Goldfinch in Garden

Back to Halifax and full of cold. It never fails to interest me that when you look at your feeders in the garden and you see 3 Goldfinch on the nyger, you think oh nice 3 Goldfinch the next time you look you see 2 and you think oh 2 Goldfinch. Today ringed 20 Goldfinch coming into feeder no re traps and no birds seen with rings on either. So just goes to show you never know how many different comings and goings there are to one little feeding station.

Gulls in the garden

5 More Herring Gulls ringed in my Garden in the Isle of Man a fantastic weekend with some great weather, sunshine and no wind.

House Sparrows, Chaffinch, Wren, Coal Tits, Blue Tits, Gt Tits and a Jackdaw.

other birds about

Hooded Crows coming into Garden and a small flock of Siskin in Scotch Pines.

More Twite

This morning spent at Rishworth with another 38 Twite caught.

Since Sunday i have caught 55 Twite here with only one retrap today from Sunday.

36 new birds ringed and 16 of Nicks Pulli .

and 3 birds i ring at whiteholme in August.

I Text Nick as i re caught his birds and the phone rang straight away, T627937 was of a brood he thought had been predated over at Wessenden so some good news .

as i packed up i caught 5 more birds and the last one was T627938 so at least two of the brood made it.

Also i caught a bird Nick Carter had seen at Flyflats 3 days ago. These magic little birds travel around our moors so frequently. 70 odd Twite seen still feeding in the quarry at Rochdale yesterday and a flock of 40 at Cant Clough. Also the weight of the birds is improving majority of the birds ringed in August were around 14.5 grams Septembers birds now up to 15.8 and some over 16 so feeding up for the cold of winter and the migration down south.

2 Years On

On Sunday Andy and i re caught a colour ringed Meadow Pipit from 2007 at Kex Gill re caught at the same site and only a day away from the same date.

What the Vismigers had to say

"Speaking to Andy J last night. He says that yesterday they re-caught a mipit at Kex Gill N Yorks which they had originally colour ringed exactly two years ago (all but a day!) at the same site.... suggests at least that mipits might use the same migration routes at the same time of
year!..... interesting! !"

"For a Meadow Pipit, I think that's an amazing result! All the more so since adult Mipits are so much harder to catch than 1y birds. Nice one Andy. "

More Pipits

More Pipits this week bringing my total for Meadow Pipits to 382

Out with Andy yesterday Morning at Kex Gill with another 86 Mipits ringed his total so far is 263

also 17 Twite caught at Rishworth Quarry yesterday thanks to Tim for all the information and feeding the site. 10 Unringed birds 4 of Nick Wilkensons pulli from this year. And 3 birds i ringed at Whiteholme reservoir in August.

Photo by Tim { he has sent it to crime watch}

Also this week a little bit of garden ringing, My back Garden in Stainland is small about 30ft by 40ft i have 1 large weeping Birch in it which takes up most of the room. The views i have are great i look onto an old grave yard and then right across the valleys to The Windmills at Flyflatts.

Back Garden with one 3 metre net up

This week a few Goldfinch ringed coming into the feeding station with Starlings and Tits and a nice movement of Chiff Chaffs today with 3 ringed

And the sun came out and it rained Pipits

The Sun Shone and the wind died down for 5 days in Halifax hallelujah.

Birds ringed in Calderdale this week 353

316 Meadow Pipits

6 Blue Tits

11 Gt Tits

11 Greenfinch

5 Chiffchaff

1 Blackcap

1 Song Thrush

1 Robin

1 Dunnock

Also over 90 More Mipits ringed at Kex Gill with Andy on Saturday with 6 Linnets and 6 Goldfinch

Thanks alot to Kane, Craig and Ciaran for helping out with the Mipits.

Rodley Nature reserve

Back at Rodley this morning with Andy we started at 6:30 put 6 60ft nets up in a mild breeze

1 hour later 3 of them took down due to wind getting up and no birds. After the compulsory bacon sarnies we decided to call it a morning. We had a good recce of the site and have some ideas for Ducks and Snipe this winter.

On the way back home decided to call in at Cooper Bridge. It was a bit more sheltered there and i caught 3 more Chiffchaffs plus Tits and Greenfinches.

So not a bad morning all in all.

some more recoveries

A Greenfinch TJ98372 Ringed on 30-Dec-08 as a 4F at Elland Gravel Pits
was a Road Casualty in Brighouse on the 7 May 2009 a huge distance of 2km and 128 days after ringing

Also

Oystercatcher
FP02951
ringed as a chick 1 (1/1)
on 13-May-04
at Kex Gill

Found

5-Aug-08
Cherriux ile-et-villane, France
599 km
1545 days
Dead, Hunted

Can not believe these people are still shooting Oystercatchers and everything else in 2008 and beyond