Gorrión moruno…a Sparrow de España…

Back in January news got out that a male Spanish Sparrow had taken up residence in a small village in Hampshire. Spanish Sparrows are found in Spain (funnily enough!) but also Turkey and North Africa, and like our own House Sparrow doesn’t tend to move very far. So for one to appear in the UK is rather unusual, in fact there has only ever been eight recorded in the British Isles with the last one turning up in 2000.

Although we had no desire to rush off immediately to see the bird in January, (unlike several hundred twitchers) we could not resist taking a look when we were back in Salisbury visiting family.

So Saturday afternoon saw us bundling Barley into the car, with the promise of a walk on the beach after a slight detour to try and see the bird. News from a friend was not promising as the bird had not been seen for a couple of hours. On arrival in Calshot, we headed for the small cluster of birders and waited. It was not long until amongst the many chattering house sparrows, darting amongst the bushes and branches there appeared a slightly different bird. Darker on the back and breast with more black streaks, clean white cheeks and no grey on the head, there was the Spanish sparrow.

Best photo I got in the end of the Spanish Sparrow

Happily chirping away, nestled in the middle of the hedge, the bird never emerged fully for a clear photo, but we knew he was there and that was enough for us…and for Barley who was just happy to get her run on the beach oblivious to the stir that was caused by a little sparrow de España…

A Hoolie in the Highlands

The wind howled, whipping the greenish grey sea into a frenzy of white water,spraying from the tops and streaking down the backs of large waves. It was blowing an absolute hoolie as the MV Finlaggen steamed from Kennacraig to Islay. Five seabird surveyors stood wrapped up against the wind and spray on the back deck, attempting to detect and identify seabirds. Despite the conditions we picked up a number of different species of divers, gulls, ducks and auks. Highlights included an Iceland gull, two slavonian grebes, black guillemot and three species of diver.

Common Gull

With the wind blowing and the front deck still off limits, we decided to have one day on Islay practicing bird identification. The island was alive with geese, white-fronted, barnacle and a ‘proper’ Canada goose… from Canada! A male hen harrier swooped in front of the car, while at a reserve three females glided amongst flocks of lapwing and golden plover. Later during the day a majestic golden eagle soared above us, while a glaucous gull stood out like a sore thumb amongst the herring gulls.

White-fronted Goose on Islay

Finally after two and a half days the sun broke through, clearing the low cloud and revealing the beautiful Scottish landscape. The sea glittered a deep blue, the low sun warming the reds, browns and deep greens of Islay and the mainland, tingeing the sky pink. In the sunlight of the last trip we also picked up four long-tailed duck, topping off a cracking trip.

But it wasn’t all fun and golden eagles, there was a purpose to this trip. It was a European Seabirds at Sea training course, aimed at standardising the collection of data throughout Europe.

Golden Eagle on Islay

And did she pass I hear you ask…? You bet ya!

Winging it in Wales

This weekend we headed to Wales not only to visit the inlaws but of course to do some ringing in their garden. June and Rob’s house sits on the end of the row, with the corner garden overlooking fields, a small wood and the valley below. We usually catch between 20 and 30 birds in a morning, with the usual garden suspects of blue tits, great tits, robins and dunnocks…

The prolonged spell of very cold weather has reduced the availability of food in the wider countryside, bringing birds into those gardens providing food, like June’s and hoovering up bucket loads of seed.

Nets set and catching birds

After setting two nets, it did not take long for the birds to start piling in, not those usual suspects but siskins, lesser redpolls and goldfinches. Other species caught included a great spotted woodpecker, chaffinch, greenfinch and a flock of nine long-tailed tits. In total we caught 162 birds, blowing the previous total of just over 100 birds in one day out of the garden!

Interesting birds from today’s catch include a goldfinch that was originally ringed in the adjacent valley. Plus two lesser redpolls, which rather than having the usual red spot on the head, and in the case of males on the breast, were yellow! 

Yellow Lesser Redpoll

 More typical male Lesser Redpoll

The condition is a form of leucism, where the feather lacks the pigment melanin. In this case the lack of red in the feathers means the yellow colour is more dominant. The British Trust for Ornithology has recently started a survey of birds with such abnormal plumages with some interesting results http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw/about/background/projects/plumage/gallery

Whoosh, there is snows...

With a thick layer of snow blanketing the Breckland region and much of eastern England and the midlands, we took the opportunity to undertake a whoosh net catch at Lodge Farm, in Thetford Forest. A whoosh net basically uses elastics to fire a net over a group of birds. With snow softening the features of the landscape and covering food sources, birds were flocking to the feeders.

Having cleared a patch of snow from under a large beech tree, and laid a good load of seed down, birds soon started flocking into our catching area, in particular large numbers of chaffinch and brambling. It was mesmerising watching bird after bird flutter to the feeders, drop down onto the snow and feast on the sunflower seeds, only to flush on-mass back into the trees. However being so hungry the birds would soon return, and as they gained in confidence more and more would gather between the poles. It was not long before we pulled and fired the net, catching 50 birds in one go!

