Good Things Come to Those That Wait

A few recoveries and controls have filtered back to us of late.

Way back in the dawn of the nineties and naughties, when the BTO was just a three letter acronym for certain Cardiff Ringers, the great and, perhaps, good of the Bull and Morgan Ringing Partnership did a fair bit of ringing down in Dorset. The site “Tidmor” is now run by a Mr I Dodd who on the 26 April of this year caught a female blackbird ringed by the partnership in April of 2003. As she was an age code 6 when she was originally ringed she is knocking a bit now! You go girl!

Two other reports come from more well travelled birds and ably demonstrate how slowly the wheels of international data sharing turn.

Back on 7 August 2009 we caught and ringed an adult sedge warbler.  By 11 August 2009 V845584 had travelled the 467km to Tour aux Moutons, Loire-Altantique, France. Not bad going for a bird weighing just shy of 12 grams.

Also originally ringed at the bay was V845410, ringed as a first year on 12 July 2009.  31 days later, having travelled 729km, V845410 was caught at Ile Novelle, Gironde, France on 13 August 2009. The area obviously appealed to this intrepid young explorer for it was re-caught at the same place four days later.

And two years or so after these movements, we found out about them… Nice going France.

Flat Holm Gallery

A few select shots of the Cardiff Ringers abroad (courtesy of CMJ)

This was the moment Chris lost the stare-off competition

At least that guy in the middle seems to be enjoying himself

I have no idea who these two idiots are

Landing craft crew

'Plate 1. Scribe and Ringer'

The Gull and Leek pub

A Trip to Treasure Island

Flat Holm Island is often described as being ‘Rich in wildlife, steeped in history’, and after a rowdy weekend wrestling with young gulls and avoiding the dive bombs of the 5000+ adult Lesser Black-backed gull population, this can be suitably adapted to ‘Rich(ard) in a boiler suit, steeped in gull poo!'.

Yes, this weekend marked the annual gull catch on Flat Holm, an important long term study of the lesser black back gull population that dates back to the dark ages.  ‘…And yay….’, the future scholars and scribes would declare ‘ ….t’would take a brave army of ringers to boldly  march into the battlefield of the central gull colony on Flat Holm’- and what better army to do the job than one led by Captain Bailey and Field Marshal Durham.  The outfit included a crack commando squad comprising Chris ‘Machete’ Jones, Dr Larus Ross-Smith, Dora ‘the Explorer’ Querido, trained civilian natives and a couple of lesser A-permit officers (one of which may or may not be sexist in the field).

A local imbecile eyes up his lunch

Not exactly clockwork but the mission was successful with 100 gull chicks each donning a metal ring and a corresponding colour ring. Other highlights included 41 newly ringed passerines including blackcaps, blackbirds and a common redstart. The session also recaptured a dunnock ringed as a juvenile in 2003 (Island life must be good).

1/100

24 hours of island life is certainly enough to make you feel in tune with nature, the sun and the sea. But was it the mid-summer heat, the pure physical exertion of the catch or the late night performance of the Bailey Foghorn that resulted in such total exhaustion?  

Machete and the Explorer mid-battle

So if you are looking for the chance to get away from the busy streets of the city and take in the calm wonders of island life, I suggest you get on the boat and go to the Caribbean.  However if you want to feel part of the landscape in amongst the beaks of gulls, horns of sheep and the leaves of the wild turnip, then jump on the boat to Flat Holm.  Did I mention the pub?

A lesser A permit Officer cant believe his luck

Thanks to Brian, Maurice, Natalie and the Wardens for having the Cardiff Ringers along, it is a real privilege to be part of the project.

The Week that Was

Collectively we have been out and about with pliers in hand over the last week.

There was an early morning outing to Padwan Shewring’s gaff which scored nicely with 27 birds now possessing rings – among them 1 jackdaw and 6 house sparrows. Ringing at another garden had similar results, give or take 24 birds, with a blackbird and two house sparrows.

The inaugural visit to the ambulance station at Blackwier resulted in 8 swallows; 5 (out of a possible 6) adults and three out of three juvs were.

A trip to the bay saw 60, that’s sixty, birds being caught. The bulk of the morning was made up of juvenile reed and sedge warblers with a couple of chiffs and willow warblers thrown in for good measure. This particularly bird took the mantel of bird of the day:

Next a trip to one of our woodland sites, just for the hell of it, resulted in among others, blackcap and a good number of wrens – joy.

66 and all that

Why spend Sunday mornings lying in bed when you can get up at 3.30am and catch some swallows amidst the aroma of horse piss?

Yes, Rich and I beat the dawn chorus and headed down the stables for a bash at mist netting some swallows, so that they could receive the bling they so badly needed. And indeed, we caught some swallows and duly ringed them. One female was crawling with lice. Not something one enjoys seeing at silly o'clock in the morning, but I am sure somewhat more unpleasant for the unfortunate hirundine.

We then joined up with more of the ringing group at Cardiff Bay. I obviously hadn't read the dress code, as I hadn't brought a hat. Rosie's won the vote for hat of the day.

It was a good bird day. We closed nets at the grand total of 66 birds, including lots of new warblers and thrushes. Plenty of fledglings about, including reed and sedge warblers, blackcaps and whitethroats. We even got a couple of reed buntings, which have been avoiding the nets of late.

