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.

Hey, Mr. Tangerine Man

Yesterday I came across the orangest Greenfinch I've ever seen, brighter even than any I've handled in Spain. The picture shows two adult males, 'normal' yellow on the left.

Clocking in at a mighty 33.6 gm, he's the heaviest I've ever had too, beating the second heaviest - the bird on the left - by 1.2 gm. Apart from these two, the heaviest I've had was 31.6 gm, a bird in Aberdeenshire in December 2006. Neither of these two was exceptionally long winged, at 91 and 89 mm, and neither was carrying any significant amount of fat.

Blackbirds in the green...

Recruiting blackbirds to our project is either a labour of love, delusion or insanity. Either way sometimes it pays off like this morning when we managed to the 28th individual for the project.

However, its the by catch that made this morning, and Facey's day when a green woodpecker rocked up in one of the nets. The rest of the by catch comprised the usual - blue and great tits, a robin and a wren.

Catching blackbirds; somewhat aberrant plumage on this one....

 

Swallow Success 2012

Looking through last year's swallow project notebook this evening has me looking forward to this coming season with more enthusiasm than normal and pondering what it will hold. Will it be a success? Will it be an out and out failure? A review of 2012 showed that you never know until its over. Despite the appalling summer, and a few false starts, 2012 proved to be the most productive season since the project started in 2006.

Despite being one of the wettest summers on record, 139 young swallows (from 159 eggs) fledged from the stables last year, beating the previous best  by seven (from 177 eggs in 2009). Its a far, far better total than 2006 when only 69  young (from 130 eggs) fledged in what was a very hot and dry year.

Over 550 swallows have fledged from the Cardiff Riding School since 2006;
which isn't bad going for a site approximately 1km from Cardiff's Civic Centre.

The Riding School, along with the Blackweir Ambulance Station make up the core area of our RAS project. We only started monitoring the BAS in 2011 so its hard to draw any firm conclusions but the colony here was up from 3 to 5 pairs in 2012. Nest recording here is a little random but we know at least 16 young made it off the nest; not bad for a site that backs on to one of Cardiff's main roads!

Five pairs made their home at the Blackwier Ambulance Station in 2012.
The swallows breed in the building in the top right corner.
All ten adults were caught in one catch, including a male hatched at the stables.

These two sites are within two of the three large parks in the centre of Cardiff (you can see the Millennium Stadium from the stables!) and between them saw at least 150 young fledge in 2012.

The Welsh-French-Senegalese Connection

We’ve recently heard of some controls; some of ours going elsewhere and those of others coming to us….

Back in June 2010 6232921, a Sedge Warbler, was caught in Dunes du Mont St Frieux, Dannes, Pas-de-Calais, France. 284 days later, in May 2012 we caught 6232921 at a sunny Cardiff Bay. Meanwhile the Welsh-French connection was reversed; we first ringed Reed Warbler X612793 at the bay at the beginning of August 2011. By the beginning of September, 34 days later in fact, the plucky traveller was caught at Braud et Saint Louis, Gironde, France.

As you may recall, Vaf and Facey headed to Senegal back in January, while they were there they caught Sedge Warbler 6693961, who had originally been ringed on migration in Marais de Cap, Montmartin-en-Graignes, Manche, France 159 days earlier. They also caught DYT538, a Chiffchaff also ringed on migration in September 2011 but this time in Blighty, well Icklesham, East Sussex to be precise. This means that in 2012 Vaf and Facey have dealt with SEDWAs on all three stages of their life cycle; wintering, breeding and migration. Neat eh?!

Actually this is not  6693961 but is an actual Sedge Warbler, actually ringed in
Senegal. By Vaf actually.