Manx Ringing Group report 2009

I have now completed the ringing report for 2009 and it can be read from the link below.

Manx Ringing Group report 2009

The recoveries section is obviously a work in progress and will be updated as and when further recoveries form 2009 are received.

Bishopscourt Garden session

Chris and I spent the morning at a private garden at Bishopscourt where we have ringed a couple of times in the past.
With one 40' net up beside one small peanut feeder we caught a total of 56 birds (55 new and 1 retrap) in 2 hours (see the picture of the site below).

The totals for the morning were:

Great Tit 25

Blue Tit 12 (+1 retrap)

Coal Tit 5

Chaffinch 5

Greenfinch 4

House Sparrow 4

The retrap Blue Tit was one which had been ringed in the garden on 23rd January 2007 and was aged as a 6 (hatched before previous calendar year, exact year unknown) at that time. This makes the bird at least 5 years old, a good age for such a small bird.

During the morning there was an alsmost constant sound of Mistle Thrushes 'rattling' nearby. Fieldfare and Redwing were also heard. A Treecreeper narrowly missed the net, but it did alow really close views as it fed on the trunk of the tree on the left hand of the above picture.

All in all, an excellent morning out!

Cormorant from Puffin Island

We recieved information about a dead Cormorant found on the 18th January on Douglas beach below Queens Prom from David Fisher a while ago. Pat Cullen also sent me the details of the same bird and he has now also kindly forwarded to me the result of his correspondance trying to identify the ringing details.

Cormorant 5248295, with colour ring 'CLS' was ringed as a pullus (nestling) on Puffin Island, North Wales on 27th June 2009. The SCAN ringing group have been colour ringing Cormorants there for several years as part of an ongoing study.

Thanks to Dave for the report and to Pat for the information!

Blackcap caught

I opened the net in the garden this morning and was succesful in catching the Blackcap. I also caught 3 Goldfinch (1 retrap), 1 retrap Great Tit and a retrap Blackbird.

The Blackcap was in a very good condition with good muscle score and some fat deposits present.

This Goldfinch is a first year male (5M). It is aged by having one old greater covert (not seen in the photos)and the outer tail feathers being pointed, a 'paler' black and moderately abraded tips compared to the moulted, adult type central tail feathers which are more rounded, darker and less abraded.

There were also 7 Blackbirds and 2 Song Thrush in the garden, I've never known so many thrushes in the garden as there have been recently. There was even a small number of Redwing in the fields next to the garden. Four Chough were also feeding in the fields this morning but the grass was too long to be able to see if they were colour ringed.

Blackcap back again

The male Blackcap was feeding on the fat balls again this afternoon so I opened the net hoping to catch it.
The first bird into the net was a cracking male Sparrowhawk but as so often with this and other large species, it 'bounced' back out again and flew off down the stream.
In the end I didn't get the Blackcap and the catch consisted of 3 Blue Tits (2 retraps), 1 Chaffinch and 2 Long-tailed Tits (1 retrap).

The retrap Long-tailed Tit, ACJ875, was first ringed in the garden on 11th December 2008, one of a group of 8 caught together that day. It has been retrapped once before, on 31st December 2008.

Fat Ball Bonus!

I glanced out of my lounge window this afternoon, having heard the regular flock of Long-tailed Tits nearby, and was surprised to see a male Blackcap feeding on the fat balls with 6 of the Long-tailed Tits.

I wasn't able to grab a quick record shot at the time, however about 20 mins later I saw the Blackcap back on the fat balls and this time managed to get a quick shot through the window. Hopefully it will remain in the area now that it has found a good source of food.

Garden ringing

I opened the net in the garden for a few hours this morning and caught 14 birds.

Blue Tit 4 new, 4 retrap
Great Tit 1 new, 1 retrap
Blackbird 3 new
Chaffinch 1 new

The 3 new Blackbirds were unusual, I don't often catch multiple new Blackbirds at this time of year, but I have noticed a lot more than usual in the garden and the surrounding area since the severe cold weather took hold over the British Isles.
The retrap Great Tit was first ringed in the garden in Oct 2007 as a first year bird and had not been retrapped since.

I also ventured down to Derbyhaven over lunch and saw the Red-necked Grebe in the area of the Fort Island causeway.

Battle through the bog!

I met up with Chris, Adam and Colin from Manx BirdLife this afternoon in order to survey the area around Stoney Mountain.
It was a realtively succesful afternoon with 3 Short-eared Owls, 1 Woodcock and a Snipe. The pair of Ravens were also seen back on their territory.
The going was decidedly damp under foot though and every now and then one of the group would disappear down one of the large holes cunningly hidden by the grass and heather! Teamwork was highly evident as every time someone fell down a hole the others all rallied round to stand and laugh at them trying to climb back up!
A quick check at the Eairy Dam afterwards produced a nice drake Gadwall, 10 Tufted Duck and at least 30 Teal at the far end.

Not much to report!

