Possible Projects

I've been checking out various sites for possible ringing projects since I arrived in Wales last month. There are loads of good places with birds to look at, from the large finch flocks of the Dyfnant Forest to my 'secret reedbed' out on the coast, and I'm in the process of getting permission from the landowners to establish these as regular ringing sites.

Just around the corner (well, over the hill actually) from where I live is the lovely but completely overgrown Woodland Trust reserve Coed Glaslyn. This is a great mixed woodland, with a lot of birch and alder in the lower part of the reserve, and oak with some beech and Scots pine higher up. I've seen some reasonable-sized finch flocks here, so got in touch with the Welsh office of the Woodland Trust to ask permission to ring there. They were quick with the affirmative, so today I went to check out the site with a view to deciding where best to puts nets. In the lower half of the reserve are three recently created ponds fringed with birch, willow and alder, but surrounded by the densest tussock grass clumps you've ever seen. This area could be good for birds using the ponds for drinking water, and the birches and alders will attract Siskin and Redpoll too.

I put a 12 metre net up for half an hour while I scouted around a bit, and in dropped the expected Blue Tits, and a gorgeous Treecreeper - the first I've ringed for 2 years (not many Treecreepers in almost tree-less Shetland!). There were also 7 Lesser Redpoll and 9 Siskin in the tree tops, so I think I'll try a dawn session at these ponds next week to see if I can get them as they come down to drink.

One of what will no doubt be many Blue Tits ringed at Coed Glaslyn over the coming months. This is a nice adult male.

Treecreeper is one of my favourite woodland birds.

Thanks to the Woodland Trust for granting me permission to start a ringing project at Coed Glaslyn.

A quick look back to the last year in Shetland

While living in Shetland I was able to do quite a bit of ringing and nest recording. Here's a quick glance back at the birds I ringed there in the last 12 months:

Golden Plover nest with 4 eggs on Ronas Hill

Golden Plover chick

A brood of 4 Golden Plover chicks

Redshank chick

Ringed Plover nest with 2 eggs

Totals are listed in the order Full Grown. Pulli (chicks). Recoveries

Fulmar 2.0.0
Shag 0.0.1
Oystercatcher 0.9.0
Ringed Plover 0.3.0
Golden Plover 0.4.0
Lapwing 0.6.0
Bar-tailed Godwit 1.0.0
Curlew 0.10.1
Redshank 0.1.1
Great Skua 0.4.0
Black-headed Gull 1.0.0
Common Gull 0.47.0
Herring Gull 0.1.0
Great Black-backed Gull 0.2.0
Arctic Tern 0.100.2
Rock Dove 1.0.0
Swallow 4.0.0
Meadow Pipit 1.5.0
Wren 5.0.0
Robin 2.0.1
Blackbird 10.0.8
Blackcap 4.0.0
Yellow-browed Warbler 1.0.0
Goldcrest 1.0.0
Raven 0.7.0
Starling 43.0.3
House Sparrow 113.0.103
Chaffinch 1.0.0
Brambling 1.0.0
Siskin 2.0.3
Lesser Redpoll 2.0.0
Common Crossbill 1.0.0

Curlew chick just hatched

Curlew chick

Common Crossbill

Siskin

Raven nest with four chicks

Back to the tits

I know this probably sounds strange, but having lived on remote Scottish islands for the last two years, there are a lot of common garden birds that I haven't seen, let along ringed, in all that time.

So, today I opened a net in my garden in Wales for the first time since we got here a month ago. Nice to remind myself how much Blue Tits nip, and to get down to some simple ageing and sexing of common birds.

Nothing fancy caught and ringed, just the following:

Blue Tit (10)
Great Tit (3)
Coal Tit (1) - lovely birds!
Starling (1)

Now I've got that off my chest I'll be targeting more sensible species, such as the Fieldfare flock that is hanging around here, and the huge Starling roost too.

Watch this space...

Ruffled Feathers

Very pleased that I've managed to sort out a new bird ringing trainer. Simon Evans in Suffolk was a star to keep me on as his C permit ringer when I moved to Scotland, but now I'm in the land of more trainers (Scotland has a definite dearth) I am now with Tony Cross.

Tony is, of course, well known among ringers for his wader dazzling exploits, and I met him the other night for a chat and a quick Woodcock session. 5 birds caught (Tony bagged the first 3, to show me how dazzling works), which was great.

Tony's also well known for his ringing blog Ruffled Feathers http://midwalesringers.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks to Tony, and of course to my trainers in the past - Ian Dillon and Simon Evans.

Pied Flycatcher

Now in Wales

Well, our little sojourn in Shetland is over and we've arrived back in the woodlands and mountains of the south.

We're now living in the wilds of Powys, in the old county of Montgomeryshire with amazing views from our front windows across the Banwy valley to the Dyfnant Forest and the mountains the Berwyn, Hirnant and Aran ranges beyond.

Just made contact with the local bird ringers, so will be posting on here stuff about my ringing in Wales.

The Aran range in cloud

Leaving Canna

Sorry for the lack of new posts here lately.

The news is, we're leaving Canna in mid October.

Very frustrated with the management of the island, and upset to be leaving behind such a wonderful place, and some truly lovely people.

Thanks to all our new friends on Canna for making the summer so special: to Aart and Amanda, Magda and Joaquin, Gerry, Murdo and Caroline, Winnie, and Nora, you're all great people, made us so welcome, and helped us to fit in with island life. Thanks also to all those visitors who have made Canna so memorable. We'll miss you all!

Not suited to island life? Not at all. We're off to Shetland!

No jobs to go to as of yet, but we'll find something soon, and in the meantime we're looking into various small business ideas.

I'll be setting up a new blog once we get to Shetland, and will post details here and on Twitter, so watch this space!

All for now,

Graham Uney

A Blustery Canna

Just back on Canna after a week away. Had a quick walk around Sanday just now. The skies are very grey out there, rain is threatening, and the wind's blowing hard from the south-east.

There's a good sized mixed flock of finches coming and going in our garden. About 60 birds in total, with Linnet, Twite, Greenfinch, and Siskin making up the bulk of the birds, plus a few Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail joining in the fun.

Out along the track to Point House half a dozen Wheatears are looking like they think they should head south (three of them sporting nice new rings - probably mine).

Out in the harbour entrance 9 Grey Seals are snoozing away, while 12 Shags are adorning the rocks below the harbour light.

Eiders seem to be everywhere, many of them obviously males just coming out of their eclipse plumage.

If this wind dies away I'll have a go at ringing some waders later, but it's not looking promising.