Bling Time For Martin Mere’s Tree Sparrows

 Yesterday was spent at WWT’s Martin Mere monitoring their breeding Tree Sparrows. As most of the 100+ boxes contained chicks big enough to be ringed it was for this year's first broods to receive their bling and be welcomed into the BTO database.

The guys very kindly let me ring all of the chicks, allowing me to gain vital pulli ringing experience. I’m really enjoying monitoring the Tree Sparrows as they are so cheeky and characteristic, especially the chicks with their punky hair styles!

I love the fact that the ring sequence we were using started with TS too…coincidence?!

Obviously made for a Tree Sparrow!

As well as monitoring the Tree Sparrows at Martin Mere we also recorded many new nests including Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Moorhen, Mallard, Stock Dove and Jackdaw – Jackdaw being one of which I am particularly looking forward to monitoring after seeing photos of how beautiful their eggs are.

Woodpigeon Nest

As the first round of Tree Sparrow chicks are now almost ready to fledge, in some boxes the second wave has already begun with a few already containing eggs. The work never stops with nest recording, just as well we love doing it!

Broomsticks At Dawn!

 This post is dedicated to my very hard working dad who has been helping me nest record in Scotland this year. He has been checking the nest boxes in our garden back home in Stranraer as well as finding and keeping an eye on a very special nest at his work.

My dad works on the Courisk ferry that travels to the Isle of Skye and he has been watching a pair of Herring Gulls in Mallaig harbour. I love this nest in particular due to unique way in which my dad records it. Upon his first visit to the nest he received a nice welcome from the gulls in the form of a (not so pleasant) 'white shower'!

The nest location - overlooking the moored boats.

After it was clear that the female had laid her eggs my dad made his second visit but this time he wasn’t so keen on another ‘white shower’ so he came armed! He brought his friend Donzo from the boat who was armed with a broomstick and bravely fended off the gulls so that my dad could get an egg count for me and this photo – well done guys. After the guy's very brief visit to the nest they retreated back to the boat and as soon as they left the female settled back down on her eggs - looks like she's going to make a good parent.

Her clutch of 3 eggs

Apparently these gulls now give the crew on the boat regular ‘evils’ – better watch your backs! The crew on the boat have promised to keep an eye on the gulls for me and my dad shall be giving me regular updates, looking forward to following this one for sure.

As well as his gulls my dad has been regularly checking the nest boxes back home and has just told me that we now have our first Blue Tit chicks.

Eggs on 23rd April

Newly hatched chicks on 11th May

Currently we have 2 Great Tits on eggs in the garden. We did have 3 but interestingly one Great Tit (who had 3 eggs) was ousted by a bumble bee!

Personally I’ve been very busy over the last couple of weeks monitoring nests both in Manchester with the guys and up in Stirling, updates to follow.

North West Nesting

 

Another end to a weekend’s nest recording and ringing down in Manchester. We started off the weekend monitoring the Tree Sparrows at WWT Martin Mere who are now in to the full swing of things, with over 70 boxes now containing chicks or eggs.

We also recorded a number of other nests at Martin Mere including Barn Owl, Stock Dove, Moorhen, Mallard and Blackbird - to name but a few. A nice surprise was getting to ring a lovely adult Stock Dove.

On Sunday ‘Team Sparra’ headed out in search of other nests and found a good variety including Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Green Woodpecker and Whitethroat. It was a great opportunity for me to pick up a few tips about nesting and I have now proudly adopted ‘the stick technique’! This being as simple as it sounds, gently tapping suitable vegetation checking for any adults sitting on nests - I even managed to find my first Chaffinch nest with my trusty stick!

Over the weekend I had a lesson in how to find, mark and record Lapwing nests. It was great to finally see a Lapwing nest up close after having ringed a few free roaming chicks last year.

 

We also tracked down and ringed a total of 10 Lapwing or as they're known back home Peewit chicks!

