A waxwing winter

Well what a super Waxwing invasion! An early spread of birds from mid-October including down into England and over to the west and right down to the south west suggested it was going to be a big one. Now flocks of 100s and up to 1,000 have confirmed this.

Over 100 have been ringed on Shetland and also on Orkney, where 69 of them have also been colour-ringed. 224 have been colour-ringed in NE Scotland in Elgin, Banchory and Aberdeen. We would be very grateful to all observers and photographers if they could report any colour ringed birds they might see or find on their photographs. Some birds are on the move down the country already, continuing their search for rowans and other berries, whilst others have settled down a bit. We have been receiving lots of sightings already. Thank you very much.

A bird ringed in Finstown, Orkney on 29^th October was photographed by Stuart McMahon and Steve Clarke in Saltcoates, Ayrshire on 10^th November.

Juvenile female Waxwing Orange/Orange/Yellow ringed in Finstown, Orkney on 29^th October and photographed by Stuart McMahon and Steve Clarke (shown) in Saltcoates, Ayrshire on 10^th November.

Juvenile male Waxwing Green/Red/Red basking in the Aberdeen sun on 6^th November (Mark Sullivan) the day after ringing nearby.

 

From a catch of 38 in Aberdeen on 5^th November so far colour-ringed birds have been photographed in Dunblane on 12^th November by Gillian Baird, Glasgow on the 16^th by Stuart Watson and Newcastle on the 17^th by Mike Carr while one was retrapped still in Aberdeen on the 22nd. 

Juvenile female Waxwing Light Green/Blue/Red basking in the Dunblane sunshine on 12^th November (Gillian Baird)

Adult male Waxwing Green/Green/Red basking in the Glasgow sun on Possil Road on 16^th November (Stuart Watson).

Juvenile male Waxwing Red/Orange/Orange basking in the Newcastle sun in Benton on 17^th November (Mike Carr).

2 others ringed on the 4^th and 8^th were resighted by Ian Rendall in a flock of 60 25kms out of town in rural Banchory on 15th. One of these was photographed 5 days later in Errol, Perth & Kinross 85kmSW by Christine Hall who then on going to see another flock at Invergowrie in Dundee on the same day photographed another colour-ringed bird, this time from Elgin ringed on the 13^th. 

And Red/White/Orange in Musselburgh on 21^st surely photographed at a distance of 1m by Len Hunter?!

Juvenile male Waxwing Red/White/Orange photographed in Musselburgh on 21^st November (Len Hunter)

A Finnish ringed bird has had its ring partially read from photographs in Kirkwall, Orkney but efforts to catch it have so far proved unsuccessful.

It is both fascinating and exciting to follow the movements of these irruptive winter visitors when we are lucky enough to have an invasion but it’s not so good news for them. They have vacated their breeding areas to find a lack of berries and so have had to make a sea crossing into unknown territory (for most of them) in search of food. Fortunately many of our towns and cities have large amounts of ornamental rowan trees which attract and support these hungry birds but this comes at a cost. A lot of them have never come across houses and windows (and bus shelters) before! Along with other urban hazards such as traffic, cats and sparrowhawks mortality is quite high.

 

Window strike fatalities are particularly common. We have heard of 19 so far this invasion in Aberdeen and Banchory. The photos show a rather innocuous yellow rowan tree beside houses in Kincorth, Aberdeen. A flock of up to 100 birds were coming into feed on it when we found it and despite birds usually flying out the opposite way to rest in taller trees 3 dead birds were found below the windows to the left. The occupant was disappointed to hear about this and her upstairs windows now have large black bird silhouettes on them. Maybe too late for this winter but we’ll alert her in future winters if the Waxwings come back.

When you arrive at a typical site such as this rowan tree in the street do have a look around for nearby obvious house windows reflecting back trees and/or sky. Have a word with the owners who perhaps could open or shut blinds/curtains to reduce this reflection. Or even better silhouette shapes or anything dark/matt. It will only be required for a short period of time (a few days maximum?) as Waxwings are like locusts and all the berries will soon be gobbled up and the birds will move on. 

Local wildlife rescue New Arc have also highlighted the issue of window strikes recently: https://www.facebook.com/newarcwildliferescue/posts/pfbid023Dnp4CdwVnBvDWQMax1FeZtK31e54yzpntMnmRDo2rzeR9hmyAoyamH9nvxJyHVRl.

 

Please try and be a step ahead and take action, and spread awareness of how to protect these birds.

