Saturday November 25 - stalking the ringers

 I've never fancied being a ringer. I used to tell myself that a choice had to be made between birding and ringing, and I didn't want to compromise on the birding. But that wasn't the only reason. Anyone who has seen me try to open a packet of biscuits or untangle a chord will know that I'm just about as cack-handed as they come. The thought of disentangling a Blue Tit from a mist-net, or even just holding a bird without damaging it, brings me out in a cold sweat.

This is a shame, because I am still fascinated by seeing birds at close quarters, by the facts about bird movements ringing can unlock, and if I'm honest by the fact that ringers sometimes catch a rarity which would otherwise go unrecorded.

This morning I was out early, stepping into the sub-zero foot-numbing cold that you have to endure if you're going to hang out with the ringers. Stalking them, if you like.

Tony and Leigh had arrived at Morton Bagot at dawn, and were processing their first Redwing of the day as I arrived.

Redwing

Of course it wasn't Redwings I'd come to see, it was Redpolls. My hope was that among the catch of Lesser Redpolls there might be something rarer. It was fascinating to see these little finches up close. Most were immature birds experiencing their first winter, but a few were adults, the males showing the bright pink flush which makes them so photogenic. The problem for me was that no two Lesser Redpolls are exactly alike. There is a subtle difference in plumage and even size between individuals, and I was particularly keen to look at their rumps to get an idea of how Mealy-like a Lesser Redpoll could be. A pale streaked rump does not necessarily mean it's a Mealy, virtually all Lessers show one to some extent. Size is important, but even then there is an overlap with big Lessers and small Mealies. Today was very illuminating.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll - wing-length 69mm

The bird shown above is a classic male Lesser Redpoll, it's wing-length way to small to be a Mealy candidate.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll - wing-length 73mm

Same individual as in the previous shot

This second adult male was at the upper end of Lesser Redpoll in wing-length, and arguably within the overlap zone in size. Although the ear-coverts looked pale, its rump was pink and mantle feathers brown apart from a pale central stripe. Tony and Leigh were happy that this was "just" a Lesser Redpoll, and I agreed.

Immature Lesser Redpoll - wing-length 71mm

The Redpoll shown above had the palest rump of any I saw. Redpolls are very difficult to sex in immature plumage and no attempt was made. Even if it's a female it would be in the overlap zone, and if it's a male then it would be a definite Lesser on size. The generally warm brown plumage left us reasonably happy that this was another Lesser Redpoll despite the paleness of the rump and the greater-covert wingbar.

Tony and Leigh were anxious to keep the conveyer belt of birds moving because on a cold morning the less time the bird spent in the hand the better. Although they let me take a few photos, the processing time was rapid and I'm confident the birds experienced little inconvenience to their daily lives.

Female Goldcrest

Not all the birds caught were as tricky to identify as the Redpolls, but in the end I had to admit defeat. 

The ringing statistics are as follows:

Blue Tit 20 (13)

Great Tit 4 (2)

Long-tailed Tit 2 (2)

Goldcrest 1 (1)

Redwing 1

Dunnock 1

Lesser Redpoll 30 (1)

Goldfinch 2

The figure in brackets relates to re-traps and shows that there is, for example, a static population of Tits with both Long-tailed Tits, and 13 out of 20 Blue Tits being re-traps. On the other hand all but one of the Lesser Redpolls were new birds.