RINGING SESSION 20 - 2012

22/09/2012  Blackcap numbers are starting to build up now, 30 being the highest day total so far this autumn. There also seems to have been an influx of reed buntings. 

JAY - PRIMARY COVERTS (21.09.12)

Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (30,1)
blue tit (1,0)
bullfinch (0,1)
chiffchaff (2,0)
great tit (1,1)
long-tailed tit (0,1)
reed bunting (8,0)
reed warbler (1,1)
robin (1,0)
whitethroat (1,0)
wren (2,2)

DAY TOTALS: 47 ringed (9 species), 7 retraps

NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: grey heron, meadow pipit & sparrowhawk

RINGING SESSION 19 - 2012

21/09/2012 This morning's highlight was a Cetti's warbler. This was the 6th record for the site (the first was ringed in 2002); all have been in August or September.


CETTI'S WARBLER


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  


blackcap (17,1)
blue tit (0,3)
bullfinch (1,1)
cetti's warbler (1,0)
chiffchaff (7,1)
coal tit (1,0)
goldcrest (2,0)
jay (1,0)
long-tailed tit (2,9)
reed bunting (2,2)
wren (0,1)

DAY TOTALS: 34 ringed (9 species), 18 retraps
NEW SPECIES: Cetti's warbler & coal tit

OBS:sparrowhawk

RINGING SESSION 18 - 2012

16/09/2012  Our first jay of the year this morning was a bit of a handful. Technically a 'songbird', a jay can weigh in at up to 200 grams, which is the equivalent of 40 goldcrests!

JAY

Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (1,2)
blackcap (20,0)
blue tit (2,3)
bullfinch (1,2)
chiffchaff (7,1)
great tit (0,2)
jay (1,0)
long-tailed tit (5,7)
robin (2,0)
wren (1,1)

DAY TOTALS: 40 ringed (9 species), 18 retraps
NEW SPECIES: jay

OBS: migrant hawker

RINGING SESSION 17 - 2012

13/09/2012  We are now in the peak blackcap migration period. But numbers of this species continue to disappoint, reflecting a very poor breeding season. Nevertheless, blackcap was "top bird" this morning, numbers-wise. But it was a goldcrest (below) that caught our eye; goldcrest is the UK's smallest bird species, weighing less than half a Jaffa Cake!  

Willow warblers continue to linger, but the last of them will be heading for Africa very soon.

GOLDCREST (JUVENILE MALE)

Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (13,1)
bullfinch (1,0)
chiffchaff (4,0)
garden warbler (1,0)
goldcrest (1,0)
grasshopper warbler (1,0)
reed warbler (1,0)
robin (2,0)
whitethroat (1,1)
willow warbler (2,0)
wren (1,2)

DAY TOTALS: 28 ringed (11 species), 4 retraps
NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: kingfisher, reed bunting, siskin

RINGING SESSION 16 - 2012

09/09/2102  Dawn was spectacular this morning, as it often is at this time of year, with the Gordano Valley shrouded in mist.

DAWN IN THE GORDANO VALLEY

 
Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (1,0)
blackcap (16,2)
blue tit (1,0)
bullfinch (0,1)
chiffchaff (6,1)
goldfinch (2,0)
great tit (1,0)
reed warbler (2,0)
robin (2,2)
sonth thrush (2,0)
wren (1,1)

DAY TOTALS: 34 ringed (10 species), 7 retraps
NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: siskin

RINGING SESSION 15 - 2012

 05/09/2012  Our first grasshopper warblers of the season were caught this morning. Peak passage is usually during September and we're hoping for lots more this month to make up for the dismal summer. Our best year for this species was 2001 when we caught 39.
 

GRASSHOPPER WARBLER


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (9,2)
blue tit (1,0)
chiffchaff (4,1)
grasshopper warbler (3,0)
long-tailed tit (4,1)
reed warbler (2,0)
robin (1,0)
sedge warbler (5,0)
song thrush (1,0)
whitethroat (1,0)
willow warbler (8,0)

DAY TOTALS: 39 ringed (11 species), 4 retraps
NEW SPECIES: grasshopper warbler

OBS: buzzard, roe deer fawn

RINGING SESSION 14 - 2012

01/09/2012  This morning's visit was the last CES session of the year. The highlight of the morning was our first blackcap of the year weighing 20 grams or over - always a good indication that the autumn migration is well underway. Y103813 weighed in at 23.1 grams. At our site, lean blackcaps average about 17g, so 23.1g represents a fat loading of 35%. Our all-time heaviest (fattest) blackcap weighed in at a whopping 25.6g! 


