please see here.

Although as I type this post, there are currently a flock of 12 Siskin and several Lesser Redpoll on my trapping table in Bangor; I am distracting myself away from trapping for a short period and concentrating on university work as well as the North Wales Coot Project.

Huge thanks to Matt, Rob and Alex for allowing me to ring in their gardens again. More ringing to follow soon..

Colourful Catching!

2012-02-04T08:08:00.000-08:00

Time hasn't half flown by and I still can't believe that we are already in February; the breeding season will soon be here and still there is so much to do. I will kick start February's ringing with several posts of my most recent ringing.

Last weekend, on Sunday 29th January I headed over to Atherton to meet up with Kane, Ciaran, Gillian and Zac to help out with Zac's colour ringing project on Blue tits as part of his dissertation. Whilst keeping an eye out for Great Tits showing signs of Avian Pox, we managed to capture 97 birds throughout the ringing session. Mainly tits with Great, Coal and Blue contributing to the totals for the day but also Chaffinch, Nuthatch, Treecreeper and Goldcrest were caught.

A total of 20 Blue Tits were colour ringed during the day; a great effort!

Watching a pair of Tawny Owls breeding in a nest box in Kane's garden on Saturday night was great and with a camera installed now, their daily activities will be on show. This pair of Tawny Owl nest is our first card, as part of our 1,000 Nest Record Card challenge that we hope to complete this year.

An early morning session on the Sunday morning produced Blackbird, Bullfinch, Goldfinch and Robin and an afternoon hand catching at Crompton Lodges produced 3 Canada geese and 4 Coot.

Huge thanks to Kane for an awesome weekend as usual and to the rest of the guys for a very enjoyable weekend. See you all again soon.

Traps bring 150th bird!

2012-01-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

In October 2011, (21st October to be exact), I ringed my first bird with my C Permit. A 3F Great tit was the culprit, caught in my Chardonneret trap on our bird table that Matt and I constructed. From that day my ringing career began as a lone C Permit ringer and it has been a great 3 months so far.

I consider all my birds to have been caught in traps, e.g. Potter, Chardonneret, Spring and Drop trap, as well as hand catching and lamping. No Mist nets have been used as I am yet unable to use these with my permit.

In this time (21st October 2011 - 24th January 2012), I have managed to catch 14 different species which have all been satisfying to catch as I have had to adapt my ways and techniques to try and target individual species. Goldfinch for example; catching 1 bird last year I have already caught 4 birds this year which was due to the position of the trap and choice of food.

Yesterday I spring trapped my 150th bird, a retrap Robin (Y337980) on a meal worm. Realising that I had reached this target I thought I would share with you my totals so far..

C PERMIT RINGING TOTALS

Blue Tit - 86 (3)

Great Tit - 11 (2)

Robin - 10 (5)

Coal Tit - 8 (2)

Dunnock - 5

Goldfinch - 5

Greenfinch - 3

Little Grebe - 2

Blackbird - 2

Long-Tailed Tit - 2

Collard Dove - 1

Wren - 1

Nuthatch - 1

Black-headed Gull - 1

I would also like to say a massive thank you to Matt in Bangor, Rob Sandham in Conwy and Alex Jones in St.Asaph for allowing me to ring in their gardens. A huge thank you also to Tony Cross for the Little Grebe experience.

I will hopefully be out lamping with my new torch tomorrow night (if it arrives) so will update on my catch soon after..

I am hoping my 200th bird will be something special and an extra special blog post is needed for that!

Waders in Wales!

2012-01-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

Last night I headed along to Morfa Madryn near Llanfairfechan for some night time wader mist netting. Steve, Rachel and I headed out with Zac, Matt and Ros and set several nets across saltmarsh pools in the hope for a mixed variety of waders throughout the night.

A superb session with good numbers of Dunlin (50), Knot (13), Redshank (7) and Oystercatcher (5), and Mallard (2), were caught throughout the night. Finishing around 2am, we had all had a superb night and huge thanks as always to Steve and Rachel for a great night! Huge thanks also to the rest of the guys for making it a thoroughly enjoyable nights ringing!

Purple Sandpiper!

2012-01-21T09:52:00.000-08:00

This weekend I joined up with Steve, Rachel and other ringing enthusiasts for the January session at SCAN. January represents the start of the 2012 SCAN cannon netting season and we kicked it off with a great start.

An early rise on Saturday morning ready for a catch at Rhos point near Colwyn Bay. Our intentions were to try and catch Turnstone during the morning and our efforts were certainly rewarded. Throughout the morning 2 catches were made at Rhos point on different sections of beach. Good numbers of Turnstone, Oystercatcher, Dunlin and Redshank were caught as well as 1 Purple Sandpiper. An absolutely gorgeous bird to ring and as always, it was great to get to grips with the ageing criteria for this species.

Ringing and processing took place underneath the wall at Rhos point and with a nice large team, everything ran quickly and smoothly during the morning.

Sunday morning I decided to take a day off and catch up with some work, but a catch was made in Bangor harbour where good numbers of Redshank were caught, along with several Oystercatcher and 2 welcome Grey Heron.

Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel and the rest of the team for a very enjoyable weekend. It was also great to meet Charlie Sargent (a follower of the blog), on Saturday and I will hopefully see you again soon. Best of luck with your training Charlie!

You little beauty!!

2012-01-19T11:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I joined up with Tony Cross and Adrienne Stratford to help out with their colour ringing Chough Project on Anglesey. A long and enjoyable night was had with great company and great birds. Highlights last night including catching these 3 Chough at their roost site, with 2 New birds and 1 Retrap being caught. The retrap was more than welcome during the night, as it was a bird that I ringed as a chick back in May 2010, so it was good to see that it had survived the harsh winter.

The 3 Chough behaved incredibly well and have to be one of the best birds I have handled so far this year. Let there be many more experiences like this one to follow.

After the clocks turned to the early hours of the morning, Tony and I dropped Adrienne back off at her car and carried on into the night to see what we could find.

Finding a tidal inlet on Anglesey was well worth it and a combined effort between us both brought 3 Little Grebes. I have always wanted to ring one of these little beauties but to catch 3 in under half an hour was exceptional. Tony Cross sure is the man with the lamp as far as I am concerned. However now that he has passed on his expertise I will soon be out dazzling with my new acquired lamp with the intention of catching some superb species.

All 3 Little Grebes were absolute gems in the hand and never have I been lost for words when I've been handling a bird, truly awesome! I intend to try and catch some in North Wales in the next few weeks once my new torch arrives.

A massive thanks are in order to Tony and Adrienne for a truly unforgettable experience.

For Tony's account of the night please visit Tony's Blog here.

Re-traps with the Spring Traps!

2012-01-16T10:31:00.000-08:00

This afternoon for a short break, I nipped out for a 3 hour ringing session to Matt's Garden in Bangor to see what could be caught with the Chardonneret and Spring Trap.

During the 3 hours a nice catch of 7 birds were caught including my 3rd Goldfinch and 2nd Blackbird, both being adult birds. I also re-trapped 2 Robin, 1 Great Tit and 1 Coal Tit.

Hopefully I will be out ringing on Wednesday night so check back then to see what went on..

Trapping Time!

2012-01-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

Over the past week I have been so tied up in my 10,000 word Management Plan that ringing has taken a back seat for a while but over the last week I have managed to fit in 3 ringing sessions.

Sunday 8th January I headed along to Arthur's near Caernarfon with Rob Sandham and Mathew Bruce for some winter feeding station ringing. The morning consisted of Wren Blackbird, Dunnock, Chaffinch and good numbers of Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed tit.

Wednesday 11th January I visited to Matt's Garden in Bangor with the traps. A slow morning with 1 New Goldfinch in the Potter Trap, 2 Retrap Robin in the Chardonneret Trap and 1 New Blue Tit.

This morning I visited Rob's Garden in Conwy catching 2 New Dunnock, 1 New Robin and best of all was a Collard Dove! A new species with my C Permit!

Huge thanks to all for letting me ring in their garden this past week.

Coot Sightings!

2012-01-13T13:38:00.000-08:00

At the end of last year when I visited WWT Martin Mere, I sighted 3 Colour-ringed and 1 Darvic'd Coot and straight away got to work reading them.

A few weeks ago I received the information back from these birds from Kane and it turns out that the 3 Colour-ringed birds had all been ringed at Southport and the Darvic'd bird also. More importantly, the Coot wearing Darvic AFA was the first re-sighting of the bird since it had been ringed at Southport. Great stuff! It just goes to show that a little careful observation can pay dividends.

Coot GR25060 was ringed as a 4 Female on 30/11/10 by Kane at Southport Marine Lake. Since then it has been sighted at Pennington Flash in Greater Manchester, Southport Marine Lake and can now be found at WWT Martin Mere.

Coot GR25043 was ringed as a 4 Female also on 30/11/10 by Kane at Southport Marine Lake and has since travelled to Meresands Wood in Rufford.

Coot GR25123 was ringed as a 3 Male on 02/12/10 by Ciaran at Southport Marine Lake and has since been residing at WWT Martin Mere.

Coot GR51021 - DARVIC AFA - was ringed as a 3 on 20/12/11 by Ciaran at Southport Marine Lake.

Huge thanks to Kane for sending me the information on these birds. Don't forget if you see a Coot wearing Colour-rings or a Darvic, note it down and send it into Kane!

Gulling in Galway 2012!

2012-01-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Kick starting the year off; Kane, Ciaran, Craig, Gillian, Zac, Matt, Andy, Heather and I have just returned from our trip to Ireland. The main aim of the trip was to catch and ring gulls, mainly Black-headed, Common and Herring and this year I am please to say it was another success.

The trip began on January 2nd when we flew out to Dublin early morning, shortly followed by a bus journey to County Galway on the West coast of Ireland and returning in the early hours of Saturday.

Throughout the trip 19 Black-headed, 1 Common and 4 Herring Gulls were caught by hand. Several ringed birds were also seen but not as many were around as previous years.

The evenings were spent touring the local Irish pubs in search of Guiness, great food and live music in which we all thoroughly enjoyed.

Birding highights included 10 Iceland Gull, 1 Kumlien's Gull and several Great-Northern Diver.

Huge thanks to Gillian for doing all the organising and to Kane and all the rest of the group for making it another huge success. Here's to next year guys!

Welcome to 2012!

2012-01-01T07:12:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the first blog post of 2012; hopefully the first of many this year! I hope you all had a fantastic New Years Eve last night and wrote down all your new years resolutions for the year ahead.

This year is going to be even busier than 2011, with a whole year of ringing to get through with my C Permit, 1,000 Nest Record Challange to complete and at least 25,000 words to write in the next 5 months that I have left at Bangor University.

To kick start the year off, I made a trip to WWT Martin Mere this morning with the parents and grandad for some New Year Birding.

The only birding highlights were a Marsh Harrier and ofcourse the Whooper Swans.

Saving the best til last - walking out of the visitor centre I stumbled across a Coot wearing White Darvic AFA. It turns out that this bird was only ringed last week by Kane at Southport Marine Lake and is the first re-sighting of the bird - fantastic stuff. Also seen were 3 Colour-ringed Coot but I am yet to find out where these were ringed but I will let you know in due course.

Please keep any sightings of colour-ringed or darvic's Coot coming in to Kane as we really appreciate any records we can recieve.

Well I hope this is enough to keep you all interested in the blog even though its the first day of 2012. However, it's time to head off now, as I am flying out to Ireland early tomorrow morning with the gang for several days catching gulls over in County Galway on the west coast of Ireland.

A full update will be available on my return!

The End of 2011!

2011-12-31T14:55:00.000-08:00

There is just enough time left tonight for one last post for 2011. I would just like to wish all my followers and everyone that follows this blog a very happy new year.

Hopefully 2012 will be busier than 2011, ringing and nest recording effort will be doubled and my time at Bangor University will have come to an end, after I graduate in July.

Last but not least is to show you all a video that Kane produced today, of our ringing highlights from 2011 which can be viewed here - 2011 Ringing Highlights by Kane Brides.

All the best everyone, as tomorrow brings a new start to life and the first trip of 2012 - more on this to follow next year.

My Ringing Year!

2011-12-31T06:03:00.001-08:00

There have been rather a large amount of changes in 2011 and one in particular is the day that I recieved my C Permit through the post at the end of October.

Ringing began a week or so later after all the necessary kit had been bought. Looking back at all the ringing I managed to squeeze in from October 21st - December 31st, I am very happy with my ringing totals for the year.

Taking into account these birds have all been caught and ringed with a variety of traps, as I don't have my mist net endorsement yet, ringing couldn't have been much better.

The last week in Bangor I visited a friends garden in Conwy resulting in 2 new species being caught. A Blackbird and 3 Greenfinch were very welcome to the traps as was a Goldfinch a week or so before.

Amongst the 12 species I have ringed with my permit, in exactly 72 days, Blue Tit has been the commonest with 87 birds now caught and only 3 re-traps.

Blue Tit - 84 (3)
Great Tit - 11 (1)
Robin - 8
Coal Tit - 8 (1)
Dunnock - 3
Long-Tailed Tit - 2
Wren - 1
Nuthatch - 1
Black-headed Gull 1
Goldfinch - 1
Greenfinch - 3
Blackbird - 1

2011 was a great start for my ringing career, but 2012 will be even bigger, better and brighter for ringing and nest recording. 129 birds in 72 days with traps -bring on 2012!

Pyrenean Paradise!

2011-12-31T05:17:00.000-08:00

I've lost track of the amount of times I have stated that I will try and keep this blog updated, but somehow I have always managed to forget. Times are changing and this is now the last time I will say this; from January 1st 2012 I will be keeping this blog upto date and there certainly won't be a long gap between postings.

I thought I would finish the year off with a few posts of my recent activities, mostly from inside the UK, but also from my most recent birding trip abroad, to the Spanish Pyrenees.

At the end of November I flew out to Barcelona with Ralph Jones, Eugene McCann and his son Tom McCann, for a few days of high pyrenean birding.

Throughout our few days of birding we managed to see all the species that we set out to see. These included the 3 main species that all birders seek when venturing into the Pyrenees.

A total of 7 Lammergiers were seen throughout the trip, as well as 2 Wallcreeper, 6 Alpine Accentor and a Black Woodpecker.

I must say a huge thanks to all who came along on the trip and for Ralph and Eugene for doing all the driving and for sorting all the technicalities of the trip.

Where will 2012 take me I wonder?!

Departure time!

2011-11-25T13:10:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post tonight as I shall be leaving the UK and heading out to the Spanish Pyrenees tomorrow morning at dawn, for 5 days of high mountain birding with Ralph Jones, Eugene McCann and his son, Tom McCann.

Several species such as Lammergier and Wallcreeper are the main targets but there are also several other species that we are hoping to seem along the way..

A full update will be available on Tuesday night, so check back then to see how we get on!

CANGO, COOT & GOLDF!

2011-11-22T10:10:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Gillian Dinsmore

There is nothing better than catching birds by hand and so when Kane mentioned that he would be out catching Canada Geese, Coot and Mute Swan, along with mist-netting Goldfinch in the garden at the weekend, it was time to pack up my gear and head to Atherton once more. The weekend was, as always, interesting and a good time was had by all.

Gillian, Kane and I spent the weekend catching a few Coot around several of our sites in Manchester, as well as helping Steve Christmas catch a brood of 3 Mute Swans at Dunham Massey, with a small addition of a few Canada Geese.

Photographed by Gillian Dinsmore

During the weekend we also set the mist net up in the garden which produced a few Goldfinch, Long-tailed tit and Blue tit.

