Monday 12 August 2013

Swallow Tops Both Charts

This isn't a choir of roosting Swallow calls topping the UK album and singles charts, but the charts refelecting the number of birds ringed by Fylde Ringing Group so far this year and on a monthly basis. Over on the right I have updated the ringing totals until the end of July and we have ringed 1,974 birds of 59 species.

New species ringed for the year during July were Herring Gull, Sand Martin and Swallow. Below is the top five ringed for the month:

1. Swallow - 232
2. Reed Warbler - 59
3. Whitethroat - 57
4. Sedge Warbler - 51
5. Greenfinch - 30

The top ten 'movers and shakers' for the year so far are as follows:

1. Swallow - 232 (straight in)
2. Willow Warbler - 131 (down from 1st)
3. Goldfinch - 126 (down from 1st)
4. Chaffinch - 119 (down from 1st)
5. Great Tit - 99 (up from 6th)
6. Tree Sparrow - 94 (down from 4th)
7. Blue Tit - 89 (up from 7th)
8. Sedge Warbler - 86 (straight in)
9. Reed Warbler - 81 (straight in)
10. Lesser Redpoll - 79 (down from 5th)

It's nice to see Sedge and Reed Warbler coming straight in to to the top ten and Chiffchaff and Whitethroat aren't far behind. We are getting the impression from our ringing totals, and particularly the number of juvenile birds ringed, that it has been a good breeding season for some of the later nesting species (warblers) and a poor breeding season for some of the earlier nesting species (Tits and Tree Sparrow). However, we will have to wait until later in the year to confirm this.

Let's hope for some good weather during August so we can see if the trend is continuing.

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