BLACKCAP DRAWING - R.J. PRYTHERCH


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (5,4)
blue tit (2,0)
bullfinch (3,0)
chaffinch (2,0)
chiffchaff (5,1)
goldcrest (0,1)
long-tailed tit (1,1)
robin (1,3)
wren (2,0)

DAY TOTALS: 21 ringed (8 species), 10 retraps
NEW SPECIES: chaffinch

OBS: green woodpecker, great spotted woodpecker & brown hare

RINGING SESSION 13 - 2012

25/08/2012  This morning we retrapped blue tit V415348, a female that we first caught (and ringed) five years ago, but not in the intervening period. Where has she been?  While unusual, this is by no means a record. Our oldest retrapped blue tit was 7.5 years (between ringing and recapture). Quite impressive for a small songbird with a typical lifespan (for a bird reaching maturit of only) 3 years. The maximum recorded age of a blue tit in the UK record is 9 years and 9 months - see BTO Birdfacts.



BLUE TIT (ADULT)


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (3,2)
blue tit (1,2)
bullfinch (0,1)
chiffchaff (1,1)
great tit (0,1)
long-tailed tit (2,3)
reed warbler (1,0)
robin (1,0)
wren (1,1)

DAY TOTALS: 10 ringed (7 species), 11 retraps
NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: common darter (lots of them)

RINGING SESSION 12 - 2012

19/08/2012  Nothing of note to report, other than our first goldcrests of the year.


SEDGE WARBLER 15.08.12


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were: 

blackcap (2,1)
blue tit (2,1)
chiffchaff (6,1)
goldcrest (2,0)
great tit (3,0)
long-tailed tit (6,0)
reed warbler (1,1)
robin (1,1)
willow warbler (1,1)
wren (2,0)

DAY TOTALS: 26 ringed (10 species), 6 retraps
NEW SPECIES: goldcrest

OBS: roe deer

RINGING SESSION 11 - 2012

15/08/2012  This morning's session marked our 250th CES session. We haven't missed CES since joining the Scheme in 1992. We had planned a cake to celebrate, but settled for a fry-up and some bunting!

Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (4,0)

blue tit (1,0)
bullfinch (1,0)
chiffchaff (9,0)
dunnock (0,1)
garden warbler (1,0)
goldfinch (2,0)
great tit (3,0)
long-tailed tit (3,2)
reed warbler (4,0)
sedge warbler (1,0)
willow warbler (6,2)

DAY TOTALS: 35 ringed (11 species), 5 retraps
NEW SPECIES: garden warbler & sedge warler

OBS: grey heron, great spotted woodpecker, peacock butterfly & silver-washed fritillary

LOCAL RECOVERY: REED WARBLER X997979

We were recently notified that a reed warbler, ringed by GVRS in August 2011, was subsequently 'controlled' (caught and released by another ringer) at Portbury Wharf Ringing Station (PWRS) 6 km away, in May this year.
 

Not exactly mind blowing, but between-year short distance movements are of interest because they demonstrate site fidelity, which always seems remarkable for a migrant species like reed warbler that spends its winter in Africa.

To date we have ringed just over 1,000 reed warblers. Of these, only 6 have been controlled elsewhere: 4 of them locally (< 20 km away), one in Sussex and another in BELGIUM.
 

In addition, there have been 8 reed warblers ringed at other sites and controlled by us: 5 from Chew Valley Ringing Station (Somerset), one from Uskmouth (Gwent) and one from Poole (Dorset).

PWRS, at the other end of the Gordano Valley from us, has only recently been established, but is already proving to be a highly productive site. We're hoping to see a lot of interchange of birds between the two sites in the future.

RINGING SESSION 10 - 2012

29/07/2012  The jetsream retreated south again and look what happened! Today's session was basically rained off. The welfare of the birds always comes first and we had to close the nets early. Ten birds is a dismal total, but we did our best!



Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird(4,0)

bullfinch (1,0)
chiffchaff (2,0)
reed warbler (1,0)
wilwa (2,2)

DAY TOTALS: 10 ringed (5 species), 2 retraps

NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: lots of frogs!

RINGING SESSION 09 - 2012

22/07/2012  Not much to report from this session, except that we ringed a dunnock, a species which has become a bit of a local rarity, as you can see from a plot of our annual ringing totals below. No need for a trendline! There has been a similar long term decline for robin and wren too. The reasons for this are unclear but may be to do with the rising deer population and the effect this is having on the woodland understorey - i.e. removing it!

Annual ringing totals - dunnock.

An interesting titbit concerning the dunnock: it belongs to the Accentor family, and Accentors are the only bird family that is endemic to the Western Palearctic (our part of the bird world basically). To my mind, this makes the unassuming dunnock a rather special bird and not just a boring 'hedge sparrow'!



