More roost ringing

We were out at the pond again targeting the Swallow roost this evening. A little slower than expected with most Swallows being caught in one hit towards the end. Good to see a young Hobby fly past on numerous occasions too.

127 New birds – Swallow 103, Sand Martin 12, Pied Wagtail 5, Sedge Warbler 4, Reed Bunting 3.

Last orders at the pond please

With high pressure now in charge we went out for a spot of Swallow roost ringing. The recent dry conditions and a lack of standing water meant a number of birds choose to visit our pond for their evening tipple, so somewhat unexpectedly we ended up ringing 14 species, this included a House Sparrow ringing tick for me and younger David.

173 New birds – Reed Bunting 5, Sand Martin 14, Dunnock 1, Great Tit 1, House Martin 2, Yellow Hammer 1, Tree Sparrow 1, Whitethroat 2, Reed Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler, Wren 1, Swallow 131, House Sparrow 9, Pied Wagtail 3.

Hazelnut-brown to bright orange-brown

For a number of birds Svensson describes the difference in eye colour between juvenile and adult birds. As most birds we catch are juveniles it’s rare we get the chance to see the adult eye colour and over the last year I’ve frequently annoyed my trainer by asking him if it’s an adult coloured eye when it’s so blatantly not. Today however, we caught an adult Whitethroat with a good example of a hazlenut-brown eye.

Adult Whitethroat - Ringed on 28 August 2010

It looks like the Willow Warblers have gone and the Blackcaps have now started. Blackcaps were prolific at our site last year so hopefully we’ll get weather as good as last September so we can ring a good number again.

42 New birds and (2) retraps – Song Thrush 1, Wren 2, Long-tailed Tit, Chiffchaff 1, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit, Reed Bunting 2, Bullfinch 1, Goldfinch 18 (2), Blackcap 4, Reed Warbler 1, Chaffinch 4, Swallow 1, Whitethroat 1, Sedge Warbler 1, Robin 1.

Over in Wharfedale we’re continuing to target the swallows and have now ringed over 800 at roost. With high pressure forecast we’re sure to add to this total throughout this week.

An early finish

After a good start to the morning it was an early finish as the wind picked up too much for us to continue. 60 birds were caught and this included a retrap Treecreeper first ringed on 22 July 2006.

58 New birds and (2) retraps – Chiffchaff 1, Willow Warbler 22 (1), Goldcrest 3, Sedge Warbler 2, Chaffinch 3, Whitethroat 7, Reed Bunting 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Blue Tit 6, Blackcap 4, Goldfinch 8, Treecreeper (1)

One in a ?

After a bumper Sand Martin year at Bishop Monkton, we had high hopes for ringing a reasonable turnover of Swallows too. But, they’ve not played ball and have chosen to roost elsewhere - Vice-versa to last year!

In Wharfedale, with Andy, we’ve had more success ringing up to 100 birds in an evening. Somewhat remarkably, with about 300 Swallows caught we’ve managed to control three consecutive ring numbers. What’s the chance of this happening? It’ll be interesting to see how local we are to their ringing location.