Tuesday 29 March 2011

Recent Recoveries Reports

Our inbox was recently graced with an email with the subject “BTO - Finding Recovery Report”. Always a joy to behold! This particular batch of recoveries came from birds we controlled in autumn and winter 2010.

Winter at Cosmeston Lakes saw the usual arrival of several dozen Canada geese attracted by the open water and promise of bread, bread and more bread. The glint of a ring among all those unringed legs was all too obvious and we soon became acquainted with 5254368. This particularly bird was originally ringed as an adult in the Chew Valley in 2008, 41km away and 910 days before its appearance at Cosmeston.

This was the first Canada goose to be caught on one of our sites, although several of the Cardiff Ringers are well versed in the catching of Canada geese having taken part in the Llangorse. But we are still yet to ring any on our own rings, but give us time as plans are afoot….

Rather fittingly for the time of year, the other two recoveries were from migrants that had called in to Cardiff Bay on their way South for the winter. The first year Whitethroat known as L052810 was originally ringed at Kilpasion Marsh in Pembrokeshire by our esteemed colleagues from the Pembrokeshire Ringing Group. 26 days later having travelled 126km and put on 2.6 grams we wished him luck on the rest of his journey.

The North Lancashire Ringing Group should be proud of L444850, a first year Sedge Warbler, who was somewhat quicker than Whitey above having covered the 325km from where he was ringed in Leighton Moss in just 14 days. But to be fair he had only put on a gram by the time we saw him.

Monday 28 March 2011

To Air is Human

We have been somewhat slack with our posts recently, mainly as the Cardiff ringers have been catching a lot of air of late. Air is currently on migration through much of the country and is easily told from the more common resident air by the moult limit along the breeze….

Monday 21 March 2011

CBWR and World Sparrow Day

Of all our sites we are most unashamedly proud of  the Cardiff Bay Wetlands Reserve; the site where many of us were taught our trade, experienced “big mornings” where warblers just kept on coming, and learnt the affects of repeated early mornings and late nights on the human psyche; it’s not pretty but there again nor are we.

Sunday saw 2011’s inaugural visit to the CBWR – a chance to ensure the nets still fit and for the supervising members of the Cardiff Ringer’s to chew the cud over the running of the site in the coming season and scoff several bacon sandwiches. Considering it was the middle of March we had a good session with over 30 birds caught including several migrant and resident warblers, with a new Mute Swan (only the second to be ringed there) being the biggest bird of the day.

An image of something appropriate may or may not be inserted here.

As Sunday was World Sparrow Day the group’s two newest gazetted A permits decided a fitting celebration of such a day would be to spend the afternoon pitting their wits against the humble House Sparrow in one of its strong holds – an urban Cardiff garden.

And possibly here if we can find more than one. 

Nets were unfurled to no avail. It turns out that House Sparrow are harder to out wit than envisaged, or their collective wit is more than that of two particular A permits, who despite their efforts failed to catch anything that afternoon.

Merthyr Mawr

March is not a month associated with plentiful numbers of the South Walian ringers' quarry. Rich, Mike and Adam decided, however, to ignore the probability of failure and make a brave attempt on the dunes of Merthyr Mawr on a bright Saturday morning. On ascending the towering dunes, an array of nets were erected, including a double dog-leg through an area of promising-looking scrub. By promising, we mean not totally hopeless.

Amazingly, the Gods of Ringing smiled kindly on us that day. The three of us were worked hard by the inundation of not five, but six birds over the course of only two or three hours! We barely had time to drink coffee, eat unhealthy snacks and lie around in the sun. Lucky that the flock of goldfinches avoided the nets, or we might have struggled to keep up.

Dunnock, robin and great tit all found their way into the nets. Two dunnocks of different age were caught at the same time, allowing us to compare them in the hand. The eye colour was noticeably duller in the yearling, even though this is a more reliable character in the Autumn (see pics).



There was quite a difference in the greater coverts betwen the two, but according to the ringing bible (Lars Svensson's Little Green Book), this doesn't really tell you anything. Still, here is a picture of dunnocks with different looking greater coverts:

The GCs are clearly different between the birds, which probably tells you nothing about their age or sex (Little Green Book, pg. 104)

Before releasing the dunnocks, Rich briefly contemplated following the example of Paul the alien, but decided that this might bring displeasure from the Gods of Ringing. Looking back, he was probably right.

Monday 14 March 2011

Great Traditions

For the younger, newer, sprightlier members of the fraternity that is the Cardiff Ringers, it is somewhat comforting to know that they are part of a legacy founded by Masters Yoda Bull and Qui Gon Morgan in 1990.

2010 saw the 20th year since these Jedi Knights of the pliers established the Bull and Morgan Ringing Partnership, during which time 49705 birds have been ringed. Three months into the 21st year we have probably (by our estimates at least and despite what the blog may testify) passed the 50000 mark. Either that or we are about 295 short.

To mark the 20th anniversary of the Partnership that has brought so much to so many, we’ve decided, three months after the event, to post the totals of this hallowed group.

Ladies, gentlemen and trainees may we present the work of the Bull and Morgan Ringing Partnership 1990 to 2010 (cue round of applause):


Total
Mute Swan
83
Mallard
17
Tufted Duck
12
Sparrowhawk
38
Buzzard
1
Kestrel
1
Water Rail
36
Spotted Crake
1
Moorhen
17
Coot
14
Lapwing
3
Snipe
6
Lesser Black-backed Gull
5
Woodpigeon
20
Collared Dove
83
Cuckoo
3
Little Owl
1
Tawny Owl
5
Long-eared Owl
9
Nightjar
2
Swift
2
Kingfisher
71
Wryneck
2
Green Woodpecker
13
Great Spotted Woodpecker
83
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker
1
Sand Martin
213
Swallow
538
House Martin
8
Tree Pipit
8
Meadow Pipit
24
Yellow Wagtail
35
Grey Wagtail
7
Pied/White Wagtail
25
Dipper
3
Wren
830
Dunnock
982
Robin
1533
Nightingale
2
Redstart
49
Whinchat
4
Stonechat
4
Wheatear
3
Blackbird
1685
Fieldfare
5
Song Thrush
587
Redwing
142
Mistle Thrush
9
Cetti's Warbler
319
Grasshopper Warbler
17
Aquatic Warbler
8
Sedge Warbler
10521
Marsh Warbler
1
Reed Warbler
6306
Lesser Whitethroat
123
Whitethroat
382
Garden Warbler
160
Blackcap
1232
Yellow-browed Warbler
1
Wood Warbler
6
Chiffchaff
2016
Willow Warbler
1337
Goldcrest
377
Firecrest
1
Spotted Flycatcher
23
Pied Flycatcher
189
Bearded Tit
350
Long-tailed Tit
688
Marsh Tit
10
Willow Tit
19
Coal Tit
602
Blue Tit
6239
Great Tit
2732
Nuthatch
116
Treecreeper
81
Jay
41
Magpie
83
Jackdaw
191
Rook
28
Carrion Crow
19
Starling
660
House Sparrow
1152
Tree Sparrow
5
Chaffinch
1313
Brambling
6
Greenfinch
2627
Goldfinch
316
Siskin
1100
Linnet
86
Lesser Redpoll
56
Bullfinch
565
Yellowhammer
5
Reed Bunting
371
Grand Total! 
49705

For those with a bent for more detail then, for your eyes only, a year by year account of the species totals will follow shortly.