August 2011 Ringing Totals

You can view the Manx RG August 2011 ringing totals by clicking on the link below:

August 2011 ringing totals

It was a very productive month, with not only large numbers of birds ringed but a wide range of species and good numbers of target species of conservation concern such as Linnet, Herring Gull (both Red listed) and Sand Martin (Amber listed).

 

Dazzling

A great dazzling session with Sean last night with 14 birds caught. There were a lot of birds around and if I hadn't needed to get up at 6am to get to work we could have done another sweep of the beaches!

Turnstone 6
Sanderling 4
Dunlin 2
Ringed Plover 1
Herring Gull 1

Sanderling

Dunlin

Ringed Plover

Herring Gull

All the birds caught were juveniles and all were in extremely good condition with top end muscle and fat scores. It goes to show how important the Ayres NNR beaches are in providing an excellent feeding stopover point on the migration route of these waders which could be continuing their Southerly passage as far as West Africa.
The Herring Gull was given a colour ring as part of our 'large gulls' project.

First LBB Gull to Spain

I received an email today from one of the top Gull watchers in Spain, Antonio Gutierrez, with details of a sighting of one of our Lesser Black-backed Gulls which he had seen this morning on Pantin beach, Valdovino, A Coruna, SPAIN! A distance of 1227km, 60 days after being ringed as a chick.


View Z97:M in a larger map

Z97:M was ringed as a chick on the evening of 01 July 2011 during one of the best Gull chick sessions Sean and I had this year at the Point of Ayre Sand Quarry.
Antonio saw it this morning and watched it resting, preening and drinking fresh water amongst a flock of c.3000 Gulls, 70% of which were LBBG's. Here is the picture he took of Z97:M this morning.

LBBGull Z97:M in NW Spain

Colour ringed Cormorants update

Z6H has been seen again on the South Outer Breakwater of Aberdeen Harbour, Scotland, 7 days after it was first seen there.

This morning, during a Manx BirdLife survey of the Point of Ayre Gravel Pits, I saw 2 colour ringed Cormorants amongst th 80 that were present. Unfortunately 1 flew before I could read the ring, but I managed to read the other bird - Z6L. Ringed on 01 July 2011 at the colony at Maughold.

View Z6L in a larger map

Another Sparrowhawk surprise!

I got a phone call from my brother this morning saying that he had a Sparrowhawk which had flown into a window at his house which apperaed to be just a bit stunned and could I come and check on it.
I was up there as quick as a flash and there was no doubt at all that the bird had fully recovered from its temporarily stunned state.
I quickly ringed and processed it and it flew off along the hedgerows, straight into the flap and glide hunting mode. Superb!

'3F' (first year female) Sparrowhawk

It was a first year female (hatched this year), aged by the pale yellow eye and uniformly coloured brown body/covert feathers with pale fringes. The large size, which was apparent even without measurements being taken, prove that it was a female (males are smaller).

Thanks Bro!

Colour ringed Cormorant Z6H sighted in Aberdeen

Raymond Duncan emailed us today with the news that he had seen one of our colour ringed Cormorants in Aberdeen yesterday. Z6H was seen on the Outer South Breakwater of Aberdeen Harbour amongst 80 other Cormorants and 50 Shags. There were several other colour ringed Cormorants from Raymonds own study on colonies in the Grampian region of Scotland within the same flock and he told me that he was shocked to see a white ring with red letters rather than the Green letters which he uses!!

Here is my first attempt at an interactive map on here but hopefully you should be able to zoom in and out to see the two sites involved in Z6H's movements to date!

         
View Z6H in a larger map          
                      

The Outer South Breakwater with the mixed flock of Cormorants and Shags

Z6H on the Outer South Breakwater at Aberdeen Harbour - photos by Ray Duncan

This is the first resighting of our colour ringed Cormorants, a project which we started this year. Many thanks Ray!

Siskin recovery

I received info about a Siskin recovery today.

3J Siskin

L983036 had been ringed as a 3J (recently fledged juvenile) at Seans garden site on 8th June 2011 and, as happens to the majority of reported recoveries of our songbirds, was found killed by a cat. It met its fate in Laxey only 10 days after ringing.

Siskin L983036

Storm Petrels and another garden session

As is usually the case, a last minute check on the weather late last night meant a quick call to Sean and his mate Andy to organise a Storm Petrel session. The conditions were great when we set up with flat calm conditions however a breeze got up at about midnight and proved to be the end of the session. We had caught 2 new birds whilst we were there however.

Storm Petrels

Then, this morning I popped up to mums garden at Lower Ballafodda B&B, Ronague. Not huge numbers today but a good variety of species, totals below:

House Sparrow 7
Chaffinch 3
Great Tit 2 (+1 retrap)
Willow Warbler 2
Swallow 1
Robin 1
Blue Tit 1

Swallow

Willow Warbler

I also checked on the Swallow nest in the barn there where I ringed 5 chicks last week. They were all ready to fledge, sat on the edge of the (overcrowded) nest.

Swallow chicks

Garden ringing at Ballaugh Curraghs

I met Sean this morning at our new garden ringing site in Ballaugh Curraghs. It is a '3 michelin star' bird restaurant with every conceivable type of food on offer including meal worms, suet bits, nijer seed, sunflower hearts, peanuts and raisins!

