Old friends and old haunts.

One of the first people I met when  I started at Manchester University was Andy Swash. I vividly remember sitting in the bar with Andy one Friday evening, soon after I'd joined the bird club at freshers week at Owens Park students residence when in rushed a highly excited Paul Jepson with news of an Arctic Warbler in Hartlepool cemetery. At that time they were a really rare bird in the UK.  The conversation went something like this:

'Andy theres an Arctic Warbler at hartlepool cemetery. I'm leaving tonight to get there for first light. Are you coming'

Followed by: 'who are you'

Introduction from Andy.

'Are you coming as well'

'Umm,yes! "

Four of us crammed into Pauls VW Beetle and duly arrived outside the locked cemetery gates at stupid O'clock the following morning. Three of us settled down in the Beetle to get whatever sleep we could and Paul slept in a sleeping bag alongside the car in the gutter...........

We didn't get any rest. A nearby dog kept us awake all night. A voice from the gutter uttered the immortal words we were all thinking:

'Can't somebody kick that f***ing dog in the b*ll*cks!'

Sometime after a council official came and unlocked the gates and I was soon watching my 1st Arctic Warbler. I seem to recall seeing my 1st Yellow-browed Warbler the same year.

After that introduction I soon became a regular member of the twitching team and another trip took us to Tregaron Bog in mid-Wales which, at the time, was the only place to see Red Kite in the whole of the UK! How times have changed! Another trip took us to Falmouth Bay for Forsters Tern while another saw us at Loch Ryan for King Eider! A longer trip took me to Vorran Island, South Uist for a long staying male Stellers Eider that eventually stayed for 12 years!

We also took regular planned trips to Suffolk, Scotland and Wales for birding weekends with the Manchester University Bird Club. Roll forward to the end of 1981 and Andy, who was a year above me, graduated and moved away. I graduated a year later and moved abroad and so we lost contact. We finally met again at one of our old University lecturers, Dr Mike Hounsomes, funeral in Devon about 5 years ago

Thanks to local birder Steve Holmes, who's been friends with Andy for many years, we finally got to meet up and go birding again. 41 years after the last time! 

We met at Parkgate on a cold and blustery day made all the more bearable by a fabulous display fro mthe wintering raptors on site. Fly by sub adult male Hen Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Peregrine, Merlin and Short -eared Owl were the highlights but large numbers of Pinkfooted geese whiffling down to settle on the flashes in front of us and several Great White Egrets were a close second. Along with the biggest flock of Lapwings  (probably 2,500+ )  that I've seen for many years it was a great few hours birding and reminiscing.

sub adult male Hen Harrier

female Marsh Harrier

Pinkfeet

Short-eared Owl

Andy's career path took a different direction to mine and he's now a successful author with a number of books to his name. I was really touched when he presented me with a copy of his latest book complete with a lovely inscription in the front.

After so many years it was great to catch up and hopefully well have many more birding trips together in the future.

Another successful SCAN canon netting session

My 2nd outing of 2022 took place at the weekend with the target species being Turnstone at Rhos - on - sea. Because of the early tide the nets were set the night before but it ass still only half light when we met up at our designated meeting point to be briefed on the days plans and assigned our different roles. It was, once again great to see some old friends, and catch up with some I hadn't seen for several years!  

Early morning view from the prom at Rhos.

As the tide rose so did expectations as the birds began to move into the catching areas. Some deft 'twinkling' and we were ready to make a catch. The target species was Turnstone and we were fitting each one with an individually marked coloured leg flag above the tarsus and a colour ring below. On a previous trip, in March 2020 we'd fitted a small number of data loggers and the recovery and subsequent analysis of the data will provide valuable information on these birds movements and where they breed as well as migration routes and staging posts. All extremely useful conservation tools. See here for information on that catch).

In the end we caught 46 Turnstone with a few Dunlin, Oystercatchers and Redshank for good measure. Once again I'm always amazed by the difference in shapes of Oystercatcher bills. They exhibit both resource polymorphism, where the bill shape can actually change to take advantage of different food resources, and sexual dimorphism where the bill shape / size is different between males and females. The bill shapes are generally described as being a 'priser' or a 'hammer'. Prisers use their more pointed bill to prise open bivalve molluscs or extract worms from a soft substrate whilst hammerers are a blunt instrument that actually breaks open the shell. I suppose I can relate to that! The photo below of two adult (Euring 8) illustrates this perfectly. The situation is slighlty confusing as males generally have shorter and deeper bills than females but you can find a short billed 'priser' or a longer billed 'hammerer'. Its a great adaptation allowing birds to utilise different food resources.