Photographed by Kane Brides

Both nights during the weekend I took the guys out dazzling to see if I could catch anything for them, but as is my luck at the moment, nothing went right those nights, so I am yet to catch anything when I am out dazzling.

Stay tuned as this may well change by the end of the week.

Huge thanks to Kane and Gillian for an awesome weekend!

Red Darvic V374!

2011-11-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

Just a brief post this morning about a Red Darvic ringed Black-headed Gull that I observed on Sunday 23rd January 2011, at Newton Lake, in Newton-Le-Willows, near Manchester.

I had just finished ringing for the weekend with Kane and happened to wander across to the local park as my train wasn't due in for another hour; soon stumbling across this little guy.

I recieved the information back from the ringer and from the help of Kane just yesterday and it turns out the bird was ringed in Denmark.

Ring number - Copenhagen 6H....5239
Colour ring - Red V374
Species - Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus)
Age - Pullus
Ringed on 18/6/2009
Ringing location - Hirsholm, Frederikshavn, DK02 57.29N-010.37E

Once originally ringed in Copenhagen in Denmark, this bird has only been seen in the UK once and was last seen at Hirsholm in Denmark on 14/7/2011. I wonder where he is now?

Huge thanks to Kjeld Tommy Pedersen for the ringing information and Kane Brides for helping me distinguish the birds origin.

Scottish Ringers Conference 2011!

2011-11-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Gillian Dinsmore

I have always wanted to attend a ringing conference and I have to say, it is a great experience. I would recommend it to any ringer who has never attended one. The weekend that has just passed; Kane and I, along with Gillian, headed up to the Scottish Ringers Conference in Carrbridge for a long weekend; situated in the Cairngorms National Park.

The trip began early morning on Friday and as we left Manchester Piccadilly station, Kane and I were really looking forward to a weekend of talks, lectures and ringing. A few hours later and we arrived at Linlithgow station, soon greeted by Gillian. A short drive and we arrived at Linlithgow Loch and within minutes we had our 1st Scottish Coot, ready to be ringed. The 1st bird of the Scottish Coot Project was hand-caught by Gillian and now wears CAA! Well done Gillian!

Throughout the morning a total of 20 new Coot were caught, including 1 retrap. Several Black-headed gulls were also caught during the morning including a superbly caught Swedish control by Kane!

Photographed by Gillian Dinsmore

A trip to Airthey Loch in search of Coot drew a blank, however this stunning male Goosander wandered into grabbing range and was caught by Kane. What a stunner!

After a hugely successful days ringing it was soon time to travel north to Carrbridge. Arriving in Carrbridge we booked into our rooms and settled in with a few drinks. This year the Scottish Ringers Conference was being held by the Grampian Ringing Group and I have to say it was a huge success as we all thoroughly enjoyed it!

A selection of talks and lectures was given, covering many interesting ringing projects throughout the Grampian Ringing Groups Range. Hand catching gulls in the local harbours drew a particular interest to us as we have never seen this method used. Talks by Raymond Duncan, and Ewan Weston introduced us to their Waxwing and Sandwich Tern projects, all superb stuff! I hope to try this gull catching method in the next week or too so I shall let you know how it goes.

A brief visit to the RSPB Loch Garten reserve proved rather rewarding. Our main aim was to locate Crested Tits for Gillian and Kane as they had never seen them before but we were soon distracted by the abundance of Coal Tits, later to find that they fed from our hands as you can see from the photos above! I think the hour or so we spent hand feeding Coal tits was one of the main highlights of the trip for us.

On Sunday morning we left Carrbridge for Stirling as Kane was giving a talk to some of the students at the university there. This was later followed by a trip around the City of Edinburgh in search for Coot but to no avail, but 13 Black-headed gulls and 1 Tufted Duck sure made up for it at St Margaret's Loch.

A massive thanks are in order to Gillian and Kane for a superb weekend and to Gillian for doing most of the driving throughout the trip! The Grampian Ringing Group also gets a huge thanks for providing an awesome ringers conference and many enjoyable laughs along the way. I am sure we will be back again next year guys to exchange some more catching methods.

For Kane and Gillian's account of the weekend, please see Kane and Gillian's Blog.

Out with the old and in with the new!

2011-11-18T06:02:00.000-08:00

Most of you will have noticed that the blog has been dormant for quite some time and this is due to a variety of matters, mainly due to the fact that I have been so busy over the last few months that I haven't had time to sit down and get it upto date.

I am now in my final 7 months of my 3 Year BSc Environmental Conservation Degree here at Bangor University and as you can probably imagine, my workload has now tripled and I have around 35,000 words to write during the few months ahead of me.

A combination of university work, long days, early starts, late nights, ringing conferences, travelling around, ringing and having the time of my life, has lead to a very busy life and I love every minute of it. It has reached the point where I am living my life by the hour as I never know what I will be doing next.

With regards to the title of this post, I have given up twitching for good as I just haven't got time for it these days. Time, money and effort; it just isn't worth it. I now have my C Permit and as you have read, I have been catching good numbers of birds during the past 4 weeks which has been great!

I have said this several times before but from the moment this post publishes I shall be keeping this blog updated regularly instead of a month gap. Apologies to everyone if you have been waiting for an update but you have no need to worry now.

I shall be out ringing this weekend so an update will be available at the beginning of next week.

Testing The Traps!

2011-11-17T07:13:00.000-08:00

Nuthatch

Recieving my C Permit through the post in October was a very memorable day and so ringing took a back seat for a week or too, as I needed to buy a few extras before the ringing could begin. Then when the time came, the birds just kept on coming. I set myself the challenge to try and catch and ring 100 birds in under a 4 week period and I am very proud to say that it was a huge success. My IPMR (Integrated Population Monitoring Reporter) Database now contains 103 ringing records and I am also happy to say that all these birds have been caught in either Potter or Chardonneret Traps.

Robin

This is a mass post of all the ringing I have done on my own, in the past 4 weeks mainly illustrated with a selection of pictures that I thought I would share with you all.

Coal tit

Long-tailed tit

Great tit

Wren

At the moment I have 2 seperate trapping sites in North Wales and the picture featured above is basically the setup I use and with the trap below all the feeders it is a good temptation for them to investogate. This method has proved highly successful and I am sure I will catch several 100 using this method.

Ringing Totals from October 21st - November 15th are as follows:-

67 Blue tit (1 Recap)
10 Great tit (1 Recap)
8 Coal tit (1 Recap)
8 Robin
3 Dunnock
2 Long-tailed tit
1 Wren
1 Nuthatch

Darvic Kittiwake!

2011-11-17T06:47:00.000-08:00

During the passage of Leach's Petrel in September, whilst scanning I picked up this Kittiwake roosting on the a beach amongst several other gulls and Oystercatchers. Soon realising it was Darvic's, alarm bells started to ring and I knew where was ringed just by the colour!

After half an hour of constant watching and photographing, the bird finally gave up it's indentity. A quick email to Steve and my suspicions were proved correct.

This Kittiwake, (Red Darvic TV) EL48596, was ringed as an adult in 2008 on Puffin Island in North Wales and is the 1st sighting of any ringed Kittiwakes from the Island! Fantastic stuff!

The bird flew off before I could take a video but if you do see any Kittiwakes wearing Red Darvics please do get in touch with me.

A net of Gold!

2011-11-17T06:25:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Kane Brides

During the 1st week of October I made a weekend visit to Atherton to help Kane with some garden ringing. The garden had been alive with very large numbers of Goldfinch and thankfully when we attempted to catch them we were not dissapointed.

Photographed by Kane Brides

Throughout out the morning we managed to catch a very sufficient number of birds which included 42 Goldfinch and 2 retraps, 1 Grey Wagtail, 2 Coal tit, 1 Blue tit, 1 Wren and 1 retrap Dunnock.

Many thanks to Kane for a thoroughly enjoyable weekend, lets hope we get some recoveries from the Goldfinch.

Coot Catching in Cheshire!

2011-11-17T05:56:00.000-08:00

Catching our 1,000 Coot for the north-west study on the movements of Coot was a great day, but there was no time to rest as we had to begin the new project. Finishing our combinations of 3 colour rings per bird, we have now switched to using darvics. These are white darvics with black lettering and so far we have managed to catch and ring about 40 birds.

Whilst out catching these Coot we don't often get the chance to have a picture with them but in this cicumstance the bird allowed us to take some very memorable shots. To this day I have never seen a Coot sit so still before!

Huge thanks to Kane for allowing me to take part in the new Coot project. I am sure there will be many more Coot to be ringed in the coming months!

Leasowe Leachy's!

2011-11-16T22:51:00.000-08:00

Every year there is one bird in particular that I look forward to seeing and this year I managed a visit, just in time for their departure. In 2010 whilst in Dumfries and Galloway on a week's holiday I missed the 900+ Leach's Petrels that were seen in the north-west; mainly around the Wirral.

Hearing that Leach's Petrels were being seen off the wirral coast I knew it was time for a visit. Turning 21 a few days beforehand; Wednesday 14th September I had a 7 hour seawatch off Leasowe. This rewarded superb views of at least 30 Leach's Petrel, 2 Grey Phalaropes as well as a few other nicities during the morning.

Meeting up with John Tubb at our usual seawatching site mid morning produced a Kittiwake and Mediterranean Gull both wearing darvics. A full update of the bird's history will be available on the blog in the next few weeks.

Early afternoon and it was time to head for home and plan a visit to Atherton to catch some Coot in the next few days..

C Permit - 5816!

2011-10-26T09:19:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I have changed the description of the blog, (situated at the top right of the blog) and as the title of this post states, I am now the proud owner of my C Permit!

I sent the forms off to the BTO the morning I left for Iceland on Thursday 14th July and exactly 3 months later the permit was in my hands here at Bangor University. I owe huge thanks to everyone that have helped me along the way to obtaining my C Permit and these will be mentioned later on in this post.

This permit is a Restricted C Permit which doesn't allow me to use mist-nets just yet, but I hope to ammend this next year at the beginning of March. This permit is based on the use of catching any species of adult bird by using traps and my hands as well as ringing any species of pullus in any situation.

Most of the birds I catch will be caught using potter, spring or chardonneret trap as well as catching birds with my hands which is something I somewhat used to. These traps will be described in a later post. Dazzling will also play a major role in my catching effors which is catching birds my a lamp and net at night.

Massive thanks go to Steve Dodd, Rachel Taylor, Kane Brides, Stephen Christmas, Kelvin Jones, Adrienne Stratford, Tony Cross, Dave Fletcher, Brian Hopkins, John Wilson, Andrew Cadman, Seumus Eaves, Phil Ireland, Craig Brookes, Karen Moss, Andrew Moss, Will Price, Phil Slade, Sverrir Thorstensen, Aevar Petersen, Peter Alker, Stephen Menzie, Richard De Feu, Wes Halton, Nicola Edmonds, Kevin Scott and Sean Gray for all their continued support along my journey!

Thanks also to Gillian Dinsmore, Ciaran Hatsell, Zac Hinchcliffe and Mathew Bruce for their support also.

I have managed to catch some birds already, 30 in fact with the permit, but a full update will be available of what these have been tomorrow night.

1,000 Colour - Ringed Coot!

2011-10-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

During the last 2 years I have been heavily involved in Kane's Colour - Ringing Coot Project in the North-West of England. These 2 years have been very busy and have been really good fun helping Kane catch as many Coot as possible. Good laughs and memories come flooding back to me.

More importantly, on Wednesday 21st September, Kane caught the 1,000 Coot for the project which ended the 3 colour ring combinations we were using on the birds.

Over the 2 year period these birds have travelled some distance and more information on these movement and the birds themselves can be viewed here on this specific blog post on Kane's Blog.

Sightings of colour - ringed birds can still be sent to kanebrides'@'gmail.com and any darvic sightings can also be sent to the same address.

Huge thanks to Kane for allowing me to be involved in the project over the 2 years and for all the good laughs we have shared together and with other ringers. Congratulations on a massive achievement Kane - 1,000 Coot all caught by hand!!

More on Darvic Coot to follow soon!

My 1st hand caught Coot!

2011-10-26T08:10:00.000-07:00

Photographed by Gillian Dinsmore

Too long have I wanted to catch my 1st Coot and so on Sunday 28th August; Kane, Gillian and I headed out to Crompton Lodges and Plattsfield for some Coot catching.

I just knew in my gut that it was my time to catch my 1st Coot. A juvenile (Age 3) swam upto me in amongst some Mallards and Mute Swans and turned it's back on me and that to me was a bad move and within seconds I had the bird in my right hand. Fantastic!

I have known Kane and the lads for at least 5 years now and now I can even more Coot back in North Wales once things get rolling.

Gillian also went onto catch her 1st Coot at Plattsfield Park and with 18 Coot caught during the morning it was a great hand catching session!

Rutland Bird Fair!

2011-10-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

Arriving back from Iceland on Sunday 14th August, exactly a week afterwards and we were back out networking at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland Water. I joined Kane and Gillian for the weekend and as this was my 1st time to the fair, I was rather impressed by the size of the site!

We all got ringed during the weekend as part of the BTO's ringing demonstration. These bands had individual ring numbers from 3 particular species; Pied flycatcher, Osprey and Garden warbler and members of the general public could research about where these birds had been ringed etc. A great idea to involved the younger generation of bird ringers.

Throughout the weekend Kane was mostly working on the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) stand talking about various projects that the trust are currently working on. Gillian kept herself occupied, whilst I spent most of my time at the ringing station along with Kelvin Jones.

Birds caught included Garden, Sedge and Reed warbler but best of all was an adult Nightingale! Having handled this species in Spain a few years ago it was great to see them up close, in the UK this time.

The weekend was also a great chance for me to meet new people and catch up with old friends. Meeting Lee Barber and Dave Leech from the BTO, Richard Brown and Giselle Eagle from Bardsey Bird Observatory and many other people from different organisations made the weekend superb!

Meeting celebrities like Simon King, Bill Oddie, Johnny Kingdom and the Urban Birder was even better!

I also managed to win the Bird Observatories Competition at the Bird Fair!

Once we arrived back in the north-west we had a quick visit to Redesmere where we caught 8 Coot with 6 of these being new and the other 2 being controls.

Whooper Swan, Golden Plover and Whimbrel!

2011-10-26T06:46:00.000-07:00

During out last 2 weeks in Iceland, our time was spent with Sverrir Thorstensen catching more Whooper Swan adults and cygnets around Akyreryi in the north of Iceland.

Our ringing totals for the 2 weeks ended with another 138 Whooper Swans being caught which included 48 retraps and 90 new birds. Some were controls included a few birds wearing BTO rings from the UK.

Kane and I usually waited in the truck whilst Sverrir caught the swans on the lake, keeping a close eye on his wear abouts and number of swans on the lake.

I also had my 1st go with the boat this year and managed to catch 5 Adult Whooper Swans, all in moult.

We were lucky as the weather during the swan catching was glorious as you can see from the photos above. Clear skies and stunning scenery added to a superb end to the trip.

Like last year we managed to catch Golden Plover and Whimbrel chicks, so this summer we caught 30 Golden Plover and 10 Whimbrel chicks.

A brood of 4 Ptarmigan chicks were caught but as you can see from the photo above they were to small to ring, very cute though!

That just about sums up our trip to Iceland this summer so I hope you have all enjoyed the read and huge thanks go to Sverrir, Thorey, Aevar and Solla for putting up with us 'Bluddy tourists' for 4 weeks. Thanks guys and see you again next year.