 

Here's hoping we’ll post again soon with more colour ring sightings from observers and photographers helping us to follow the Waxwings fortunes and movements throughout the country.

We’ll also describe how a Waxwing in the hand is worth two in the bush: As their moult reveals just how abruptly some of these birds have had to leave home to find food. And their unique plumage features sometimes enables us to pin point which bird it is when colour ring reports are uncertain. Just what are the Waxwings favourite berries? And has Elgin taken over from Aberdeen as the new Waxwing capital?

 

rduncan393@outlook.com

Grampian Ringing Group

Colour-ringing of Upland and Lowland Stonechats in Grampian

 During 2022 Stonechats have been colour-ringed in Grampian in an attempt to find out a bit more about their survival in relation to movements and territory habitats throughout the year.

Ringing has taken place at two main locations; Glen Dye, the upland site (300m asl) and Forvie National Nature Reserve (NNR) the lowland site (50m asl). As of 21/11/2022 a total of 107 Stonechats have been ringed as part of this project.

The colour-ringing scheme involves adding a white coded ring above the normal BTO metal ring on the right tarsus and two coloured rings on the left tarsus.

In Glen Dye, most birds were trapped by mist nets, whilst at Forvie, all captures were executed by spring traps. Ninety-two Stonechats were ringed in the Glen Dye area and 15 were ringed at Forvie and other lowland sites. Juveniles made up the majority of birds trapped in Glen Dye, with only two adults being caught there. Most birds at lowland sites were seen during autumn and noted to be in pairs.

So far, only a few birds have been resighted or recaptured and all bar one were observed near their ringing location. The exception to this was a surprising record of a juvenile male, ringed in Glen Dye on 19 July 2022 and photographed at Rhoon, near Rotterdam, The Netherlands, on 11 November 2022, a dispersal distance of approximately 727 km.

Of all 55,563 Stonechats ringed in the UK up to the end of 2021, only 49 have been recovered abroad, mainly Spain, but none of these were in the Netherlands. This is therefore the first record of a Stonechat, ringed in the UK and seen in the Netherlands.

Stonechat WN(A),M /RN photographed in the Netherlands 11/11/2022

Stonechat WN(A),M /RN when ringed in Glen Dye 19/07/2022

Please keep an eye on your local Stonechats and report any sightings and colour-ringed birds in the usual way.

Moray Souter

Ring ouzel resightings from Glen Clunie

 On 25 September 2022, a colour ringed ring ouzel was photographed at a headland near Santander, northern Spain, by Guillermo Lazaro. This bird had been ringed as a chick on 17 May from a brood of 5 (ring number LL21463) in Glen Clunie by Innes Sim and Alys Perry, as part of a project aimed at finding out more about their migration journeys to and from their winter quarters by fitting adults with GPS tags. 

Ringed as pullus in Glen Clunie May 2022, sighted in Santander Northern Spain September 2022

It was the smallest of the 5 chicks, but not a runt, and all chicks fledged around 21 May. Both adults were unringed initially, but both were caught and colour ringed, and the male fitted with a tag. The same pair had a second nest around 300m away and reared a brood of 3, all of which fledged around 2 July. Both adults were retrapped and the female fitted with a tag. Two previous sightings of chicks from Glen Clunie, both in 2013, were on 15 and 27 October in Isles of Scilly and Portland, Dorset, respectively. And data from 2 tagged birds in 2018 showed that they left Glen Clunie on 2 and 5 October. So, this bird seems to have left the UK unusually early.

 

Ringed in Glen Clunie in July 2013, sighted at Portland, Dorset October 2013

Ringed in Glen Clunie as a chick in June 2013, sighted on the Scilly Isles October 2013

Twenty adult ring ouzels were fitted with GPS tags in Glen Clunie in 2022. These tags were programmed to take a fix once per day between 1 September 2022 and 30 April 2023. Each fix should be accurate to around 10m, but the bird has to be retrapped in order to access the data. We obtained high quality data from 2 tagged birds which were retrapped in 2019, so fingers crossed that we can catch any returning adults in 2023.

Ythan Twite a twittering

 Hi Aye, Happy New Lockdown 2021 to yiz all. Here's a wee bittie aboot oor Twite.

Following low numbers for several years now the wintering twite flock around the Ythan Estuary seems to have taken a turn for the better. It is difficult to establish exact numbers as there is usually a varying number of linnets in the flock but we think there could be over 200 present. Three catches so far have resulted in 175 different twite being handled.

