Waxwings on the move

We know it’s not a Waxwing winter when our friends in Orkney and Fair Isle haven’t ringed any.

However, being the Waxwing capital of Britain (thanks to our location and large amount and variety of ornamental rowan trees and tree cotoneasters, well done the council!), we were lucky to have birds arrive in Aberdeen in November and a decent flock reached about 150 birds in early December. We managed to colour-ring 40 in December but usually the birds were always one step ahead of us and we’ve since ringed none so far in 2014. About 150 birds appeared to be set to winter in Aberdeen as they were still raiding the last of the Mistle Thrush rowan trees in mid-January with plenty tree cotoneaster available once the rowans finally ran out.

However 120 on 23rd January was our last 3 figure count. This dropped to 32 on 26th January and last few days of January only one flock of 6 was reported, by Jane Reid down at the University. Having studied Waxwings for many winters now, it was fair to assume this was them dispersing a bit locally during the transition period between finishing off the hardest Mistle Thrushes rowan trees and switching to tree cotoneaster. WRONG!

4 different colour-ring sightings from 3 different locations away from Aberdeen, all on the 1st and 2nd of February indicated that there had in fact been an exodus of birds away from Aberdeen altogether.

Yellow/light green, also ringed in Aberdeen on 6/12/13 and last resighted here on 23rd January and White/red ringed in Aberdeen on 6/12/13 and last resighted just after Xmas were both observed together in a flock of 8 birds 121km SW at Methil in Fife on 2nd February by Kathy Evans

Red/orange, ringed in Aberdeen on 6/12/13 and still here on 26th January was photographed 92kmSW in Dundee on 2nd February by Gus Guthrie and Barry Farquharson.

Orange/blue, ringed in Aberdeen on 28/12/13 and last resighted here on 23rd January was photographed 520km SE in Aylsham, Norfolk on 1st and 2nd February by Carol Foxe and Carl Chapman.

A big thank you to all these observers for their very timely sightings which tied in with our declining counts and combined to confirm when our Aberdeen flock dispersed and just how far and quickly some of them had travelled.

Do the birds know there aren’t many Waxwings in the country this winter and hence more rowans to be found elsewhere rather than staying and switching to tree cotoneaster?

So it looks like we won’t have many wintering with us in Aberdeen after all. The real pity about this is that a Norwegian darvic ringed bird (yellow ring with black engraving on right leg) was seen amongst a flock of 120 in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen on 23rd January but couldn’t be read. I felt quite hopeful somebody might be able to catch up with it and read it or photograph it in the next few months since they were here to stay. WRONG AGAIN!

So please look out for Waxings in a rowan tree near you. Grampian RG will be delighted to hear about any colour-ringed birds while Kjell Snoot of Sunmore RG in West Norway will be delighted to hear about any darviced birds.

There is also the chance of a returning ringed bird from last winter’s large invasion. Thanks to Bob Freeman who managed to photograph Black/blue/grey (what a terrible combination, well done Bob) in Jarrow, South Tyneside on 11th January. This was a returning bird from last winter, ringed in Westhill, Aberdeen on 31/3/13.

Thank you very much.

Raymond Duncan

Pinkies Galore

It has been some time since any significant numbers of pink-footed geese have been ringed in the UK, with the group's last catch being 20 birds at the Loch of Skene in 2008. However when we heard colleagues at the WWT had 2 GPS neck collars to fit on 2 pink-footed geese, we were keen to help out. With a stalwart group baiting and checking a site on the outskirts of Aberdeen with a mixture of tatties, carrots and grain a small catch looked imminent.

After weeks of dedication all things aligned and we were set to take a small cannon net catch of pink-footed geese. With the birds finally on the bait around lunch time, 30 were in the area and I gave Carl Mitchell from the WWT the "3.2.1. Fire" command  only to be met by "hold on a minute I need to just charge the firing box up first". Luck was on our side and as the box charged up, so did the geese. With the box charged we took a catch, with the net flying beautifully and catching an incredible 91 pink-footed geese - our second largest ever catch.

Pink-footed geese waiting to be extracted (Euan Ferguson)

With a good team of 12 we were able to quickly extract and process all birds, fitting each with a neck collar containing a unique 3 letter combination for reading in the field. Two special birds were fitted with incredibly light weight GPS neck collars to track their movements as part of a pilot project to gather information about feeding and roost site use in the UK.

High tech pink-foot (Euan Ferguson)

So far the birds have remained fairly local. We will bring you updates on their movements later in the winter and hopefully when they have safely arrived back in Iceland.

Ythan Estuary Attracts Foreigners

The food rich mud and the safety of sandbanks on the Ythan Estuary near Newburgh provide resident birds with a perfect larder and resting area. This location is also attractive to migrating birds as they pass on their journey south. Other visitors arrive as part of their post breeding dispersal. Among the tourists to the Ythan during the autumn of 2013 have been a number of colour-ringed and “darviced” birds.

Viking gull invasion?

August saw a number of Scandinavian Black-headed Gulls arrive. These included:

Green J054 – ringed Breiavatnet, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway on 16 July 2013 and seen on the Ythan on 28 August 2013.

White J2CE – ringed Mølledammen, Time, Rogaland, Norway on 07 April 2012 and seen on the Ythan on 28 August 2013.

White J3UP - ringed Langvannet, Lørenskog, Akershus & Oslo, Norway on 08 April 2013 and seen on the Ythan on 28 August 2013.

White J3U5 – ringed Vågen, Stavanger sentrum, Stavanger, Rogaland, Norway on 16 February 2012 and seen on the Ythan on 29 August 2013.