Husavik Humpbacks!

2011-10-26T04:13:00.000-07:00

Whislt in Iceland during our Whooper Swan research work we had a few days off so we decided to travel over to Husavik on the northern coast of Iceland for a day of Whale Watching.

The harbour at Husavik is beautiful and with a clear and calm sea, we had picked the perfect day to go whale watching. During the 3 hour cruise out to sea we witnessed a group of 3 Humpback Whales which ventured to within 1 metre of the tour boat!

Here is the link to the video on youtube that I took of the 2 Humpback Whales that came within 1 metre of the boat. Whale Video in Iceland

The surrounding hills were lightly covered in snow and when a Storm Petrel flew on by the boat, it was the ideal location to sit back and enjoy the views!

Skagafjordur Whoopers!

2011-10-26T01:37:00.000-07:00

The second part of our trip in Iceland began on Monday 1st August where we began catching, ringing and surveying the Whooper Swans as part of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trusts work, (WWT), in the North of Iceland in the pristine valley of Skagafjordur. Our base for the next 2 weeks would be in the northern area around Akyreryi.

Our work was spent visiting several well known Whooper Swan breeding locations to try and catch as many moulting adults and cygnets as possible, where metal and darvic rings were added.

A total of 50 Whooper Swans were captured during our few days in Skagafjordur, some new, retrapped and controls.

This was to be a truly unforgettable experience for Kane and I as the method used to catch these Whooper swans was by hand. Running across marshes for several miles to catch a brood of cygnets and both adults really was great fun!

Once we had completed most of the broods on the marshes, we cooled off by catching moulting adults in the freezing cold glacial rivers and as you can see from the photos above and below, I was not joking.

This Whooper Swan (pictured above) was not going to slip past me and after a few seconds the bird came close enough and it was safely captured and ready to be ringed - albeit a bit wet afterwards! Kane on the right and I on the left always working as a team.

Whilst out in the marshes we managed to catch 14 Wigeon, 2 Teal and 2 Mallard which were all moulting so unable to fly, making an easy catch.

I also managed to track down 2 baby Snipe chicks which were at least 300 yards away. Practising listening to their 'peeping' calls on Flatey Island was the only way I could have found these chicks.

However, relaxing in the hot tub at base camp was just what we all needed after a long day in the marshes!

All photos by Kane Brides.

Mnay thanks to Olafur Einarsson, family and friends for a superb few days! I am sure we will back next year!

Flatey Island Vidoes!

2011-10-26T01:12:00.000-07:00

During our time in Iceland this summer, our friends, Sean Gray and Kevin Scott made a few fantastic videos that summed up our trip so I thought it much easier to let you view these for yourself.

Here are the videos that were made by Sean and Kevin - Flatey Island Video and Flatey Island 2.

Thankyou for watching!

Ringing on Flatey Island 2011!

2011-10-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

On Thursday 14th July, Kane and I flew out to Iceland for our annual trip to Flatey Island where we ring seabirds, waders and anything else we can get our hands on really. Then onto another part of Iceland where we carry out our Whooper Swan survey work.

This was my 2nd time out to Iceland. Accompanying us this year were Kevin Scott and Sean Gray from the Isle of Man. These are 2 great guys I am very pleased to now know them and to be great friends with both. A good laugh at all times during our Flatey Island trip!

As usual, work started straight away on our arrival and throughout our 10 days on the island we managed to ring just under 1,200 birds.

Totals

Kittiwake - 663
Snipe - 21
Arctic Tern - 55
Oystercatcher - 4
Ringed Plover - 9
Red - Necked Phalarope - 61
Redwing - 9
Meadow Pipit - 6
Mallard - 12
Eider - 11
Snow Bunting - 16
White Wagtail - 1
Grey Phalarope - 1
Redshank - 5
Black Guillemot - 71
Shag - 180
Puffin - 27
Fulmar - 24

The weather was glorious throughout our stay and all the team caught the sun. Here, Kane enjoys a moment with a Puffin whilst out surveying one of the islands.

Sean Gray with a Kittiwake - one of many caught on Clodmingo Island.

Kevin Scott with a Puffin, also caught whilst out surveying one of the islands.

Snow Buntings were abundant this year and this male cracking adult male Snow Bunting was one of 16 caught during our stay.

Red - Necked Phalarope caught in a flick-netting session down by a pool below our lodgings for our stay. This year, 61 individuals were ringed.

As always at the end of any trip a group photo is required. (Top Row - Sverrir Thorstensen, Sean Gray, Kevin Scott and Aevar Petersen, (Bottom Row - Myself and Kane).

Huge thanks to Sverrir and Aevar for inviting us along for another year and to Kane, Sean and Kevin for making the trip even be better with many enjoyable laughs and great memories.

Long - Eared Owls!

2011-10-25T10:38:00.000-07:00

A rest for a week and a bit was rather nice but a week passed on by and it was time to head out again and do some ringing. A few days afterwards, Kane and I headed out to Iceland for our annual seabird and Whooper Swan work.

On Thursday 14th July I met up with Kane, Ciaran and Zac to ring the brood of Long - Eared Owls that Kane had found and they were now ready for ringing. Thankfully, all 5 chicks were at the correct stage for ringing and all now wear G rings. This was another new species for me and every moment was special - what a gorgeous bird!

Ciaran who is working as a warden on the Farne Islands in Northmberland paid us a visit that day and it was great to see him as we hadn't seem him for quite some time. Best of luck with the rest of your contract mate!

A super day was had by all and ringing Long - Eared Owl chicks was just awesome!

Huge thanks to Kane for allowing me to ring one of the best birds I have ever handled! Thanks also to Zac for allowing me to use his photos!

Llangorse Lake - Canada Goose Roundup!

2011-10-25T09:37:00.001-07:00

Photographed by Kane Brides

Arriving back from North Wales early morning on Thursday 30th June, there was just enough time to relax before we headed off again down to Llangorse Lake on Sunday 3rd July, down in Powys in South Wales.

Joining up with Gillian Dinsmore on site; along with Kane and Zac, we were greeted by 25 other helpers and ringers. The aim of the morning's catch was to round up all the Canada Geese on the lake as this is the time of year that they undergo their annual moult and so this is the best time to catch as many as possible.

The roundup is carried out by canoeists which corale the birds from the entire lake towards the catching area. (See above photo).

Photographed by Kane Brides

Myself, Gillian and Zac ready for action as the birds moved closer up towards the holding area. Getting wet in order to catch birds is something that were are very familiar with!

Photographed by Kane Brides

In total, 409 Canada Geese caught during the catch and many new and retrap birds processed. An additional Osprey fishing in the lake during the catch, stunning landscape and weather made for a very memorable catch and hopefully we will be back again next year!

Photographed by Kane Brides

A well deserved pint and some tasty snacks provided by Gillian at the local pub was a great end to a super day!

Huge thanks to Jerry Lewis from the Llangorse Ringing Group for inviting us along.

It's a Stormie Night!

2011-10-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ringing Barn Owl, Kestrel, Stock Dove and Swallow brings a joy to ones eye, being given the opportunity to ring Storm Petrel and Manx Shearwater was even better. An invite from Kieran Foster to catch both these species on Anglesey was the next trip.

Resting up and packing plenty of food for the night; Kane,Zac, Kieran and I headed over to Anglesey on Wednesday 29th June, arriving on site at 9:45pm. In order to try and catch both species during the night, a net was erected for each, to maximise our catch rate throughout the night.

A total of 2 Storm Petrel and 7 Manx Shearwater were caught during the night and with Manx Shearwater calling offshore and flying right over our heads made for an amazing spectacle and one I will never forget and of the 7 Manx Shearwater caught, 6 were new and 1 control, being a bird ringed as a chick in 2005 on Bardsey Island. Great stuff!

Both Manx Shearwater and Storm Petrel were both new species for us all and were a joy to ring; happy faces all round from Kane and I.

Arriving back in Atherton around 5am the following morning, it was time for some much needed sleep.

Huge thanks to Kieran Foster for inviting us along and Kane Brides for doing all the driving throughout the trip.

Barn Owl, Kestrel and Swallow Pulli Ringing!

2011-10-25T07:03:00.001-07:00

Carrying on from the trip to Norfolk on 25th and 26th June, it didn't take me long to get back out ringing with Kane and Dave Edwards on the local mosses around Manchester.

On Tuesday 28th June, I spent the morning checking their Barn Owl and Kestrel nestboxes scattered around several sites. During the morning 1 Kestrel was ringed which was a bird from a brood of 5, of which 4 of them had already fledged, leaving just one bird left over near the nestbox. Another brood of 5 Kestrel were also ringed.

A Barn Owl was also ringed during the morning like this little individual.

2 Stock Dove pulli also ringed when inspecting a Barn Owl nestbox.

Several broods of Swallow were also ringed during the morning.

Huge thanks to Dave Edwards and Kane Brides for inviting me along that morning and for Dave for letting me ring the birds during the morning.

Norfolk Birding!

2011-09-02T03:45:00.000-07:00

Just over 4 days rest and I was off again, this time over to the East Coast to Norfolk/Suffolk for a weekend of birding with my dad and grandad. From 25th June until 26th June, Norfolk was the only thing on my mind and what would lay in stall for us over the weekend.

During the weekend we visited Lakenheath Nature Reserve where we had good views of Hobby, Green Woodpecker and Grasshopper Warbler. Despite seeing a Grasshopper Warbler carrying food several times around me and flying down into a thick reedy area, inaccessible to the public, I was somewhat frustrated that I couldn't have a look!

My dad and Grandad scanning one of the lakes for the ever favourite bird's - Hobby. I on the other hand was checking the flock of Coot for colour rings and watching Reed warblers carrying food to their nestlings. No sight nor sound of any Golden Orioles here, just a few Turtle Doves on nearby wires. However I did pick up a Male Montagu's Harrier near to the railway which flew around nearby fields giving exceptional views!

A visit to Weeting Heath resulted in 2 Adult Stone Curlew and a chick, as well as several Green Woodpecker but no Woodlarks..

An evening visit to Dersingham Bog National Nature Reserve however, produced at least 6 churring Nightjars and very close views of a bird circling and wing-clapping around my head some 3ft away.

Around 90 species were seen during the weekend, so not all that bad really.

Killington Lake Visit 2!

2011-09-02T03:04:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 21st June and it was our 2nd visit up to Killington Lake in Cumbria for another Black Headed Gull chick round-up. We particularly try our best to make two visits as the first visit is when we attempt to catch and ring as many chicks as possible, with the second visit, we try to ring an additional 100 chicks and check for any dead birds which might be wearing rings.

This visit involved Kane, Myself, Zac and Gillian; a small team but a very welcome 128 new chicks were ringed, plus 2 adults caught by Zac brought our year total to well over 600 birds!

Out of the 447 chicks we ringed on our last visit, 28 of these were found dead on the island and the rings collected ready to be sorted into IPMR. 80 chicks were darvicd on our last visit also and with only 3 of these found dead, we are now hoping for a substantial amount of recoveries from these birds, not being too hopeful yet a while.

Mist Netting the Shakerley Sand Martin Colony!

2011-09-02T02:22:00.001-07:00

Sunday 19th June and we were still out ringing.. The summer ringing activities just never stop for us so in the evening, myself, Kane and Gillian joined Steve Christmas at the Shakerley Sand Martin Colony.

We set up 2 nets for just 1 hour, resulting in a good catch of 38 birds. More interestingly, when Gillian extracted the first bird out of the net it was wearing a Cempa Sea, Lisboa ring from Portugal - A310342!

We also controlled another bird - BTO L451555.

A few hours later, we were greeted with some fantastic news! The bird A310342 was the first Portugese ringed Sand Martin to be recovered back in the UK!!

Photographed by Kane Brides

Funnily enough, this bird was actually ringed by ringers from the North - West; Tom and Peter Fearon from Merseyside had ringed this bird on 21/8/10 at Reserva Natural das Lagas de Santo Andre e da Sancha in Portugal! It was aged as a juvenile (3) and weighed 14.8 grams!

Map by Kane Brides

A fantastic end to a ridiculously busy week!

Puffin Island - 18th June!

2011-09-02T01:47:00.000-07:00

A short break and we were off again up in to my 2nd home into North Wales. Steve had kindly invited myself and Kane to join them on the visit onto Puffin Island to ring the seabirds. Meeting Gillian and a few other ringers for a catch up later on.. Combining the trip to visit Kane's grandparents - an amazing day awaited us! SCAN visits Puffin Island three times during the summer to ring as many seabirds as possible and our visit was no exception.

Razorbill Chick - Photographed by Kane Brides

Cormorant Chicks - Photographed by Kane Brides

From an early start until late evening, the team managed to ring a total of 600 birds during the day. These consisted of -

•Cormorant – 250 pulli
•Shag – 10 pulli + 1 retrap adult
•Razorbill – 27 pulli + 5 adults
•Guillemot – 299 pulli + 14 adults.
•Kittiwake – 5 adults

The Cormorant chicks were being darvicd as part of the on-going project on the island which Kane thoroughly enjoyed, as well as helping Louise Soanes, (a PhD student from Liverpool), darvic and datalogged 5 Adult Kittiwakes.

Huge thanks to Steve for inviting us along and for a truly superb days seabird ringing!

Mixed mist - netting and various nest checking!

2011-09-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

A few days rest from ringing and we were back out for some more action. We kick started the week with some general mist netting catching a couple more Grasshopper Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Willow warbler and Chiffchaff, plus ringing a few broods of Swallow pulli at nearby farms, resulting in 33 being ringed. A visit to Martin Mere to check on the Tree Sparrow boxes which resulted in another 20 pulli being ringed and then a good mist netting session down in Zacs Garden in Preston.

We set a 40ft mist net in the garden resulting in a good catch of 5 House Sparrow, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tit, 2 Dunnock, 1 Blackbird, 1 Woodpigeon and 1 Bullfinch.

A mist net attempt over a river near Atherton to see if we could catch a passing Kingfisher didn't work, so we headed to Martin Mere for another nest box check of the Tree Sparrows. They were now on their 2nd and 3rd clutches and with a total of 72 breeding pairs at Martin Mere, they have had an exceptionally good year!

A brood of Collard Dove were ringed a long with several broods of Swallow. A couple more Moorhen were hand caught and a trip out on to the reserve late evening, resulted in 1 Barn Owl pullus being ringed by Zac. Barn Owls at the reserve have suffered due to the harsh winter. Compared to 9 Barn Owl chicks last year, just 1 chick this year.

A Sparrowhawk and Collard Dove nest were also checked upon in Atherton as part of our nest recording.

Nest Recording at Pickmere - Cheshire!

2011-09-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Becoming a ringer, you just never know what to expect and what your going to catch, but Friday 10th June was just one of those superb days where everything fell into place!

The start of the day began with myself, Kane and Zac carrying out a thorough nest record check of all the Reed Warbler nests we have at the moment. A total of 43 Reed Warbler nests were checked and 30 pulli ringed.

Mid - afternoon and a short stroll and we had caught a Carrion Crow just out of the nest. This was a species I had wanted to handle for a while and it was great to appreciate such a common countryside crow.

Early evening ringing consisted of a sprint for a Lapwing Chick and a brood of Kestrel at a nearby Coal Mine Site.

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Late evening and a short session for some general mist-netting resulted in 2 Grasshopper Warblers and 2 Common Whitethroat being caught. The Juvenile Grasshopper warbler was a bird Kane ringed in the nest he found a week earlier..

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Tree Sparrow Nest Boxes!

