Redpoll.

Two mist netting sessions at Shakerley this week, resulted in 150 birds being caught. Of these 103 were new, 46 recaps and 1 control. A Redpoll in the net was a nice surprise as was the ring on it's leg (X629161) later we caught another 3 (new) birds.

When catching at Shakerley, the tit species are the most common species to be caught. But this week it was a welcome break to catch a few more finches than normal. A Bullfinch & 4 Goldfinch that we caught, all carrying rings already - had been ringed in my garden 1km away during 2009. These are the first exchanges between the two ringing sites.

Shakerley - Week totals (recaps in brackets)

Bullfinch - 20 (9)
Chaffinch - 10 (2)
Goldfinch - 30 (8)
Greenfinch - 16 (2)
Redpoll - 3 + 1 control.
Great Tit - 7 (9)
Blue Tit - 8 (10)
Long Tailed Tit - 1 (3)
Willow Tit - 0 (2)
Robin - 8 (1)

Ring reading in Ireland.

Just back from spending the weekend in Ireland with Chris Bridge. Mostly a birding trip as Chris wanted to search for Forsters Tern and Ring-Billed Gull around Galway. You can read a report on Chris' blog which should be uploaded in the next few days.

So Friday morning found us in Galway City harbour and after seeing the above birds, we happened to bump into a nice chap called Michael Davis. Michael was taking photos of Black Headed Gull rings and as we helped him to read an Icelandic ring (575839) he invited us to have a look in a big ring bind folder that he had. This was full of A4 paper, each with the heading of a different country and listed beneath were the ringing information for all the gull rings he'd read. To name a few, he'd read rings from - Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Belgium as well as UK ringed birds.

He flicked through to the ''Iceland'' page and was able to tell us that 575839 was ringed on 26/06/2007 at Breidabolstadir and first seen in Galway on 15/10/2007. Amongst the ringing information on this page were familiar Icelandic names such as Sverrir Thortensen and Olafur Torfason!!

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Before leaving Galway on Saturday we had another go at ring reading and managed to read EL59494 (UK). This bird was ringed on 14/6/2005 at Kingsbury Water Park,Warwickshire.

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Next we were off to Dublin to join in, in the Trad Fest celebrations.......and the morning after, with sore heads we dragged ourselves to Phoniex Park and read a Black Headed Gull darvic ring - Yellow 228G. Thanks to Chris Benson for the ringing information on this bird, it was ringed as a pullus on 02/06/2009 at Lough Mask in County Mayo and ours was the first sighting since then.

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It's all happening in Leicestershire

After tip offs from local birders of a lone Whooper Swan in a field in Leicestershire, Julie from Watermead CP went in search to see whether it was our bird - Z3G. Apparently the location was not accessible on foot, so Julie along with a friend sailed to the location. Using binoculars, Julie found the Whooper Swan which seemed ''wild'' and after getting closer the bird got out of the water - revealing a nice shiny yellow darvic ring - it was Z3G!

Although in the company of two Mute Swans, he's now doing what a Whooper Swan should be doing - eating grass and not begging for handouts!

For the record, heres what we have on his movements.
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25/05/2009 - 22/10/2009 - Bowness on Windermere, Cumbria.
30/10/2009 - 03/11/2009 - Kingsmill Reservoir, Nottingham.
11/11/2009 - 17/12/2009 - Watermead Country Park, Leicester.
24/01/2010 - 24/01/2010 - Near Cossington Mill, Rothley, Leicester.
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Thanks as always to Julie (and others) for keeping us posted on this bird and for the above photo.

At last....some mist netting!

At risk of turning this blog into a diary all about Coot & Tufted Duck, heres a Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Caught this week along with - (Recaps in brakets)

Blue Tit - 10 / (4)

Great Tit - 4

Long T Tit - 5 (3)

Bullfinch - 2 (1)

Chaffinch - 2

Goldfinch - 16

Greenfinch - 4

Robin - 1

BUT spurred on by this weeks 167km movement......I couldn't resist trying....

and I did get out to catch some Coot (18 new) and Tufted Duck (3 new) this week.

This morning I spent a few hours with Kieran Foster of Merseyside Ringing Group, aiming to catch Coot in St Helens. Coots were not playing ''ball'' and we ended up with a Tufty instead - a nice ringing tick for Kieran!

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Meanwhile Craig & Ciaran came down to help paint 50 nest boxes that are going up at a site near Lake Windermere - a new project for 2010 aiming to attract Pied Flycatchers. Thanks to Craig & Cia for their help this week....

Whooper to Watermead and now Coot to Watermead!!

Many thanks to Dr Colin Hewitt for getting in touch with me with a sighting of a colour ringed Coot. Whilst Colin and Garry Barker where out catching Coot & Mute Swans at Watermead County Park in Leicester yesterday, they noticed a colour ringed Coot - Red over BTO / Black over Light Blue in the water. This bird was ringed just 9 days ago at Southport Marine Lake making it a distance of 167km to Watermead Country Park!

The week of the Coot & Tufted Duck!

What a week! With catching conditions good for catching Coot and Tufted Duck throughout the week, both myself and Steve have been out on most days catching the above species. With ice covering most of the major ponds / lakes - most of the birds moved onto the bigger waters, but now with the thaw setting in, these birds are moving on.

We've never had such a good week for catching Coot and Tufted Duck but it's not all been fun - bites and scratches covering our hands, getting sore/chapped knees and having my mother on my back for ''coming home again covered in Coot mess'' - I suppose it's all part of the job!

We end the week on 132 new Coot + 6 recaps caught & 56 new Tufted Duck + 3 controls.

Ducks ready to be crated up before ringing.

Today I had a nice morning out with Seumus, Craig and Ian of Fylde Ringing Group. We spent a few hours catching Coot and Tufted Duck in Stanley Park, Blackpool. It was great to recapture or control (in Seumus's case) one of my Coots from Southport Marine Lake that I ringed in 2007 - it's now sporting nice bright colour rings

Meanwhile back at home two Moorhens have been feeding in the garden - will they find the potter traps?!.....

Black Headed Gull.

The Black Headed Gull ring that I read at Pennington Flash the other week was ringed on 01/07/2008 as a pullus on the west coast of Finland at Luoto municipality.