Once we'd processed the other species attention turned to the Turnstone. Each one was metal ringed above the tarsus before being fitted with a unique red flag with a three letter code on the opposite leg with a coloured 'marker' ring below.

 Each bird is then 'processed' where its age is confirmed, wing, total head and bill length and weight recorded along with its ring number and the flag letters.

As with many other wader species ageing Turnstone can be done on the presence or otherwise of buff tips to the retained juvenile inner median coverts - if they haven't all worn off by this time.

Photos below show an adult (Euring 6 - born before last year) and a 1st winter Euring 5 (born last year).

Turnstone Euring 6

Turnstone Euring 5

Another great day and I was back home by lunchtime! Just as well as I forgot to take the snadwiches I'd made up the previous night! 

Dunlin

 The 1st SCAN canon netting session of the year took place Saturday and the target species were Dunlin. A previous recce, by Tom, had found good numbers roosting over the high tide just outside Beaumaris, Anglesey. Meeting at 08.15 to load the huge amount of gear required for a canon netting session we were soon heading across the Menai Strait  via Robert Stephensons Britannia Bridge to meet up with the rest of the team.

Two small mesh nets were set about 100 metres apart as the sunrise above the surrounding hills. A glorious sight as the suns rays broke through the low cloud and illuminated the hillsides as they drop down to the sea.

Once the nets were set the long wait commenced. Some of the team went off looking for Brent Geese colour rings to read whilst the rest of us hung around the vehicles chatting until it was time to start moving into our designated positions. The spotting & firing team moved to where they could observe the nets and fire when birds were in the right position and it was safe to fire. Backstops were sent to either end of the beach to advise any members of the public what was happening whilst the rest of us (the lifting team) settled down to wait. 

The lifting team usually can’t  see the catching area so we’re kept updated of what was happening via walkie-talkie radio.  It’s always a tense time. Are the nets in the right place? Will the birds turn up? Will something disturb the birds before we can fire the nets? ( usually a Peregrine!).

As the tide rose small numbers of Dunlin started moving onto the beach but not the large numbers seen during the recce. Nerves start setting in properly at this stage but a radio message from Steve saying another 400 Dunlin had arrived filled us with a bit more optimism. Unfortunately the birds weren’t  in the right area so Claire was sent to do a bit of ‘twinkling’ to try and slowly and calmly  get the birds to move slightly so they were in an area where we could catch them and, very importantly where it was safe to make the catch.

With radio instructions from Steve, who was watching from the firing position, she did this to great effect and soon we got the message that Steve was arming the firing box followed by the count down from three and suddenly we were up and running as the nets were fired. 

The lifting team were first to their designated positions and the net was lifted away from the edge of the rising tide before the birds were covered with hessian coverings to keep them calm before being extracted and placed into keeping ready for ringing and processing. The birds would be roosting over high tide and wouldn’t be feeding anyway so keeping them dark, warm & calm in keeping cages isn’t taking up valuable feeding time during these short winter days. 

Keeping cages 

Small mesh net drying on the beach whilst birds are processed

It turned out to be a good catch with 1333 Dunlin (930 new birds and 403 retrap) processed along with 8 Ringed Plover and 2 Turnstone. The Ringed Plover and Turnstone were colour flagged as part of other long term monitoring projects. The Dunlin catch included a few foreign controls as well as at least two colour ringed birds from central Wales. Foreign controls included 4 from Sweden, 1from Poland and one from Norway! 

Polish control

The size of the catch gave a number of trainees plenty of experience in ringing as well as ageing - Dunlin are fairly easy to age as juveniles have buff tipped coverts whilst adults are all white. Occasionally there’s a bird that has retained some juvenile feathers as well as having adult type and these can be more precisely aged. The majority of adults were aged as Euring 6 meaning they were are in at least their third calendar year. The juveniles were all Euring 5 being in their second calendar year and fledged last year. We had one bird that we could age as Euring 7 meaning it definitely was definitely in its third calendar year having fledged in 2020.

Photo below shows a good comparison between adult and juvenile Dunlin wings with the adult being the top bird.

Adult Dunlin above, juvenile below

Dunlin Euring 7

The Ringed Plover and Turnstone were all colour flagged as part of other long term monitoring projects being carried out by SCAN. Colour ringing / flagging is a great study tool as it allows birders to report birds seen in the field whereas as a metal ring on such small birds are virtually impossible to read in the field. This provides even more data for researchers to work with.