2011-09-01T08:09:00.000-07:00

The survey and ringing work that we carry out during the summer just never stops as we are very keen to get as much done and as many birds ringed as we physically possibly can. On Thursday 9th June, myself and Kane took Zac for a days nest box checking at WWT Martin Mere. We were doing our weekly nest record check of the Tree Sparrow population that breed at Martin Mere.

Throughout the day we managed to check 101 nest boxes, of which 100 Tree Sparrow pulli were ringed and colour ringed.

Also ringed during the day in between breaks included this pullus Stock Dove, as well as 4 Chaffinch, 4 Swallow, 2 Moorhen and 1 Coot.

Moorhen was a new species for me that day, so it was good to finally catch my own by hand and like many other ringers have told me, they do put up a good scratch..

Killington Lake Visit 1!

2011-09-01T07:49:00.000-07:00

It was that time of year again when we were due our annual trip to Killington Lake in Cumbria for our Black Headed Gull chick catch. Arriving early on site with Kane and Zac we could see that the island where the gulls nest, was alive and plenty of chicks could be seen from the road side car-park. A quick cup of coffee at the service area whilst waiting for other members of our team to arrive, resulted in many adult Black Headed Gulls being rather tame..

Photographed by Kane Brides

Soon after, a total of 5 birds were caught, ringed and darvics added as part of our North West Black headed Gull Study. (Congratulations to Zac as these were his first hand-caught gulls).

BTO Rings were also read in the car park with EX51401 and EG41030 being the only rings visible. Are these your birds? If so, please get in touch..

Finishing our coffee, we headed over to meet up with Steve Christmas and Aidan. Throughout our time on the island, a total of 477 chicks were caught, with 80 larger chicks gaining a darvic.

Photographed by Kane Brides

Huge thanks to Kane for organising another hugely successful trip and to Steve for supplying the bulk of the rings.

White - Throated Robin!

2011-09-01T03:34:00.001-07:00

Early morning on Tuesday 7th June, I met up with Steve at Aber Falls to ring the brood of 6 Wood Warblers, shortly followed by a relaxed 4 hour survey as part of my dissertation project. Having already been up since 6am, completed a 8 mile cycle, 4 hours of surveying - I was looking forward to a rest in the afternoon.

However, this was not to be the case and as soon as I got back down from the Falls and back into mobile phone reception, the phone rang.. Seconds later and I was hurtling along the road on my bike trying to get to Aber Ogwen Nature Reserve where I was to be picked up by Rob Sandham, Martin Jones and Chris Jones. They were on their way to twitch the White - Throated Robin up in Hartlepool. This bird was originally identified as a Red-Flanked Bluetail in the field but once the bird was trapped and ringed, the birds I.D. was soon changed; so I jumped at the chance of seeing this Scandinavian beauty. In the process of cycling to the reserve I managed to get in contact with Zac and get him to the 'pick-up point' in the nick of time..

Arriving at Hartlepool Headland around 5pm and a quick sprint to the Bowling Green/Doctor's Garden where the bird was showing, within a few minutes a birder popped his head out of a garage door ans there pootling about on the lawn of the Doctor's Garden was a 1st-summer Female White - Throated Robin. The 2nd record for Britain!

Huge thanks to Rob for inviting me along, Martin for doing all the driving and to the Doctor for allowing access into his garden.

Red Kite and Grey Heron!

2011-08-24T10:15:00.001-07:00

During my ringing career I have been lucky enough to handle several raptors. Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Long-Eared Owl, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, but never did I think that I would get the chance to ring a Red Kite. Sunday 5th June was the day that it happened, as I joined Kelvin Jones and Tony Cross in South Wales. What a beautiful bird it was!

The land in which the Red Kite has decided to nest in, had a large family and so they all came down to watch the Kite get ringed. This picture is just a snap shot of the amount of people that came to watch. A total of 15 people, mainly young kids, observed my activities and asked loads of questions as to how long the ring would last on the bird's leg and other matters such as why do you ring birds.. Future ringers in a few years time?

Tony kindly took my camera up to the tree and took a picture of the Kite in the nest, complete with the remains of it's last meal and what looks to be a hare.

Before this all happened, we made a swift visit into the Egret colony where several more Little Egrets were colour ringed as well as 2 Grey Herons. Another new species for me and a bird that is somewhat calm in the hand.

Huge thanks to Tony Cross, Adrienne Stratford and Kelvin Jones for a great day!

Common Rosefinch

2011-08-24T09:49:00.001-07:00

Anglesey has had it's fair share of rarities over the years and whilst I have been studying in Bangor I have managed to see quite a few of them and there have been some that I have missed. Common Rosefinch is a bird that I have missed more times than I can remember, especially at Spurn Point on the Humber Estuary.

So when this stunning male turned up on Anglesey, a quick twitch with Hamza and we were enjoying great views of this stunning bird as it sat on nearby conifers singing it's little heart out.

The site where the Common Rosefinch spent it's visit - someone's garden.

Little Egret Ringing!

2011-08-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

My Pied flycatcher surveying was now in full swing for my 3rd year dissertation project and so it was time for a break and definetely time to get some ringing done. An early start that morning saw myself and Zac at Aber Falls at 5:30am and by 10am, all surveys were done.

Shortly after we met up with friends Adrienne Stratford and Tony Cross to help them ring some Little Egret pullus. Amazing birds and an awfully long reach with that bill. A total of 4 Little Egret pullus were colour ringed as part of the on going project.

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

After finishing in the Egret colony, we headed up to check and ring some more Chough Pullus around North Wales.

Over the next few days I also managed to hand catch a Jay, Jackdaw, Rook and Carrion Crow but these were all fresh out of the nest and placed safely back in nearby fields instead of hopping along the road..

Huge thanks to Adrienne for a great ringing experience and to Tony for climbing the ridiculously tall conifers in order to reach the chicks in the nest.

Nest Recording - 2011

2011-08-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

Throughout the summer I have been Nest recording as part of the Nest Record Scheme (NRS), run by the British Trust for Ornithology. Nest recording takes up a lot of time and effort but the rewards are hugely beneficial! The data collected is used to produce trends in the breeding performance, which helps us to identify any species which may be declining because of the problems at the nesting stage.

From the beginning of April I began nest recording right up until the end of August.

This year has been an awfully succesful year as I have managed to put in a lot of time and effort and have reaped the rewards. The above 2 pictures are of a Wood warbler nest which I found at Aber Falls this June, containing 6 Warm eggs and 1 of the 6 Wood Warbler chicks that was ringed from this nest.

The 2nd rare nest I found this June, was this Tree Pipit nest containing 3 large chicks, ready for fledging.

A closer view of the chicks, peeping out of the nest hole hidden perfectly under a sloping embankment in the hills above Abergwyngregyn.

Many other nests were found this year including several Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch and Goldfinch. I also managed to find my 1st Whitethroat and Blackcap nest.

Song Thrush Nest

Chaffinch Nest

Nest recording provides us with some very valuable data about our British breeding bird populations. Although nest recording takes up a lot of time and effort, why not begin nest recording next year? For more information on how to become a nest recorder - please visit the NRS on the BTO website.

Flycatchers at the Falls

2011-08-24T05:56:00.001-07:00

After a tiring day ringing Chough Pullus around the Isle of Anglesey, I opted for some more relaxed ringing. Seeing as though Steve and Rachel had the day off, I met up with them at Aber Falls the next day to do some more work on my 3rd year dissertation project.

My question for my dissertation is as follows:- 'Does the Maturity and Experience of Adult Pied flycatchers affect the fledging rate of their offspring'? Basically, I want to find out whether age differences in these birds affects the fledging success of their offspring. So, do age 5 birds find it harder to raise their young to the fledging stage or do age 6 birds do better?

The mornings aims were to catch, ring and correctly age as many adult Pied flycatchers as we could. Throughout the morning a total of 20 adults were caught as well as 30 pulli ringed from just 4 broods - great stuff!

Pied flycatchers undergo 1 complete wing-moult in a year, much like the Willow Warbler, so ageing this species can be rather tricky. Age 5 birds are aged on feather wear on tail and primary tips. However, pointed primary coverts are also a handy clue to the birds age, if none of the other apply.

Age 6 birds are aged by having broad, square shaped tail feathers, rounded primary tips and primary coverts. So at times, a few birds had to go down as (Age 4), simply because there just wasn't enough evidence to positively give them a correct age.

From 28th May until 16th June I spent every day at Aber Falls sat watching my specified 10 or so nestboxes, recording the amount of times the adult male and female visited the nest with food. Some days weather conditions were atrocious, whereas some days it was glorious. Adding the constant buzz annoyance of the midges, a 16 mile round trip each day for 20 days - June was somewhat shattering!

Chough Ringing on Anglesey

2011-08-24T05:27:00.000-07:00

Just under a week later after doing the Tree Sparrow nestboxes at Martin Mere, I was back out ringing and this time I joined up with Adrienne Stratford and Tony Cross on the 27th May to do some pullus Chough ringing.

A total of 6 sites were visited over the Isle Of Anglesey with 18 chicks being ringed as part of their on going project monitoring the movements of our welsh Chough.

The day was spent abseiling down in to deep sea caves and with the tide crashing in below us, I began to wonder whether this was such a good idea.. If you take a look at the photo below, this was just a taster of the depths we went to get to these nests. Getting down there for a start was interesting, but getting the ladder into the correct position was enough more interesting. Saving the best til last was the noise of pullus Chough chicks calling to us as the adults flew around nearby checking what we were upto..

Martin Mere Nest Boxes

2011-08-24T04:59:00.000-07:00

Photographed by Kane Brides

No sooner had I returned back to Bangor, had a few days of lectures back at university and seen my 1st Broad-Billed Sandpiper in the UK; I was back down in the North-West to give Kane a hand to do a complete nest box check of the breeding population of Tree Sparrows at Martin Mere. This being 4 days later..

Photographed by Kane Brides

An early start was neccessary so we could get through a large proportion of the nestboxes here and so at the end of the day we had managed to check 97 nestboxes out of the 150 at Martin Mere. A total of 74 nestboxes were occupied with Tree Sparrows, whilst 9 by Blue Tit and 3 by Great Tit. This is a very tough day's work and it is rather tricky to get them all checked in one day.

A grand total of 88 Tree Sparrow were ringed and all were colour ringed as part of the WWT wardens project. 39 Blue Tit and 19 Great Tit were also ringed during the visit.

If you are ever visiting Martin Mere and you happen to come across a colour ringed Tree Sparrow - sightings should be handed to the front desk at reception and asked to be forwarded onto the Research Office. Also, sightings can be noted down in any of the hides on the reserve..

Broad - Billed Sandpiper

2011-08-24T04:41:00.000-07:00

Completing all the ringing that was needed with Kane, I decided to have a quick visit to Hoylake on the Wirral on my way home. There had been a Broad-Billed Sandpiper associating with a large flock of Dunlin on the shore line on the incoming tide.

On arrival, I was greeted with a flock of at least 6,000 Dunlin and having come straight from Atherton, I only had my bins with me.

The bird was soon located and great views were had of this beautiful little wader whee it showed to within 30ft from the gathering crowd. This is a bird I had wanted to see for a while as in 2010 I twitched the same species up in Saltholme and was unlucky in that respect.

The crowd and the incoming tide at Hoylake/Meols on the Wirral. A great end to an amazing few days ringing. Nearby there was a Buff-Breasted Sandpiper at Frodsham Marshes and a Male Citrine Wagtail at RSPB Conwy in North wales - neither were seen..

Mixed Ringing - 13th-16th May

2011-08-24T03:32:00.000-07:00

During Friday 13th and Monday 16th May, I travelled over to Atherton to give Kane a hand with some pullus ringing and some general mist netting. Zac also joined us..

A general mist-netting session in his garden resulted in Coal Tit, House Sparrow, Song Thrush, Dunnock and a few Goldfinch being caught. A few Starlings then entered the garden and so were colour-ringed as part of Kane's on going RAS Project. (Retrapping Adults for Survival).

Over the next few days, between showers, we ventured into Atherton Woods where a total of 47 Great Tit, 51 Blue Tit and 6 Nuthatch were ringed in the nestboxes.

We were also lucky enough to locate 2 Treecreeper nests; one containing 3 chicks and the other with 6 eggs.

Photographed by Kane Brides

An Adult Stock Dove was also caught in one of the nestboxes. This was a new species for me, so it was great to see this farmland dove up close and personal. The bird was quickly ringed and processed and placed back in the nestbox where she sat tight, giving us enough time to retreat back to the cars.

Photographed by Kane Brides

Kane had also been monitoring several Tawny Owl boxes and on checking a certain box, 2 Tawny Owl pulli were ringed. Yet again, another new species as I had processed a retrap adult female back in April from another nestbox.

Photographed by Kane Brides

Cettia Cetti!

2011-08-24T02:58:00.000-07:00

Early morning on Saturday 7th May, I visited our CES site, along with Steve and Rachel. Having not had much spare time on my hands this year I have only been able to make 2 visits out of the actual 12, but amazingly that morning we caught a pair of Cetti's Warbler.

This is a species I have had in the hand before, however was intrigued to have a much closer look. Whilst in Spain a year or so ago with Stephen Menzie and Alex Jones, I partook in a couple of morning's ringing where Cetti's were caught regularly during my stay but they were just ringed and processed and released rather quickly as we were very busy that morning.

This pair (pictured above) were breeding on the site as the female had a brood patch (BP) and the male had Cloacal Protuberance (CP). I just hope they raised some young this year, although, we weren't successful in catching any - yet.

Also caught that morning was this Song Thrush.

BTO Pied Flycatcher Surveys

2011-08-24T02:06:00.001-07:00

During my time at Bangor University I have been involved with a Pied Flycatcher project at Aber Falls in Abergwyngregyn. Aber Falls is a prime site for this species and with lots of ancient oak woodlands and steep slopes, a population of 30 Pied flycatchers now breed here..

In late April, through to May and June, myself and several other dedicated volunteers survey these boxes and monitor the breeding success, right through until the youngsters fledge.

The data collected from these surveys is sent to the Nest Record Scheme (NRS) at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) where the data is collated and used to produce trends in breeding performance of these birds and helps us to identify species that may be declining because of problems at the nesting stage.

Many different subjects are recorded during these surveys such as nest building stages, number of eggs laid, incubation period and the number of chicks that fledged.

On a personal note, the breeding population at Aber Falls this year totalled 30 pairs which successfully fledged 200+ young.

For more information about the NRS and how you can get involved, please visit the NRS

Moroccan Larks!

2011-08-24T01:28:00.001-07:00

Thick Billed Lark

Desert Lark

Bar Tailed Desert Lark

Hoopoe Lark

Temminck's Horned Lark

Moroccan Wheatears!

2011-08-24T01:18:00.001-07:00

White Crowned Black Wheatear

Black Eared Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

Red Rumped Wheatear

Seebohm's Wheatear

The Moroccan Team!

2011-08-24T00:34:00.001-07:00

I had always heard that a trip to Morocco would leave you coming back speechless, not only the birds were of top quality, but the food, culture and landscape made this trip one of a kind. I had always wanted to travel to a different continent as I have already seen most of the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Lesvos, Austria and Majorca - North Africa was the next stop.

In the picture above, (pictured left to right) Eugene McCann, Myself and Ralph Jones. A thoroughly enjoyable trip was had by all with each of us gaining at least another 50 new birds to our life lists! A trip report will be available on the blog for all to read but this won't be until the end of this year..

