September 2011 Ringing Totals

The ringing totals for September 2011 can be seen by clicking on the link below:

Manx RG ringing totals September 2011

It was a mixed bag of a month with mist netting virtually impossible for most of the month due to the constant storong winds. Sean managed to woosh net 119 Meadow Pipits as well as good numbers of Goldfinch at the site near the Point of Ayre.

Dazzling

To round off the last couple of days garden ringing, Sean and I went dazzling again last night.
It was a quiet night by current standards with 'only' 5 birds caught:

Dunlin 2
Turnstone 2
Sanderling 1

Dunlin

Sanderling

Turnstone

That brings this years dazzling total to date to 87 birds. Hopefully we can get plenty more before the end of the year.

Cormorant recovery

We recieved a Cormorant recovery form the BTO today of one of our colour ringed birds found dead on the River Dee at Cila, near Llandrillo, Denbighshire, Wales.

Z3U was ringed as a chick on 9th June 2011 at Stack Mooar, IOM and found freshly dead on 13th September 2011. A distance of 165km and 96 days after being ringed.

More Garden Ringing

I met Sean this morning for another garden ringing session, this time beside Tynwald Mills.
It was another great morning with 83 birds caught - 77 new and 6 retraps.

The totals were (retraps in brackets):

Dunnock 2
Robin 2
Coal Tit 24 (+3)
Blue Tit 10 (+2)
Great Tit 11
House Sparrow 5
Chaffinch 13 (+1)
Greenfinch 3
Goldfinch 3
Siskin 4

Thanks to Christine for the bucket fulls of enthusiasm, the mugs of tea and the steady supply of biscuits!!

Garden ringing in the Curraghs

I met Sean this morning at the garden ringing site in the Ballaugh Curraghs, near to the Close Sartfield MWT reserve. It was a decent session, ending with 85 new birds ringed and 27 retraps.
Totals were (retraps in brackets):

Great Tit 33 (+18)
Goldfinch 22
Blue Tit 13 (+5)
Coal Tit 7 (+2)
Greenfinch 5
Chaffinch 4 (+1)
Robin 1
Siskin (1)

2 of the retrap Great Tits had been ringed as chicks in 2009 by Dave as part of the nest box study at the nearby MWT reserve. We also caught 2 of this years young from the same brood from another of the nest boxes in the reserve. One of the Blue Tit retraps was also a chick from this years nest box studies.

Our thanks to Mr & Mrs Colvin for their hospitality and generosity in letting us ring in their superb garden (and for the brews!).

Gulls to County Dublin, Eire

2 of our Herring Gulls were seen yesterday on the roof of the fish market at Howth Harbour, West Pier, Co. Dublin by Sean Kingston and Chris Honan who kinldy emailed me with the details.


View Dublin Gulls in a larger map

T8XP & T5UA were seen there. It is interesting to note that the 2 Gulls came from the extreme North and South of the Isle of Man but were seen together having crossed the Western Irish Sea.
T8XP was ringed at the Point of Ayre Sand Quarry on 5th July this year and T5UA was ringed on the Calf of Man on the 27th June this year.

Herring Gull chick being ringed at POA Sand Quarry this year

It will be interesting to see where else they travel to and if they return to their natal colonies to breed in several years time.

Cormorant ZZI seen near Hemel Hempstead, England

We have had another of our Cormorants sighted this week with a report of ZZI having been seen at Piccots End Pools, near Hemel Hempstead, England on the 15th September by Dan Forder. A distance of 380km and 67 days after being ringed at Maughold.

Here is a map of the current movements recorded from the colour ring project.


View Manx RG Cormorant movements in a larger map

Dan kindly sent some pictures of his sighting of ZZI which are shown here.

This is the first sighting of one of our colour ringed Cormorants in England, the other sightings have been Scotland (2) and at home in the Isle of Man (1).

Cormorant Z7A seen in Kirkcudbright this morning

I received a re-sighting of another of our Cormorants today, this time in South West Scotland in Kirkcudbright. It was photographed by David Henderson whose pictures of the bird are shown here.

This is the second of our colour ringed Cormorants to be seen off island, both of which have travelled to Scotland.


View Cormorant Z7A in a larger map

Thanks very much to David for letting us know about his sighting and for the excellent photographs.

Mega Mute Swans

Sean and I met up at Niarbyl this afternoon to try for some more Rock Pipits, however after only catching 1 and no more appearing in the area we packed up. We headed to Port Grenaugh to try there but our luck was out, same to at Port Soderick where there wasn't even a sniff of a Rock Pipit. Very strange as these are cracking little bays full of rotting seaweed after last weeks high winds.

So we went to Castletown Harbour to check on the Mute Swans there. There were 15 present, 11 of them already colour ringed. Within 10 mins the other 4 were also colour ringed! The herd came out of the sea and right up to the slipway where we had set up the ringing gear and they all stayed there until we packed up! Sean made it look all very easy picking up each of the unringed Swans in turn! Very well behaved Swans! Why isn't it always like that?

Some of the 15 colour ringed Swans in Castletown Harbour.

Of the Swans that were already ringed, 7 had been ringed in Castletown harbour during 2011, 3 had been ringed in Ramsey harbour and 1 had been ringed at Ballasalla House.

More Dazzling

Another dazzling trip the other night, this time with a little helper, Ffyn coming along to see what it was all about.

4 Turnstone

3 Sanderling

1 Dunlin

1 Ringed Plover

Ffyn checks on the age of the Turnstone

And agrees with Sean and I that it's age '3'!

Turnstone

Sanderling

Sanderling

We're doing very well for dazzling Sanderling this year, having caught 10 so far. This is about 5 times the yearly average and the last couple of nights dazzling have produced superb totals of them. I have always found them to be one of the hardest waders to catch when dazzling.