A Cardiff Bird Ringer in Ireland

Seven months ago, Twinkletoes Hallam left Wales to watch fluffy mammals in Northern Ireland, a new C permit in hand. Seven months later, ringing sites were finally secured and the first tentative steps into a world of semi-independence were taken.

What followed were several lessons in habitat assessment and net placement. Clearly the initial net locations were woefully inadequate and were scorned by the local birds, with only a couple of blackbirds and a blackcap to show for the first couple of hours. But lo and behold, moving the 18m net 15ft seemed to make it a much more attractive proposition, and 8 birds were caught in 40 minutes. The two 12m nets are currently sulking after being chastised for poor performance. Unfortunately the clouds decided that the increased success was unacceptable and by the time everything was packed away, all was sodden.

Bird #3. Evidently more photogenic than birds 1 & 2 which the camera decided weren't worth focussing on.

The session was finished with 13 birds ringed, a 6M blackbird being the first. It's a start and it was good to finally get out. Birds were caught, lessons were learned and I'm finally an active C ringer. A-woohoo! The Cardiff Bird Ringing Group has invaded Northern Ireland and we're up and running.

Postcard from accross the water

A big thank you to Mike Jones of Devonshire who recently sent us this photo below of a Cossie Coot abroad, well in Exeter.



BCF auditioning for the part of "T-rex chasing car" in Jurassic Park

Despite a reputation of not moving (when did you last see a coot flying) we've had some good movements of Coots away form Cosmeston - see here and here for examples.

We'd also like to re-iterate our plea to local birds to report colour ringed sightings to us at cardiffringers@yahoo.co.uk even if the bird is ringed at the site its seen at. 

Reedbed Fever!

I dont know why it excites me so much,  but everytime I walk past a reedbed -which is a lot- I have to stand and listen for ten minutes- just to check.
I did the same this morning- at 5:20am, while my heart filled with joy, my heart dropped because...they're back!

Larry. He was pleased to see me too

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh!



It was a case of Cardiff Ringers to the rescue today. Pliers Morris (bad ass ringer on weekends but by day a mild mannered librarian at the University of South Wales) called to say that a Pied Wagtail had found its way into his booked domain and was largely being ignored by students, and was refusing to leave until it had caused a scene.

 

Cue the Cardiff Ringers! Our mission to liberate Mr Wag to somewhere people would actually enjoy seeing it. Armed with a mist net and a bit of persuasion (Facey with a pole) it was mere moments before the 'wag was caught and released. These moments were of course filled with twitters of delight as students realised something was happening as we ushered the 'wag to liberation.

 

Shhh!

Howdy Stranger!

Brrr its been cold, which is probably why we haven't had a repeat of this sight in the CCW bird observatory, despite it being late March.

But a pair of ducks have been frequenting the office quad more and more recently. As one eagle-eyed colleague noticed the female of the pair was ringed, Facey whipped out his might midget (naughty) in order to read the ring. And lo GR38123 was spotted.

She was one of four ducklings ringed at the site in 2011 and this is the first we've heard of any of the brood. They took a bit of catching that year but we learnt, improved our technique and so we should be able to ring GR38123's ducklings (if she has any) more quickly than she was.


All those years ago - GR38123 (or one of her

siblings) as a baby.

 



Chiffys Are Back

Suddenly they're everywhere. Six new Chiffchaffs ringed today, first migrants of the summer to come, including this one sporting both a 'pollen horn' and a 'pollen lump'- sure evidence that it's been spending the winter somewhere sunny with its face deep in flowers full of nectar and pollen, i.e. probably not in Cardiff.  

These accretions always seem to disappear pretty quick once the birds start poking about in our damp vegetation, and certainly don't seem to cause any inconvenience.

Colour Ring Calamity

Sometimes the Gods of Ringing really try your patience*. Needless to say several blackbirds went un-colour ringed this morning due to breakage after breakage. The air was a dark blue. Hot drinks were needed not only to calm the nerves but also take the brittleness out of the colour rings, sadly none were available. Still it was a nice morning and a good excuse to have a bacon sandwich!