 

 

A highlight of the weekend was ringing a brood of Barn Owl chicks that had taken up residence in one of Kane’s boxes – 8 years after it had been put up! The female was also lifted off the nest and ringed.

 

Another great weekend and I have definitely learned a few new nest finding tricks – next stop Stirling!

 

If You Go Down To The Woods Today…!

 It’s been a busy couple of weeks, full of mid-semester exams and assignments. As well as uni work I’ve been continuing to nest record on campus with good numbers of Coots now on eggs and 4 broods having already hatched. The Tufted ducks also look to be on eggs as all of the females have ‘disappeared’!

As well as nest recording up the road myself, Chris and Kane have begun recording down in Manchester and North Wales. We now have over 250 nest records on the go between us, hopefully with many more to come.

It’s been a great experience so far finding different nests and ringing the pulli. I’m finding it a real benefit to my training as I have very little experience of passerine pullus ringing.

Woodpigeon Chicks

Most definitely the pullus ringing highlight so far has been these cute little Tawny Owl chicks that Kane found in a natural hole.

 

I’ve also been benefiting from nest finding with Kane as I am learning what to look for with certain species to find their nests and also which of these species I need to take extra care with when monitoring. My best finds so far would have to be Greenfinch and Robin.

Robin nest found hidden deep in this grassy tussock.

Everytime I come away from Manchester I feel that I have learned something new and I enjoy being able to put my new found ‘nesting skills’ to the test up in Stirling.

 

Blackbird Nest

Drama On The Loch

At the beginning of March I began searching for nests on the university's campus. The very first nest I found belonged to none other than a Coot. It wasn't long before I had my first Coot eggs and what fine eggs they are are too - stoney colour with fine speckles, simply beautiful.

Proud Mother

So far this season I have recorded 21 active Coot nests. Unfortunately though I don't hold out much hope for these feisty wee birds as last year every chick was eaten by either gulls, herons or pike! As if the poor Coots don't have enough to deal with one unfortunate pair had their nest stolen by a pair of Mute Swans.

These Coots had built their nest on top of one of last year's swan nests. The nest was almost complete and ready for eggs until disaster stuck and the Mute Swans decided they wanted their old nest back. The swans promptly took over the nest and laid their first egg within days of taking over. The pair are now currently sat on 4 eggs. All was not lost for the Coots though as they frantically built a new nest next door to the swans. Both the Coots and the swans are now sitting tight on eggs.

Frenemies?!

Surprisingly the Coot's wee cousin (Moorhen) don't seem to be doing to well in terms of nesting attempts with only 2 so far!

Meanwhile another pair of Mute Swans are doing well and are currently sat on 9 eggs which are expected to hatch around May 8th, so I'll be sure be around that day with my camera!

 I fear this year's offspring on the loch won't fair well as I have already had 3 full clutches (Coot & Mallard) 'disappear' and witnessed the very first brood of Mallards being pursued by a Grey Heron, Mute Swans, Herring Gulls and a particularly grumpy Coot! 11 ducklings hatched and by the following day there were 6, the day after zero! Life's hard down on Airthrey Loch.

The day of hatching and all 11 ducklings

....and one of their many stalkers!

At least some residents on the loch are having better luck as I discovered when I found this well hidden Long-tailed Tit nest situated the fork of a Willow 3 meters above the water - good luck to any terrestrial predators after that nest!

Clever Lottis!

So who knows what the next month will bring before I leave uni for the year and migrate to warmer climates. Hopefully there will be some success stories and I'll be sure to post updates of anymore 'Drama On The Loch'.

Will  he survive?

Moving Mutes

Last week, whilst out nest recording on campus, I came across a couple of new colour ringed Mute Swans on Airthrey Loch.  Mute swans may appear to just be sedentary to 'their ponds' but they do in fact move! The last colour marked Mute Swan that I observed down on the loch turned out to have quite the history (see here) and so I was eager to hear back about these individuals too.