A rather scruffy adult whitethroat

Ouch!

Today was very much about swallows with the first catch at the Bute Park Nursery. With the able assistance of Rachel Smith two more female swallows have been blinged up for science. The first was an easy catch. Number two and her mate gave us the run a round. Perching on top of the green house opposite the shed that contained their nest, they watched us intently as we got the net up. Although they did fly near the net, this morning's glorious sun lit it up like the City Centre at Christmas. We moved the net inside of the open fronted shed (yes I am aware this would have been the most sensible option to start with), resisted the urge to hot wire the forklift truck and sat back. 50 minutes later lady was in a bird bag. With mister refusing to go in we called it a day to enjoy coffee and muffins.

After doing the nest checks on the swallows at the stables this evening, I decided a quick check on the house sparrow terraces (never been used by the species) would be a good idea. The wasps gave out three reminders that the polite thing to do is to check the notebook to see which compartment they were using

Ring Reading at Roath Park

Armed with corn, cameras, binoculars, notebook and a Feast each, James and I headed off to Roath Park Lake yesterday evening for some ring reading. We’ve had a few of our swans recovered there but this time we were looking for individuals with a little more life in them.

We didn’t have to wait long before we notched up two of our swans with a few other ringed birds playing hard to get. The proverbial flake and chocolate sauce on the Mr Whippy was, however, the other birds.

We’ll of course put these through the official channels but if you know of, or can lay claim to any of these then please let us know here or email us on cardiffringers@yahoo.co.uk

Greylag Goose – 5231223

Greylag Goose – 523112 with White DARVIC on right; KK6 (in black)

Mute Swan – W20092 with Orange DARVIC on left; S92 (in black)

We also spotted lesser black backed gull Blue DARVIC F1L (white) which we've asked the Gull Guru Brian Bailey about. Also known as BTO metal ring FH09207 he/she was ringed as an adult on Flat Holm and has been seen once or twice since then:

13/05/08 FLAT HOLM ISLAND, Cardiff
14/05/09 CARDIFF (14 km, NNW, 1 yr 1day)
03/04/10 CARDIFF (14 km, NNW, 1 yr 325days)
25/07/10 Roath, Cardiff (16 km, NNW, 2 yrs 73days)
04/04/11 CARDIFF (16 km, NNW, 2 yrs 326days)
21/06/11 Roath, Cardiff (16 km, NNW, 3 yrs 39days)

Sunday Martins

We convened early Sunday morning for the first sand martin ringing session of 2011 on the River Ely. We don’t get massive numbers at this site but the river probably contains a significant number of Glamorgan’s sand martins. Last year we managed 65 birds at one colony, including a control, in two visits. It was out first attempt at the species after all and the third had to be cancelled so this year we are hoping for better numbers.



Stock image of a sand martin

This session was somewhat hampered by the wind. Sand martins don’t “stick” to nets like other species, and with a wind just strong enough to open the pockets sufficient to allow some of the birds to get out our catch was some what diminished. Our finishing total of 27 could have been at least a third higher again. Catching more are what repeat visits are for!

For Billy Whizz, this was his first outing to a sand martin colony; which we think he enjoyed judging by his “Oh Heck!” (or similar words involving H’s and F’s) as the birds emerged from their burrows. This was also BW’s and Padwan’s first experience of a net properly full of birds and they handled it well, although one may have to check in his wing rule for calibration…!

We were graced with the presence of the Cardiff Bird Ringers’ youngest and most energetic members. Ti has many uses in the field – entertainer, cook, and most recently bird bag holder:

Ti in his new role. It should be noted it was a lot
lighter than it looks in the picutre - flash eh!



p.s. Forgot to mention - some of the birds, far more than last year, were carrying huge ticks.

Damp, Damage and Dippers

With the latter half of this week off, the plan had been for some serious ringing. Unfortunately, the weather has been somewhat… what’s the technical term? Shit? Thursday did see the nets deployed at Taf Fechan in the hope of more dippers. This outing was just The Solman and myself with the rest of the regulars crying off with various excuses that involved “I am on Fair Isle!” (Yawn), something unimportant involving lapwing and “I have a meeting!” (Priorities all wrong there). It proved to be a mixed session.

In the negative column was watching a female mallard pelting up river toward the net. Solman was very excited by this, while I just sighed the sigh of a man accepting the inevitable, which, in this case, was the mallard carrying on up river unimpeded while the net’s mesh was enlarged somewhat. Next up was the best display of bungling idiocy I’ve done in a while as I simultaneously put another hole in the net and my waders while going to extract the last dipper of the day (oh yes more than one). Oh and it hammered down at one stage.

In the positive column, and lets remain positive (waders and nets can be mended. Right?), were of course the birds, the site and the company. Four dippers, a retrap grey wag and two new chaffinches (new for the site) were our reward for a silly o’clock start. We’ve now ringed nine dippers, from at least four pairs, in the reserve with more still to qualify for rings! Quality.

A note from up North

The remote island of Fair Isle has played host to one member of the Cardiff Bird Ringers over the last couple of weeks. Many returning northern wheatears have been successfully counted in that time. 48 new Wheatear pulli have also been ringed thus far, with many more plucky volunteers waiting for their bling. Most spring migration has already come to a close, but the odd thing still arrives, such as this Blyth's Reed Warbler: