That didn't tern out as expected!!

Last night Colin and Stan from the ringing group came over so we could pay a visit to the Arctic Tern colony not far from my house.

There have been in the region of 80 Arctic Terns on the site for the last month. Recent sightings of food being taking in to the colony along with some birds coming over to the nearby track whenever anyone walked along it and swooping down on them were good indicators that breeding was in progress. It is fairly normal here for chicks to be present at the end of June/start of July so it was a good time to take a look.

We set off to the colony and were accompanied by my Uncle, Paul, who is staying with us at the moment.

As we approached the colony the terns took to the air and it wasn't long before we found some bits of eggshells.

Paul found the first chick of the evening but it wasn't a tern. Nestled into the heather was an Oystercatcher chick.

Oystercatcher, the first chick of the evening being ringed

As we worked our way through the colony it quickly became apparent that we were too early as all we were finding were nests with one or two eggs on them.

Arctic Tern nest

When we got to the far end of the colony the second chick of the evening was found by Stan, this time it was a Common Gull .

Common Gull, the second chick to be ringed

It was decided to leave the colony for another week by which time there should be some chicks.

Next we went down to an old wartime building where there was a Swallow nest with four chicks which were now ready for ringing.

Swallow chick

As we wandered around the site we discovered a Blackbird nest with three eggs on it, so I'll be keeping an eye on that with a view to ringing the chicks when they are old enough.


So some more chicks ringed but not the ones we were hoping for.

Thanks to Paul for the photographs.

Raptor chicks

If you thought I was going to do another post on gull chicks tonight you would nearly have been right, however I had the opportunity to go raptor ringing instead.

All the sites visited were over on the West Mainland. I met up with Marc and then we headed off to meet up with Brian to complete the team.

The first site was one I have ringed at before and had a Kestrel nest. This nest held five chicks, one more than last year.

Female Kestrel chick

Male Kestrel chick

Kestrel chick

The remaining three sites that we visited were all Hen Harrier nests. A special permit is required to visi these nests so it was a privilege to be able to get close to these birds.

The first nest held five chicks, four females and one male; the second nest held four chicks, three females and one male and the last nest held three chicks, two females and one that was too small to sex so was not ringed.

All the chicks were well developed and looking pretty healthy so there should be an excellent chance that they will all fledge.

Many thanks to Brian for taking us out and to Marc for the photos.

Even more Gull chicks

Another gull chick ringing session tonight, this time over on the East Mainland. This site holds Common, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

This session saw 45 birds ringed in total consisting of: 27 Common Gulls, 12 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and 6 Herring Gulls.

There is still at least one more site for ringing gull chicks to go.

No pictures from tonight's session as I forgot to take my camera.

More Gulls and Wader chicks

This evening three members of the Orkney Ringing Group and myself went across to one of the small uninhabited islands that has a small colony of  Great Black-backed Gulls to ring any chicks that we could find.

We started off by finding and ringing a couple of Herring Gull chicks.

Herring Gull chick

We then moved onto the Great Black-backed Gull colony where we found and ringed 25 chicks.

Great Black-backed Gull chick

As we were searching the area for gull chicks an adult Snipe flew out of the heather. A close look around the immediate area revealed two Snipe chicks which we were able to ring.

Snipe chicks

We also found an Eider's nest with three chicks on it but these weren't ready for ringing.

Eider chicks

When we got back to where our cars were parked we had a quick scan of the pool in the field next to the track. I spotted an adult Lapwing skulking in the long grass at the edge of the pool. A scan along the grass at the edge of the pool revealed three Lapwing chicks which we were able to ring.

Lapwing chick

The drive back to my house added an Oystercatcher chick, which was in a field next to the road, and a Common Gull chick which was wandering up the track to my house.

The evening was finished with the ringing of the three Blackbird chicks that were in a nest in my garden.