Temperatures peaked at 35 degrees, but that was in the middle of the Sahara. Our clock in the car was albeit knackered, so ignore the figures from the date and time. Our 10 day trip to Morocco was the best birding trip I have ever been on and if anyone needs any advice or information if they are planning a trip, please do get in touch..

Throughout the trip I managed to see 47 new species which included:-

Barbary Partridge

Moussier's Redstart

Little Swift

African Blue Tit

Western Olivaceous Warbler

African Chaffinch

House Bunting

Common Bulbul

Laughing Dove

Blue - Cheeked - Bee - Eater

Atlas Shore Lark

Seebohm's Wheatear

Spectacled Warbler

White - Crowned - Black Wheatear

Crimson - Winged Finch

Lanner Falcon

Cream - Coloured Courser

Bar - Tailed Desert Lark

Thick - Billed Lark

Temminck's Horned Lark

Hoopoe Lark

Desert Wheatear

Red-Rumped Wheatear

Western Orphean Warbler

Melodious Warbler

Trumpeter Finch

Crowned Sandgrouse

Desert Lark

Rufous Tailed Scrub Robin

Scrub Warbler

Egyptian Nightjar

African Desert Warbler

Saharan Olivaceous Warbler

Fulvous Babbler

Brown Necked Raven

Desert Sparrow

Spotted Sandgrouse

Barbary Falcon

Pharoah Eagle Owl

Moroccan Pied Wagtail

African Rock Martin

Moroccan Tawny Owl

Moroccan Magpie

Bald Ibis

Black Crowned Tchagra

Brown Throated Sand Martin

Marbled Teal

Overall, a fantastic trip and it sure is a place I will travel back to, as we still missed some species.

Day 9 &10 - 26th and 27th April - Marrakech

2011-08-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Our last few days in Morocco were spent mooching around, trying to see the species that we had missed out on earlier in the trip. On our 9th day we spent our time looking around the Tizi-n-Test Road where we picked up several more Black-Crowned Tchagra.

Our last night was spent in a hectic and chaotic Marrakech where we nearly got ran over and were close to being driven insane. A warning in advance - Marrakech is full of traffic and they have no consideration what so ever for other drivers or pedestrians. A well earned and greatly missed pizza for our evening meal and a stroll around the local streets.

Landing back in Manchester Airport early on April 27th, it soon hit me that birding and life from now on was going to be very different!

Day 8 - 25th April - Birding around Agadir

2011-08-23T11:08:00.000-07:00

Leaving the 'Auberge Taulouine' early morning, we headed to Agadir by the coast for a change of scenery. Driving through the numerous villages, it was clear that we were in good habitat for Fulvous Babbler as these were quite numerous.

Turtle Dove migration was well underway as we witnessed at least 1,000 of these beautiful little doves migrate over head, some in flocks of 200!

Along the way we picked up Black - Eared Wheatear, Black Kite and Black - Shouldered Kite.

Further along the coast at a site called Tamri, we picked up Slender - Billed Gull, Sanderling and a single Collard Pratincole on the beach.

A thorough search around the area of Tamri, revealed about 6 Bald Ibis resulting in a short paddle across a stream..

Mid afternoon and we headed past Agadir to a site where we had brilliant views of Black - Crowned Tchagra, Stone Curlew, Marbled Teal and Brown-Throated Sand Martin - many thanks to the warden here as we would never have found the sites by ourselves.

Late evening and we headed for the nearest hotel we could find and got our heads down, after yet another gorgeous meal, a hot shower and a ridiculously comfy bed!

Day 7 - 24th April - Tizi-n-Tinifift!

2011-08-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Leaving the 'Le Soleil Bleu' Hotel at 6am prompt, we headed straight to a renowned site in search for the Moroccan race of Pied Wagtail. No sooner had we got out of the car, I spotted a candidate and over the next 10 mintues, the bird showed exceptionally well!

We still hadn't connected with the elusive Mourning Wheatear so we made 3 stops en-route but sadly we weren't rewarded despite a thorough search at each site.

Stoppong at a large reservoir before the Tizi-n-Tinifift pass, we managed to see several Blue-Cheeked Bee-Eaters, Great White Egret, Purple Heron, Squacco Heron and Little Bittern.

Stopping en-route we called in at the Tizi-n-Tinifift pass for African Rock Martin. These birds abundant at this site with at least 10 birds seen and which gave exceptional views with one particular bird perching on the ground right below us some 5ft away. Alpine Swift and Little Swift as well as Crag Martin were also seen here in good numbers.

A spectacular find was a secluded valley where we had great views of Golden Eagle and a pair of Bonelli's Eagle displaying at close quarters. Time was getting tight now so we headed for the nearest hotel being the 'Auberge Taulouine'. Here we had a surprise visit from the Moroccan race Tawny owl..

Day 6 - 23rd April - 'Local Birding'

2011-08-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

The decision was made this morning to have an early morning walk around the grounds of the 'Auberge Derkhaoua' to see if we could locate any Egyptian Nightjars. A short breakfast and we were ready for action!

Unfortunately, that morning we were supposed to meet up with Ali Mouni in search of the elusive and rare Houbara Bustard. However, by 8am there was no sign of him so we gave Idir a call and he arranged to meet us at the hotel and show us a Female Egyptian Nightar on the nest.

Before Idir arrived, a flock of 200+ Spotted Sandgrouse flew over our cars heading deep into the Desert. An hour or so later, deep into the Saharan Desert we were stood watching the Nightjar on her nest - spectacular experience!

Back at the 'Auberge Derkhaoua', Idir gave us another one of is contacts, Hassan. Meeting up with Hassan on the 'Rissani Bridge', he later showed us fantastic views of 30 Crowned Sandgrouse, 50 Spotted Sandgrouse, Barbary Falcon, Lanner Falcon and Pharoah Eagle Owl!

An overnight stay at the 'Soleil Bleu' Hotel, enjoying couscous, beer and wine - nothing else mattered in the world!

Day 5 - 22nd April - Proper Sahara!

2011-08-23T08:55:00.000-07:00

Having never experienced sleeping in a car in the middle of the Saharan Desert - it was something I won't be doing anytime soon. After a awful night's sleep, waking up all groggy and shattered, it was time to get out birding; this being 4am. I had been awake at 3am listening to an Egyptian Nightjar churring which was later followed by great views of a bird flying around our car just before we set off for our dawn walk - great stuff!

A flock of around 200 Bee-eaters flushed from their overnight roost above us! A Rufous Bush Robin gave great views as did 1 Male Golden Oriole and a small group of Fulvous Babbler, in nearby vegetation. We were witnessing migration at first hand!

Around 6am we bumped into a tour group who kindly gave us a phone number to contact for some 'proper local' bird knowledge.

Another target bird for us here was Brown - Necked Raven. These were very numerous in the correct habitat and are very different from our British species.

Next stop was the 'Hotel Said' for African Desert Warbler. After a good hour of searching, a bird popped up right by our feet and flew to a nearby conifer. Great views were had of this little beauty!

Moving onto the 'Auberge Caravanne' where we had a cup of mint tea and eventually located the only pair of Desert Sparrow in the area at 'Cafe Yasmina'. However, instead of nesting in the old sheep huts like previous years, this year they turned their attention to a nearby nestbox.

Throughout the rest of the day, temperatures began to soar to an all too hot - 38 degrees so we retired inside and had a refreshing glass of coke. The decision was made to stay another night in the 'Auberge Derkahaoua'.

Spanish ringers were also in the vicinity but unfortunately when we arrived it was mid day and the nets were furled. A real shame as I would have loved to see what they were catching.

Other specialities seen during the day include Saharan Olivaceous Warbler.

Day 4 - 21st April - 'Tagdilt Track' (Visit 2)

2011-08-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

Up early again next morning and heading for the 'New Tagdilt Track' by the new Inknouen Road. First stop was to the famous Wheatear Wall for Mourning Wheatear but after several hours - no joy. Desert Wheatear were very numerous here which allowed some more mega digiscoping opportunities.

Thick - Billed Lark was also high on our prioroty list that day and we eventually found a superb male, albeit very showy.

Mid morning we headed off up into the hills to the Dades Gorge for a walk for some mountain/ scrub birds. Here we encountered Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail, Blue Rock Thrush, 1 Dartford Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Woodchat Shrike and several House Buntings.

In the afternoon we concentrated our efforts on searching for Scrub Warbler at a renowned site at Kilometre 2 and no sooner had I stepped out of the car, 3 birds popped up and began calling and showing really well. However, not the easiest bird to digiscope as they never stopped moving.

Early evening was soon upon us so we deserperately tried to find the 'Auberge Derkhaoua' (our hotel for the night) in the mean time got ourselves completely lost in the middle of the Saharan Desert and it was pitch black! Luckily, a Moroccan we named the 'Blue Flash' came to our rescue and very kindly took us to our hotel, but ofcourse it was for a price..

On arrival, our room had been taken by a family as we hadn't phoned ahead earlier to let the owners know that we would be late. No food either so we finished off the pringles and bread that we had left, had several glasses of whisky and tried to get as comfy as possible as that night we slept in the car in the hotel car-park. Not pleasant at all but being woken up at 3am by a churring Egyptian Nightjar wasn't all that bad!

Day 3 - 20th April - 'Tagdilt Track'

2011-08-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

Next morning we were up at dawn and deciding not to have any breakfast this morning. Instead we headed for the 'Old Tagdilt Track' for the dawn chorus and a whole morning in search of Larks and Wheatear species. Spending 6 whole hours on the deserts proved tiring, but extremely rewarding. Temperatures reached a high of 35 degrees - any hotter and we would have keeled over!

The Tagdilt Track is the best site in Morocco to find Larks and Wheatears in good numbers. Mile upon mile of stony, deselate landscapes.. Covering every possible area proved worthwhile as we were rewarded with mega views of Crested, Thekla, Short-Toed, Bar-Tailed Desert, Temminck's, Hoopoe and Thick - Billed Larks. Northern, White - Crowned Black, Black, Desert and Red - Rumped Wheatear were also seen during the morning.

Long - Legged Buzzard, Lanner Falcon, Cream - Coloured Courser and Black - Bellied Sandgrouse were also numerous here.

Everywhere we went there seemed to be hundreds of Trumpeter Finches. Managing to locate several areas where there was cover proved very productive as migrants such as Turtle Dove, Nightingale and Melodious Warbler hung out in small patches of vegetation in the middle of the Saharan Desert! True migration witnessed at first hand.

Finishing up at around 3pm we managed to have our breakfast, which consisted of some Pancakes, Jam and several mugs of Coffee. A stunning Southern Grey Shrike perched nearby allowing some great digiscoping opportunities.

Mid afternoon and we headed into Boumalne Dades as we had inevitably found ourselves with a flat tyre. Whilst Ralph went and spoke some Moroccan to try and get the car up and running again.. Eugene and I headed into a little Oasis nearby. This place was astonishing and alive with migrants. Birds such as Nightingale, Western Olivaceous Warbler, Western Orphean Warbler, Western Bonelli's Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Serin were abundant and in large numbers. We could have spent hours in this small oasis.

Finishing up with our 2nd night in the 'Le Soleil Bleu' Hotel, we grabbed a quick shower and enjoyed the delights of our evening meal, followed by several bottles of red wine and an update in the birdlog which is on show here and gives up -to - date sightings from the Tagdilt Track from visiting birders..

Day 2 - 19th April - High Atlas Mountains

2011-07-12T02:36:00.000-07:00

Next morning we were up at 5:30am for an early dawn walk up into the High Atlas Mountains. Packing up our gear early on and grabbing a quick moroccan coffee, a few slices of bread and honey, it was all we needed to keep us going for the day. Leaving the french hostel we headed on up the valley; parking the car at the bottom of the valley. Several hours were spent stopping and starting picking up various birds along the way..

Our targets here were the atlas specialities, which soon followed one by one. Atlas Shore Lark were numerous whilst Seebohm's Wheatear were even more numerous. A Male Spectacled Warbler burst into song infront of us; a bird we weren't expecting to get to grips with until later on in the trip but a very welcome bird all the same.

Plenty of Red-Billed and Alpine Chough fed on the lower slopes, but I had to save the best bird until last and this wasn't until we were heading back down the valley when a couple of Crimson -Winged Finch flew past and landed nearby! Cracking little birds and our main target for this visit. Rock Sparrows and a couple of unexpected Dippers were seen on our way down alongside the river.

Successfully getting to grips with all our target species here, we headed on down from the High Atlas Mountains and headed in the direction of Boumalne Dades, stopping en-route at the Tizi-n-Tichka pass. Stopping for a pair of Rollers on nearby wires was well worth it as this has to be the best view of Roller I have ever had.

We were now in the deserts and after several failed attempts we managed to locate the 'Le Soleil Bleu' Hotel - our destination for the night. An exceptionally delicious meal was enjoyed by all and with Soup, Tajin, followed by orange slices dipped in Cinnamon and 3 beers - it was time to get our heads down for the night.

Day 1 - 18th April - Marrakech to Oukaimeden

2011-07-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

Leaving Ormskirk at 3:45am with Ralph and Eugene, we headed off to Manchester Airport and with only a few delays on the way there, we were more than ready for a sleep on the plane. A calm and relaxing flight awaited us, followed by a short discussion about what the first bird was to be when we landed in Morocco. Collecting the hire car took a while but a good and roadworthy car for the terrain we intended to take it on. Most interestingly, the first bird we encountered was infact House Bunting inside the actual airport around the car hire desk!!

Dumping our gear in the car, we headed out of Marrakech following a guy on a scooter who was going to show us the way out of the area and fair play to him, he did actually take us to the correct road. The plan was to head for Oukaimeden for some High Atlas Mountain birding for the day.

Driving towards Oukaimeden we stopped en-route every 10-15 minutes as birds seemed to be everywhere and we were keen to see everything!

During the drive to our first main site of the trip we encountered some superb birds such as our first Barbary Partridge, Little Swift, Moussier's Redstart, Western Olivaceous warbler, African Blue Tit, Common Bulbul and African Chaffinch of the trip.. Eugene was keen to have a look over the edge of the cliff, but we were to see worse heights than this along the way. A grand total of 48 species for the day and 8 lifers.

Driving higher and higher into the Atlas mountains until we could drive no further, we spent the night in a french hostel with a lovely meal and well earned beer. A quick shower and we hit the sack for an early morning walk high into the Atlas Mountains.

Magical Morocco!!

2011-06-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

Since I was a young lad, I have always wanted to visit Africa as it is a continent that I have not yet managed to cover. A combination of the spectacular rich birdlife, fantastic food, stunning landscapes and an overall 'awe' for the place; this was to be the best birding trip I have ever witnessed. Ralph Jones, Eugene McCann and I, headed out to Morocco for 10 days of speedy birding on 18th April - 27th April.

Seeing as though none of us had birdwatched in Morocco before, nearly every species we encountered was new to us and being such a memorable venture, it is going to be tough to describe all parts of the trip so I shall try my best and show you the sites we visited day by day and the species we encountered within. The main aim of this trip was to cover the whole of Northern Morocco around the Atlas Mountains and try to see all the 'main' moroccan species that all birders who visit this area, target.

Throughout the trip we visited all the main sites and picked up all of our desired species along the way, with some of these showing themselves to us like we had never believed possible. Temperatures reached 35 degrees in the Sahara Desert and we even managed to witness a hail and thunderstorm in the Sahara - honest! I added a superb 50 lifers to my lifelist and an overall trip total of around 150 species.

No matter where you travelled in Morocco, camels seemed to be everywhere. Now for the day by day account of our trip with some spectacular birds!

