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.

SC26J Tetrad survey

Did my second BTO Winter Atlas TTV survey this morning. This one covered the area around my home.

I had a total of 47 species in all with highlights being Treecreeper, 4 Reed Bunting, 34 Chough, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.

RNG At Last!

Finally, after several failed attempts I finally hooked up with the Red-necked Grebe this morning at Derbyhaven.
The bird was just off the small jetty on Fort Island (St. Michael's Isle), feeding well. A real cracker!

SC26Y BTO Winter Atlas Tetrad survey

I did the BTO Winter Atlas SC26Y Tetrad 'first visit' this morning, ending up with 45 species. The tetrad covers Derbyhaven and the upper part of Langness.

The first species on the list was a Great Northern Diver, feeding just off the Fort Island causeway. Still no sign of the Red-necked Grebe, although I bumped into Bob Taylor later on at Langness who told me it had been present yesterday! Thanks mate!
There were 6 Eider and 5 Black Guillemot in Derbyhaven Bay. Walking around Fort Island there were several Song Thrush, Robin, Rock Pipit and Wren feeding on the top of the shore with 2 Hooded Crow. I then heard a Grey Plover calling and saw 3 flying towards me, landing right in front of me. A pair of Stonechat were in the small iris bed.
237 Oystercatcher, 39 Curlew, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 3 Grey Heron, 2 Shag and 2 Cormorant were roosting on the breakwater and 33 Turnstone flew across the bay from the Aero Club landing on Fort Island.
8 Pale-bellied Brent Goose flew passed and landed in the bay close to a pair of Shelduck.
There were 20 Dunlin and 12 Ringed Plover on the shore by the old Lime Kiln.
There were good numbers of Starling, Meadow Pipit and Rock Pipit feeding on Sandwick, along with Rook, Hooded, Hybrid and Carrion Crow. 12 Chough were mixed in with the crows feeding on maggots and other larvae in the rotting seaweed.
A small flock of Greenfinch were feeding at the very top of the shore under the grasses.
There were 286 Curlew, 109 Golden Plover and 12 Bar-tailed Godwit roosting on the 'high-tide rocks' between Sandwick and the Stinking Dubh.
4 Grey Heron a Little Egret (unringed) and 6 Pheasant were feeding in the saltmarsh.
A Merlin wizzed passed, scattering just a few Starlings and Redshank. Just a few minutes later a Sparrowhawk did the same, scattering the Curlew and Golden Plovers but they quickly returned to their roost.
There was a total of 122 Teal and 23 Shelduck in the area, with just 5 Wigeon below Madoc's.
8 Pale-bellied Brent Geese roosting on the rocks included 'J4' and 3 Snipe were stood out on the rocks beside them.
A female Hen Harrier then came flying along the saltmarsh, scattering absolutely everything, including a further 10 Snipe. I then heard some more Geese and a further 18 Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew in to join the 8 already present.
I just got back to the car before the rain started and it was a great mornings birding, despite dipping on the RN Grebe yet again!!

I checked at Strandhall on my way home and had a single Lesser-Black Backed Gull, Common Gull and 122 Wigeon.

Swallow recovery

As I mentioned above, I bumped into Bob and John out doing some birding (from the comfort of his nice warm car!). He told me he had a present for me and on seeing him picking up a jar I thought I was going to get a jar of his delicious Gooseberry Jam, but alas no, instead it contained an emaciated and quite smelly, dead Swallow with a ring on!! Ring number X210876 had been found dead last week in the Harbour masters store in Port Erin.

It had originally been ringed at the Calf of Man Bird Obs on 07/07/2009 as a pullus (nestling), one of a brood of 5.

Garden Ringing

The calm winds meant I could finally open the net in the garden today. The condidtions weren't perfect as the clear skies meant the sun was shining strongly onto the net but 19 birds in all was acceptable for the 2 hours the net was open.

Blue Tit 7 new and 3 retrap
Great Tit 3 new and 2 retrap
Goldfinch 1 new
Greenfinch 1 new
Blackbird 1 new
Robin 1 retrap

The Sparrowhawk flew down the length of the net but didn't go into it.