White VM47 – ringed in Denmark and seen on the Ythan on 28 August 2013.

Other northern travellers included:

Lapwing - White J34C – ringed Hemnes, sør, Karmøy, Rogaland, Norway on 12 June 2013 and seen on the Ythan on 29 August 2013.

 Sandering  G5RGRY – ringed at Zackenberg, Greenland on 20 June 2012 and seen on the Ythan on 06 Auguat 2013.

Sanderling Y6YWWW – ringed Griend west, Netherlands on 16  August 2012 and seen on the Ythan on 28 August 2013.

Dunlin White CST – ringed near Gdansk, Poland on 25 July 13 and seen on the Ythan on 11 November 2013.

The maps below illustrate the above bird movements to the Ythan.

Red = Lapwing, Yellow = Black-headed Gulls

Green = Sanderling, Orange = Dunlin

If you are lucky enough to see a colour-ringed bird please report it through http://blx1.bto.org/euring/lang/pages/colour_rings.jsp

MS 

A spot of bad luck!

In the 35+ years since the formation of Grampian ringing group, only a handful of spotted redshanks (probably less than 10) have been ringed by the group. This autumn was quite remarkable for the group as one night while ringing greenshank and redshank a spotted redshank was caught - the first for over 5 years! Only a few days later another two were caught together - all three were juveniles. It is fantastic to see this species in the hand and really appreciate the differences with it's commoner cousins. We were very surprised when we saw the species appear in a recent batch of recoveries. The first of the Autumn, caught on the Ythan Estuary 31 August 2013 had been found dead on the 6th of November on a Nature Reserve near la Rochelle on the West coast of France. This is the first recovery of the species for the group and only the 14th recovery for the BTO ringing scheme.

The unlucky spotted redshank found, later found dead in France 1216km further on it's migration (Ewan Weston)

Greenshank double resighting at Rutland Water‏

Thanks very much to Peter Hill, Jonathan Lloyd, Steve Lister and Andy MacKay for a great, recent double sighting of colour-ringed Greenshanks at Rutland Water in Leicestershire. Right leg: red/blue - left leg: light green/light green (see great photograph by Peter Hill at Rutland) was ringed on the Ythan Estuary, 10kms north of Aberdeen, on 31/8/13 and was first reported at Rutland on 26/9/13, still there on 6/10/13. Right leg: dark green/blue – left leg: orange/red was ringed on the Ythan on 1/9/13 and also turned up at Rutland on 26/9/13 but wasn’t seen again.

 We don’t get many inland sightings of the birds we ring on autumn passage in NE Scotland and few are seldom reported together after they have departed the Ythan. Ringing has shown many of these birds are heading for Ireland for the winter whilst others head south to France and Spain and sometimes even further into North Africa with one site faithful bird wintering on the Cape Verde Islands, well who wouldn't?!

Fascinating Sandwich Tern pre-migration movements

The North Sea population of Sandwich Terns is highly mobile after breeding with birds remaining in the vicinity for several months post-breeding. It has long been known and indeed our ringing has also shown that Sandwich terns from other parts of the North Sea Population arrive on our coats in late autumn prior to migrating south for the winter. Although this is a phenomena we know occurs it is still poorly understood. Hopefully some of the efforts we and Dutch researchers are undertaking will shed some light but for now little or no information exists on the inter-annual movements of individuals. As the study is no reaching its 3rd year we are now starting to gather some intriguing evidence. Today I received several sightings from a local researcher that had spotted 8 colour ringed sandwich terns while reading shag colour rings on the local coastline. One of the birds was a real gem of a sighting having first been caught and colour ringed in late August 2010 and subsequently located breeding in the Netherlands in both 2012 and 2013 (see photo). That information alone is interesting but in 2012 I observed it in early September again in north-east Scotland. So we know that this individual that breeds in the Netherlands has returned in late autumn to the same stretch of coast in Scotland at least 3 of the last 4 years prior to migrating south. Fantastic information that we would never have been able to get without the use of colour rings and the dedication of international observers! Hopefully with further ringers using colour rings in the UK and a lot more sightings we can shed some light on this fascinating behaviour.

Sandwich tern EKA breeding in the Netherlands (Fred Visscher)

EKA on a pre-migration trip up to Peterhead (Jenny Sturgeon)

A really old one!

The only member of GRG to have their own Wikipedia page has just turned 50. Raymond Duncan is a born and raised Aberdonian, and is also the cornerstone of Grampian Ringing Group having capably led the group for well over a decade. His enthusiasm for bird ringing was kindled as a young lad and he has been an avid bird ringer and nester since; spending almost any conceivable moment carrying out some sort of bird ringing related project. During his ringing career he has been recognised for his services to the BTO in being awarded the BTO’s Tucker Medal for outstanding service in 2008. Raymond has not just given his time to furthering our understanding of birds through his countless projects; he has also trained dozens of ringers over the years, providing them with a hugely diverse skills base to build on as they develop under his encouragement and enthusiasm.

Although he is perhaps best known for his waxwing studies which have seen the colour ringing of thousands for birds to allow their irruptions to be followed through the movement of individuals, he is best known to us for his love of coke, chocolate, sweeties and the Beano. So Happy Birthday Raymond (aka “Big nose”, “Ramie wrecker” etc)! 

Up a Christmas tree for LEO's

Always a nester

 Raymie wrecker in action with a gull darvic.

On the cliffs for seabirds

Raymond's invented holder for when we catch loadsa finches

Keeping an eye on trainees with Clunie

A big twite catch c2002