Patching Perfection!

2011-06-22T06:02:00.000-07:00

During my birding career I have always been interested in patching, looking for local birds instead of galavanting all over the UK looking for rarities. Never did I think I would have the best morning's patching here in North Wales. On Sunday 10th April, Zac, Hamza and I headed upto the Great Orme in Llandudno for a 5am start.. The Great Orme is widely renowned for its rewards for visible migration but this visit had to be the best patching day ever!

The day before had produced a few decent birds such as Lapland Bunting and typical spring migrants like Tree Pipit and Redstarts, but if that was anything to go by, our morning was exceptional. As you can see from the main picture of this post, condiditons were perfect..

Regulars such as Alan Davies, Marc Buzzard and Robin Sandham were also on the Great Orme during the morning, so if anything was found all would know about it within a few mintues.

Throughout the morning birds seen included:-

350+ Lesser Redpoll
5 Mealy Redpoll
1 Arctic Redpoll
1 Greenland Redpoll
50+ Wheatear
9 Golden Plover
1 Dotterel
2 Crossbill
6 Blackcap
3 Brambling
2 Ring Ouzel
2 Tree Pipit
2 Yellow wagtail
2 Lapland Bunting
1 Short-Eared Owl

Aswell as numerous Redstarts, Whitethroats, Grasshopper Warblers and a few Garden Warblers.

The best bird of the morning and one that I personally found was the first record of Red-Rumped Swallow for the Great Orme and the County of Conwy! This bird was also seen by Zac Hinchcliffe.

A superb morning's patching on the Great Orme and one that I shall never forget! I wonder what other (1st's) I can find in North Wales before I complete my degree?

Mist-netting at Arthurs

2011-06-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

After seeing my 1st Purple Heron in the UK, followed by a few days of lectures, I was rather keen to get back out and do some ringing.. On Saturday 9th April along with Zac, Steve and Rachel, we headed over to Arthurs near Caernarfon for a morning's mist-netting session.

This area is our regular mist-netting site, where large numbers of tits are ringed during the winter, however this morning we set ourselves up in a slightly different location in heath/scrub type habitat, with the main aim to catch Willow warblers and Linnets.

Throughout the morning a total of 12 species were caught which included:-

9 Willow warbler
2 Blackcap
2 Chiffchaff
5 Bullfinch
3 Linnet
1 Lesser Redpoll
3 Wren
3 Great tit
2 Blue tit
1 Long-tailed tit
1 Song thrush
1 Goldcrest

Another visit was made later on that day to attempt to catch some more of the Linnets going into their evening roost, however just 2 birds were caught. Also, 5 Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Song thrush and Goldcrest.

Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel for yet another great ringing session!

Purple Heron on Anglesey!!

2011-06-22T04:29:00.000-07:00

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Since my last post where I stated that 'I shall try to update as soon as I had finished my 2nd year exams', was a rather silly statement as there has been no activity on this blog since that given time. Now that I have a week or so free, this blog will be updated completely with all ventures that have occured over the last few months!

To kick start this update, I shall begin with the twitch that myself and Zac took part in whilst we were back in Bangor on 5th April, over on Anglesey. There had been a few reports of an adult Purple Heron on a small pond at a place called Dwyran. Unfortunately at the time, my week was rather full of lectures, but luckily when I had a day off the bird appeared once more on the pool and as a result, within half an hour of the phonecall from Alan davies; we were both over on Anglesey watching this superb bird feeding around the edges of the pool, alongside Alex Jones. This was a british lifer for us all and was truly well earned, as by the time we had seen the bird well, we were already caked in mud..

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Great views were had of the bird in flight and as we hadn't yet seen the bird on the ground, we re-twitched the bird a few days later; this time with Mathew Bruce and Hamza Yassin, where superb views of the bird were had feeding around the margins of the small reedy pool.

Belated blogging

2011-05-08T03:08:00.001-07:00

Since my last blog post nearly a month and a half ago, life has been non-stop with a huge amount happening during that period! Most importantly, life at university has taken first priority as you would expect and with a mixture of essays and reports to complete before the easter break, time to update the blog was short. Finishing for easter, no sooner had I returned back to the glorious north, I had to pack my bags again as from 18th - 27th April I was out birding in Morocco with Ralph Jones and Eugene McCann for 10 days - more on this in due course, inc trip report..

Combined with essays, reports, the trip to morocco, several ringing trips, nest-finding for my pullus endorsement, pied flycatcher surveying, organising myself for my dissertation surveying in June, sorting out various other ringing trips in the summer and revision for my may exams - my time has been spent rather hecticly shall we say. Finally, a large apology to all readers and followers of the blog for the lack of posting recently, but in the next few weeks after I have done all my revision and all exams out of the way, I shall update completely on all ventures that have occured.

Good birding to you all and hope everyone has had a good easter!

Tawny Owl!!

2011-04-05T04:54:00.000-07:00

Instead of meeting up with Steve and Rachel for a mist-netting session at Arthur's in Caernarfon on Sunday morning, I opted to say my farewells to Craig. The reason for this is from the end of April until October; Craig will be out in Sweden at Kvismare Bird Observatory to help aid census work until June and then to run a ringing base until October..

This weekend was going to be the last chance to see him before he departs on his travels..although we are intending to visit him over in Sweden at the end of August!

On Friday afternoon I travelled home to spend a few hours with the mother as I wouldn't be there on Mother's day and then hopped on a train to Atherton where I met up with Kane.. Early on Saturday morning we met up with Craig and headed for the Lake District to see what we could catch. Unfortunately, our original plan was to mist-net over the usual river, but it was a bit too high and we weren't that well equipped as I had forgotten my waders. The day ended with no birds caught but good to catch up with Craig before he departs..

Late afternoon on the Saturday, myself and Kane went to his local woods to do some nest box monitoring and managed to catch this female Tawny Owl which was a lovely surprise. This bird was already ringed - GR05861 was ringed by Craig in May 2010, so it was good to see that she had survivied the harsh winter! Having never handled a Tawny Owl before, it was a superb bird in the hand and consequently has won itself the new position of my blog image..

Travelling back to Bangor on the Monday morning, just 1 week left at university before I finish for the easter holidays and before I head south - more on this in due course..

Gulling in Gloucestershire!!

2011-04-05T03:31:00.000-07:00

After a hugely successful cannon net catch at Kinmel Bay on Sunday 20th March, myself and Zac were keen to get out again to do some cannon-netting. A full week of lectures out of the way and we were back out again, cannon-netting with Steve and Rachel the following weekend. They had kindly invited myself and Zac to a gull catch down in South Wales with the Severn Estuary Gull Group and seeing as though I had wanted to take part in cannon-netting large gulls on a rubbish tip for quite some time, I had never had the chance until now.

Travelling down via train, we met up with Kane at Newton-Le-Willows station, on Friday 26th March. A short drive back to Atherton and a quick stop at the local chippy; we were ready for bed as it was going to be an early start in the morning.

Setting off around 4am and a few hours later, we reached our service station in time for some brekkie and a cup of coffee.. Shortly after we met up with Steve and Rachel and headed off down to the rubbish tip. Kane then headed off to his conference and to give his talk at WWT Slimbridge.

On arrival at the rubbish tip, we slipped on our hi-viz jackets and hard hats and made our way onto the tip to set the cannon-net. This was a new experience for me as the net was set on a large piece of plastic. Shortly after, we were all set and it was clear that there were plenty of large gulls in the area, so hopefully we would catch a good sample of these later on. An hour or so passed and eventually the gulls came into the catching area and the net was fired, catching 138 birds.

95 Herring Gull, 40 Lesser-Black-Backed Gull and 3 Greater-Black-Backed Gulls were caught during the morning, including several re-traps. In the catch was also a control - GC73651, which now has a Darvic on the left leg - LDH.

Throughout the catch, once the smell of rotting rubbish and all other manner of smells had worn off, it wasn't too bad.. Ringing and processing was extremely interesting due to the fact that when your sitting down on your knees, at times, the feeling in my feet was non-existent so getting up proved rather interesting! The birds were carefully extracted from the net and placed in sacks which were securely tied and placed in a safe area ready to be dealt with..

Managing to ring around 45 large gulls during the morning, was excellent practise for myself to perfect using F, G and H rings - a key criteria for when I recieve my C Permit which will hopefully be sometime in the next 8 months..

Once the catch had finished, we headed off to WWT Slimbridge, with Gillian Dinsmore who kindly dropped us off here.. In the car-park we were greeted by chittering Sand Martins and a single Swallow. A thorough check around the collection areas and a few hides for any colour-ringed Coots revealed no birds so we met up with Kane and Laura Dalton..

WWT Slimbridge has recently built a canoe trail so having some free time on our hands, we opted for an hour off and pootled around the trail - thankfully knowone fell in, although a woman before us had in the last hour had a capsize... Poor woman - she was soaked through!

An hour's worth of canoeing and there was no better way to end a brilliant day by sitting ourselves down in the local pub, enjoying a few pints of the local cider and a few portions of cheesy chips..
Arriving back in Atherton late evening, we grabbed some food and hit the sack as we were somewhat shattered after a long day!

Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel for inviting us along to the catch and for a mega day's canon-netting, to Kane for transporting us to and from sites, to Gillian Dinsmore for giving us a lift to WWT Slimbridge and to John Saunders for all his hard work throughout the catch..

Recent Recoveries and Controls - Batch 2!

2011-03-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5262297
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 26/6/2010
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 22/9/2010
Recovery site - Marton Mere, Blackpool
State of bird - found dead on waterline
Duration since being ringed - 88 days
Distance - 87km

Species - Redshank
Ring number - DD89528
Age - {6}
Ringing date - 13/2/2010
Ringed - Bangor Harbour, Gwynedd
Recovery date - 15/3/2010
Recovery site - Moreton, Wirral, Merseyside
State of bird - controlled
Duration since being ringed - 30 days
Distance - 69km

Species - Black Headed Gull
Ring number - EL48820
Age - {6}
Ringing date - 10/1/2010
Ringed - Llanfairfechan Promenade, Conwy
Recovery date - 7/1/2011
Recovery site - River Dee, Chester, Cheshire
State of bird - read in field
Duration since being ringed - 362 days
Distance - 74km

Species - Black Headed Gull
Ring number - EL48830
Age - [6}
Ringing date - 10/1/2010
Ringed - Llanfairfechan Promenade, Conwy
Recovery date - 8/1/2011
Recovery site - Llanfairfechan, Conwy
State of bird - read in field
Duration since being ringed - 363 days
Distance - 0km

Species - Oystercatcher
Ring number - FH29739
Age - {3}
Ringing date - 24/10/2010
Ringed - Llanfairfechan, Conwy
Recovery date - 29/12/2010
Recovery site - Pentre Du Crossing, Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd
State of bird - found dead
Duration since being ringed - 66 days
Distance - 3km

Species - Oystercatcher
Ring number - FP81131
Age - {8}
Ringing date - 24/9/2006
Ringed - Llanfairfechan, Conwy
Recovery date - 2/6/2009
Recovery site - Asmundarstadir, Melrakkasletta, Nordur-Thingeyjar, NordurThingeyjarsysla, Iceland
State of bird - read in field
Duration since being ringed - 982 days
Distance - 1612km

Species - Razorbill
Ring number - K10452
Age - {6}
Ringing date - 24/6/2006
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 15/6/2010
Recovery site - Bardsey Island, Gwynedd
State of bird - controlled
Duration since being ringed - 1452 days
Distance - 82km

It just goes to show that not all birds stay in the same place and some do fancy a holiday once in a while..

Recent Recoveries and Controls - Batch 1!

2011-03-31T11:25:00.000-07:00

Searching through my emails the other day and I came across some interesting recoveries and controls that Steve had sent me..

Species - Shag
Ring number - 1426769
Age - Pullus {1}
Ringing date - 11/6/2009
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 9/1/2011
Recovery site - Aberffraw - Isle of Anglesey
State of bird - found dead on beach
Duration since being ringed - 577 days
Distance - 34km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5197773
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 20/6/1998
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 8/1/2011
Recovery site - Condette, Pas-de-calais, France
State of bird - found by lake
Duration since being ringed - 4585 days
Distance - 488km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5248040
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 13/7/2008
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 3/11/2010
Recovery site - Barfleur, Manche, France
State of bird - Identified by colour rings
Duration since being ringed - 843 days
Distance - 449km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5248045
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 13/7/2008
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 9/11/2010
Recovery site - Seaforth Nature Reserve, Merseyside
State of bird - Identified by colour rings
Duration since being ringed - 849 days
Distance - 69km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5248045
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 13/7/2008
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 28/8/2010
Recovery site - Seaforth Nature Reserve
State of bird - Identified by colour rings
Duration since being ringed - 776 days
Distance - 69km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5248281
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 27/6/2009
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 28/8/2010
Recovery site - Seaforth Nature Reserve, Merseyside
State of bird - Identified by coour rings
Duration since being ringed - 427 days
Distance - 69km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5248297
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 27/6/2009
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 29/10/2009
Recovery site - Seaforth Nature Reserve, Merseyside
State of bird - Identified by colour rings
Duration since being ringed - 124 days
Distance - 69km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5262279
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 26/6/2010
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 16/10/2010
Recovery site - Stocks Reservoir
State of bird - Identified by colour rings
Duration since being ringed - 112 days
Distance - 130 km

Species - Cormorant
Ring number - 5262289
Age - {1}
Ringing date - 26/6/2010
Ringed - Puffin Island - Isle of Anglesey
Recovery date - 7/9/2010
Recovery site - Bellmoor Gravel Pit, Retford, Nottinghamshire
State of bird - Identified by colour rings -
Duration since being ringed - 73 days
Distance - 203km

Scandinavian Swap!

2011-03-31T10:52:00.001-07:00

In this particular post, you will have to jog your memories back to the cold month of February when myself and Zac hinchcliffe, spent several days reading Black Headed Gull rings down in Bangor Harbour.. After successfully reading 3 foreign ringed gulls, on 15th March, Zac received a letter from Finland regarding one of these birds.

Ringing information:-

Ring number - ST239892
Species - Black Headed Gull {Chroicocephalus ridibundus}
Age - Full grown - hatched before 2005
Ringed on - 15/4/2006
Ringing site - Turku, Turku - Pori, Finland
Status - Healthy, wild bird
Method of capture - Caught with trap
Ringer - Jyrki Oja

Recovery date - 8/2/2011
Recovery site - Bangor Harbour, Gwynedd, United Kingdom
Status - Alive

This bird had been missing for 4 Years, 9 Months and 23 Days since the date of being ringed! Also, it had travelled 1,788km in a South, Southwest direction..

If your wondering the logic behind the title it's because after reading the finnish ringed bird in Bangor Harbour, a few later, we received our first movement of a Black Headed Gull from the new colour-ringing project. In fact, on 25th March Kane received an email from Morten Helberg in Norway regarding 2A00!!

This was the first bird to have been ringed as part of the new project and he was now in Norway! Fantastic movement! The bird was ringed on 1st March at Bowness-on-Windermere. The bird was last sighted there on 17th March by Cumbrian bird ringer, Robin Sellers. Most interestingly, the next report of 2A00 came in on 24th March from Radhuskaia, Oslo Havn, Norway!

Let's hope the others go this far. If you would like to see where exactly this bird was last seen in Norway, check out Kane's blog for more information @ http://www.birdringing.blogspot.com/.

Black Headed Gull legs and Map, photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

The North West Black Headed Gull Study!!

