Heading North

Braving yet another icy start I drove north at 0630 to meet Andy up at Oakenclough for a spot of bird ringing. 

Last week’s Brambling, Siskins and Lesser Redpolls (Brambling & Lesser Redpoll  + Siskins) together with news of Bramblings in the south-west of England encouraged us to rather hope for more of the same today. During February, March and April and together with Chaffinches all three of these species start their northward movement through England towards Scotland and more northerly outposts. Another finch on the move at this time of year is the humble and now commonplace bird of suburban gardens the Goldfinch, many of which move to more southerly locations for the winter. All of these species are our main targets for this mostly all year round ringing site.

Although we didn’t catch any Lesser Redpolls today we did catch the other species in our total of 33 birds: 14 Goldfinch, 9 Chaffinch, 4 Siskin, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Reed Bunting and 1 Brambling. Today’s Brambling was another adult female. 

Brambling

Brambling - adult female

The four male Siskins found the net together and so were released at the same time. It was very soon after the Siskins that a passing snow shower from the north-west curtailed our activities for a while. After fifteen minutes or so the sun returned and we went on to continue catching until 1230.

Siskin

The suggestion of finches heading north was reinforced by a male Chaffinch with a wing length of 93mm, a couple or more millimetres above the norm for a British Chaffinch.

     

Chaffinch

Goldfinch

The Reed Bunting is not a species we associate with this predominantly woodland site, except perhaps in small numbers in the adjoining landscape. Today’s second year female was only the second ringing record for here. It was a visitor to our winter feeding station and unlikely to be recaptured here again.

Reed Bunting

It was well past midday by the time I headed home where at Cockerham there was a distant Barn Owl circuiting a stretch of roadside fields where it followed the barbed fence. Unfortunately the owl didn’t come any closer than the pictures below. 

Barn Owl

Barn Owl

The months of January, February and March can be a dangerous time for all birds when the “hunger gap” is at its most intense. Barn Owls are especially vulnerable because their exclusively mammalian food is in very short supply. The owls have to spend many more hours searching for food. That is the reason that in recent weeks many more than is normal are being seen during daylight hours. 

The owl provided a notable ending to a very successful morning.

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Linking today to  Eileen's Saturday,  run-a-roundranch and Stewart's World Bird Wednesday.