D is for Jay

Today I have been lucky to be ringing again with the Scouse Ringer 

When I arrived at my ringing destination,  Daniel ( another trainee ) had already got there so we decided to walk up to the nets together. We were also looking for Peter (Scouse Ringer) at the same time, but we couldn't find him. Since we couldn't find him we waited by a sign where the path starts to split up. When he got to us, he seemed quite pleased when I told him we already had seven Redpoll and a solitary Blackbird. When we finished setting up the table and chairs and everything like that, we did a net round; the first net had 16 Lesser Redpoll (3 already ringed), a Long Tailed Tit, a few Blue Tits, Chaffinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, plenty of Blackbirds and quite a few others. The next net across the field brought us Chaffinches and Greenfinches. Moving on to the net where the feeding station had been destroyed by squirrels, we found a Jay and a few Chaffinches. The last net wasn't that busy apart from a Blackbird, a Long Tailed Tit and a Blue Tit (unfortunately no Gold Crest). 

When we got the birds back to ring, there were that many, we got stuck in straight away,  I rung one Redpoll and helped process the others, which means saying how old it is and reading out the ring number. I processed this male Lesser Redpoll. They are lovely birds.

Here Daniel is ageing a Redpoll using the tail feathers.

This is Peter and Daniel comparing the male and female Lesser Redpoll. The males have a much brighter red head top, the chest has much more red on as well.

In the end we ended up catching 2 Jays which is a great start to the year. Even though they look delicate birds when they fly, they are actually very fiesty.  

Me and Dan rung one each, but it wasn't an easy task.  The Jay takes a size D ring.

We are probably a least 50 times as big as these birds, however I was a bit wary!!!!!!!!! The most unpredictable bird I've ever held any way.

They are difficult to handle especially when they are squawking and attempting to eat your fingers. I just want to say a quick thank you to my dad for taking these splendid pictures.

Since this was an adult Blackbird it was quite big, so I had to use 2 hands.

If you look at this adult Blackbirds beak you can see it has grey/black markings on it, so there is a possibility that this bird isn't from the UK.

One of the last birds we got out of the net was a re-trap male Bullfinch. 

A 2013 first for me.

Greenfinches were everywhere today , so I got loads of help from Peter with the ages of the bird and how to tell if it's a male or a female.

Here I am looking at the tail feathers to see if it was a male or a female.

Peter is comparing the male and the female bird to me here.

This male Chaffinch wings were getting explained to me here to see if it was a adult or juvenile; it is much harder to tell the age if it is a female bird.

This is a Dunnock, a member of the accentor family, lovely birds.

Meet Canela (cinnamon in Portuguese I think) - the brains of the operation. 

Another totally brilliant day and lots more learnt.

Wild Bird Wednesday

20 Minute Birdwatch

I was determined to squeeze some birding in this week, even though it was back to school. I managed to get 20 minutes in the hide, and then from my bedroom window, before it got too dark and foggy. It's amazing how much you can see and enjoy in such a short amount of time.

I counted about 35 Starlings, the most I have ever had in the garden. I put some meal worms, suet pellets and mixed seed out on the bird table, which attracted loads of bird including: Chaffinches, joined by a Brambling (a first for the garden), plenty of House Sparrows, Goldfinches, Jackdaws, Magpies, Robin, Collared Doves, Wood Pigeons, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Coal Tits and a single Reed Bunting. The Jackdaws were once again feeding off a seed feeder in my next doors neighbours garden.  They must have been watching and learning from the Sparrows.

A Blue Tit has been sussing a next box out for the Spring/Summer to nest in. I am just hoping it will nest, since I have never had a Blue Tit nesting before (apart from once, when it nested for a while then suddenly stopped nesting).  I also need to get by nest box with the camera inside set up again soon.

The Tits and Goldfinches are loving the sunflower heart feeder; they are on it every MINUTE!!!!!!!!!!!! And they are squabbling quite a bit even though there is plenty of food.

They do fight for spaces on the feeder, so there is normally only three at once, any more and there would probably be a fight. Even the Chaffinches were trying to feed from the sunflower feeder, but they kept failing. They were trying to hover like Humming Birds and grab a seed. I am going to try and video them doing this at the weekend.

There's a particular bird of prey I have not seen it the field for ages;..................... THE RETURN OF THE BUZZARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was great to have him back, but no sign of the rest of them.

The House Sparrows much preferred the bird table than the tray on the back fence.  Maybe they didn't like being on the edge of a big open field, especially with a big raptor in it!

This juvenile Blackbird was enjoying the food scraps scattered across the floor by the messy Starlings. 

This male Chaffinch unfortunately has bumble foot, which occurs quite commonly on Chaffinches. He visits quite often though and seems to be doing okay.