2011-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

I have currently a large amount of work to do before I finish university for the easter holidays, however, for the next few hours I shall update the blog with my most recent ringing activities. More importantly, there is one that I should have published last month. This is ofcourse the new Black Headed Gull Study that is being carried out in the North West. The brains of this new project are Ciaran and Kane and it only began in March 2011. It is about time this brilliant new project is ditributed on a grander scale, so here is the original information sheet where you can read all about the project and it's aims..

In 2010 the Logan Hurst Ringing Group had a successful winter of catching adult Black Headed Gulls across the North West with over 100 caught by hand, and in the past two years we have ringed just over 800 pullus at a colony at Killington Reservoir in Cumbria. Despite this great effort coupled with the usually high recovery rate from ringing Black Headed Gulls, we have had very few recoveries of these birds away from their ringing sites. Within colonies there is usually a high mortality rate and this may be the reason why we haven't had many birds away from Killington. With this in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to start colour marking the Gulls with darvic rings. The main aims of the project are to look into:

1 - Dispersal from natal colony {Killington Reservoir}
2 - To study the winter fidelity {At all other sites, where adults can be caught}
3 - Interchange between study sites.
4 - Longeveity
5 - To document general movements within the UK and abroad.

The project started in March 2011 and we are attempting to catch adults at their wintering sites before they disperse for the summer. The initial target is to darvic around 100 adult birds a year and 50-100 pullus at Killington, although due to the opportunistic nature of gull catching, this figure is very much variable. The colour ringing will be carried out at a number of sites across the North West and we are always on the lookout for new catching sites.

Colour Rings:-
The colour scheme will be as follows: One Dark Blue Darvic on the left leg with White lettering and a four digit code. All codes start with the number 2 followed by one letter and two numbers. E.G. 2A23. There will be an additional BTO metal ring placed on the right leg. There will also be an email address printed on the ring which is bhgulls@gmail.com

CONTACT DETAILS

All sightings should be sent to bhgulls@gmail.com

OR

All sightings will be dealt by either Kane or Ciaran.

Most importantly, a total of 6 Adult Black Headed Gulls have been caught so far, with one particular individual already giving us our first foreign movement, but more on that later!

The Final Fire!!

2011-03-30T16:56:00.001-07:00

After having a very successful day's birding on Saturday 19th March, over on Anglesey, where I was looking at the gorgeous Bonaparte's gull at Traeth Lligwy. Thoughts were running through my head, that a day in bed may be on the cards, but in my case there is no such thing. Arriving back in Bangor late on Saturday afternoon, an hour or so later, I met Kane at the station as he was going to help out with the catch at Kinmel Bay on the Sunday morning. Getting a good night's sleep and we were up early on the Sunday morning and on the road to Kinmel Bay near Rhyl. On arrival, the gear was being unloaded from Steve's truck and down onto the beach. A quick set of 2 cannon-nets was the order of the day, so we could get off the beach and minimise the disturbance.

Above and Below - Photographed by Robin Sandham

This was going to be our last cannon-netting session this winter with SCAN, until September arrives. However, the main purpose of this session was to try and catch a specific Turnstone that had been seen at Kinmel Bay by a birder and after being photographed, revealed it to be from Norway.

Also of similar importance was a large flock of about 200 Sanderling that were roosting on the shingle beach, adjacent to the river mouth. These little beauties are quite scarce in North wales, so it was good to catch a sample of these!

After twinkling the Sanderling and a flock of Turnstone into the catching area, the net was fired resulting in 114 birds being caught. A total of 61 Sanderling, 17 Dunlin and 36 Turnstone, with several re-traps, were soon extracted out of the net and put into keeping cages ready to be ringed and processed.

In order to deal with the catch efficiently, as usual a ringing and processing team are set up. During ringing and processing, it was clear that we had caught the Norwegian Turnstone, which was a great effort! I shall update soon when I receive the details. The Sanderling were also more than welcome as for many people, they aren't a bird that folk get to grips with regularly, so it was a good way to appreciate these northern gems in the hand and to perfect the ageing criteria for this species. A few hours later and the catch had been dealt with and all that was left was to do was to put the cannon net away and head for home for a shower and some food!

Dropping Kane off at Rhyl station, no sooner had we left him, I received a text saying that he had found some Collard Dove pulli! Great stuff!

Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel for yet another hugely successful catch and to all the twinklers for doing a grand job!

Looking for William..

2011-03-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

Starting year 1 at Bangor University, the workload was nothing to complain about, with only the odd essay and report to worry about.. However, at the start of 2011 and well into the 2nd half of my 2nd year; the workload increased, birding stopped and stress levels rocketed.. It's now March 2011 and I'm in the last few months of my 2nd year and as far as I'm concerned, the workload has now tripled and my time for birding is almost non-existent. The only birding I'm managing to do at the moment, seems to be the daily walks to lectures and whilst I'm out ringing, which now seems to be pretty regular.

In the last post, in which I was catching Pied Wagtails at their roost site in Bangor, now seems quite a long time ago and 3 weeks on, the amount of ringing I have been able to do has been great, with a couple of memorable catches, which will soon follow.. After 2 weeks of daily lectures and numerous essays and reports, it was time to head out and do some proper birding, for the first time in 2011. So early on Saturday morning {19th}, I met up with my dad and friend Ted Preece at Rainbow Bridge in Old Colwyn, in search of the 2 Drake Surf Scoters that had been loafing around by the turbines for a few weeks now. Seeing as though neither of them had seen this species before, I was rather keen to find them for the both of them. However, the conditions weren't exactly perfect and with a chop on the water and birds miles out, there wasn't much chance of seeing them. Unfortunately after an hour's worth of scoter grilling, we gave up and headed east to Llanfairfechan, in search of some Slavonian Grebes.

Luckily 4 individuals were present on arrival, with a couple in summer-plumage and the other 2 birds, still in their winter plumage. Several Red-throated divers offshore but nothing too exciting here.. News that the Bonaparte's gull, {hence the title 'Looking for William' - {William Charles Bonaparte} was showing well on the beach over on Anglesey, at Traeth Lligwy near Moelfre, the 3 of us hopped in the car and headed over sharpish.. This bird has been present for a few weeks now, showing on and off during high and low tide. More importantly, it was a lifer for my dad and Ted so they were both pretty happy with the views they had.. Leaving the gull to it's own devices, a short walk to the headland revealed a stunning summer plumage Black Guillemot, ending a pretty successfull day's birding, apart from dipping the Glaucous Gull near Menai Bridge. Seeing as though it was late afternoon, we called it a day and after being dropped back off in Bangor for a shower and a sleep, the others headed for home.

The Wanderings of Wagtails...

2011-03-10T03:34:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of weeks there has been a significant Pied Wagtail roost at Tesco's in Bangor and along with Zac, we have been down to check it out for ringing purposes several times.. Numbers reaching over 100 birds was a treat in itself, but unfortunately we left it slightly too late and within a few days, the roost had decreased to around 50 birds! Contacting Steve and Rachel, they went and checked the site out after our ringing session on the Saturday and gained permission from the Tesco Store Manager and the Petrol Station owner and we were all set for Sunday night..

Arriving on Sunday afternoon at 5pm, the 5 of us, Hamza included; set the 40ft net infront of the bush that the birds were roosting in and retreated back to the vans, to wait for the wagtails to gather and hopefully, descend into their roost..

Once all the birds were safely in the roost, we extracted the proportion of birds out of the net and Im happy to say that we managed to catch about 80% of the entire roost - great stuff!

The birds were ringed, aged and measurements taken before being released. In total - 31 new Pied Wagtails. This was an absolute privelege to be in the presence of this enigmatic little bird! This was a new species for me so it was great to get to grips with the ageing for this species.

Adult Male {6} - aged by the uniform black and the white greater coverts.

2cy {5} - aged by the retained Juvenile greater coverts, which contrast clearly to the black and white adult feathers of the inner greater coverts.

Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel for gaining permission and for another memorable ringing experience! All photos by Zac Hinchcliffe..

Joyful Jackdaw

2011-03-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Finishing a hugely successful week's ringing in Greater Manchester with Kane, Zac and Ciaran, no sooner had I got back to Bangor, the weekend was upon us and I was out ringing again with Steve, on Saturday 5th March, at a new site, over on Anglesey near Moelfre.

Steve had been in contact with Mike, who has had a considerable amount of Yellowhammers coming to seed in his front garden. So before the winter was out, we made our way over early on Saturday morning and set 3 nets in the front garden, 1 net in the back and another alongside a hedgerow so we would hopefully catch a variety of species during the morning..

As our main aim was to catch the Yellowhammers, during the morning we noticed that they weren't venturing quite near enough to our nets, but we very happy to catch just 1 male..

Throughout the morning, a total of 60 birds were caught. This was yet another great training opportunity for myself - setting and taking down nets and getting extraction numbers up. Species caught included:- Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Starling, Blue tit, Great tit, Coal tit, Siskin, Yellowhammer and Jackdaw.

This first-winter Jackdaw that found itself in one of the nets in the front garden was good practise for the training side of things. Aged as a {5}, with clear pointed tail feathers and clear hints of brown in the primaries. If this bird would have been an adult, the tail feathers would have been lovely and rounded and quite broad with an overall glossier appearance.. A great bird all the same!

The morning was also a great opportunity for new trainee Zac, to practise mist-net extraction, ageing and taking wing measurements.

Huge thanks to Mike for letting us ring in his garden and for providing us with cups of tea and coffee throughout the morning.. What will I be ringing next I wonder?!

Rewarded with Ridibundus

2011-03-09T11:16:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Seeing as though we had entered the start of a new month, the night before we made a decision to head up to the Lake District to do some ringing at Bowness-on-Windermere.. Getting a good night's sleep the night before was essential as we were up rather early on Tuesday morning and on the train to Preston before 8am..

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Meeting up with Ciaran and Chris Piner at Preston train station shortly after, the 5 of us headed up to the Lake District to try and catch some gulls and geese.. On arrival, it seemed quite quiet with very few birds around, but throughout the day, things began to liven up.

The main aim of this trip was to try and catch a Black-headed Gull to kick-start the new colour-ringing project - more on this tomorrow! Ciaran successfully hand-caught an adult and seeing as though this was the first bird of the project, we were all exceptionally happy, especially Ciaran and Kane.. This bird was metal ringed and then had a darvic added to it's left leg, biometric data collected and the bird was released - go far my friend!

There was also a very confiding 1st-winter Common gull which was again hand-caught by Ciaran. Also caught during the day were 1 Mallard, 1 Greylag goose and 4 Canada geese. When we are ringing at Windermere, all of our birds that we catch are caught by hand and as we were introducing Zac to this method, he was keen to give it a go and successfully caught a male Mallard!

We also gave the Mute swans here a thorough check, in which we checked that all metal rings were in good condition and that the Darvics were not damaged - resulting in 53 birds being caught and processed.

Arriving back in Preston late afternoon, we said our goodbyes to Ciaran and Chris, whilst Kane and Zaz headed back to Atherton and I headed back to Ormskirk, to visit the parents and to catch up with some washing..

On the Wednesday, myself, Zac, Kane and Ciaran went for a meal in Manchester and a drink, mainly because Ciaran will be leaving us shortly. Ciaran is starting a new job on the Farne Islands in Northumberland as an Assistant Warden for 6 months, so when we will see him again who knows..?

I wish you the best of luck with your new job mate and hope everything goes to plan, I shall be up to see you sometime during the spring and autumn for a light spot of birding!!

After ringing constantly since Friday 25th February, it was finally time to depart and head back to North Wales on the Thursday morning accompanied with Zac.. Huge thanks to Kane for inviting us along for the week, Janine for her kind hospitality, Chris Piner for doing all the driving to the Lake District. See you all soon lads!!!

Mist-netting at Shakerley..

2011-03-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

A visit to Kane's feeding station at Shakerley was next on the agenda for this week. So on Monday morning we went and set the 40ft mist-net near his feeders and retreated back to the car and waited for the birds to arrive.

During the first net-round, we were rather pleased to find a Redwing and a Lesser Redpoll - maybe the start of a productive morning..
As the morning went on, bird numbers seemed to decrease, so we were quite happy with a total of 20 birds for our morning's effort. During the morning we also managed to catch 6 Long-tailed tit, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Reed Bunting, 2 Great tit, 2 Blue tit, Blackbird and Greenfinch amongst several re-traps..

After finishing here, we collected the gear that we would need for our trip up to the Lakes the next day..

More Redpolls!!

2011-03-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's ringing session over at Rindle Road, catching Yellowhammers was a great start to the week's ringing. On Sunday morning, the 4 of us {Kane, Ciaran, myself and Zac} had a leisurely morning's mist-netting over at Michael and Mary's Garden in Worsley - Greater Manchester.

We have visited this garden twice before as this is where we have caught large numbers of Redpolls that are feeding on the Niger feeders.

Take a look at these 2 posts at the large number of Redpolls caught in the garden amongst other species:- http://traineebirdringing.blogspot.com/2011/01/raining-redpolls.html and
http://traineebirdringing.blogspot.com/2011/01/mealy-steals-show.html.

Throughout the morning we caught 21 birds of which 14 were new and 7 re-traps. A Sparrowhawk unfortunately managed to avoid capture..

New birds - 6 Lesser Redpoll , 4 Goldfinch, 1 House Sparrow, 1 Starling, 1 Great-Spotted Woodpecker and 1 Siskin.

Re-traps - 6 Lesser Redpoll and 1 Mealy Redpoll.

We were lucky enough to re-trap the Mealy {Common} Redpoll from previous visits, which was nice to find that it had stuck around for the winter. A male Siskin also brightened up the morning as it was a new species to be ringed in the garden. This mist-netting session was also a good opportunity for Zac to practise extracting birds, as he has recently started to train to ring birds with my trainer, Steve Dodd. Huge thanks as always to Michael and Mary for allowing us to ring in their garden again and for the lovely cups of tea and coffee provided throughout the morning.

Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll and Group shot all photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe..

Ringing at Rindle Road

2011-03-09T02:51:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Eventually 5pm on Friday 25th February arrived, my lecture finished and with bags packed, myself and Zac met at the station where we later hopped on a train; a few hours later we were greeted by Kane at Newton-Le-Willows station, ready for what was hopefully going to be a great weeks ringing. Ciaran then joined us later on in the evening..

Meeting up with Steve Christmas on Astley Moss {SSSI}, at Rindle Road early on Saturday morning. We erected 3 mist nets along the hedge, so to maximise our disturbance in the area. Retreating back to the cars, we waited for the birds to appear. Several hours later we had caught a sufficient 23 birds, which included several nicities such as Willow tit and Yellowhammer.

Other birds caught during the morning included Reed Bunting, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Tree Sparrow. Moving off from here we headed off in convoy to check out a flock of c.40 Waxwings in nearby Westhoughton by the Doctor's surgery. On arrival the birds could be seen sat in a nearby Willow tree and shortly descended to the berries.. Unfortunately, it was too windy to try and catch them..

Grabbing some lunch back in Atherton, we headed to Shakerly where a small pool had formed in the last week, in which Kane had 2 Coot on them just the day before. However, overnight; torrential rain had made the pool into a lake but as we were used to catching Whooper swans this way, we dove right in...

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

If the pool had been smaller we would have been able to catch the 2 Coot, but after a failed attempt to corale them into a small area that we could have caught them in, we gave up as we were somewhat rather wet.. Icy cold water above your waist was enough to tell us it was time to get out.. Many thanks to Steve Christmas for inviting us along..

Drying off back in Atherton, we arranged to net the Redpoll garden in Worsley the following day..

