Pigeon Passage

This morning it finally felt like autumn!  I stepped out the back door just after 6am and was greeted by a distinct chill and a beautifully crystal clear starry sky. A little later, just after the sun rose over Beer Head, it looked and felt equally as autumnal....

I knew the bushes were going to be quiet, but I was hoping for some good vis mig. Well, Pigeons certainly didn't disappoint.  Whilst here, and birding at other sites later in the morning, I had just over 8,000 Wood Pigeons fly west.  Some of the flocks were obviously spooked by something, and came tumbling down from high and continued flying west only just above head height.  Love hearing the 'woosh' followed by the sound of their powerful wing beats...

There were quite a few Stock Doves mixed in, and the odd flock of Jackdaw too.  It's a real shame cloud and rain came in just after 9:30, as it could have been a really big day for them. 

Forgetting the Pigeons, the vis mig was disappointing, with not that many smaller birds moving - although this could have been because they were passing ultra high due to the clear skies and light winds.  I suppose the highlight was a high flying very vocal Bullfinch going west - don't tend to see that many of these on vis mig. Otherwise it was just relatively small numbers of Skylarks, Linnets, Chaffinches, Reed Buntings, alba Wagtails and Meadow Pipits.

I did have a good 'vis mig' bird on Sunday, during a dog walk with Jess.  Whilst walking along Harbour Road in Seaton (the road just inland and running parallel with the sea front), the gulls went up and for a change I could immediately see why - a Kite!  Sadly it was just a Red Kite, but still great to see as winter records remain pretty scarce in Devon.  It flew almost directly above us as it followed the road east, then when it got to the Estuary began to spiral up before I lost it as it circled over Axe Cliff.  My rapid right hand meant the texts got out whilst I was still watching it, and amazingly Bun managed to see it from Seaton Hole!

I'll finish this post with a couple of off-patch photos.  We took the dog to Stover CP last Saturday, and I was pleased to see a pair of Mandarins in one of the arms of the main lake...

Back Home For The Day

Long-term readers of this blog will probably have noticed a lack of moth-related posts so far this year. Is that a good or a bad thing? Well for me a bad thing, but I'm sure some of you are pleased about it!

Throughout the spring I kept reading on Twitter about disappointing number of moths across the UK, so just didn't bother. Recently though I've been seeing plenty of moth photos about, that coupled with promising looking conditions (little wind, plenty of cloud cover and night-time temps in double figures) on Sunday night had me digging out my Robinsons at Mum and Dads. Really pleased I did too!

On Monday morning I had 72 moths of 27 species. Heart and Dart was the most numerous species (12) and a Silver Y the only immigrant. Some of the rest looked like this...

Puss Moth - only the second I've ever caught in the garden, a big and stunning moth.

Peach Blossom - I always go 'wow' when I see one!

Green Carpet

Buff-tip - not doing a very good job of blending in though!

Purple Bar

Scalloped Hazel

Treble Lines, the usual 'classic' form on the left and a example of the obscura form on the right

Whilst I was up Mum and Dads, I put a net up in the front garden too.  Two more Bullfinches ringed made it 43 trapped and ringed here now, although this was only the second time I've netted here in the 12 months.  I only ringed one Bullfinch here in 2013, ten in 2012 and an amazing 30 in 2011!   The best bird ringed though was this beautiful just fledged Coal Tit....

Such lose juvenile body feathers - I love a nice fresh '3J'!

Must just mention that I learnt more about Bee-eater sightings after my last post.  James M had the one past Charmouth at 09:20, but a message came out the next morning that four flew past here almost at the same time.  The bird James saw looked to be on its own, so the four must have taken a different route or gone through just before he got there - so it looks like it was a four and a single that joined up here on patch.  There's currently five lurking in Hampshire somewhere, so possibly after they flew off on Sunday afternoon, they dropped down into the valley and then followed it inland before turning back east?

If whoever saw the four over Charmouth reads this, olease drop us a email or comment as it would be good to learn more....

Back To Basics

Well after a very enjoyable and exciting fall on Tuesday, and a excellent sea watch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (so far) have been somewhat dire!

Yesterday, the best I mustered were my first White Wagtails of 2012 (late or what - I often see my first in March!). Two males were on Black Hole Marsh early morning, before flying off north.

