The morning started off misty, but the still conditions lent themselves to a steady flow of birds in the nets. Thirty were trapped, including a Song Thrush, two Goldcrests, two Bullfinches and six Redpoll. One of the Redpolls was a retrap, initially ringed 19km away in April this year. Pictured below is a strong fault bar in the tail of one of this year's Blue Tits.
Joshua
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| Redpoll |
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| Blue Tit with fault bar |
Kev H, Mick P and I have just got back from a week-long trip alongside members of the Belvide Ringing Group and West Cumbrian Ringing Group. It was part of a 16-year research project at Vilamoura’s Parque Ambientale to monitor both resident and migrating birds.
Vilamoura sits on the Southern coast of Portugal, and is a feeding site for Western and Central European passerines stopping to rest before continuing their migration to Africa.
We had mist-nets in a few areas around reedbed and scrub. These were good for catching Blackcap, Reed Warbler, Sardinian Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Bluethroat, Grasshopper Warbler, Willow Warbler, Iberian Chiffchaff and Nightingale. A few other interesting residents included Kingfisher, Spanish Sparrow, Short-toed Treecreeper, Zitting Cisticola, and two invasive species - Common Waxbill and Black-headed Weaver.
We re-trapped Reed Warblers from France, Germany, Belgium, and the Czech Republic.
Along a track lined with olive trees, we caught Hoopoe and Yellow Wagtail. Nets and spring-traps in stubble fields caught Whinchat, Wheatear, Serin, Linnet and Corn Bunting.
On some nights, we targeted a Swallow roost, and tried for European Nightjar and Red-necked Nightjar with some success.
It was a brilliant experience to learn so much from the other ringers and handle a total of 37 new species between the three of us. It’s our hope to continue the relationship with these groups back home for thermal imaging techniques and Pied Flycatcher nest boxes.
Holly
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| European (rear) and Red-necked Nightjars |
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| Hoopoe |
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| Nightingale |
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Fringilla papillomavirus is something we find mostly in Chaffinches, though it occasionally appears to infect other species (e.g. Yellowhammer see here and Bullfinch see here). This morning I caught an adult Goldfinch in my garden which showed the usual symptoms (trapped under BTO licence and following strict avian flu guidelines).
Mick P
A definite improvement on the previous ringing session. This weekend we headed up the golf course with the weather looking good for us. We started off great, right off the bat. 30+ individuals in the first 2 net rounds (beating the previous session's total). We ended the session with 60+ birds and a number of retraps, making it one of the more successful sessions of the year. Notable captures included a Wood Pigeon, a Tree Pipit and and number of Goldcrests.
Jake
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| Tree Pipit (JH) |
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| Tree Pipit (JH) |
