November Ringing Totals

Over on the right I have updated the ringing totals for Fylde Ringing Group up until the end of November and we have ringed 3,036 birds of 56 birds. Four new species were newly ringed for the year during the month and these were Kingfisher (1), Grey Wagtail (3), Redwing (7) and Starling (1). As usual I have listed below the 'Top 5' ringed for the month and the 'Top 10 Movers and Shakers' for the year.

Top Five Ringed for the Month

1. Reed Bunting - 52
2. Blue Tit - 50
3. Chaffinch - 33
4. Goldfinch - 28
5. Long-tailed Tit - 23

Top Ten Movers and Shakers

1. Swallow - 712 (same position)
2. Blue Tit - 284 (same position)
3. Great Tit - 193 (same position)
4. Goldfinch - 185 (up from 5th)
5. Reed Warbler - 164 (down from 4th)
6. Meadow Pipit - 118 (same position)
7. Chaffinch - 110 (up from 10th)
8. Robin - 108 (down from 7th)
9. Greenfinch - 104 (down from 8th)
    Reed Bunting - 104 (straight in)

Over the next month it is likely that the top two will remain the same, but there is a chance that Goldfinch will push ahead of Great Tit in to third place as Andy and Phil have been ringing quite a few at their upland feeding station. Reed Warbler is probably fairly safe in 5th spot, but Meadow Pipit could easily be overtaken before the end of the year by Chaffinch, and perhaps even by Robin. I think Greenfinch and Reed Bunting are likely to remain in similar positions at the bottom of the table, unless there is another species 'bubbling under' that could come straight in and usurp one of them!

By the end of last year we had ringed 3245 birds so we are just 209 birds short of last year's total. This means that there is a chance we could beat last year's total  by the end of 2014, but we will need the weather on our side.

To give you an idea what we have ringed each month, below are the totals by month for the year so far:

Jan   Feb   Mar   Apr   May   Jun   Jul   Aug   Sep   Oct   Nov
27     41     40       93     173     169   429  641    794   300   329

So September has been our best ringing month, in terms of totals, so far this year which isn't surprising.