LVB

Green LVB was ringed as a cygnet near Glenrothes in August 2010. It was seen once more at its' original ringing location until being sighted here in Stirling this year. It has traveled approximately 35 miles to Airthrey loch.

LVB's Movements

 LZX

Green LZX was ringed as a cygnet at Linlithgow Loch in September 2010. LZX was seen regularly at Linlithgow up until mid-March when I sighted it here at the university, approximately 23 miles away.

LZX's Movements

Thanks to Allan Brown for the recovery information. If you see any colour ringed birds you can find the relating colour ringing project here: www.cr-birding.org or can report metal rings to www.ring.ac.  

Drag Me To The Capital

Last Sunday, after a lot of sleep!, I packed my waders and traveled down to Glasgow, Scotland's unofficial capital, to met up with some members of the Clyde Ringing Group (CRG) for my first drag netting session.

After arriving at the ringing site we were greeted by singing Skylarks above, my first of the year and always reminds me gorgeous hot warm summer days. Unfortunately it wasn't a gorgeous hot summer's day but instead a typically Scottish cold, blustery one! The aim of the game was to catch Jack Snipe, a species I had both never seen nor ringed. Iain Livingstone and CRG have been targeting Jack Snipe for an impressive 18 years!

I had never been drag netting before and so didn't know quite what to expect. It was very hard going, traipsing through thigh high thick reeds but after 2 hours we finally struck gold and caught our first Jack Snipe and what a bird!

I was expecting to see a nice looking brown and golden striped wee bird, what I got was a stunning beauty! I had no idea they were so beautiful with their bright greens, golds and even purple, their feathers were something else! It was by far the most beautiful bird I had ever seen and it was a privilege to ring it, something I won't forget in a hurry.

We soon had our second and last bird of the day, another cracking Jack Snipe which the guys very kindly let me ring too. It was very hard work but completely worth it to see such amazing birds, even the strange looks we got off passing dog walkers!

A bonus for the day was not falling in, something I was definitely expecting to do! A very big thanks goes to Iain Livingstone for inviting me, the team and The Clyde Ringing Group. I really enjoyed my first time drag netting, even had a go of 'dragging' myself and can't wait until the next time.

So there we have it my 80th species and to have it in Scotland's unofficial capital too! I will have been ringing for 2 years this Monday and I never thought I would be doing all of this when I first started. Thank you to everyone who has helped and trained me over the last two year and hears to the next 2, who knows what they will bring!

Ringing Under The Stars

Late on Friday night, as all the other 'normal' students left for a night down the pub, I set off for Montrose Basin to take part in my first wader mist netting session. After getting lost in the darkness, several times, I found the meeting point and the rest of team: Chris McGuigan from Tay RG and Raymond Duncan, Ewan Weston and Euan Ferguson from Grampian RG. 

I had never been to Montrose Basin before and what an introduction, as we spent the night ringing away under the stars. We stayed out ringing until 4:30am and had a very successful night, catching 56 new birds and 2 recaptures.

Curlew

The 2 recaptures consisted of an Oystercatcher that was ringed as a 3 (juvenile) in August 2010 and a Bar-tailed Godwit that was also ringed on the same night as the same age!

Oystercatcher

It was an interesting and enjoyable night where I gained a lot of valuable new experience. We ringed 6 species during the night, 4 of which were new for me: Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew and Redshank. The night was a great opportunity to use a variety of different ring sizes, learn how to age new wader species and to take wader's biometrics.

Redshank

The Black-tailed Godwit that we caught was colour ringed for one of the group's ongoing projects studying the species. Any colour ring sightings can be sent to Raymond Duncan at raymond'@'waxwing.fsnet.co.uk. 

A happy ringer with a colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit

I'd have to say that the best thing about ringing in the dark is when you get to release your freshly ringed bird. Nothing beats releasing a Curlew into the night's sky and watching it fly off infront of the moon & stars whilst it calls into the darkness!