So that 20 minutes should keep me going until the weekend.

Smeeeeeeeeeewww!

It was my last day off before school starts again, so I had a first time visit to Moore Nature Reserve. Bird wise  I did quite well, as I saw a female Smew the second for me this Winter. The first one I saw was on a pool a short walk from home.

The female Smew is pretty, however for me nothing can beat the black and white of the male birds.

A group of birds were having an important meeting on the island, and I am sure you would guess the Heron was  in charge.

As we were going back to the car for a drink, I spotted a Tree Creeper creeping up an Oak tree right beside us.

My favourite picture of the day was this astonishing Robin who was singing it's heart in a small Hawthorn.

The birds were really active at the feeding station today. We saw Blue Tits, Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Nuthatch, Siskins, Chaffinch, Reed Buntings and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. I also met two friendly people one called Mike, thank you very much for all your information.

My favorite species of woodpecker (in the UK) is the Great Spotted Woodpecker Woodpecker. This one kept feeding in the nut cage feeder, when he could reach the food.

Since we were by a tip there were hundreds of gulls and in the past  some quite rare ones have been spotted. We mainly saw Black Headed Gulls like the one causing a splash below.

The usual Coots were everywhere, literally everywhere.

So that is an end to my brilliant Christmas holidays. They have been epic!

Our World Tuesday

Wild Bird Wednesday

Sparrowhawk Vs Carrion Crow

We had another great trip to Frodsham Marsh and I saw my first Sparrowhawk of 2013.

The Carrion Crows were mobbing the Sparrowhawk and seemed really annoyed with the it, so it didn't stay around for long.

A Bullfinch and a Little Grebe were another two new birds I have seen at Frodsham Marsh. It was also amazing to see a flock of 800 Lapwing doing aerobatics.

Back to school next week, but time to squeeze in one more day of birding. 

Willow Tit - A Day With The Scouse Ringer

Today I had one of the best days I have ever had, in fact it was even more enjoyable than the bird fair last year. As soon I met Peter, Pete and Daniel (one of his trainees) I could already tell the day was going to be great. We caught quite a bit considering the windy weather. The first few we had out of the nets were a 

Lesser Redpoll and a Brambling, closely followed by a few Chaffinch and Blue Tits

And then when we got back to the area where we had set the ringing table up, I looked inside a bag and saw a Willow Tit, a first for me so you wouldn't be surprised that I couldn't wait until we could see it up close.

As soon as it was passed to me, all I was thinking about was about how lucky I was, and how amazing it was.

The only bird I actually put a ring on was a Willow Tit (since it was my first session)  however it was worth it, what an amazing bird! It took a size A ring.

After the Willow Tit, we soon went back to check the other nets, and boy we had a lot of Blue Tits. I ended up reading out the re-trap rings. All the birds we caught today, had rings or were about to, and so I guessed all the ring letters and got them all right (after a bit of research from the past few weeks).

More Blue Tits. Here you can see me reading out the code on the ring.

This Great Tit is an 6 adult. Now you can tell this because if you look on the outer bits of the wing you can see they are all a lovely blue colour. However if it had greenish feathers it would be a 5 juvenile.

I would of thought the Robin we caught would be aggressive and agitated , but whilst it was in my hands it was really calm.

As you can see Peter's dad Pete loves to hold birds.

Today's birds:

Robin

Blue Tit 

Great Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Willow Tit

Blackbird

Chaffinch

Lesser Redpoll

Brambling

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

And of course a big thanks to Peter and Pete for letting me join them. I really hope I can come again soon.

Back to the Bittern

After I went shopping to get some warm clothes and equipment for bird watching, I visited Marbury Park to see the murmuration of Starlings or in other words a whisper of Starlings as Ryan Mottram keeps reminding me. However, I saw something just as good whilst I was waiting, a Bittern; perched on top of a reed, one of the best views I have ever got. A lady sitting next to me spotted it and then I spotted it again when it had climbed on top of the reeds. It was getting dark and misty, so the pictures are just for my own record really.

I was really lucky to see to see it so close, probably a once in a life time experience, and I wouldn't of seen it if it wasn't for the lovely lady who let me look through her scope. Whilst I was there I met some really nice people called Bill and Ruth, they were really helpful and friendly, Bill had even run into my blog before! Thank you Bill and Ruth, I hope I meet you again some time. 

The last woodland birds of the day were the lovely Long Tailed Tits; all you could here was the drum rolling call, they were everywhere.

Another fabulous display of Starlings, however this time when they were in the air and reeds they were much noisier. I am hoping to video them later in the week, so more about them another time.

Wish me luck, since tomorrow I have been invited to go for a ringing trial.  I have been busy learning ring sizes on the BTO App tonight.