Owl ringing

I have been taking full advantage of trying to catch the short eared owls on my local site when the weather has been good.  I went down on Friday evening and put up three nets.  Although the owls were out hunting I had not caught after three hours so went home.  Last night the wind looked like it was going to calm down so Jason and I headed back over for what may be our last attempt for the owls this winter.  340 foot of netting was erected and we waited.  A short eared owl was observed flying over the net twice before sunset so I had high hopes that we might catch this bird after dark, however this was not the case and we didnt catch any shorties.  We did catch a fine looking immature female barn owl.  A new species for Jason so he left the evening very happy.

barn owl © Adrian George

Whitburn Ringing Group

When I started ringing at Whitburn back in 2008, it was just John Brown and myself plus John's trainer who turned up for a weeks ringing holiday every October.  Since then I have taken on two trainees and the ringing team is growing.  We therefore decided it would be a good idea to start a ringing group, headed by John's Trainer and myself.  We had initially requested the 'Souter Ringing Group', however this was too similar to an already formed group so we opted for the 'Whitburn Ringing Group'.  Hopefully the group will continue to grow over the years and provide good ringing coverage on the east coast around Whitburn and Sunderland.

We have already gone from ringing out the back of cars to having a security container that acts as our ringing base.  There are future plans to build a permanent building at the Big Mound and relocate the security container at the south end of the coastal park for when the trainees get their C permits.

As spring is only around the corner we look forward to a good years ringing as the Whitburn Ringing Group.

Short eared owls 2 - Ade 1

A local site has had several short eared owls since August 2011.  It is quite a public site so I resisted trying to catch any of the owls.  However last week when I was on the site, I bumped into a local birder who informed me that one of the owls was ringed.  Given that the BTO have only 138 recoveries/controls of short eared owls I thought I should make the effort in finding the landowner and try and catch the ringed bird. I gained permission and set off on Saturday lunchtime to set nets up. Nets were located where we knew the owls roosted and another net along a hedge where the birds regularly hunted.  At half light one owl flew into the net and then swiftly back out again.  I was GUTTED!!  We stayed till well after dark but with little luck so headed home.

The next day Jason and I returned to the site.  I placed the nets in the same place as yesterday however I put the larger mesh net where the bird had flown in yesterday.  We had a bird bounce out of the net beside the hedgerow which then sat a nearby fencepost looking rather confused about what had just happened.  Unfortunately I think it was this bird that was ringed.  I then went to check the other line of nets and noticed the large mesh net was taught.  Thinking it was probably only a blackbird I wondered over and noticed a cream coloured wing rise.  At that point I ran over and extracted a stonking short eared owl.  It made for a new species for Jason who was as equally over the moon as I was.  It was aged as an adult and was most likely a male based on weight.  The bird only weighed 305grms which may be due to the cold snap that week but it felt small.

Below is a picture of the ringed bird in the hand and a bird in flight, both taken by Paul McMullen and reproduced with his permission.

Habitat management

Last winter John spent many hours reducing the height of a small area of ash trees and this area looked great in the summer with dense greenery at net height.  This winter we decided to do the job properly and get the help of members of the Coastal Conservation Group. For two saturdays, a group of 8 guys took to coppicing the trees on the big mound.  We managed to get a considerable area cut. The plan is to coppice areas of the big mound on a rotation bases. Below are some photos from this weekend gone.

Habitat pile for nesting wrens

(c) Adrian George

10th November - More Bluetails

Peter Hog was out birding in the coastal park and found the third red-flanked bluetail this year at Whitburn.  It was being chased by robins in the southern end of the coastal park along the eastern edge of Shearwater Estate.  It is remarkable how many bluetails have now turned up in and around Whitburn coastal park.  The total now stands at 5 birds with the first bird being found in Marsden Quarry in 2002.  The second and third birds were trapped in the coastal park in 2009 and 2011.  The forth was found in Whitburn in 2011 and the fifth in the coastal park in 2011. 


Lets hope the bird turns up in one the nets at the weekend!!

8th November

Easterly winds have been forecast for today for the past week.  John and I arrived at the coastal park and it was still blowing easterly with fog.  It looked good for a mega or good numbers of migrants, however the day started slow with a few blackbirds and a blackcap being trapped. Throughout the day the birds trickled into the nets and a total of 50 birds were trapped.  Frustratingly a woodcock got out of a net just as I got to it.  Today was likely to be one of the last sessions in the coastal park as migrant numbers drop off.  Depending on the weather a session may be done at the weekend.

Ringing totals included 26 blackbird, 10 robin, 5 redwing, 4 song thrush and blackcap plus a single siskin.

5th November

Another morning at Whitburn with John, Jason and Phil.  It was a fairly good start to the day with a few song thrush and blackbirds being trapped.  A total of three woodcock were caught, with two in one round!!  The afternoon was very quiet though with very few birds about.  A firecrest was present in the big mound and made a few flights over the top of one of the nets but it was net shy and was not trapped.  Another sparrowhawk was trapped which brings the total to 5 ringed this year at the coastal park.  The sparrowhawk was trapped with its dinner which happened to be one of the redwings that had been ringed a few hours beforehand.

Ringing totals included 10 blackbird, 4 song thrush, 3 chaffinch and woodcock, 2 redwing and lesser redpoll, and singles of blackcap and sparrowhawk.

Retraps included 5 blackbird and blue tit, 2 goldcrest, and singles of great tit, robin and wren.