This morning, the Beer Cemetery Fields produced just half a dozen Willow Warblers, two Swallows and a singing male Whitethoat. I was hoping for much MUCH more than this, because after a mostly clear night there was some decent clover this morning.

Today's blog post photos are going to have to come from some garden bird ringing. I've had the net up between showers today and yesterday as lots more birds are coming into the garden at the moment - especially finches. In fact about ten minutes ago I ringed the 150th Greenfinch for the garden (since June 2011).

Another small landmark was reached yesterday, with my 35th Bullfinch for the garden. It was a cracking second calendar year (aged 5) male, and below is a comparison shot of its open wing (above) with an adult male (below - taken on 27th Feb). Note the big red arrows pointing to the greater coverts and the key difference...

note the much broader whiter tips on the retained juvenile feathers on the younger bird. My fat thumbs are obscuring the carpal coverts on these birds, which is also a key ageing feature for Bullies.

Also this morning, I was rather surprised to catch this recently fledged juvenile Dunnock...

Don't worry, it was reunited with 'Mum' (or Dad?) upon release

An Armchair Tick

....well sort of anyway!

Bun texted me last night to say I had missed Purple Heron off my patch life list on Bubo. Quite how I did this I don't know, because that Purple Heron (April 2011) was one of the best birds I've ever seen here! It is just so great when you get a lifer on patch, and Purple Heron was a bird I always said I'd never twitch because one day one would surely drop in here (and be twitchable). And to see it so well too - one epic bird! So, thanks Bun for the text (and Phil for finding the Purp!), patch life list on 244.

A little more birdie news for yesterday. I dipped on the three Little Ringed Plovers on Black Hole Marsh last night, but three Swallows north were my first of the year, and at dusk 40+ Sand Martins descended upon Black Hole Marsh.

Now to today, and I was hoping to wake up to cloudy skies and lots and lots of birds! A quick peek out the curtain at 06:30 revealed clear skies and just a whisper of high cloud - so I tucked myself back into bed! When I did get up an hour later, and after an hour of laptop work, a quick look at the Portland Bird Obs website showed a tweet from Martin saying they'd had a pulse of migrants through this morning. So that tempted me up to the Beer Cemetery Fields.

We either hadn't had this 'pulse', or I'd missed it. Three Willow Warblers, two Wheatears and the usual Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were all I noted. The Wheatears were rather nice - both very smart males. On this blog, the average Wheatear photo usually looks something like these...

The two from this morning

So it was nice when one of the birds allowed me to take this...

Not pin sharp - but nice and close nevertheless!

Also saw my first Speckled Wood of the year. I know I'm quite late at this - but it's a good excuse for another photo...

The Lumix is great for subjects like these - as long as the auto focus picks the right bit to focus on!

To mop up all the bird related blog worthy news, whilst writing this blog post I've had a net up in the front garden. And I've just ringed Bullfinch number 34! A cracking 5 (2cy) female.

I realised in my last blog post I didn't mention the content of my moth trap last Friday night. So here it is. 26 moths of 9 species included;

1 Water Carpet
1 Shoulder-stripe
3 Double-striped Pug
3 Early Thorn
7 Common Quaker
5 Small Quaker
3 Hebrew Character
2 Clouded Drab
1 Pale Pinion

So nothing outstanding, but it was nice to see a few new ones for the year.

Garden Ringing

I've had lots of laptop work to do lately, so have had the net up it the front garden quite a bit over the past week.

It's been really interesting, no unusual birds, just some interesting observations.

Throughout the winter, when I caught a Robin it was always a bird that I first ringed in the garden in Sept '11. But within the last week I have caught three new Robins, which certainly indicates movement - whether it be just local or more long range?

Throughout last late summer/autumn, I was amazed at the numbers of Bullfinches I was catching. On 26th Dec 2011 I caught my 30th Bullfinch in the garden. Since then, any Bullfinch I've caught has been a retrap. Well that was until two days ago, when I caught two new unringed Bullfinches (so that's 32!). Including this stunning adult male...

The wing of a 6M Bullfinch

Blackcaps have totally dried up now. Since 27th January the only Blackcaps I've seen in the garden, or caught have been ringed. But before that (and after 22nd November) I ringed 15 Blackcaps. Pretty impressive I think!

Boxing Day Blues

The most depressing day of the year. Still feeling sick with all the chocolate from the previous day, and am stuffed to the brim with turkey and Christmas pud! And, worst of all, Christmas is over and it aint back for another 364 days! I hate it.