Extracting birds from the whoosh net

The majority of these were bramblings, numbers of this beautiful finch have been comparatively low this winter, compared with previous years, but with the cold snap and snow large numbers had finally arrived at the farm. Breeding in Scandinavia and northern Russia, the brambling arrives in Britain during the winter months to feed predominantly on beech seeds.

Beautiful male brambling 

Later in the morning we re-set the whoosh net; this time the birds were a little more flighty, with the slushing noise of cars passing on the road spooking them more often. However with a little patience (easier said then done when you’re sat freezing in a car!) numbers soon built up and we once again fired the net, this time catching approximately 30 birds.

In the end after a morning stomping around in the snow, firing whoosh nets and catching more birds in mist nets covering the feeders we caught and processed 291 birds! 

Processing birds in the snow!

Ringing in a winter wonderland

A hazy sun rose through a cold mist covering white, frozen fields surrounding the village of Feltwell, Norfolk as five intrepid ringers headed for one particular corner of the fields. Brown hare’s scarpered, racing away in the pink haze, as we approached this corner where millet has been spread throughout the winter months and where large flocks of finches come to feed on a regular basis.

With nets set, we sat back and waited, rubbing our hands together not only in anticipation as large numbers of yellowhammer, chaffinch and the target of today’s catch, tree sparrows, piled into the feeding site, but also in an attempt to warm them up!

As the sun rose and the frosty morning progressed we collected a steady stream of birds from the nets and by mid morning we had caught 45 birds including 19 yellowhammers. For these, we not only put a metal ring on but also a unique combination of colour rings enabling birds to be identified in the field without recatching them. In this area our aim is to find out where yellowhammers that flock and feed on the farmland during winter go to breed during the summer. With birds heading into the coniferous plantations of Thetford Forest we are interested in finding out how far they move from these winter sites and the type of habitat (e.g. age of plantation trees) that they breed in.

Male yellowhammer complete with added 'bling'

 And the tree sparrows.....?

Well although there seemed to be slightly fewer birds around than in previous days, we did manage to catch five! Yay! A huge increase from the one caught last year! Four were unringed, and the fifth…. the fifth already had a ring on, which you might think was last year’s bird…but no this individual was ringed  last autumn at Spurn Bird Observatory in Yorkshire, approximately 125 km away (the red pin below shows Spurn and the blue Feltwell).

View Tree Sparrow Control in a larger map


Tree Sparrows are a resident species in the UK, breeding predominantly on farmland across the Midlands, eastern and southern England. The UK population has suffered a severe decline since the 1970s, although some information suggests numbers maybe starting to increase again. Studies indicate that populations further north undertake seasonal movements, with birds recorded moving south through east coast bird observatories such as Gibraltar Point and Spurn, many of which head inland on reaching the north Norfolk coast.

Me and my first Tree Sparrow ringed

With snow forecast tonight we’ll wait and see what other birds this winter wonderland will produce…

The Gambia December 2011

December saw Lee and I heading off with 9 other British and Irish ringers to the Kartong Bird Observatory in The Gambia for an 11 day ringing expedition. The objectives being to learn more about migrant Western Palearctic birds on their wintering grounds and to increase the limited knowledge of West African birds.

Located on the coast, near the border with Senegal the habitat surrounding the observatory is a mixture of sand dunes, beach, mangroves, coastal scrub with pockets of remnant forest. The observatory itself overlooks a former sand mine, which during the rainy season fills with water. These pools contain extensive reed and rush beds which provide refuge, roosting and breeding sites for a huge variety and number of birds, along with the occasional crocodiles!

Ours days involved mist netting in the mornings in one of these varied habitats, followed by setting new nets or more mist netting in the afternoon. After dark we would head out dazzling, using lamps to catch waders and nightjar.

Two evenings we headed for the beach, setting up nets to catch waders and seabirds, the first of which was particularly successful catching a number of sandwich terns including one that was ringed as a chick earlier in the year off Northumberland!

Setting tern decoys on the beach

Other activities including flick netting amongst the cattle for oxpeckers and whoosh netting for vultures.

In total we caught over 1200 birds of 121 species, and most importantly 250 Western Palearctic passerines, including birds we regularly encounter at home such as reed warblers, chiffchaffs and whitethroats and others that are more often seen on the continent such as the beautiful melodious and subalpine warbler. Other highlights for me included ringing my first nightingale and two of 19 woodchat shrikes!

As well as this we caught birds doing unusual moults, or what we think are unusual! With comparatively little ringing done here we are learning so much that seems odd but could be the norm! On this trip we caught a juvenile chiffchaff that was undergoing active moult (it was growing and replacing some of its flight feathers) and one which had obviously just finished growing its last three flight feathers. Now juvenile chiffchaff’s that breed in Britain undergo a partial moult (they moult body feathers but not flight feathers) before migrating south to the Mediterranean, North and West coast of Africa. They keep these old flight feathers all through the winter and during the breeding season back in Europe, before finally replacing them after breeding. So what were these chiffchaff’s doing? Recent work on the Iberian Chiffchaff (recently described as a separate species) indicates that some juvenile birds of this species moult some of the outer flight feathers during their post juvenile moult. However, this is usually finished by the end of September before they migrate south and one of our birds was still in active moult!! It must be remembered that little is known about the moult strategy of this species and just highlights how important the work of the Kartong Bird Observatory is!