Still no ringing yet this year but the weather is looking calm for next week so hopefully we will get something done then!
I've not done too much birding either yet although I have managed the odd bit here and there and even got the Red-necked Grebe at Derbyhaven onto my 2010 year list and I had a Woodcock flying over down the stream that runs passed my garden.
Other January highlights have been an influx of Lapwing during the hard freeze in the UK with several hundred in fields in the South of the Island and there seems to be Fieldfares and Redwings everywhere you go over here at the moment.

I have started on the 2009 report for the Manx Ringing Group and the totals and recoveries for the year can be found by clicking on the links below:

2009 Totals
2009 Recoveries

One of the Manx BirdLife staff recorded a first year Whooper Swan with colour ring X7T in the North of the Island last Sunday. I've sent the details off to the WWT via Kane so will post an entry when I hear back on that one.

Quick garden ringing session

I had a spare 30 mins this afternoon so opened the net.
Only caught 5 birds :

3 Blue Tit (1 new, 2 retrap)
1 Goldfinch
1 Blackbird (retrap)

The Blackbird, CF10075, had originally been caught in the garden as a recently fledged juvenile on 11/07/2007.
One of the retrap Blue Tits, T627136,  had originally been caught in the garden on 08/12/2005 as an adult, i.e. at least 1 yr old in 2005. I had caught it again on 20/12/2006 and then again today. This bird is now at least 5 and a half years old, not bad for a Blue Tit.
I find that I get a lot of Blue Tits that get caught each Winter but those same birds never get caught during the Spring/Summer months. This is more than likely due to birds dispersing in the Spring to take territories in suitable nesting habitat in the surrounding woods and gardens then roaming the area until they find a good source of food over the Winter months - i.e. my garden!

SC27M Tetrad survey

I did my third BTO Winter Atlas TTV in 3 days this morning. This one was a big contrast to the other two, being an upland pine plantation and reservoir with upland heather moorland.

As expected there were much fewer species compared to the other, coastal tetrads with just 18 species recorded.
The reservoir has never been that good for wildfowl, being very deep and quite steep sided so when there were just 8 Mallard and 2 Cormorant it was no surprise. There were plenty of Goldcrests in the plantation with Chaffinch, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Robin, Wren, Dunnock, Song Thrush and Blackbird recorded too. The big surprise of the morning though was a Chiffchaff moving through the pine trees with a small group of Goldcrests and Coal Tits.
The pair of Ravens that nest each year in the plantation were being very vocal this morning and were circling over their favoured spot, not surprising given they will be starting to begin nesting in a couple of months - could an atlas survey breeding code be used at this time of year?
A handful of Herring Gull, Rook and Jackdaw were feeding in some of the fields below the reservoir and a Hooded Crow was sat up in a tree by the roadside.
I then drove up to the Round Table and took a walk through the heather moorland, hoping to catch up some of the Red Grouse that are resident in the area but unfortunately I didn't get any.

Some recent recoveries

I got a batch of recoveries through from the BTO the other day, nothing out of the ordinary but it's always nice to get some none-the-less.

Storm Petrel
2526310 Ringed at Burroo Ned, IOM (SC1766) on 25/07/2006
controlled Sanda Island, Kintyre (NR7204) on 01/07/2009. 1072 days, 145km, 340deg.

2526338 Ringed at St Michael's Isle, IOM (SC2967) on 25/07/2008
controlled Sanda Island, Kintyre (NR7204) on 04/08/2009. 375 days, 148km, 336deg.

2526351 Ringed at St Michael's Isle, IOM (SC2967) on 04/08/2008
controlled Ailsa Craig, Strathclyde (NX0299) on 01/07/2009. 331 days, 136km, 347deg.

2526391 Ringed at St Michael's Isle, IOM (SC2967) on 14/08/2008
controlled Ailsa Craig, Stratchclyde (NX0299) on 04/07/2009. 324 days, 136km, 347deg.

2526394 Ringed at St Michael's Isle, IOM (SC2967) on 14/08/2008
controlled Sanda Island, Kintyre (NR7204) on 07/08/2009. 358 days, 148km, 336deg.

2548837 Ringed Collieston, Grampian Region (NK0428) on 02/07/2004
controlled St Michaels Isle, IOM (SC2967) on 25/07/2009. 1849days, 400km, 205deg.

Oystercatcher
FB04440 Ringed Rue Point, IOM (NX4003) on 24/07/09
found dead Point of Ayre, IOM (NX4604) on 26/08/09. 33 days, 7km, 91deg.

Shag
1406117 Ringed Calf of Man, IOM (SC1565) on 21/05/2007
found dead Point of Ayre, IOM (NX4604) on 17/10/2009. 880days, 49km, 37deg.

Swallow
X311524 Ringed Eary Farm, Cronk-y-voddy, IOM (SC3286) on 14/07/2009
controlled Cors Ddyga, Anglesey (SH4571) on 07/09/2009. 55days, 115km, 172deg.

A good series of Storm Petrel recoveries following last years big effort and nice to get a result from the Swallow pulli ringing done at Eary Farm each year.