So I thought I'd make it a little better by doing some ringing and birding....

A couple of hours ringing in the garden only resulted in two birds trapped and ringed. They were quality birds though, one a male Blackcap and the other the 30th Bullfinch that I've trapped and ringed in the garden (all since June 2011). And here he is...

A young male

A had a look along the Estuary mid afternoon too. There was nothing in with the big gulls, but seven Meds were in with the Black-headed Gulls; 1 1st winter, 1 2nd-winter and 5 adults (1 red ringed, 3 unringed and 1 legs not seen).

I hope everyone had an excellent Christmas. Better make a start on the 'review of the year post' really...

Post Weekend Update

Well actually there is very little to update people on!

I have been out birding a couple of times though over the last couple of days, which makes a nice change - but I haven't seen anything worthy of mention.

I had a net up in the front garden this morning again, and have now ringed a total of 19 Bullfinches. I caught a twentyith bird too, but had to release it without ringing as it had a nasty case of 'Bumblefoot'. It's the first time I've seen this virus on a bird other than a Chaffinch.

Bullfinches are very easy to age (unlike some of their Green cousins!). We all know what a juvenile looks like...

Big obvious pointer being no black cap!

And this is the wing of a second calander year female (aged 5 - born last year)...

Left arrow is pointing at a browny-buff edged primary covert (much whiter in older birds) and the right arrow is pointing at the step in the secondaries, with the four to the left of the arrow tip being first generation feathers (it would have grown these in the nest last year) and second generation feathers to the right (these would have been moulted in last autumn).

Hopefully I will have a wing of an adult female Bullfinch to post soon - just to complete the comparison. I have actually got one, but my finger is right over the primary coverts, so it would be pretty pointless posting it!

Despite the rain and force 100 SW wind on Friday night, I put the moth trap out to continue my recording for the Garden Moth Scheme. I wasn't expecting anything, so 36 moths of 7 species came as a bit of a surprise, although there weren't any surprises in amongst them...

4 Heart and Club
25 Heart and Dart
1 Flame
1 Uncertain
1 Ingrailed Clay
3 Dark Arches
1 Burnished Brass

Looks like we are in for a week of lovely weather.....!?!?

Two Weeks Down And One Ton Up

So it's the end of my second week of ringing in the garden, this week though I have had less opportunities to put a net up. I have still managed to catch a total of 102 birds so far - so exciting!

No big surprises - although Bullfinches continue to flood in! In the last post I mentioned how I had caught five adult Bullfinches in my first week, with three unringed birds still coming to the feeders... Well I have now caught an incredible 15! I just don't know where they are all coming from!???

So what we thought were no more than four birds, are actually (with at least two unringed adults and three unringed juveniles still in the garden) 20! 14 of the Bullies I've caught were adults; nine males and five females - I'm surprised I have only caught one juvenile as young birds always seem to be less net aware. All the females I have caught have shown nice brood patches, like this one...

Looks gross doesn't it!?

It was nice to catch a couple of juvenile Goldfinches, and Greenfinches seem to have had an excellent breeding season with juvs flying into the net left right and centre!

Since my last post, I've only had one moth trapping night - last Friday. It was a bit wet, quite windy, so not very productive. I only caught 34 moths of 5 species...

1 White Ermine
1 Heart and Club
28 Heart and Dart
3 Ingrailed Clay
1 Beautiful Golden Y

This was only the second Beautiful Golden Y I've ever caught in the garden - so trapping was worthwhile

I have done very little birding on patch this past week - with a Hobby low west over Colyford the best of what I've seen. I saw it whilst searching for the bird that has gripped us all!!!!!

Now time to go totally off topic!

Last weekend, due to a friend's birthday, I enjoyed a trip to the Zoo. And here are a few pics from our day out to complete this blog post....

A Week Of Ringing

First of all, I'm going to get the negative part of this post out of the way...

Actually, I can't bring myself to write about it on here, so you will have to read about it here - would have been a patch tick!

I also dipped the Grey Plover today, looks like it departed the previous night. There was a Lesser Whitethroat though singing south of the track to Black Hole Marsh.

Ok, negativity over...

I have been an active C ringer for exactly a week now - though have restricted myself to my front garden just to see how it goes.

My front garden isn't that big, so I have only had one 20 foot net set...