Another interesting Western Palearctic species caught was an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (North African race reiseria), which turns out is a new species for The Gambia.

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - North African race reiseria

Of course we also caught a lot of African birds, which ranged in colour, size, shape and ferociousness! Once again we were at the cutting edge of knowledge for these species, every bird providing new information on moult, breeding…even identification!

Weaver's presented a particularly difficult ID challenge, since they were in non-breeding plumage and needed wing and head measurements to identify them and with large flocks forming by the end of the trip, we needed all hands of deck to get them out of the nets! 

Extracting over 100 weavers from the nets!

I particularly enjoyed learning about the long-tailed nightjar of which we caught 70 and the kingfishers. We caught 7 species of kingfisher ranging from the giant kingfisher to the African pygmy kingfisher, although my favourites were the pied kingfisher and malachite kingfisher with its rather funky hair do!

Pied, Giant and Pygmy Kingfisher

One of my favourites, the Malachite Kingfisher

All in all it was a fantastic trip and a huge thank you needs to go to Colin Cross and his wife Binta, our helpers Manuel, Moses, Dembo and Abdoulie, Hanni and the guys at Lemonfish for feeding us and putting up with having ringing equipment everywhere and constantly changing meal times! To Jez for organising the trip and for all the team members who helped make it such a wonderful trip!

Another account of the trip from one of the other team members, Sam Bayley can be found at his Blog http://horshamringers.blogspot.com/ and includes a rather interesting encounter with 23 leeches!

Information on Iberian Chiffchaff moult can be found here http://www.ibercajalav.net/img/380a_IberianChiffchaffPibericus.pdf

Below are just a very small selection of a few other birds caught...

Lanner Falcon

Common Wattle-eye (female)

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

Long-tailed Nightjar

Jacana

Little Bittern

Melodious Warbler

Squacco Heron

Grey-headed Bush Shrike

Grey Kestrel

Nightingale

Pied Kingfisher

Giant Kingfisher

The Maldives October 2011

After a wonderful week in Sri Lanka we flew on to the tropical archipelago of The Maldives, a double chain of 26 atolls in the middle of the Indian Ocean. On arrival in the capital Malé we joined our guide Chas Anderson and boarded the live aboard boat Ari Queen, our home for the next 7 days.

The Ari Queen

An ocean-lovers paradise of white sandy beaches and crystal clear blue waters, we spent our morning’s snorkelling amongst the colourful corals and beautiful fish of the reefs. Fish of all shapes and sizes, flashed in a brilliant array of colours among the purples, reds, pinks and blues of the coral. Occasionally we would encounter an octopus hiding amongst the crevices or a turtle gliding silently over the coral and sandy bottoms.

Just one of our anchor sites

After breakfast we would head out of the atolls for a days whale watching in the deeper waters. In a world of bright, endless blue skies and a vast vibrant blue ocean we were treated to the delights of tropical whales and dolphins….

Vast pods of spinner and pantropical spotted dolphins surrounded the boat, leaping clear of the water and in the case of the spinners, spinning three, four, five even six times before landing with a tremendous splash. On a couple of occasions we encountered these dolphins with seabirds and yellowfin tuna, with the tuna breaching almost as much as the dolphins!

Pantropical Spotted Dolphin

Spinner Dolphin

On two occasions we encountered groups of Fraser’s dolphin, a species thought extinct until 1971! A beautiful dolphin, often flushed pink on the belly due to the warm waters, they travel in very distinct, tightly packed groups making the surface of the ocean boil.

Fraser's Dolphin

We encountered five separate pods of short-finned pilot whales, with one extremely memorable occasion where two whales surfacing leisurely alongside the boat, so close you could see the whole length of the whales under the water.

Other species we encountered included striped dolphins, bottlenose and indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins and a couple of pods of Risso’s dolphins, including heavily scarred adults and almost smooth, velvety grey juveniles.

After a day’s surfing around the ocean watching these stunning creatures, we would head in to anchor next to an island, and head in for another snorkel before dark.

Our final day was the icing of top our whale wedding cake, the morning started with a snorkel with one of the most magnificent fish I have ever seen, a manta ray. Appearing out of the blue haze, parting schools of silvery fish, the ray glided towards us, turned and disappeared, once more a mystery of the deep blue. As we headed out after breakfast we were treated to numerous sightings of dwarf sperm whale (they look like upside down surf boards!). So far the beaked whales had proved elusive, but later that day as we steamed along, we heard the sound of a whale exhale right next to the boat. Dashing to the side we saw a mother and calf Longman’s beaked whale surface right alongside! Amazing! So little is known about beaked whales in general due to their shy nature, and deep water habitat and Longman’s is one of the rarest and least known, it really was a special sight.

Our trip was run by Chas and Sue Anderson, who run regular trips to The Maldives and Sri Lanka, and are THE authority on whales and dolphins in these areas, not only providing superb information but collecting data and conducting invaluable research.

www.whale-and-dolphin.com

info@whale-and-dolphin.com