Curlew

Redshank

A really fantastic night was had with a brilliant, very welcoming wee team. It made a nice change to be surrounded by Scottish ringers for once too! A big thank you goes to Chris for inviting me and to the very bonnie team for a great night - hears to next time!

Bar-tailed Godwit

So with 4 new species that night I am only one away from my 80th - the next post is going to be something pretty good, promise! ; )

And We're Off!

Finally the day has come and I have found my first nest to kick start the 2012 nest recording season. My first nest was a Woodpigeon in my back garden down in Stranraer, found on 1st March.

Woodpigeon Nest

After recording my first nest last year down at WWT Llanelli I am looking forward to going for a mega recording year this year and I won't be alone in my mission! I have teamed up with Chris & Kane who will be recording in England and Wales, together we are hoping to record some top species across the UK and maybe even break the 1,000 records mark! As well as our blogs you can follow our nest recording exploits on Twitter:  @WildlifeG, @KaneBrides and @CJBridge. 

We are recording as many nests as we can find for The BTO's Nest Record Scheme (NRS). The information gathered from nest recording is used by the BTO to measure environmental impacts on breeding as well as to produce trends for breeding performance. Anyone can take part in NRS - see the NRS website here. It is a really enjoyable and rewarding hobby and once you start, your hooked!

My 1st Coot nest

This year as well as general recording we are targeting some particular species: Tree Sparrow, Reed Warbler and of course Coot. I have already starting recording nests up here in Stirling and have so far found 10 new Coot nests with many more pairs set to start building their nests any day down on the loch - looks like it's going to be a bumper for Coot up here!

With birds pairing up and the dawn chorus getting louder and more varied by the day it won't be long before the nesting season is in full swing and I for one can't wait.

Love is in the air down on Airthrey Loch

I'm really looking forward to this nesting season as not only will I be learning new skills in nest finding and pullus ringing but I will also be spending the summer with my best mates, what else could I ask for?!

Caerlaverock Swan Catch

Yesterday I took part in my first swan catch at WWT Caerlaverock. I traveled from Stirling early yesterday morning and met up with the team at Caerlaverock for a pre-catch briefing. Being able to take part in the swan catch was special to me as the first bird I ever held was a Whooper swan at WWT Caerlaverock when I started volunteering for the trust back in 2008, before I was even a ringer!

The catch ran smoothly with 204 swans being safely caught in the swan pipe along with a handful of Mallards.

Inside the swan pipe

Of the 204 swans caught, 57 were Mutes and the rest were all Whoopers. WWT swan catches are very important to the trust's ongoing monitoring work and as part of this work every Whooper swan processed received a Darvic colour ring that can be read in the field. Sightings from these birds have helped map the species' migratory routes as well as establishing both breeding and wintering grounds. If you see any colour-marked wildfowl then you can report it using the colour-ringing website.

I really enjoyed my first swan catch experience and it was great to get to grips with taking biometrics of swans, a completley different kettle of fish to wee Coots I'm used to that's for sure! All swans processed had their full biometrics taken: wing, weight, skull & tarsus, along with being aged and sexed.

Getting so close to the Whoopers allowed me to appreciate their unique bill patterns, absolutely stunning.

The catch was a great opportunity to catch up with the Slimbridge team as well as to meet other local ringers from The North Solway Group and beyond, such as fellow bloggers Kev Scott & Sean Gray from The Isle of Man.

A real treat was ringing a Whooper swan. Whoopers are a real favourite of mine and I love them even more now after admiring them up close, I especially love the way some make soft 'whoop whoop' calls as you process them!

Massive thanks to the team and to WWT for inviting me along. A brief trip now back home to Stranraer, the first time this year I've been home! Hopefully I will get out ring reading and nest recording to start of my first nest record card for the BTO's Nest Record Scheme (NRS), wish me luck!