The sun showing the net up nicely here - notice the 'cat scarer' on the lawn behind!

Out of the seven days, I've had a couple of full mornings with the net up, one half morning, and a couple of afternoon efforts. During this time I have trapped and ringed 57 birds - and this has included and shown some real surprises...

We've not seen a Marsh Tit in the garden for about a year, at least. So I was very surprised to be extracting one from the net at 10:10 this morning! The bird was a scuffy adult female, it had started its primary moult and had a brood patch which was just beginning to feather over. Be nice to think it had bred locally - and successfully...

What a treat!

Coal Tits have been rather scarce in the garden of late too, but I caught two within ten minutes of each other on the 6th! Both of these had also started their main moult - but these three Tits were the only adult birds I caught that had begun their post breeding moult.

For the past few months, most times I've looked out the front window there have been between one and three Bullfinches feeding on or under the feeders. So I was expecting to catch some - but I wasn't expecting to catch FIVE and still see at least THREE unringed birds still visiting the garden today! So what we thought were three birds, have actually been at least eight!!!

An adult male Bullfinch - stunning!

Goldfinch is another bird that we think there are only one or two of visiting our garden. I have only caught four, but there are still unringed birds coming in to our niger seed. I caught a pair together this morning, which offered a nice comparison of the two sexes...

Male on the left, female to the right

We haven't seen a Song Thrush in the garden since the winter. Yesterday afternoon out of the blue - I heard one, and at 07:05 this morning I caught one! She had a nice brood patch, so hopefully has some chicks in a nest somewhere near by.

So that's 13 of the birds that I've ringed, with the rest being a selection of the more usual garden critters. I just had to take a photo of this young female Greenfinch that I caught this morning....

With new ones growing!

This is a good example of how rather simple ageing techniques can become complicated! Tail shape is a good way of ageing most passerines, as young birds tend to have much more pointed tipped tail feathers than older birds. But when a young bird like this loses all its tail feathers, the feathers it grows in their place are blunt/rounded-tipped adult type feathers!

I am always impressed with the true picture that ringing shows. There arethe Bullfinches I've already mentioned, but it applies to the even commoner garden birds too.

How many people look out into their garden, see a Blackbird and think 'oh - there's the Blackbird collecting food for his/hers youngsters again'... I've caught two adult female Blackbirds in the front garden so far, and this afternoon there was an unringed female Blackbird picking around for food on the front lawn! Daily we grossly underestimate bird numbers - and ringing proves that so well.

Right I must go to sleep now, I have a Starling to look for in the morning....

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow....

On Friday morning I woke up to this....

Lots of snow falling

I then spent Saturday in Taunton, being amazed at how much snow there actually was! Little did I know what was around the corner...

This morning, within two hours (between 06:30-08:30) a colossal amount of snow fell. All the main roads have been impassable, at work we haven't have any deliveries all day, no post, etc...so proper snow!

I've lived here 19 years and I've not seen it like this before....

Proper deep snow!

Today wasn't going to be a birding day, but the action in and over the garden has kept me glued!

Had one garden tick today - a bit of a good one too! At 9am five Woodlark flew north west over the back garden. I was quite surprised by this as there didn't seem to be as many Skylarks on the move as there had been the previous couple of days. A few Snipe and stacks of thrushes were also noted going over.

In the actual garden, well it has been mayhem!!!

Have had five species of the thrush, the highlight being the Mistle Thrush that landed on the front lawn for all of three seconds before flying away - so no pics of him. There's plenty of Redwing pics though...

There were always 10-20 in the garden, but birds were continually flying off and being replaced by 'new' ones

At least six Song Thrushes also seen...

Song Thrush and Redwing

And a few Fieldfare...

These always stayed high in the berry trees though

Other non-thrush bird included up to four Blackcap...

Three of them looking like this one

Four Bullfinch....

Three of them looking like this

Two Pied Wags, a heap of Long-tailed Tits and a female-type Black Redstart.

Just outside the garden, there were bucket loads of thrushes....thousands of them! Most thawed bits of road/verge had a Meadow Pipit or two, and a few houses down a male Black Redstart sat up proud...


And then began feeding on the berry's of some ornamental palm tree like thing...

Check out the ice on his feet!

But, although the birding has been just incredible, I feel sooooo sorry for them all. I just hope this doesn't last long. In the mean time - please keep feeding your garden birds!