Ringing Roundup!

2011-03-09T02:39:00.000-08:00

Over the last couple of weeks there has been quite a lot of activity on the ringing front, mainly as I have been out ringing more or less every day since Friday 25th February.. This is because I have had my reading week at university and so I decided to try and do as much ringing as possible. Also, after having a great twitch to see the Oriental Turtle Dove in Oxfordshire 2 weeks ago, finding the time to post on the blog proved rather difficult as my workload at university doubled and with the continued need to get my presentation on soil erosion completed and sent in, for 5pm on Monday, there just hasn't been time to update.

Not to worry though as throughout today, I shall give a full update on my ringing activities throughout last week and some other news..

Oriental Turtle Dove!!!

2011-03-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Roger Wyatt

In 2010, every time a rare bird turned up in Britain I would do my very best to try and twitch it! However, after spending far too much money on train fares, travelling hundreds of miles all over the United Kingdom, it soon hit home and twitching began to drain out of my system. Although at the beginning of 2011, I said to myself that I wasn't going to twitch this year, I knew that something would be too tempting and all hell would break loose.

So when an Oriental Turtle Dove {Form Orientalis} turned up in a garden in Oxfordshire, I was hopeful that the bird would stay for some time and that there was a chance of me seeing it. A few weeks passed and time was ticking, as I just couldn't find the time to twitch it. Luckily on Tuesday 22nd February I had the day off and the bird was still there! So the night before, I hopped on a train to Rhyl, where I kipped at Alex's house that night and early the next morning, myself and Alex set off in search of this rare dove.. {If this was last year when I was doing my big yearlist, I wouldn't have left it as long as I did}.

Photographed by Jason Stannage

Seeing as though the bird had been in the area for quite some time, more or less every twitcher had seen it and there were just a few left-overs.. On arrival at 'The Leys' a few birders were in sight and shortly after, Steve Aker in which this was the guy who had found the dove and in his garden too, opened his front door to say that the bird was in the garden, on the bird table!!?

Standing in his kitchen, staring through the window into this superb garden filled with birds, there..sat at the back..was the Oriental Turtle Dove!! Unfortunately it was so hot in the room with 30 or so birders, trying to get a good view of the bird, my bins steamed up, but this was shortly resolved. Ridiculously poor pictures were obtained so attached is an image of the dove in the garden, photographed by Roger Wyatt. What a great picture Roger!!

After satisfying views, we made our way out and sat in the car, munching lunch and dwelling on what we had just witnessed.. A cracking bird! This was the 3rd record for Britain for this race of Rufouls Turtle Dove, as there has only been 2 previous records since 1881!

Moving off from here, the thick fog that had been with us all morning, still hadn't lifted so we decided to give the nearby Drake American Wigeon a miss. Thankfully, we made the right decision as the bird wasn't seen all day.

From here we headed to Willington Gravel Pits in Derbyshire for a Black-Throated Diver. A short walk across a few muddy fields and into a wood and there was the bird..

Although having to view from this distance, good views were had! The bird was on the far section of water beyond the river, quite a way away!

Nearby, a flock of 16 Bewick's swans was a nice way to end a very successfull day's twitching!

To see Alex's account of our Oxfordshire twitch, visit:- http://birdingnorthwales.blogspot.com/.

If you are interested about more information on the bird, it's location and general ecology, to see more information, visit:- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8326275/500-birdwatchers-gather-to-spot-rare-Oriental-Turtle-Dove.html

SCAN 19TH/20TH FEBRUARY 2011

2011-03-04T03:26:00.000-08:00

Since my post from last Thursday, each day from then on has been fully booked; either with mist-netting or a general busy itenary. Before I update on my recent ringing antics, our last SCAN weekend hasn't been mentioned yet so here goes..

As the winter of 2011 is coming to an end now, so too is our cannon-netting along the North Wales coast. So on Friday 18th February, myself, Kane, Zac and Hamza were raring to go.. A meal, a few pints and an early night was in order as we had to be up early the next morning.

The following morning and we were up at 5am and heading towards Llanfairfechan, where 3 cannon-nets were set, in which we were targeting a flock of Dunlin and Redshank. As usual, I was put on twinkling duties; Combined with Rachel and Richard, we managed to make a catch of 27 Redshank and 68 Dunlin shortly after. This was all thanks to Steve who was in constant contact with us with radios.

The fired cannon-net, which caught 27 Redshank and 68 Dunlin.

Soon after, a flock of 47 Redshank landed safely in the catching area and this soon brought our total for the morning to a nice sample of 74 Redshank and 68 Dunlin.

We had a large team throughout the weekend so this enabled us to extract the birds quickly and efficiently, ready for ringing and processing.

When it comes to processing the birds, the team is split into 2 teams; one for ringing and the other for taking biometric data. Here - Myself, Richard de Feu, Ian Lees and Steve Dodd on the processing team taking biometric data.

Once the birds have been ringed they are placed in safe keeping boxes ready to be released.

A few hours sleep and some much needed food inside us, we met again at Llanfairfechan Sewage works for some night time mist-netting. A total of 7 mist-nets were set in gorgeous surroundings and with clear, calm skies, we caught 28 Redshank, 2 Dunlin and superb Juvenile Greenshank! As i'm used to ringing until very late, I wasn't surprised when we finally finished at 00:00 that night!

Hamza Yassin with the Juvenile Greenshank

The following morning we were up at 8am at Beaumaris, where we set 2 nets along the shingle beach. Unfortunately, the birds weren't playing ball during the morning and twinkling was hard work, so only 4 Ringed Plover and 1 Dunlin were caught.

At the end of the weekend, the ringing totals are as follows:- 102 Redshank, 71 Dunlin, 4 Ringed Plover and 1 Greenshank.

Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel and the rest of the team for a productive and successfull weekend's ringing!

Ring Reading in Bangor

2011-02-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

After finding the Herring Gull and Black-Headed Gull bearing Darvics at seperate locations, once I was back in Bangor I was keen to get down to Bangor harbour to have a look and see if there were any more ringed gulls.. Several trips were made at the end of January and a few at the beginning of February with some interesting results..

Myself and Zac spent more than 16 hours down in the harbour trying to read the rings that 3 Black-Headed gulls were wearing! Several packets of chips and many photos later, we had solved their identities.. We managed to obtain the full codes of 2 of the birds but the 3rd bird eluded us!

7T69449 - Brussels
ST239892 - Finland
3.61-.--- - Holland

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

I am not going to be defeated by the last bird so in the next few weeks when I actually have some time spare, I will be down in the harbour in search of that gull and its ring sequence!

Delightful Darvics

2011-02-15T10:29:00.001-08:00

During the last few weeks there has been a clear lack of posting to the blog, which is mainly due to the increased workload at university and not enough free-time.. Since my last post about the intriguing sighting of the Short-eared Owl in Bangor Harbour, my day-to-day life has been somewhat rather busy..

Throughtout the next few days I shall give a full update on my ringing antics..

Taking a look back to my trip to Moore Nature Reserve with Alex Jones, where we were in search of the elusive Lesser-Spotted Woodpeckers, I mentioned that I observed a Herring Gull wearing a Darvic. Reading the Darvic proved rather tricky and with so many gulls roosting on the same lake, the bird just didn't keep still. However, after about 10 minutes of constant obervations and several pictures later, I am pretty sure the Darvic read - 19G0. However, I have recently been informed by Kane that the bird was ringed by the North Thames Gull Group in London, but unfortunately we are unable to identify the individual due to poor pictures. {not so clear in the photos above and below}. I do know that this bird was ringed either at Pitsea or Rainham Landfill site!

In the mean time, this bird wasn't ringed in Britain and so has travelled quite some distance.. This message is aimed at anyone who is a bird ringer abroad - if you read or follow my blog, have you ringed this Herring gull and if so, please contact me through the blog.. cheers!

The other Darvic that I read was at Newton Park Lake at Newton-Le-Willows in Manchester, on 23/1/11. I have to admit, this was a bit of a surprise find! I had been ringing with Kane for the past few days and after being dropped off at the station, I had literally just missed my train home, so a quick look in the park opposite the station was in order, equppied with some left-over butties, this is what greeted me..

This Adult Black-Headed Gull - Red Darvic V374 with white writing, is a bird that was ringed somewhere abroad. If you read my blog have you ringed this bird and if so, please do get in touch..

It makes you wonder what else is lurking in urban parks and other gull flocks?!

Sun, Sea, Chips and s*** me it's a shortie

2011-02-08T12:10:00.000-08:00

Over the last few days the weather has been absolutely atrocious in North wales! Waking up this morning, it was a nice surprise to see the sun shining and cloudless blue skies all around.. Spending the morning in lectures and then having a practical in the module - 'Practical Conservation and Ecology' involving the whole class splitting up into groups and observing taxi registration numbers throughout the whole of Bangor as part of a mark and recapture report, I had had enough by lunchtime and met up with Zac down in Bangor harbour for some birding and to see if I could pick up a few yearticks along the way..

Down in Porth Penrhyn, we found a section of beach where we had a quick scan around! The next thing we know, a large flock of Oystercatcher and Dunlin flush from a nearby embankment and a raptor is in hot pursuit of the flock.. A quick look and bluddy hell - it was a Short-Eared Owl!! With this strange sighting, we queried ourselves as to whether or not it was a winter migrant?!

Photographed by Zac Hinchcliffe

Basing ourselves on a wall down by the boat yard in Bangor harbour, a Peregrine Falcon shot through low, right in-front of us, spooking everything in sight. Next was an Adult Mediterranean Gull that Zac spotted in the harbour. Great stuff!

Alex Jones soon joined us in the harbour on his way home from lectures, he too enjoyed this beautiful adult gull unfortunately with no darvic on!

Other birds seen on our 4 hour break include:-

- 7 Pale-Bellied Brent Geese

- 25+ Common Scoter

- 6 Goldeneye

- 1 Rock pipit

During our break, we also managed to observe 10 ringed Redshank which were more than likely birds we had ringed through SCAN.

Seeing as though Zac had his Canon 40D camera with him and his lense, I had a mess around at some photography as I shall be buying his 30D camera soon..

Here are some of my efforts from today..

Whilst we were down in the harbour we observed 2 foreign ringed Black-headed gulls, however we are missing a few digits from both birds, so we will be back down in the harbour tomorrow morning to finish off the job. This evening we spent our time down at Tesco in Bangor in search of a Pied wagtail roost. To finish a great day off, we found the roost which contained between 100-120 birds so hopefully we will try and have a ringing session in the few weeks and see if we can catch a few, so I will keep you posted on this in due course.. Cheers for now!

SCAN - 5th/6th February 2011

2011-02-06T07:56:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, the weather for last week was forecast to be very wet and windy. The weather forecasters actually got it right for once, so we were in for a wet and windy weekend. Although the weather for the weekend turned out to be alot worse than I originally expected. Unfortunately, this weekend was SCAN Ringing Groups {Shropshire, Conwy and Anglesey} last cannon-netting weekend of this winter and amazingly, after our catch at the weekend - SCAN Ringing Group has successfully ringed just over 404,045 birds since it was set-up!

This weekend I was joined by mates Kane Brides, Craig Brookes and Ciaran Hatsell who drove up to Bangor to give us a hand over the weekend. Throughout Saturday, we began to deal with the fact that the rain wasn't going anywhere. So with a break in the rain, we set 2 cannon-nets quickly and efficiently on different beaches so to maximise our disturbance to the site as the tide was on it's way in. During the morning, we fired both of the nets; resulting in 16 Shelduck, 1 Wigeon, 1 Redshank and 5 Turnstone being caught.

With such a small catch, it gave us more time to concentrate on the criteria we use for ageing these birds. More importantly, it was a chance for other folk to appreciate the birds in the hand and to practise fitting larger rings..

Robin Sandham, new to cannon-netting - holding his first wader - a Juvenile Redshank..
Spending time on ageing the Shelducks enabled us to truley appreciate the beauty of these over-looked wildlfowl.

Craig Brookes and Kane Brides discussing the age of a Shelduck with my trainer, Steve Dodd..
My warden in my flat at university, came along as I had promised him that he could take some photographs for his course and to hold some birds during the weekend.. Hamzar Yassin has had an interest in birds for a few years now, but bringing him along to this weekend, he truley appreciated the sheer beauty of the birds and it was great to show him the birds in the hand that he had been watching during his time at Bangor..
Huge thanks to Steve and Rachel for yet another great weekend's cannon-netting. More thanks to Hamzar Yassin for doing all the driving and transporting us to the sites. Thanks to Kane Brides, Craig Brookes and Ciaran Hatsell for making Saturday night an interesting night out in Bangor, all of us were pretty drunk, but we can't not forget young Zac..

This weekend was Zac's first experience at cannon-netting and he thoroughly enjoyed it! To see other accounts of this weekend, visit:-

- Zac's site @ http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.com/

- Kane's site @ http://birdringing.blogspot.com/

- Craig' site @ http://wwwblackpoolbirder-craig.blogspot.com/

Our efforts on Sunday were ended due to the wind being too strong, so no attempt was made to set a net.. Hopefully, I will be out ringing with Steve in 2 weeks time, as Steve is away this weekend, but check back soon as I plan to get out birding sometime this week..

A net full of tits!

2011-01-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

Throughout the whole of January I haven't been able to get out with Steve, as he has been very busy with work and as I have been busy at university with various reports and exams.. This morning, along with Rachel, Ian and Zac, we had a session over at Caernarfon netting Arthur's large feeders in his garden. The purpose of this visit was to do some valuable training with myself and Ian; as well as to let Zac have his first ringing 'lesson' with Steve as he has started to train to ring birds with us..

To see Zac's account of his first bird ringing 'lesson', visit:- http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.com/

We set 3 other nets in other different habitats behind the farmhouse, just to add a bit of variety to the session as it would be mostly dominated by tits.. Once we were all organised and our ringing station set up, it was time for our first net-round of the morning. At least 40 birds present, mostly Blue and Great tits, so it was good to brush up on ageing tits..

Throughout the morning we caught just under 150 birds, mainly tits but with the odd Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Coal tit. I suppose the best birds have to be 10+ Bullfinch and a Great-Spotted Woodpecker..

If that wasn't enough to tire me out, a game of badminton shortly after once getting back into Bangor sure did...

There won't be any ringing news until next weekend when it is our last SCAN weekend this winter, although there is a chance of cannon-netting Wigeon and Shelduck in Bangor Harbour at the start of this week so I will keep you updated on this..

Other news that brightened up my day was a most welcome chat with Steve.. Once the spring is upon us and and I have found some open-nest pulli, I shall be applying for my pullus endorsement with Steve, ready for the 2012 season.. Stage 1 complete.. I can't wait!

Many thanks to Steve and Rachel for a great session this morning and to Arthur and his wife for supplying us with coffee, tea and biscuits throughout the morning, even though it was -8..

Little Egret heads South!

2011-01-28T12:00:00.000-08:00

Little Egret photo from BTO Website

Just a quick post tonight.. After checking my usual blog list to see what other ringers have been upto over the last few weeks and to see what they have been catching.. I came across this little article on the BTO's website..

I thought seeing as though this was a bird ringed in North wales, it was only right to give it a mention..

This Little Egret was ringed in Bangor, Gwynedd on Saturday 19th June 2010. A few months later the bird was amazingly seen alive in Tenerife on the 3rd and 25th of November.. What a fantastic movement!

For more information on this bird and it's travels visit:- http://btoringing.blogspot.com/2011/01/egret-excitement.html