So all in all a good evening of ringing with a few more birds/species than expected. Last year at the gull colony we ringed 1 Herring Gull and 31 Great Black-backed Gulls, this year we did two of the former and 25 of the latter.

Gulls and Wader Chicks

This week I have my father staying and tonight I took him out on a ringing session so that he could get a close up encounter with some young birds and to meet some members of the ringing group.

The first part of the evening was just up the road from home where there was a small colony of Common Gulls. There was also a pair of Oystercatchers nesting and it was an Oystercatcher chick which was the first bird of the evening to be ringed.

There were 12 Common Gull chicks ringed as well.

Common Gulls

We then moved on to an area in the hills closer to home to take a look at a Black-headed Gull colony. On the way to the site we ringed a Lapwing chick and an Oystercatcher chick.

We also flushed a Snipe and after a quick look around the area the nest was located which held four eggs.

Snipe nest

On reaching the colony of Black-headed Gulls there didn't appear to be as many chicks as had been seen on a recce of the area yesterday. A total of 7 chicks were ringed.

Black-headed Gull

On returning home a second Blackbird nest was located in my garden which had two eggs and a newly hatched chick in it, so that will now be monitored to see when they will be ready for ringing.

Thanks to my father for the use of his photos.

Stock Doves

On my travels back home, on Friday (14th) from Lancashire to Orkney I stopped off at my friends Neil and Suzanna, who I had met on my trip to North Ronaldasay back in May.

While I was there Neil invited me to ring a couple of Stock Dove chicks who were nesting in his garden. This was another new species for me so thanks to Neil for that opportunity.

Wild Boar Park

I'm back down in Lancashire on my latest business trip at the moment so on Tuesday I took the opportunity to meet up with Seumus at the Wild Boar Park near Chipping in the Forest of Bowland.

There are a number of nest boxes located around the park and Seumus wanted to visit some of them to check on their progress since his last visit. We checked seven nest boxes, two were occupied by Blue Tits but the chicks weren't ready for ringing, the other five boxes were occupied by Pied Flycatchers. Two of these contained chicks that weren't ready for ringing but the other three had chicks that were. A total of 17 chicks were ringed, nine of the them by me.

On the way back to the car we spotted a young Nuthatch sat on the path being fed by one of the parents. We were able to catch it and ring it.

Also visiting the park was the local cub pack who were doing a wild flower identification exercise. We were asked by the park ranger if we could do an impromptu ringing demonstration and give a short talk on why we ringing birds.

As usual my thanks to Seumus for inviting me along to do some ringing.

Hooded Crow Chicks

Another nice sunny day today only marred late afternoon by the arrival of some fog.

However, I had the opportunity to go out with Davie, one of the guys from the ringing group, after work this afternoon to visit a couple of Hooded Crow nests in Stenness. This was a chance for me to ring a new species.

We met up at the rendezvous point and walked a short distance to the first nest which contained three chicks. This was the more advanced nest of the two nest that we were going to visit.

The nest site

Closer look at the nest

One of the nest's residents

With the chicks ringed we moved onto the second nest. This nest contained four chicks which were a bit smaller and the feather development clearly less advanced compared with the chicks in the first nest.

The less advanced feather development

Thanks to Davie for inviting me along and for giving me a new species.

Blackbird chicks

The five Blackbird chicks that hatched in a nest in my garden over the weekend 18/19 May have been doing well and both parents have been busy taking food to the nest.

Yesterday my trainer was able to pay a visit and all five chicks have now been ringed.

If all goes well they should fledge anytime after the 30 May so I'll be keeping an eye out for them appearing in the garden.

A trip to the NRBO

I have just got back from my first visit to the North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory (NRBO) having spent five days over there.

This post will cover just my ringing activities, I have put a post covering my other birding activities on North Ronaldsay on my other blog - Burray Birding

There are two main ringing sites on North Ronaldsay, the first is just up the road from the Observatory (Obs) at Holland House where a number of mist nets are setup in the garden and the other is at the Obs itself. Generally there are two ringing sessions a day at Holland House, one early in the morning and the other in the evening. The traps around the Obs can be used at anytime depending upon what is about.