*the happier version of events will be found on our sister blog www.cardiffblackbirds.blogspot.com later!

Just when you thought you had your ringing site nicely established...

 

That's why the Cardiff Bay Wetland Reserve can never be a Constant Effort Site, and also explains a certain lack of activity on our part over the last month or so.

Save Cardiff Riding School!

Not too long ago I blogged about how much I was looking forward to the upcoming swallow season; 2013 looked full of promise on the back of 2012, the most productive year for the birds since the project started.

For me the swallow season starts on the 1^st of April each year with the re-sighting of individually colour-ringed birds as they return, having travelled 1000s of miles from Africa. So you can imagine I was more than a little bit miffed to hear that Cardiff Council announced they would cease funding the site on the very same day.



The Cardiff Riding School, which opened in 1970, is a much cherished part of Cardiff’s heritage and is one of a swathe of sites and services that the council are looking to axe.  I learnt horse riding there as a kid  (until I realised that I am quiet scared of horses, especially being atop of them) and for the last 7 years I’ve engrossed myself in the happenings of the site’s Swallow population. Quite frankly it is one of my favourite places to be; each year I can't wait to hear the chattering calls of swallows coming from the various stables.

The class of 2012; nearly 1000 swallows to hatch at the stables in the last 7 years

Around 20 pairs of swallows make the site their home each year – making this one of the, if not the most, urban population for the species in Wales.  Over the past year 7 years close to 1000 swallows have hatched at the stables.

The paddocks are packed full of other bird species too; in winter hundreds of winter thrushes and starlings fill the paddocks, and lesser spotted woodpecker has bred within the site’s boundary; buzzards frequent the trees and you can even glimpse wheatear making their way through. I’ve even seen snipe! All a stone’s from Cardiff’s City Centre. In my eyes these should be reasons enough to protect this site, even if they are rather self-indulgent reasons.

But the swallows are just one small reason in a sea of good reasons not to close the Cardiff Riding School. It is home to almost 50 horses (many of which I’m told won’t be up for rehoming), and is used by no less than five Riding for the Disabled Groups, through its steads and staff it has had a positive influence on the lives of a many people. It integrates seamlessly into the parks it is part of, adding to a city scape to be proud of and a resource even for those of us that don't ride.

The Cardiff Ringers urge anyone and everyone that has enjoyed Cardiff Riding School, or just likes swallows, to contact Cardiff Council and voice their disgust at any plan to close this much cherished facility. We hope you’ll sign the petition to help Save Cardiff Riding School, its horses and of course its swallows:

www.ipetitions.com/petition/savecardiffridingschool/


And while you're at it, help save Flat Holm from the getting the chop as well

www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/cardiff-council-save-flat-holm-island-2

 

Hopefully Cardiff' Riding School, its horses and its Swallows will have a future

Flat Holm

The detail of the proposal by Cardiff Council to dispose of Flat Holm, saving £150k pa in expenditure, is as follows:

Cease Operation of Flatholm Island and Consider Options for Disposal - the visitor and income profile for Flatholm demonstrates that demand for the island is highly concentrated in the summer months and is insufficient to cover the operating costs of the facility. It is proposed to cease all visits to the island, and dispose of the island to a third party with no further Council involvement. Visits to the island could be ceased promptly whilst options for disposal are explored. The budget saving reflects retention of a small contingency for service visits during closure. The proposal also includes the disposal of the Lewis Alexander, the vessel currently used to service the island which has increasing costs associated with keeping it serviceable and licensed due to age. If minded to retain some operation of the Island whilst disposal is explored and effected, revision of operations so that visits and overnight stays are only facilitated in the summer could be implemented saving the lower amount of £100k, with visitor access provided by partner commercial boat operators, with emergency/ service visits by Council staff facilitated through the Harbour Authority's "survey vessel".

One can't help but reflect that from our point of view almost any alternative would be better than the current regime, whereby although the Wardens on the island have been supportive, it has become more or less impossible to get any shore-based person involved in the management of the island to respond to any communication whatsoever.

The Council do not appear to put a figure on what the sale of the island might raise.