Improving the lamping technique...

This winter I've been out lamping on several occasions, with a few changes to techniques and equipment, only one bird has been 'missed' when lowering the net.

So far 3 Jack snipe have been ringed at a couple of sites near Poole Harbour, a Common Snipe and 6 Woodcock.

Sometimes on release, the birds can sit still long enough for a quick photo before taking off.

Mike G

Waders and chips

A good turn out of SRG members was needed at the site near the edge of Poole Harbour.
20 birds were ringed in total:

Jack Snipe 6

Woodcock 1

Snipe 6

Lapwing 4

Green Sand 1

Teal 2

A mid evening meal of fish and chips was required to warm everyone up, although we're not sure if it helped Shaun much!

This site is certainly an important wintering area for Jack Snipe, with 7 already ringed here this winter. 

Jack Snipe

Common Snipe and Jack Snipe comparison, although size difference isn't clear in this picture

Lapwing

Woodcock, which was lamped later on during the evening

Blog entry courtesy of Ian Lewis at - http://gryllosblog.wordpress.com/

We were invited to do a ringing demonstration for the Forage Festival at Arne RSPB on the 26th October. Paul and I prepared a 180 ft net ride for the occasion but bad weather reduced us to ringing with a 30ft net in the lee of the visitor centre. With still and sunny conditions today we obtained permission to return and investigate the practicality of ringing at our original site.
As expected most of the birds ringed were tits, Robins, Dunnocks and Blackbirds. However a couple of larger birds provided a big surprise!

This first year Magpie was caught at dawn

Later Shaun returned from a net round with this Buzzard ! I have only seen an adult Buzzard in the hand once before, in Israel in 1986 and this was a first for the others.

There was no sign of immaturity what so ever and the bird was given an age code of 8 meaning it was hatched in 2010 or before.

The chance of a standard mist net holding as big a bird as a Buzzard is rather slim. No wonder Shaun looks so smug.

This penetrating stare was probably the last thing that many a rabbit saw.

Yellow and Fire

A slow morning pleasantly ticked over with guest ringer Mick Netherwood joining us for a session at Durlston.
Mick N is no stranger to the area as he Mick C used to visit regularly throughout the 1980's and 90's - ringing with the group further up the coast at the renowned Chapman's Pool.

This morning he seemed to serve as a lucky charm as although we didn't catch a great deal on quantity we more than made up for this with superb quality.

First to come out of the new picnic ride was a fantastic Firecrest. First of the autumn for Durlston, so always nice to see.

The pointed, tipped outer tail feathers and deep orange feathers within the crest identified this Firecrest as a 1st calender year male

This was shortly followed by Gryllo popping back from the same net ride half and hour later and calling us all over to make wild guesses for what he had in his bag.
To our delight i safely pulled a Yellow-browed Warbler out of the bag!
Although this species is a fairly regular visitor to Durlston, this was the first one ringed and not before time judging by the number seen throughout the country this autumn.

The long awaited Yellow-browed Warbler

The rest of the morning's totals were made up of Goldfinch, Robin, Dunnock and Wren.
Whilst general birding included Goldcrest, Firecrest, Redwing, Starling, Redpoll, Goldfinch, Brambling, Siskin, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel.


Throughout the later part of October the group continued to ring at Durlston, catching the usual fare of Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Swallow and Goldfinch that made up the majority of mornings - the later two species have been particularly numerous, such as on on 15th October when a day total of 227 was reached.

Posted by Simon Breeze

A brief analysis of Grasshopper Warblers ringed at Lytchett Bay 2004 - 2013

Ringing has occurred every summer in the reed beds around the north-west shore of Lytchett Bay since 2004.

Grasshopper Warbler is an uncommon migrant and rare summer visitor to Dorset. However its perceived occurrence on autumn migration is strongly influenced by a combination of its habitat choice and unobtrusive behaviour. It is generally silent and remains hidden in dense vegetation or long grass.

126 Grasshopper Warblers were ringed between 20^th July and 2^nd October during the ten year period. In the same period there have only been 5 field sightings.

The annual distribution is shown in Fig 1

 Over the period the ringing method has remained largely unchanged, though the number and location of nets have varied to a small degree. The song of Grasshopper Warbler is played via a cassette and speakers, on a mixed tape with Aquatic Warbler song, from 45 minutes before dawn until 08:00.

Ringing was undertaken on 134 dates between 20^th July and 31^st August over 10 years, the peak migration period for Grasshopper Warblers. At least one bird this species was ringed on 54 dates (40.3%). In addition ringing occurred on 33 occasions in September. At least one bird was ringed on 7 dates (21.2%). 1 Grasshopper Warbler was caught in Oct, on the 2^nd in 2010.

The pattern of occurrence between the 20^th July and 4^th October is shown in Fig 2

Only one of the Grasshopper Warblers ringed at Lytchett Bay has been recovered. A first year bird ringed on 29^th Aug 2007 was taken by a cat 47 days later in Staplehurst, Kent on 15^th October. A surprisingly late date for a bird of this species to be in Britain.

Typical of migrant passerines ringed in autumn, the majority of birds trapped were first years. Only 7 (5.5%) were adults.

Birds move on from the area quickly. Only 2 birds have been recaptured on a subsequent date following ringing.

Shaun Robson

October 2013

A week of autumnal change

Four ringing sessions took place this week at Durlston NNR with a distinct change noted, not only in the weather but in the switch to late autumn birds.
The week began with fairly mild conditions and the recent trend continued of  ringing totals of around 100 birds -  mainly made up of Chiffchaff and Blackcap with the former making up the majority.
Then a session on Thursday saw a drop in numbers with only 23 new birds ringed.
Fast forward to Sunday and a weekend of unsettled weather, fall in temperature and the skies saw a increase in finches and thrushes.
This mornings total bumped up to 54 with the finch arrival noteworthy including 4 species of finch with Lesser Redpoll and Linnet both new for the year.

A warm and glowing sunrise greeted us on Wednesday morning

A lesser Redpoll is new for the year and attractive bird that we are always pleased to see

Several flocks of Goldfinches passed over this morning with 25 lured down 25 ringed

 

 Over at Lytchett bay Sean undertook a quiet ringing session with 8 new birds ringed with Cetti's Warbler being the highlight.

Posted By Simon Breeze

Larking around at the Dortset Bird Fair ringing demo

The weekend started with a ringing demonstration which attracted over 30 people all curious to come and look at how migrant birds are ringed, aged, weighed and measured and safely released to continue their journey on to their winter residence. Whenever we hold a ringing demonstration we always remind visitors that the welfare of the birds is of paramount importance and without the data gathered from this scientific and enjoyable pastime we would literally reduce our detailed knowledge of birds and their movements and behaviour by a considerable amount.



The usual flow of October migrants continued throughout the morning with Chiff and Blackcap being the most common. 145 and 31 respectively.

Highlight of the morning came just before the group packed away with 2 Woodlark.