Trapping totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (0,1) 
bullfinch (1,0)

chiffchaff (6,0)
dunnock (1,0)
goldfinch (3,0)
great tit (2,0)
reed warbler (3,0)

robin (2,0)

whitethroat (1,0)

willow warbler (3,2)

wren (1,0)

DAY TOTALS: 23 ringed (10 species), 2 retraps

NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: common lizard

RINGING SESSION 08 - 2012

14/07/2012  A welcome break in the weather allowed us to squeeze in a CES session at the last minute. It was good catch by recent standards with a good variety of species caught, including our first goldfinches and lesser whitethroat of the year.

GOLDFICH (JUVENILE)


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackcap (1,1)

blue tit (8,0)
bullfinch (0,1)
chiffchaff (9,1)
dunnock (1,0)

goldfinch (3,0)
lesser whitethroat (1,0)
long-tailed tit (3,0)
reed warbler (1,0)
robin (3,1)
willow warbler (5,0)
wren (4,0)

DAY TOTALS: 39 ringed (11 species), 4 retraps 

NEW SPECIES: spp

OBS:buzzard, great spotted woodpecker, green woodpecker, gey heron and comma butterfly

CES NEWS

CES News has just been published and we get a mention on page fifteen. It's our 20th birthday!  

Download a copy here.

RINGING SESSION 06 - 2012

20/06/2012  Yet another very quiet session, but three species were added to the year list.

LONG-TAILED TIT (JUVENILE)

Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (1,0)
blue tit (4,)
bullfinch (2,0)
chiffchaff (2,1)

long-tailed tit (4,0)
robin (3,0)
treecreeper (0,1)
willow warbler (1,1)

DAY TOTALS: 17 ringed (7 species), 3 retraps

NEW SPECIES: blue tit & bullfinch

OBS: mistle thrush and SPOTTED FLYCATCHER

RINGING SESSION 05 - 2012

03/06/2012  There was heavy rain throughout the night and lighter rain throughout the morning, which resulted in another poor catch. Bullfinch was added to the year list and the resident buzzards put on a brief show over the ringing area.

BULLFINCH (ADULT MALE)

Quaking grass ... Briza media

Moth larvae ... The Drinker! Euthrix potatoria



Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (2,1)

blackcap (2,1)
bullfinch (1,0)
great tit (2,0)

willow warbler (0,1)

DAY TOTALS: 7 ringed (4 species), 3 retraps

NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: buzzard (2)

RINGING SESSION 04 - 2012

23/05/2012  A brood of six great tits ringed were from one of the nest boxes near the ringing hut.

27/05/2012  The lean patch continues, but at least some juvenile birds are on the wing now. Local reports suggest that long-tailed tits have had a good breeding season and appear not to have been affected by the recent spell of cold and wet weather.

BLACKBIRD (JUVENILE)

The blackbird above is carrying some ticks around the eyes. Ticks (Ixodes species) are skin parasites that feed on the blood of their hosts. Nestling and recently fledged birds are sometimes burdened by these unwelcome visitors, although in most cases there are no ill effects and the ticks fall to the ground after engorging themslves. 

Today's totals (ringed and retraps)were:  

blackbird (1,0)

dunnock (1,0)
long-tailed tit (4,0)
robin (3,0)
song thrush (2,0)

willow warbler (1,0)

DAY TOTALS: 12 ringed (6 species), no retraps

NEW SPECIES: dunnock & long-tailed tit 

OBS: great spotted woodpecker heard briefly; brimstone & peackock butterflies foraging

LATEST RECOVERIES FROM BTO

Received a batch of 'recoveries' from the BTO recently, including a couple of very nice blackcap movements. One was to Norfolk, where one of our blackcaps was caught at the legendary Holme Bird Observatory. The other was to SW France, near the Spanish border. To date, we have ringed approx 10,500 blackcaps, of which 48 (or 0.45%) have been reported as caught or found elsewhere (see the map below). Twelve have been recovered abroad: in France (2), Portugal (1), Spain (5), Gibraltar (1) and Morocco (3). The longest distance covered so far by a one of our blackcaps is 2,383 km to Taroudannt in southern Morocco, in 2005.

