Welcome to the LDV NNR ringing blog, this blog is designed to share the experiences, findings and tales from a group of dedicated ringers. We specialise in conservation orientated research projects, largely focusing on wildfowl, waders, owls and birds of conservation concern, in and around the Vale of York NNR's.

NB - Whilst the purpose of this blog was initially designed to cover our nationally important wildfowl ringing activities, it now also features wildlife and work posts, explaining how we manage the NNR for both wildlife and people.

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Tuesday 20 November 2012

17/11/12 - Wax'ing lyrical


Once again the historic walled City of York is under a Viking invasion, but no need to fear - it’s not from bearded barbarians with horned helmets this time, but from a delightful winter visitor to these shores whose antics will cheer up any dull autumnal day - the Waxwing.
 
Waxwings are birds of the high Arctic and boreal forest, the closest breeding populations being found in Scandinavia. Every few years, the birds erupt, possibly driven by good breeding seasons or by the result of poor berry crops (their main food source) and cross the North Sea to spend the winter here. They often congregate in towns and cities, usually choosing very public sites such as super market or council car parks where the planting of ornamental berry bushes such as rowan or cotoneaster provide great feeding opportunities.

The Waxwing - a very welcome Scandinavian visitor

This autumn has seen a large influx of these colourful and characterful little birds in the British Isles with several thousand involved. The largest such flock has involved 1000 around the Isle of Skye, but several flocks of up to 300 birds have been present in Yorkshire and the Humber region as birds move south through the UK having depleted berry crops further north. Licensed bird ringers throughout the UK have been catching, ringing and fitting these birds with colour-rings in order to follow their movement through the country over the winter, particularly in Aberdeen and Orkney. In previous winter influxes, birds ringed in Aberdeen in November have moved south to York in January and further south to Bedford by February and March, before returning north-east again in spring.

 Some of the 300+ present in York last week

NNR staff and volunteers from the Lower Derwent Valley travelled a short 5 miles down the road into York last week to try and catch some of the 300 present around the York walls. Having gained permission from our partners in the City of York Council, a couple of nets were set around one of the Rowan trees beneath the city walls, and shortly after 12 stunning Waxwings were caught. This was a great result in its own right but it also gave us a good opportunity to engage with the public about these birds, the work and evidence of bird ringing and the wider work of Natural England and organisations such as the BTO. 

Simply stunning

After we had safely extracted each bird we were quickly surrounded by the local residents who had been watching with bated breath and who too had hoped that we would be able to get a catch. It was brilliant to be able to make someone’s day and to show them in the hand the amazing colours and detail on these Scandinavian beauties.



Out of the twelve birds caught, interestingly only one was a young bird. The majority of catch were stunning adult males, aged and sexed on the differences in plumage. Males have a larger crest, and much more yellow through the primaries which the females lack and more and longer waxy tips on the secondaries, some of these features can be seen on the photographs below.

Adult male Waxwing

Adult female Waxwing

Juvenile male Waxwing

Adult female (left), adult male (right)

Whilst waiting for the Waxwings to come down and feed on the berries, the troublemaker below did his best to chase them off and guard 'his' tree. They are well known for defending their territory but unfortunately for him he stood little chance against such a big flock. He could only look on as the Waxwings helped themselves to his berries, and whilst trying to warn them off he found his way into our net! We are ofcourse talking about the lovely and highly vocal Mistle Thrush. 




Thanks to everyone involved today, and also to the local residents who welcomed our presence outside their homes and offered us hot drinks and a free parking spot! 

5 comments:

  1. A great blog and you really made the most of an opportunity and somthing for the local folk to talk about...well done.

    Peter

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  2. Hi Guys, good catch, well done but I think you need to be reading your Svensson p.98 -99 for ageing and sexing Waxwings ! All adults have white edges to the primary tips, except longest PP in female - if you see a straight white line with no right angles with the wing closed you have a juv. In your pics you only have one adult (the first one). We caught 26 up here today in Aberdeen, now have 120 colour-ringed so keep an eye out for ours !

    Best wishes,

    Lindsay

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    1. Hi Lindsay, thanks for your message, we believed all birds were aged correctly but we'll have a look at the points you have mentioned, if you've got any other information then feel free to contact us on lowerderwent@yahoo.com. We've been keeping an eye out for colour-ringed birds in the flocks we've seen and have generated some good PR encouraging wider awareness of the colour-ringing scheme. Hopefully this will result in more sightings for you! We had 23 colour-ringed birds from your study seen by members of our group in York in the 1991 influx, but none so far this year but we'll keep looking!

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  3. Thankyou for an excellent blog.
    From a bird watcher, Copmanthorpe

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment John, pleased you like it!

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