End of week total.

Three species of birds ringed this week - 2 Herring Gull, 1 Blackbird and 43 Starling. Starling numbers in the garden have now dropped down, as many of the birds seem to have gone out to feed on the surrounding farmland.

Starling - 43 new + 8 recaps
Blackbird - 1 new + 1 recap
Herring gull - 2 new

= 46 new & 9 recaps.

Having fun with gulls in Wales (as seen on Springwatch)

I'm currently staying and working in North Wales carrying out aerial survey work around the North Wales coast. Last night we stayed in Llandudno and with seeing how Simon King on Springwatch tamely fed the Herring Gulls in Llandudno - I wanted a go! But obviously I wanted to try and catch one or two to ring, so after enquiring with the BTO - to make sure I wasn't going to be ringing in any others ringers area, I was all set. So after arriving in Llandudno, booking into our hotel, we then went in search of food! With KFC bucket & chips bought, we made our way to the sea front and immediately were confronted with a handful of Herring gulls!

With planning on going out for a few drinks after our KFC, I was careful where the birds rear end was!!

I should point out to any ''non ringer'' readers of this blog - that I do have a licence to catch and ring these birds.....

Common Tern ringing,

Up and out early this morning, meeting Dave Edwards at Doffcocker Lodge in Bolton. For the last four years, Dave and I have been colour ringing the pulli Common Terns at Doffcocker. 13 chicks colour ringed today, with 3 more clutches of eggs still being incubated.



Any sightings of these colour ringed Terns or any other ringed birds would be much appreciated and can be sent to http://www.ring.ac/

Black Headed gulls.

Finally, after months and months of planning - we were issued with licences to sail over to the islands on a Reservoir in Cumbria to ring young Black Headed gulls. It is reported that during the breeding season - the island holds between 1000 - 2000 pairs of Black Headed gulls.

A very happy Craig and Steve on leaving the island!

226 young Black Headed gulls ringed.


Many thanks to the following people who have helped us with advice, gaining access and ringing the birds- Cath Ferguson (British Waterways), Jez Blackburn & Sam Birch (BTO), Fred Gould, Peter Lawson, Robin Sellers, Stephen Christmas, Craig Brookes, Ciaran Hatsall and Chris Bridge.

Jay.

A few weeks ago I noticed a pair of Jays in our local cemetery and after a bit of detective work I managed to find their nest. Unfortunately it was at the top of a very spindly Holly tree and there was no way the tree would have held my weight!

So I sent a mirror on a pole up the tree in order for me to monitor the contents of the nest. They laid 4 eggs, all hatched and this week were due to fledge. The only way for me to get at them to ring was to monitor them carefully and check the nest & tree each day for fledged youngsters.

The first two fledged today and branched to a nearby tree - allowing me to climb it and retrieve one of the birds (the other was too high up the tree!).

After ringing and a quick photo shoot, he was placed back in the tree.

And the Starlings just keep on coming!!

During the spring/summer I can work from home (on most days) which means while one eye is focused on the computer screen the other is constantly watching the nets and traps in the garden. It's been another great week in the garden for ringing, especially for those Starlings! 90 birds have been caught this week - 77 of those are newly ringed birds and 13 were recaps. This brings the total to 158 Starlings ringed during the last 2 weeks.


Also ringed this week - 4 (brood) Swallow, 4 Blackbird and 3 Wood pigeon.

Swallow and Lapwing.

Out with Steve last night checking our Kestrel box at Botany Bay Woods in Grt Manchester. Unfortunately, despite a few sightings of the Kestrels sat in the entrance hole of the box - it was unoccupied .

We decided to check to see if any Swallows were ready for ringing. Most of the nests contained eggs but one nest had ringable chicks.

Then a quick check in the fields to look for Lapwing, finding two chicks.

Starling week!

102 birds handled since coming back from the Lake District on Tuesday. 100 of these are new birds and 2 were recaps. The majority of the new birds are Starlings, as a number of the nearby houses held breeding pairs and they fledged their young this week.

Also ringed -

brood of 3 Goldfinch

brood of 4 Reed Bunting + one 1J

brood of 8 Great Tit + 1 adult.

7 Blackbirds (brood of 5 + two 3j's)

brood of 4 Magpie and a brood of 2 Wood pigeon.

Totals from 27th - 31st

Starling - 70 new +1 recap

Goldfinch - 3
Reed Bunting - 5

Great Tit - 9

Blackbird - 7 new + 1 recap

Magpie - 4

Wood Pigeon - 2 = 102.

Update.

18/05/2009 - 26/05/2009.

Just back from ringing in the Lake District so thought I would provide an update for the ringing that has been carried out over the last week or so.

19th May saw us checking our boxes in Atherton Woods and ringing most of the pulli - 132 Blue Tits (2 recaps adults), 36 Great Tits and 8 Nuthatch were ringed.

Then early morning on the 20th we did a bit of mist netting at one of our reed bed sites, catching 7 Reed Bunting (1 control), 3 Sedge Warbler, 2 Starling, 3 Song Thrush and 1 Mallard. A male Cuckoo was mingling very close to our nets, but unfortunately not close enough!

21st & 22nd ringing in my Atherton garden, yielded 14 birds - 1 Robin, 9 Starling, 1 Wren, 2 Goldfinch and 1 Blackbird.

On the 23rd a team of us headed up to the Lake District to carry out ringing, nest recording and atlas work around the Windermere area.

On the 23rd we set up to catch at a river in Ambleside and after a short while we were rewarded with - 3 Dippers and 2 Goosander.

The 24th produced - 2 Grey Wagtail, 3 Dipper, 1 Dunnock and 1 Mallard.

The morning on the 25th was spent catching Mute Swans at Bowness on Windermere. 19 new Mute Swans ringed along with 1 Whooper Swan and 1 Canada Goose. A brood of 5 Blackbird also ringed.

2 Swallow ringed on the evening of 25th.


Thanks to all ringers involved over the last week and also thanks to the Landowners for permission to accessing their land.

Full totals.

Blue Tit - 132 + (2 retrap)

Great Tit - 36

Nuthatch - 8

Reed Bunting - 6 + (1 control)

Sedge Warbler - 3

Goldfinch - 2

Wren - 1

Dunnock - 2

Robin - 1

Blackbird - 11

Song Thrush - 3

Starling - 11

Wood Pigeon - 1

Mallard - 2

Swallow - 2

Grey Wagtail - 2

Dipper - 7

Goosander - 2

Canada Goose - 1

Mute Swan - 19

Whooper Swan - 1 = 253.

Busy busy busy!

A busy two days (19th & 20th) with 190 birds ringed. Again most are Blue & Great Tit young but other birds also ringed - Nuthatch, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Starling, Dunnock, Reed Bunting, Sedge Warbler, Wood Pigeon and Mallard. A full update next Wednesday when I come back from a ringing trip in the Lake District.