Late Autumn ringing on campus

This autumn has seen a big up-tick in the amount of ringing happening within UEARG. Partially driven by the extra incentive of having two undergraduate projects in need of active ringing, and partially due to the arrival of two more C permit holders into the group (Stephen (Me) and Kirsty) who have started PhDs at UEA. We now have four active C permit ringers (Jen, Josie, Kirsty and Stephen) alongside the A permit holders, as well as a few experienced trainees.

Two final-year undergraduate students, Holly and Abi, have been undertaking projects looking at parasites in finches and tits respectively. Perhaps unsurprisingly with winter ringing at feeders, we’ve had great success at getting good numbers of faecal samples for them both.

By the end of October we were up and running with sampling and sites on campus. We’re pretty lucky at UEA, situated on a stunning campus with good habitat for ringing and the support of the school. We ring at two separate sites on campus, with feeders dutifully kept topped up by Holly and Abi at the moment. The greenhouses being the bigger site sees the larger ringing sessions as a group, with the rabbit enclosure being used for smaller more manageable sessions with smaller groups or when alone.

Between October 31^st and December 4^th, we managed to fit in 8 sessions on 7 dates with a grand total of 562 birds caught of 17 species. Tits make up the bulk of our catch (71.4%), followed by finches (16.4%). The greenhouse site and rabbit enclosure, whilst not dramatically different habitat and only 700m apart, see noticeably different catches. The greenhouse site does much better with finch catches, whilst the rabbit enclosure seems to do much better for coal tits. Highlighting how much location plays a part in what you catch, even on a small scale.

Highlights for these sites over the month include jays, redwings, bullfinch, and a young male sparrowhawk.

Species catch totals between October 31^st and December 4^th 2018.  

Species	Greenhouse T(N/R)	Rabbit enclosure T(N/R)	Total (New/Retrap).
Blue tit	128 (62/66)	95 (81/14)	223 (143/80)
Great tit	88 (40/48)	61 (51/10)	149 (91/58
Coal tit	7 (3/4)	22 (15/7)	29 (18/11)
Goldfinch	32 (28/4)	0	32 (28/4)
Greenfinch	43 (39/4)	0	43 (39/4)
Chaffinch	13 (11/2)	2 (2/0)	15 (13/2)
Bullfinch	2 (2/0)	0	2 (2/0)
Goldcrest	3 (3/0)	0	3 (3/0)
Wren	4 (3/1)	3 (3/0)	7 (6/1)
Dunnock	13 (6/7)	2 (2/0)	15 (8/7)
Robin	16 (8/8)	3 (3/0)	19 (11/8)
Blackbird	14 (12/2)	0	14 (12/2)
Song thrush	2 (2/0)	0	2 (2/0)
Redwing	1 (1/0)	2 (2/0)	3 (3/0)
Great Spotted woodpecker	2 (0/2)	1 (1/0)	3 (1/2)
Jay	2 (2/0)	1 (1/0)	3 (3/0)
Sparrowhawk	0	1 (1/0)	1 (1/0)
Total	370 (222/148)	192 (161/31)	562 (383/179)

We do fairly well catching Jays on campus, reflecting the good numbers in the area.

Frosty mornings are more and more the norm as we move in winter. This adult male Great tit, ringed on campus in the nest, has reached a considerable size with an 81mm wing.

Redwings are always a treat. Fair numbers have been on campus this Autumn, but most have evaded our nets.

A very exciting catch, particularly for Kirsty and I for whom it was a first. A second calendar year male sparrowhawk. Retained juvenile feathers in the wing, tail, and rump the clues to its age.