The graph shows the number of different twite caught here each winter from 2018/19. What a whopping increase this winter! It also shows there are a lot more juveniles in the flock than in the previous two.

With twite not being artificially fed/ringed at Montrose Basin this winter (75km down the coast) we wondered if the increase might be partially down to some of these birds shifting north but the only Montrose bird we have caught so far has been a bird which was ringed there in October 2018 and retrapped at the Ythan the same winter on 6 January 2019 and was retrapped again here last winter.

The wee corn yellow beak, peachy chin and buffy wing bar (and wheezy call) help distinguish the twite from linnet (Photo MS)

Unfortunately a good breeding season appears to have also come with the loss of some of our older regular returning birds. This includes AYA3689 which we were hoping to retrap for a fourth winter, having been caught on the west coast at Clachtoll by Tony Mainwood in each of the intervening springs but so far no sign.

A (particularly) pink rump on this bird helps distinguish this as a male twite. The female usually has a brown rump (Photo MS)

We have decided to colour-ring them again this winter to compare results with similar research done between winters 2008/09 - 2010/11 when, to our surprise this revealed the origins of our wintering twite flock to be from the west coast of Scotland. Sightings came from nine different islands from Lewis in the north to Oronsay in the south as well as many reports up and down the west coast mainland.

The colour rings identify this bird as a twite ringed around the Ythan Estuary in winter 2020/21

In the past these winter twite catches have been well attended by many of the groups ringers but alas with this worldwide pandemic putting us back into almost full lockdown again we have unfortunately had to continue to keep it within local ringers this winter.

Please look out for any wintering flocks near you and who knows, we might be allowed summer holidays as far as the west coast this year so keep your eyes peeled for birds over there and be sure to check them for colour rings.

Raymond, Moray and Skitts

Redpoll exodus

Lesser orangepoll

Last year GRG achieved our highest ever ringing total for redpoll, with 3837 lesser and 19 common redpoll ringed. Most were caught in spruce plantations in October and early November. There were exceptionally large flocks present in the region, demonstrated by over 1500 being ringed at the same site over the course of four days.  

We were hoping for a repeat of that this autumn, and at first it looked promising. 106 redpoll were ringed on 3^rd August, which was a great total for that time of year, and we continued to have reasonable numbers into September. But by mid-October, the time we normally start to have our largest catches, there was barely any to be found! Sites where last year flocks numbered in the thousands were completely devoid of redpolls.

Lesser goldpoll

The mystery of where they’d gone was quickly answered, with ringers in southern England reporting they were experiencing record catches of the species. This was further confirmed by a slew of controls, 19 of which were recaptures by English ringers, and one which impressively had its ring read in the field on Helgoland, Germany.

The map below shows the location of the birds we’ve had controlled over the past couple of months. We've not had any reported this week, but that may be due to the persistent winds we’ve been having making conditions for ringing unsuitable! Based on the concentration on the south east coast it looks like many of the redpolls may not spend the winter in the UK, and we are expecting recaptures to be reported from the continent soon.

What caused the redpolls to clear out of NE Scotland is unclear. The spruce crop was poor compared to last autumn, yet there was plenty of birch for them to feed on as they’ve done in the previous years. Hopefully when the winds die down ringers down south can get out in field again, and we can understand more about their movements this winter. 

Euan Ferguson

Waxwings - a slow movement south

Lengthening days (and improving weather?) has recently seen a wee flurry of colour-ringed Waxwing sightings. With a small invasion and a decent crop of ornamental white and yellow rowan berries to feed on it has been a slow movement of birds south this winter, as can be seen on the map. Some have also remained locally. Looks like the rowans have run out though as recent photographs of colour ringed birds have shown them to now be feeding on tree cotoneaster, hawthorn and guilder rose.

 

Resightings of colour-ringed waxwings away from Aberdeen

Waxwings MY-LGG (metal ring over yellow ring right leg, light green over dark green over dark green rings left leg) and MY-WNR (white over black over red rings left leg) were together in a flock of 18 birds in Hessle, Hull, Yorkshire on 8/3/20. This was very interesting as they had both been ringed in the same flock on the same morning in a garden in Aberdeen on 7/12/19. In between however, MY-LGG was resighted in Thirske, N. Yorkshire (130km NW of Hessle) from 30/12/19 to 3/1/20 whilst MY-WNR was still in Aberdeen on 5/1/20. So they had caught up with each other again. Makes you wonder if they know?