Above & below: 2 colour ringed Dunlin from a project in mid-Wales controlled by SCAN

A very long & tiring day but thoroughly enjoyable. I left home in the dark and got home in the dark! 

2021 done and dusted!

I think everyone will be glad to see the back of 2021. Covid 19 lockdowns meant many peoples plans were severely disrupted and many of our plans were put on the back-burner! I managed 4 new species for the year taking my life list up to 531- new birds were Northern Mockingbird, Red-necked Stint and Belted Kingfisher! the 4th was an 'armchair tick' with the long overdue addition of Ross's Goose to the British list. Unfortunately I missed some really good birds by being either to slow off the mark or away! Sulphur-bellied Warbler was one such bird where I dithered about going incase  I couldn't get a boat to Lundy. Hindsights a wonderful thing and in retrospect I should have just gone as there were apparently plenty of seats available on various charter boats. I can't really complain at missing the Varied Thrush on Papa Westray as I was in the Maldives belatedly celebrating my 60th birthday trip that had been rescheduled from the beginning of the year. I ticked two of my most wanted of my all time bucket list on that trip - diving with Manta Rays and best of all Whale Shark!

Most of my birding these days is done within walking distance of our house. Unless I'm twitching something thats where  I prefer to be. An exception to this is our annual trip to Shetland (see write up here). I consider Shetland as my home from home and look forward to our annual sojourn every year. By no means a classic year but good company and we did find a few good birds.

The local patch is mainly improved pasture with some arable and a few ponds - one of which is conveniently opposite my study window and has my telescope trained on it most of the time! It has turned up some good birds and this year I added three new species to the house / patch list (all three were seen from the house!) - Red Kite, Cattle Egret & Goshawk! Looks like I'll have to submit a couple of county rarities forms! Another local highlight was the successful breeding of our local Little Owls. They hadn't bred successfully for three years since the original female was killed by a Sparrowhawk in our garden.

Ringing been a major part of my birding year with regular trips out with SCAN canon netting waders and ringing seabirds on Puffin Island. I didn't get to Hilbre as much as I'd like this year due to various other issues we've had at home but hopefully I'll get across more in 2022. I was on the island when the Melodious Warbler was trapped and ringed and that was a nice addition to my county & Hilbre lists! (see here)

Another highlight was a June trip to Shetland with some good mates. We didn't see the hoped for Orca but didn't do to badly! - see here. Breeding Red-necked Phalaropes and an adult Long-tailed Skua holding territory were pretty good. Coupled with an adult male Snowy Owl on Ronas Hill and some good company it was  memorable trip.

One of the major highlights of my year was undoubtedly my first trip to Bardsey with Chris to help install the Observatories solar system. A steep learning curve for me! Steve and Emma looked after us extremely well and we even got to ring some Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels. A write up on that trip can be read here). A fabulous place and I really don't know why I hadn't been across before.

So, what will 2022 bring? Hopefully we'll all be free of Covid19 and its various mutations. As parents of an Australian citizen we've got a special permit to enter the country and hope to go in February. Amy & Jeremy have bought us a hot air ballon flight as a Christmas present. Taking off from one of the local wineries and then landing for a champagne breakfast somewhere! Another one off the bucket list of things to do before I become too decrepit. Another bird on my all time wanted list is the Australian Regents Honeyeater and their new house is in one of the hot spots for this rapidly declining species. It will be looking like the needle in the proverbial haystack though with an estimated 300 birds left in an area the size of the British Isles! 

Again, we're hoping that a delayed trip to Africa will come off later in the year with a week on safari in the Masai Mara and a week in Zanzibar. I've already booked our accommodation on Fetlar in October and it'll be my 15th consecutive autumn on Shetland.

Heres wishing all my friends and family a Covid free and happy  new year. I'll see you all on the other side.

Osystercatchers with SCAN

 I managed to get out canon netting on Saturday with SCAN with the aim of catching a sample of Oystercatchers and Redshank as part of the ongoing studies on Lavan Sands. An early start saw me up at 5.30 am having breakfast and filling flasks of tea before steering the Landrover west along the North Wales coast road to our designated meeting point.

Because of the early tide the nets had been set the previous night so it was just a case of driving along the farm track to the beach and waiting in the vehicles until the rising tide pushed the birds up the beach to roost. 

