A move to Skeld

Well, everything seems to have happened at once with this project. We now have the project registered with the BTO as both a Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) project, and also as a colour-ring project, so we are almost ready to start.

I say almost, because I am now in the process of moving house to the nearby village of Skeld. There's a very healthy population of House Sparrows in Skeld too, so it makes sense to focus our ringing attentions there, rather than in Walls. Everyone concerned now knows that we have moved our research area to Skeld (see map to the left).

The BTO have asked that the colour-ring part of the project start with just two-digits for the code, rather than three. So initially the rings will be Black, with White engraving, using alpha-numeric code as two digits.

The other great news is that we now also have funding from the Shetland Wildlife Fund to pay for the colour rings!

So, the rings are ordered, and once they arrive from Poland we'll be ready to go.

Spuggie RAS

Yes, it's official. Thanks to Allison Kew at the BTO my House Sparrow RAS application has been passed, so once the colour-ring project has gone through the system we'll be up and running with this.

Watch this space!

A Garden Surprise

Well, the wind eased today, despite the cold and snow-showery weather, so I took a gamble and put up a 12m net in the back garden here in Walls.

Not masses of birds around, but in just over an hour of ringing I managed to catch the following:

3 House Sparrows - all female, and all newly ringed today.
5 Starling - 4 of them newly ringed, the other a female first ringed here 100 days ago today.
3 Blackbirds - 2 males newly ringed today, the other a female first ringed on 15th January.

And a bit of a surprise, 1 male Chaffinch.

 

 

We don't see too many Chaffinches here in Shetland, although we did see a pair at Sandness just last Thursday, so it was great to get one in the net in our garden.

Other notable birds in Walls today:

1 Black Guillemot in full summer plumage (at the marina)
1 Little Grebe (at the marina)
1 Moorhen in the garden
2 Redwings in the garden

When will the wind ease?

Very windy conditions here in Shetland over the last few days. 80mph last night - the roof blew off our chicken house!

So, as you can imagine, no House Sparrow ringing for a while. I'm awaiting a reply from the BTO about my application to run this project as a RAS (Retrapping Adults for Survival) and Colour-Ring project, so not ringing isn't too much of an issue at the moment. Ideally, I'd like to start colour-ringing as soon as I next start ringing, but can't do that without the approval of the BTO.

The good news is that I'm in discussions with the Shetland Amenity Trust about some possible funding for the project.

Anyway, for now it's just a case of feeding the birds (I'm now just ground feeding, as anything I put in the hanging feeders just blows away), and waiting for a combination of no wind and BTO approval.

Wrong Species?

Well, a nice frosty morning here in Walls. I opened one net in the hope of making a proper start on the House Sparrow project.

There were about 40 spadgers in the garden, under the feeders, but somehow they all managed to completely avoid the net, resulting in a grand total of ZERO birds added to the project database.

7 Starlings did find the net however (perhaps this should have been the Shetland Starling Project?), as well as one female Blackbird (5F - 5 indicating it hatched last calendar year, F being female) so it was a worthwhile exercise regardless of the spadgers not playing.

Male Starling

Also of note in the garden:

1 Robin (a local rarity)
1 Moorhen (another local rarity)
16 Rock Doves (as common here as Woodpigeons are anywhere else)

Possible ringing tomorrow

Looks like tomorrow could be a goer for a ringing session.

The forecast is good, with calm conditions likely for Shetland, so I've checked the feeders are full at my main ringing site, and hopefully will get a couple of hours in at the nets in the morning.

If it goes to plan (you never know!) I'll post details here tomorrow.

Too windy for mist netting

Another windy day in Walls, Shetland.

30 - 40mph winds with occasional rain and hail showers means yet another day where mist netting for House Sparrows just can't happen.

I did a count in our back garden today though. Good numbers of Sparrows, Starling and Rock Dove making the most of all those full feeders:

Our garden birds today:

House Sparrows - 142
Starling - 95
Rock Dove - 15
Blackbird - 3
Moorhen - 1

So, not much variety there, but then you wouldn't expect there to be in Shetland at this time of year.

For now, I'll keep the feeders going at my ringing sites, ready for when the wind stops, or at least leasens a little.

Watch this space!