LGG in Hessle, 10/3/20 Africa Gomez

WNR in Hessle 8/3/20 Steve Clipperton

Elsewhere, 2 were together in a flock on the Isle of Man on 22/2/20 and another in Shropshire on 6/3/20 while down the east side of the country 2 different birds were seen in Suffolk 20kms apart  and 3 days apart on 9/3 and 11/3.

RYW on the Isle of Man 22/2/20 Peter Christian

RBW in Wangford, Suffolk 11/3/20 Andrew Moon

Others remained a bit more locally. MY-YWG was in Arbroath on 8/3/20 with no previous sightings since being ringed over 2 months previously 82 kms to the north in Inverurie on 19/12/19.

YWG in Arbroath 8/3/20 David Mitchell

Finally, in a first for the project we have received news of a colour-ringed Waxwing which presumably remained in Norway during the same winter as an invasion into the UK. MY-YBR was photographed in Kapp, 100km north of Oslo on 21/2/20. It had been ringed last winter in Aberdeen on 24/11/18.

YBR in Kapp, Norway 21/2/20 Lasse Stang

There’s still time before the Waxwings start heading back to Scandinavia so if you get the chance please get out there and check for and report any colour-ringed birds you see. We have received sightings of 28 different birds away from Aberdeen out of 101 colour-ringed which is a tremendous return for a passerine. Like fishing we had a few blank days and lots of hard luck stories about the ones that got away but it makes it all worthwhile when we receive resightings of birds moving on. We are very grateful to so many observers and photographers, too numerous to list here, for reporting their sightings, many thanks to you all.

Please report any colour-ringed Waxwings to grampianringing@gmail.com and/or rduncan393@outlook.com.

Returning waxwings

There has been a small invasion of Waxwings into the country this winter. With a bit of effort and good luck we managed to colour ring 100 in Aberdeen and Inverurie before Xmas.

Some have stayed and some have gone.

It was great to hear about our first movement away from Aberdeen on 2 December 2019 when group member Euan Ferguson received news of right leg metal over yellow, left leg dark green over white over red, photographed in Blyth Civic Centre, Northumberland by Tom Tams (see photo). It had been ringed as a rather handsome adult male in Kincorth, Aberdeen on 23 November, noted as even having faint waxy tips to his tail!

GWR in Blyth, Photo by Tom Tams

Other birds have been reported moving down through Scotland and into England (see map of colour-ring sightings).

An email from Harry Scott on 3 February said he’d had a lady phone him from Alford (40km NW of Aberdeen) to say she had picked up a dead colour-ringed Waxwing beneath her window. She said the colours were green, white and red but, unsure of the order, we thought it was probably a bird ringed at Strachan (30km SE of Alford) just a few days previously.

Alas on delivery and inspection it turned out to be the handsome male photographed down in Blyth in early December. The photo of the dead bird shows close up just how handsome he was, with the faint waxy tips to his tail also visible. Such a sorry end for such a beautiful bird. Windows are the death of many a Waxwing.

Dead GWR, Photo by Harry Scott

It was actually quite a surprise to see him back up here around Aberdeen (and so quickly). Waxwings returning north are fairly unusual, at least amongst the several thousand we have colour-ringed over the years. Some wander over to the continent but most in the UK seem to depart from where they end up during the winter.

This invasion however, with a very high proportion of adults, does appear to be a little different in that this is our third bird returning north. Others were sighted in Dundee and at Flamborough Head before recently being resighted back up here.

Returning Waxwing BNR Strachan 30/01/20 Alan Mankin, ringed in Aboyne 28/1/17

Waxwing RRR Aberfeldy 19/01/20 Keith Harvey

Waxwing RYW Falkirk 28/01/20 Jim Duncan

We have also had two returning birds from previous invasions, a bird ringed in spring 2013 which we didn’t quite get the full combination of (name your drink if you get it on your camera!) and another ringed three years to the day in 2017 in Aboyne, resighted 15kms away in Strachan on 28/1/20.

There’s still a couple of months before they depart back to Scandinavia so if you hear of a Waxwing flock near you we would be very grateful if you can check for and report any colour-ringed birds you see. We are out most weekends checking our flocks for colour-ringed birds of which there are a few but it is clear that many have moved on. Please report them to grampianringing@gmail.com and/or rduncan393@outlook.com