After a bit of a nail biting wait as the birds seemed unsettled we made a decent catch of 96 Oystercatchers and 6 Redshank. The Oystercatchers included an Icelandic control with a Reykjavic metal ring and colour rings! 

As usual it was interesting to see these birds close up and refresh knowledge on ageing based on eye colour, bill colour and leg colour. Juvenile birds (Euring 3) have muddy brown eyes and dull greyish legs whereas (depending on their exact age) adults have redder eyes and pinker legs. Juvenile bills are darker tipped than adults as well and generally duller.

Juvenile (3) Oystercatcher with brown eyes, dull dark tipped bill and 

grey / pink legs

Adult (Euring 8) Oystercatcher (furthest from camera) with ruby red eye and bright pink legs compared to juvenile (Euring 3) 

Of course theres a whole load of age groups in between and it enabled everyone to become familiar with these. Compared to small passerines waders are long lived birds and some species can be aged on plumage and soft part characteristics / colours way beyond what is normally possible for small passerines who generally attain full adult plumage after their first post breeding moult in their 2nd year. The adult Oystercatcher above (Euring 8), for example, is at least 3 years old and probably older. The bird below is a  second calendar year bird (Euring 5) hatched last yer. The eye isn't as bright as the Euring 8 bird above and the bill still retains a lot of dark pigmentation and the legs are dull.

Oystercatcher Euring 5 (second calendar year) with dull bill and legs but brighter eye than juvenile.

It was a beautiful and frosty December morning and it was nice to be out and see some familiar friendly faces. With all the birds processed the gear was packed up and I set off back home and a hot mug of tea to warm me up. 

Storm Arwen and local birding

Storm Arwen caused a fair bit of damage in our village. Trees and power lines were brought down and several houses and farm buildings sustained serious structural damage. We escaped relatively unscathed suffering just a power outage for three days and a missing roof tile. The garden also escaped relatively unharmed with just a few branches being blown off some of our trees. Others had to be surgically removed with a chainsaw to save further damage to the tree. 

One thing we noticed in the immediate aftermath was an increased number of Black-headed Gulls and Common Gulls. We only normally see flocks like this during the spring when they're moving to their breeding grounds. Since Arwen we're regularly getting 4-500 gulls feeding on flooded pasture in front of the house. As usual I check them all for either colour rings or something rarer. I was surprised to find an adult winter plumaged Med Gull with them as, again, this is a bird I usually associate with spring movements. 

This one had the bonus of being colour ringed but unfortunately never came close enough for me to read the darvics combination. Very frustrating.

I also picked out at least two separate metal ringed Black-headed Gulls but had no chance of reading those numbers either!

After our recent Cattle Egret (see write up here) and my comments about the scarcity of Little Egrets (even though they breed fairly close) we recently had two Egret days! One day I looked out of one of the the rear facing windows and saw two Little Egrets in with cows and the next day there was one. I'd never have thought 51 years ago when I started birding that I'd see Cattle & Little Egrets in the UK from our rural location. Actually, at nine years old I'd probably never even heard of them!

The gull flock also held this leucistic Black-headed Gull. A very striking looking bird and a useful pointer to the fact that the gulls returning each day were part of the same flock even if the Med Gull hasn't (so far) been seen again.

A bit of garden ringing - winter visitors

 I love winter ringing in the garden. Especially early morning and dusk sessions trying to catch and ring the Redwing that come to fill their crops on our berry laden trees. I don't catch many but its always a thrill to catch one or two each session knowing they've come across from Scandinavia for the winter and will return there to breed in the spring. 

We also get an influx of Blackbirds from Scandinavia and northern Europe in the winter and the majority of these birds are identifiable in the hand by being distinctly bigger with longer wings and a heavier body weight. Young males also tend to have all dark bills such as this bird we caught and ringed at another local site.

Another Scandinavian migrant we've had in the garden recently was this male Brambling. Returning from having my flu jab I went out in the garden to fil the bird feeders and heard a familiar call from the top of a tall beech tree in next doors garden. No sooner had  I filled the feeders and returned to the warmth of the conservatory then this male Brambling flew in with a small flock of Goldfinches and Chaffinches! 

They're less than annual in our garden so it was nice to see one. Unfortunately it didn't hang around for long.

At the moment I'm not able to do any ringing in the garden as the village is in a bird flu 10 km surveillance zone with an outbreak at a poultry farm / processor in Mouldsworth. The second November running theres been an outbreak in the same area!