All of my ringing activities apart from two birds were done at Holland House. The other two birds were caught at the Obs.

I have only listed the birds that I have processed, with any retraps/controls being in ( ). I have also given each species their status, on first mention, from a North Ronaldsay perspective to give them a bit of context.

Sunday 5 May

Having arrived mid-morning my first ringing session was in the evening with Simon from the Obs and Neil, a visiting ringer from Lanarkshire.

This session resulted in Goldfinch [Scarce migrant] 1, Linnet [Common migrant/common breeder] 3 (4) and Meadow Pipit [Common migrant/common breeder] 1.

Monday 6 May

Early start this morning, up at 5:30am and at Holland House by 6am with Mark from the Obs and Neil.

This session produced Chiffchaff [Common migrant/occassional summer resident] 1, Goldcrest [Common migrant] (1), Meadow Pipit 1, Starling [Common resident/breeder] 2 (1) and Wren [Common resident/common breeder] (1).

The evening session with Mark and Neil produced Chiffchaff 1, Linnet 1 (2) and Tree Pipit [Common migrant] 1. A second Tree Pipit was ringed by Neil.

Chiffchaff

Tree Pipit

Tuesday 7 May

This morning's session was with Alison and Kevin from the Obs and Neil. This session produced Blackbird [Common migrant/common resident/breeder] 3, Chiffchaff (1), Goldcrest (2), Redwing [Common migrant] 1, Siskin [Common migrant] 3 (1), Tree Pipit (1) and a Willow Warbler [Common migrant].

The evening session with Kevin and Neil produced Blackbird 1 and Linnet 2 (1).

Wednesday 8 May

The morning session with Simon and Neil was very quiet with just a single Goldfinch. This spring is proving to be a good year for these birds with a flock of 8 being seen this week. To put this into context so far this this year the same number of birds have been ringed as in the entire Obs history.

The evening session with Simon and Neil was a bit more productive and started with a Pied Flycatcher [Common migrant] 1 before tea and after tea Chiffchaff 1 (1), Linnet 1 (2) and a White Wagtail.

Thursday 9 May

The morning session with Mark and Neil was the last session of my stay and produced a retrapped Blackbird, Chiffchaff 2 and Willow Warbler 1.

Willow Warbler

On the way back to the Obs for breakfast I was met by Gavin from the Obs to be informed that he had a bird for me to ring. A few cryptic clues made things sound very interesting. On entering the ringing shed I found Alison and a birder who had just flown in that morning waiting for me. I took the bird from the bag and immediately knew it was a bird I hadn't seen before. It was like a Sedge Warbler but without the characterisitc eye stripe with an olive-brown back that had dark streaks, a pale yellowish breast and an off-white belly with hardly any markings. This was a bird that I have heard in Orkney but never seen, this was a Grasshopper Warbler [Regular migrant].

Grasshopper Warbler

Ringing Summary

A summary of the birds that I processed during my trip:

                               Ringed     Retrapped
      1  Blackbird                4           1
      2  Chiffchaff               5           2
      3  Goldcrest                            3
      4  Goldfinch                2
      5  Grasshopper Warbler      1
      6  Linnet                   7           9
      7  Meadow Pipit             2
      8  Pied Flycatcher          1
      9  Redwing                  1
     10  Reed Bunting             1
     11  Siskin                   3           1
     12  Starling                 2           1
     13  Tree Pipit               1           1
     14  White Wagtail            1
     15  Willow Warbler           2
     16  Wren                                 1
     Totals                      33          19


I'd just like to say a big thank you to Alison, Kevin, Mark and Simon for their time, knowledge and patience and for giving me the opportunity to ring some new species. Hopefully I'll be back out there later in the year.