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

Group Report 2009

After a few drafts and redrafts, the 2009 South-West Lancashire Ringing Group's Annual Report is now available to buy for £5 including postage.

The report features a summary of the groups activities last year as well a couple of extended reports, including:

Results from monitoring Barn Owls in SW Lancs by Tony Duckels
Ringing Swifts (Apus apus) at Fazakerley by Pete Fearon
Ringing Wheatears (Oenanthe oenanthe) on Sefton coast by Jack Taylor

If you would like a copy, email SWLRG at: swlancsrg (at) googlemail.com

Publications

We are currently in the process of converting some of the groups articles into pdf format to be hosted here on the blog for people to read and download...

Check out the publications box on the right of the blog and click the link!

We have just uploaded an excellent article by Ian Wolfenden on his work nest recording in the Hightown Dunes.

PJF

Edge Hill University Ringing Demonstration

On Saturday, group members, Dave Fletcher, Brian Hopkins, Pete Fearon and Peter Fearon gave a ringing demonstration to students from Edge Hill University at Mere Sands Wood. Despite the breeze, almost twenty birds were ringed and the students got to see species such as Bullfinch, Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting. Participants were also shown around the nets in small groups and shown how the birds are ringed, sexed, aged and measurements taken.

Dave Fletcher shows participants the finer points of ageing Blackbirds

PETER FEARON