Goldfinch Colour-ringing Project

 

We’ve launched a new colour-ringing project and we need your help! 

Since the start of 2020, we have ringed 1181 individual Goldfinches and only had 5 recoveries. This is unusually low, especially when compared to Redpoll which has a similar ringing rate but much higher recovery rate. Given that Goldfinches are more common in gardens throughout the year than Redpoll, the low recovery rate is strange. Some comparison data are below:

Goldfinch stats 01/01/20 to present

1181 individuals ringed
106 retraps 8.9%
5 controls 0.4%

Redpoll stats 01/01/20 to present

1337 individuals ringed
26 retraps 1.9%
43 controls 3.2%

It is our aim to increase the recovery rate through colour-ringing so that we can better understand survival, adult recruitment, movement and dispersal.

If you see a colour-ringed Goldfinch, please send the two-letter code and the date and location of your sighting to: goldfinchresighting@gmail.com

We will send you the history of that bird - where and when it was ringed, and where else it's been seen.

A massive thank you to East Midlands Airport Community Fund, Lush, and Mansfield Building Society for supporting this project.

Holly

Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 25 February

Today we caught a new species for the winter feeding site - a Song Thrush. We’ve heard them singing almost every visit so it’s good to finally catch one.

The other notable catch being the large number of unringed Blue Tits. Where are they all coming from? Though we did catch a fair number of retraps as well. 

All in all a typical morning in good conditions with 32 birds in total, comprising: Blue Tit 17, Great Tit 5, Long-Tailed Tit 5, Chaffinch 2, Coal Tit 1, Dunnock 1, Song Thrush 1. 

Holly

Ride clearance at Skylarks and The Grange, Sunday 18 February

In extremely wet conditions, we ventured out to our summer ringing sites at Skylarks and The
Grange to prepare them for the year ahead. This job involves cutting back any plants that may
get in the way of nets. Mostly, we trim bramble and overhanging willow.

We were prevented from clearing all the rides because both sites were flooded, so we did our
best by wading in the water up to the tops of our wellies (and in one case, over our wellies).

It’s been a while since we visited the Grange, so it was as much a general recce to see how the
site has changed as it was a bramble bashing session. The reedbeds and rides remain in good
condition, and we hope will be a productive site for Reed Warblers this year.

Holly

 

Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 11 February

We tried the Tawny Owl tape lure again first thing in very foggy conditions, and although an owl
was responding to the tape for a short time, we didn’t catch any owls.

After that, we caught very little in the way of passerines, c25 birds in total. Mostly the usual
suspects - Blue Tit, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Robin and Dunnock. One new Chaffinch and a
new Blackbird were the highlights. The male Blackbird in particular had an unusual feather pattern, with brown bars across the primary coverts and primaries, reminiscent of tortoiseshell.

Holly

Broomfield Hall College - Sunday 4 February

This weekend, we managed to get out ringing at Broomfield in between the overnight rains and
strong winds later in the day. This led to our quietest visit to the site so far, with 27 birds. Our
greatest success was 7 new Chaffinches ringed. We put tapes on in an attempt to attract Tawny Owl,
Goldfinch, Redpoll and Nuthatch to the nets, but none of these led to results. 

Recently Kev was sent a photo of a Robin's underwing by Mike Easton in Cumbria, who thought it was particularly bright. We examined a single bird today and found it to be much duller. However, we've since looked at several other birds, including known age birds and this appears to be just individual variation. However, something to keep an eye on. See photos below.

The totals were: 1 Redwing, 1 Dunnock, 6 Long-Tailed Tit, 2 Great Tit, 7 Chaffinch, and 1 Robin.

Joshua

 

Underwing of Robin in Cumbria (M. Easton)

Underwing of Robin nr Derby (K. Hemsley)