After 3 hours we finished on 75 birds caught, 63 new and 12 retraps. 6 of the retraps were from birds ringed as chicks in the nest boxes at Close Sartfield and the Wildlife Park, both within a couple of kilometres of the site - the best way of proving succesful fledging on our long running projects on those nest box sites!

Totals (retraps in brackets) were:

Great Tit 18 (+7)
Blue Tit 10 (+4)
Chaffinch 12
Siskin 8
Tree Sparrow 6 (+1)
Greenfinch 3
Coal Tit 2
House Sparrow 2
Robin 2

Tree Sparrows

Siskin

Chaffinch - measuring wing length

 Thanks to Sue and Steve for letting us put the net up in their garden and for the cups of tea!

Rock Pipits

I met up with Sean at Niarbyl this morning to try to catch some Rock Pipits, the first session of the Summer at this location (Sean has been catching small numbers up at Port Mooar over the last few weeks).

Rock Pipit

We had a succesful couple of hours, catching 10 birds, until the sightseers started arriving in numbers, keeping the birds off their preferred feeding area at the top of the beach and away from the traps.

All of them were first year birds and all were given unique colour rings as part of our ongoing project on the species.

Rock Pipit

Calf of Man Bird Observatory recent recoveries

Here are some recent recoveries invloving the Calf of Man Bird Obs. The highlights include a Willow Warbler found killed by a rather special avian predator on Cabrera island off Mallorca and a Sedge Warbler to Loire Atlantique, France.
As usual, you can click on the word 'map' alongside each bird to see a map of the movement.

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler
R747639 3J 28/07/2008 Calf of Man (Isle of Man)  map
              R 20/08/2010 Tour Aux Moutons (Loire-Atlantique), FRANCE, 773km SSE 2 yrs 23days

Blackcap
R388845 3 12/09/2007 Rospannel St Buryan (Cornwall)  map
              R 11/04/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 444km N 3 yrs 211days

Willow Warbler
BEJ554 4 29/04/2008 Calf of Man (Isle of Man)  map
          XF 13/09/2010 Cabrera (Mallorca & Cabrera), SPAIN, 1756km SSE 2 yrs 137days

This Willow Warbler was found killed by a Woodchat Shrike on Cabrera, a small island South of Mallorca!

Woodchat Shrike (ssp. Badius - Mallorca, Kev Scott 2003)

BXL432 3 08/09/2009 Foxhall, near Ipswich (Suffolk)  map
            R 03/05/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 462km WNW 1 yr 237days

CJN183 4 22/06/2010 Conon Islands, Maryburgh (Highland)  map
            R 03/05/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 391km S 315days

Goldfinch
L201907 4 29/01/2011 Milcombe (Oxfordshire)  map
             R 23/03/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 322km NW 53days

Common Redpoll
L653227 3 30/09/2010 Kilnsea Clays, Spurn Bird Obs (East Yorkshire)
             R 26/04/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 328km W 208days  map

Lesser Redpoll

Lesser Redpoll
L148744 3 27/11/2010 Straight Mile, near Romsey (Hampshire)  map
             R 31/05/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 408km NW 185days

L583607 5F 27/03/2011 Moss House Farm, Out Rawcliffe (Lancashire)
              R 16/04/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 129km W 20days  map

L620737 4M 17/10/2010 Cauldwell Hall Farm, Hollesley (Suffolk)  map
               R 17/04/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 474km WNW 182days

L790470 6F 03/04/2011 Brandon (Norfolk)  map
               R 26/04/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 403km WNW 23days

X700437 5 16/03/2011 Brandon (Suffolk)  map
             R 29/04/2011 Calf of Man (Isle of Man) 402km WNW 44days

Gull ringing at the MSPCA

Sean and I went to the MSPCA (Manx Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) to ring some young Gulls that had been taken there for care as chicks and were now due for release. We ringed 22 Herring Gulls, all of which were given colour rings as part of our 'large Gull' project.
We also ringed some young Mallards, Rooks, Jackdaws and an Eider which had been handed in as chicks that had been found in precarious situations and were now ready to be released very soon.

Herring Gulls ringed at MSPCA

A big 'thank you' to Jen and the staff at MSPCA, especially the 2 lads who helped catch the Gulls and Mallards as Sean and I ringed them.

First Dazzling session of the "Autumn"

August is always keenly awaited by me as the time when dazzling can recommence following the nesting season.
A quick 1 hour dazzle after work one night earlier this week with Sean resulted in 2 Curlew, 1 Oystercatcher, 4 Dunlin and a Turnstone being caught.

Curlew

Dunlin

Turnstone

All photos courtesy of Sean - cheers mate!

July ringing totals

The monthly ringing totals for the Manx RG for July 2011 can be seen by clicking on the link below:

July 2011 ringing totals

A busy month with 482 birds ringed. Highlights included ringing over 62 large Gulls, all of which were colour ringed as part of our ongoing project (with another 50 of our colour rings used on Herring Gull chicks on the Calf of Man), 80 Sand Martins netted at the colonies in the North of the island, 39 Warblers of 4 species, 3 Sparrowhawk chicks and another 16 Cormorant chicks colour ringed.


Herring Gull chicks waiting to be ringed



Sparrowhawk chick