Migrants

Strong south easterly winds have brought in excellent numbers of migrating birds this autumn, giving us good oppurtunities for ringing. Along the coast we've been catching birds such as Goldcrests, Robins, Blackcaps, Flycatchers and Redstarts.

We've also ringed some less common species, such as Lesser Whitethroats and a Reed Warbler. Despite these species abundance further south, these birds are relatively scarce in the north-east. With regards to rarer migrants, A Blyths Reed Warbler was ringed at the end of September and today a Pallas’s Warbler.

Other interesting birds that have turned up on the coast have included a leucistic (ginger!) Meadow Pipit, and a very nice Long-eared Owl.



Photos Euan Ferguson

Metal detecting ringing

So how do you ruin a nice Sunday walk? No not golf - you take a metal detector with you to look for rings! We decided that we would have a go with a metal detector in the Sandwich tern colony at Forvie to look for rings on chicks that hadn't fledged.

After weeks of practicing on small nails in the garden we headed off on Sunday with dogs in tow, with a spade and big rucksack to carry back all of the 100's of rings we expected to find.
Well it didn't quite turn out that way... D2's don't cause a reaction in the metal detector unless you have almost a whole string of them together! So we found nothing with our metal detector (but had great fun playing airport security!) and had to look for rings the old fashioned way. We found 12 of this year's chicks long dead with rings on, including 6 that were colour ringed also.

We had fun on our walk but learnt an important lesson for ornithological conservation - don't use a metal detector for finding D2s! Thanks to Ian for sourcing the metal detector.

Raymond, Jenny, Ewan, Clunie, Freya, Bramble, Sula, Moya and Tyr

Sea eagles in Aberdeen

Back in August we went down to Fife to help with the radio-tagging of the White-tailed eagles before there were released as part of the RSPB's reintroduction project. It was lots of hard work but good fun, as you can see below with a picture of Ewan with his new best friend!

Last week E (aka Ewan the eagle) was spotted by Nick Littlewood at Blackdog which is also Ewan's regular migrant ringing site! Thanks to Nick for such great pictures - it looks as though the bird has since headed further up the coast towards Strathbeg. Ironically Ewan the eagle is a girl so maybe we need to think of a new name!

Ewan and Jenny

Lapwing on the Ythan

On Sunday we braved the wind and rain to try and catch some more lapwing to be colour ringed on the Ythan. The strong winds prevented the net fully extending but we still caught 6 birds which provided a good challenge for sexing and moult!

Colour-ringed Eider

Our 2 youngest ringers Euan and Callum, came across a dead colour- ringed eider on the Ythan at weekend. Turned out to be over 10 years older than them, ringed in 1982! By coincidence Raymond saw a live and healthy LL: WG male at lunchtime down Donmouth.

A brood of 4 ospreys!

It has been a good year for Ospreys with GRG. So far we have ringed and darviced 15 chicks (please report and osprey rings you read) in the region and helped Tay ringing group with a further 3 chicks. It has been quite an exciting season with the first nest being accessed by cherry picker and with the first ever brood of four in the region being ringed.

We have also done well for a variety of other raptors this year with 15 red kite chicks ringed and wing tagged (please look out for them!), eight golden eagles, nearly 40 buzzards, some Goshawks, Sparrowhawks, Peregrines and owls.



Photos by Ian Francis, Ewan Weston, Jenny Lennon.

Colour ringing rock pipits in Aberdeenshire

Amanda Biggins and other members of Grampian Ringing Group have been colour ringing rock pipits to study breeding ecology and dispersal. Nineteen fledged birds have been marked on the north Aberdeenshire coast (Rosehearty and New Aberdour) during autumn 2009 to spring 2010. However, the steep cliffs and breeding seabirds made it difficult to locate nests in this area.

Torry is well known locally as a deprived area of Aberdeen, notorious for it’s rough housing estates, rife with criminal activity. Situated alongside Aberdeen’s harbour, the area offers employment to migrant workers in the fish processing industry. The rocky headland of Girdleness is popular with families, dog walkers and golfers. The site offers excellent views of bottlenose dolphins and attracts a variety of migrant birdlife.

Around 15 pairs of rock pipits nest along this stretch of coastline, one of the highest densities in the region. The nests are easily accessible on grassy slopes, making it an ideal location for a colour ringing study of the species.

Nine rock pipit nests have been found so far along the Torry coastline. Five broods have been ringed, of which two successfully fledged (1out of a brood of 5 and 2/3 have been resighted). One nest failed at the egg stage and three nests are currently active.

It is likely that human disturbance has an impact on breeding success at this site, especially during hot sunny weekends. On Saturday 5th June we were surprised to find a previously unrecorded nesting strategy. The week before I had observed a pair nest building half way up the slope, to the south west of Girdle Ness lighthouse.

I enlisted Raymond Duncan to help locate the nest. Being an experienced birder and ringer he found it almost immediately. We noticed that the vegetation around the nest had been flattened, as if people had been sitting for some time at the site. Raymond was concerned that the five eggs had been abandoned. However, upon inspection we found that they were still warm.

It wasn’t until we were leaving that I noticed a unique habitat feature at the site. Within two metres of the nest was a tray of six small potted plants. Raymond, having lived a sheltered life, thought they were tomato plants, and considered taking them home to give to his mother for her greenhouse. Being a bit more worldly wise, I immediately recognised them as Cannabis sativa plants.

We suspect the birds deliberately nested close to the marijuana, and propose that getting stoned would help them ignore the hordes of picnic-eating families, dogs and drunken louts that descend on the area as soon as the temperature reaches double figures, and the nest is therefore less likely to suffer from predation.

A Scottish Natural Heritage spokesman suggested that planting more skunk in the area may be an effective habitat management tool, increasing local productivity of this understudied species. However, the plants may attract more unsavoury characters to the site, resulting in a higher probability of nests being trampled.

We vacated the nest site, leaving behind a packet of Rizlas, some tobacco and matches (all opened to allow access for the birds). We plan to return to try and catch the female sitting on the nest, just before the eggs hatch (we suspect that this won’t be too difficult) and will continue monitoring the fledging success of this and other nests in the area. Next year we plan to get a local to grow marijuana around a few territories to compare habitat use and fledging success with pairs that aren’t growing their own drugs.

Members of the public can help by reporting colour-ring sightings and any other birds with drug habits.

The photos show 1) Amanda and where the plants were found with the rock pipit nest to the left (in the shady hollow in the grass), courtesy of Raymond Duncan. 2) A brood of rock pipits colour-ringed at Girdleness, by Jessica Haines.

Amanda