Movements of blackcaps ringed in the Gordano Valley, 1991 to 2012

The full list of recoveries in the latest batch is as follows:
 

Blackcap X997597                                                 

Ringing details: GVRS 29/08/11                                   

Finding details: Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset 03/04/11   

Distance: 20 km                                                  

Duration: 5 days                                                 

Blackcap Y103114                                                 

Ringing details: GVRS 02/09/11                                   

Finding details: Etang de Moisan, Landes, FRANCE 17/09/11        

Distance: 857 km                                                 

Duration: 15 days                                                

Blackcap Y103285                                                 

Ringing details: GVRS 15/09/11                                   

Finding details: Holme Bird Observatory, Norfolk 26/09/11        

Distance: 285 km                                                 

Duration: 11 days                                                

Chiffchaff DRN391                                                

Ringing details: Much Marcle, Hereforshire                       

Finding details: GVRS 14/09/11                                   

Distance: 65 km                                                  

Duration: 38 days                                                

Lesser Redpoll Y103636                                           

Ringing details: GVRS 22/11/11                                   

Finding details: Blashford, Ringwood, Hampshire 02/02/12         

Distance: 97 km                                                  

Duration: 103 days                                               

Reed Warbler L923901                                             

Ringing details: Chew Valley Lake, Bath & NE Somerset 10/07/11   

Finding details: GVRS 22/07/11                                   

Distance: 10 km                                                  

Duration: 11 days                                                

Sedge Warbler X790319                                            

Ringing details: Llangorse Lake, Powys, Wales 14/08/11           

Finding details: GVRS 04/09/11                                   

Distance: 61 km                                                  

Duration: 21 days                                                

RINGING SESSION 03 - 2012

13/05/2012  Another very quiet session this morning. Breeding birds are very territorial at this time of year and most females are sitting tight on eggs. Consequently birds aren't moving around much and trapping totals tend to be low. Within the next couple of weeks, however, things should pick up, as young birds start to fledge.





In the absence of interesting birds, this spider's web presented an early
morning photo opportunity!

 



Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (2,0)

blackcap (1,0)
blue tit (0,1)
chiffchaff (2,1)
great tit (1,0)

robin (2,0)
whitethroat (1,0)
willow warbler (1,1)

DAY TOTALS: 10 ringed (7 species), 3 retraps

NEW SPECIES: none

OBS: brown hare 2, roe deer, orange tip butterfly and a tawny owl hooting in the woods at 10am! 

Great tit nestling, almost ready to fledge

A check of the nestboxes around the ringing hut revealed a rather dismal picture, reflecting the recent spell of bad weather. The 'pullus' great tit above was the sole survivor of one brood, but looks healthy enough, if somewhat grumpy! Hopefully we'll catch it as a free-flying adult later in the season. 

RINGING SESSION 02 - 2012

06/05/2012  This morning's session was the first of the 2012 Constant Effort Sites Scheme (CES) season. The nets were opened at 06:00 to a very chilly (5C), grey morning. 

Following the wettest April for over 100 years, the ground was sodden and many of the nets lanes were still under water!

REDSTART (FEMALE)

Catching was very slow throughout. 'Bird of the morning' was a female redstart, caught in one of the Z nets. This was only the 3rd time a redstart has been caught at the site in spring or early summer; the other 22 have all been in autumn.


Today's totals (ringed and retraps) were:  

blackbird (2,1)

blackcap (2,0)

chiffchaff (1,0)

great tit (0,2)

common redstart (1,0)

reed bunting (1,0)

robin (1,0)

song thrush (1,0)

common whitethroat (1,0)

willow warbler (1,0)

wren (2,1)

DAY TOTALS: 13 ringed (11 species), 5 retraps

NEW SPECIES: blackbird, chiffchaff, common redstart, robin, song thrush, common whitethroat & wren

COMMON WHITETHROAT (Subad. MALE)

BLACKCAP (FEMALE)

  

BTO CONSTANT EFFORT RINGING 

The Constant Effort Sites (CES) Scheme is the first national standardised ringing programme within the British Trust for Ornithology Ringing Scheme and has been running since 1983.  Ringers operate the same nets in the same locations over the same time period at regular intervals through the breeding season at 120 sites throughout Britain and Ireland. The CES Scheme provides valuable trend information on abundance of adults and juveniles, productivity and also adult survival rates for 25 species of common songbird.

RINGING SESSION 01 - 2012

06/05/2012  Finally, after much preparation, the nets were erected last night and opened this morning. It was a beautiful morning with practically no wind. But, unfortunately, not many birds :(

The highlight of the morning was a wood mouse family which had taken up residence in one of the nesting boxes!

Today's totals (ringed and retraps)were:  

blackcap (2,1)

goldcrest (0,1) 

great tit (1,1)

reed bunting (1,1)

robin (0,1)

willow warbler (3,2)

wren (0,1) 

DAY TOTALS: 7 ringed (4 species), 9 retraps

Retrap history - click to enlarge

Willow warbler CBR553 was ringed in 2008 and has been retrapped every year since.

REED BUNTING (MALE)

BLACKCAP (MALE)

WILLOW WARBLER