Birdwatching & Beyond

This Saturday, group members Brian Hopkins, Pete Fearon and Jack Taylor, gave a ringing demonstration to participants of Edge Hill University's Birdwatching & Beyond course. The session at Mere Sands Wood was a massive success as participants were able to see Bullfinch, Reed Bunting, Brambling and Tree Sparrow amongst other more common woodland birds up close and personal.

Brian (left) and Pete showing the participants the finer points of ageing Chaffinches

Brambling To Norway!

This week we received news of some SWLRG ringed birds that have been either caught elsewhere or found dead.

A Lapwing ringed on Banks Marsh as a pullis on 23rd April 1997 was found dead on Penrhyn Beach, Llandudno on 29th December 2010, two days short of 5000 days between encounters at 4998 days!!

Brian and Dave have ringed the majority of the group's Brambling in recent years, one of which has been controlled by ringers in Norway! Ringed as a 5 male in January 2009 it was trapped on 18th November 2010 in Bomyra, Randaberg. The distance between the sites is 489 miles, but due to the nature of Brambling populations, the bird might have taken a different route to the previous year.



Other recoveries included a Goldfinch ringed at Crosby Hall that was controlled on Walney Island, Cumbria and a Kestrel found injured in Burnley that was ringed as a chick at Altcar. You can read about these at Peters blog.

Ringing Totals 2010

It has taken a while, but all 2010 data is now submitted to the BTO and we can provide the ringing results for the year. In total, 6032 birds were ringed of 73 different species.

A few observations from Ian Wolfenden, Group Secretary:

"We handled twice as many birds as 2009, but ringed just less than double- more retraps!

Blue Tit appears to have the honour of being the first species for which we have ringed over 1000 in a year!

Changing fortunes are reflected with more Reed Warblers ringed than Sedge Warblers, more Blackcaps than Whitethroats and more Chiffchaffs than Willow Warblers.

Greatly improved totals for Chaffinch, Goldfinch Greenfinch and Blackbird hopefully reflect increasing populations, while Linnet numbers continue to decline."

SWLRG also ringed our first Cetti's Warbler on Rimrose Valley, posted another good total of Swifts at Fazakerley and continued the Barn Owl nest box program. The increase in the totals can be attributed to an increased effort of group members as well as an increase in the number of sites being opperated.

	Full Grown Ringed	Pulli Ringed	Retraps Processed	Total Handled
Mute Swan	2	0	0	2
Canada Goose	3	0	1	4
Eurasian Teal	1	0	0	1
Mallard	2	0	0	2
Red-crested Pochard	1	0	0	1
Pochard	1	0	0	1
Tufted Duck	31	0	0	31
Sparrowhawk	8	3	2	13
Kestrel	1	13	0	14
Moorhen	3	0	1	4
Coot	9	0	0	9
Ringed Plover	0	2	0	2
Lapwing	0	16	0	16
Woodcock	2	0	0	2
Black-headed Gull	2	0	0	2
Common Tern	0	3	0	3
Stock Dove	0	7	0	7
Woodpigeon	21	0	2	23
Collared Dove	16	0	4	20
Barn Owl	0	33	2	35
Tawny Owl	0	3	0	3
Swift	322	0	27	349
Kingfisher	2	0	0	2
G. S. Woodpecker	32	0	57	89
Skylark	0	5	0	5
Swallow	54	0	1	55
House Martin	207	0	10	217
Meadow Pipit	0	22	0	22
Grey Wagtail	1	0	0	1
Wren	92	0	28	120
Dunnock	138	1	176	315
Robin	237	0	175	412
Stonechat	0	22	0	22
Wheatear	78	0	2	80
Blackbird	301	3	151	455
Fieldfare	3	0	0	3
Song Thrush	27	0	4	31
Redwing	44	0	0	44
Mistle Thrush	1	0	0	1
Cetti's Warbler	1	0	1	2
Grasshopper Warbler	9	6	1	16
Sedge Warbler	16	0	10	26
Reed Warbler	35	1	14	50
Lesser Whitethroat	1	0	0	1
Whitethroat	32	10	19	61
Garden Warbler	1	0	0	1
Blackcap	137	0	13	150
Chiffchaff	71	0	14	85
Willow Warbler	55	0	13	74
Goldcrest	75	0	17	92
Firecrest	2	0	0	2
Long-tailed Tit	202	0	143	345
Coal Tit	91	0	135	226
Blue Tit	1026	108	801	1935
Great Tit	637	23	599	1259
Nuthatch	11	7	17	35
Treecreeper	10	0	5	15
Jay	12	0	2	14
Magpie	9	0	1	10
Jackdaw	0	11	0	11
Starling	35	0	1	36
House Sparrow	4	0	0	4
Tree Sparrow	103	0	34	137
Chaffinch	541	0	90	631
Brambling	60	0	4	64
Greenfinch	494	0	43	537
Goldfinch	496	0	70	566
Siskin	9	0	0	9
Linnet	8	29	0	37
Lesser Redpoll	2	0	0	2
Bullfinch	55	0	41	96
Reed Bunting	97	9	43	149
TOTAL	5979	343	2774	9096

First Cetti's for SWLRG

An excellent day on Rimrose Valley on Saturday produced the first Cetti's Warbler for South-west Lancs RG. The arrival of this first-year female follows the national trend of an increase in this species, that are increasingly spreading northwards. It will be interesting to see if this bird sticks around for the winter, or whether it is just passing through.

Photo's by Ian Wolfenden


PJF

Download the 2009 SWLRG Report

You can download the report here.

Recently, SWLRG have been catching small but steady numbers of Redwing and good numbers of Greenfinch and Reed Bunting at different sites. You can read about Peter Fearon's ringing activities here.

If you are interested in learning to become a bird ringer, you can contact the Group at: swlancsrg (at) googlemail.com

The year so far...

2010 has been a significantly busier year for members of SW Lancs Ringing Group as the annual total of birds ringed in 2009 (a grand total of 3013 birds) had already been surpassed in September. Part of this increase has been down to an increased number of net hours with some members of the group being able to get out more frequently than in 2009 as well as the addition of a new ringing site at Brook Vale on Rimrose Valley Country Park.

Male Reed Bunting (Brook Vale)

So far the group has posted significant totals of Swifts (SWLRG rings between 25 and 40% of Swifts ringed in the UK each year) despite there not being a single Swift ringed since May (due to weather conditions). Unfortnuately Barn Owls haven't had a great year in SW Lancs, with little increase on last years total. Anecdotal evidence suggests a more scattered breeding season with some boxes producing young very early and some boxes were occupied yet, eggs weren't laid until late on. The last box was re-checked only last week following a September visit revealed a bird on eggs, sadly the eggs were cold although two full grown birds were in the box.

Barn Owls

The addition of Brook Vale as a group site has seen a diversification in species on the group totals, with Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler (not ringed in 2009) being caught and over three times as many Blackcaps being ringed at Brook Vale than the group ringed in 2009.

With two and a half months still to go until the annual totals can be collated, there is still a lot of ringing to be done... Let's see what happens!

PJF