Craig Birding: A fantastic year.

As 2012 comes to a close, I look back on what has been an absolutely mega year for me; birding and bird ringing. I began to keep more detailed field notes and have recorded new behaviours in birds. Seen and ringed new birds including a couple of great "self finds" - Lesser Spotted Eagle in Sweden being the highlight.

A seven month trip to Scandinavia was awesome and along with a few friends we ringed over 11'000 birds of more than 110 Species and processed many more. Whilst back in the UK the weather hasn't been great but still we've managed to get a few birds ringed. The official Fylde Ringing group totals aren't about as yet and I can only take minimal credit for my input to the totals. However the effort by Ian and Phil in particular has been great and between them they ring on an almost daily basis.

We have started a new project leg flagging Turnstones at a winter feeding station and so far around 30 birds have been marked, though we expect this number to double or maybe treble by the spring migration period. These Turnstones are marked with a green colour ring below the knee on the right leg (Tibia) and a Black flag with White encryption of the left leg; above knee (Tarsus). Any sightings of these birds would be greatly appreciated and a full history of sightings/re-sightings will be sent back in return for any information. If you happen to see any flagged Turnstones please inform us Via nwturnstones"@"gmail.com

Leg Flagged (Ruddy) Turnstone - Arenaria interpres Photo: Ian Gardener.

We have also joined forces with Kev and Sean on the Isle of man and hope we catch catch and colour ring a few more large Gulls as the winter draws on! These birds will be fitted with Black colour rings with Yellow encryption. Any sightings of these birds would be greatly appreciated too and as before a full history will be supplied on submission of a sighting.

It's been a pretty hectic year really. Some fantastic birds caught, some amazing places visited and spending it all with some amazing friends to make some great memories! 2012 has been a tremendous year and hopefully 2013 will be another great one; though with no continental visits planned and probably another wet summer in the UK our work is most definitely, cut out!

Below are the combined totals of Kvismaren (Sweden) and Gedser (Denmark)
Kvismaren totals represent all the birds ringed where as Denmark is just personal totals.

Kvismaren / Gedser

Greylag Goose    1 / 0
Barnacle Goose   0 / 1
Teal 2 / 0
Sparrowhawk    1 / 39
Kestrel    8 / 1
L Ringed Plover 1 / 0
Ringed Plover      4 / 0
Lapwing               8 / 0
Knot                      1 / 0
Curlew Sand    1 / 0
Dunlin    3 / 0
Ruff                      4 / 0
Snipe                     5 / 0
Wood Sand    20 / 0
Common Sand     6 / 0
Woodcock 0 / 1
Black-head Gull   35 / 0
Herring Gull         1 / 0
Common Tern       13 / 0
Black Tern             10 / 0
Wood Pigeon          1 / 0
Long-eared Owl      3 /2
Tengmalm's Owl     0 / 6
Swift                         1 / 0
Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 / 0
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 4 / 0
Sand Martin             57 / 0
Swallow                    912 / 0
House Martin 2 / 0
Tree Pipit                  61 / 0
Yellow Wag         6 / 0
Grey Wag                    1 / 0
White Wag                78 / 0
Waxwing 0 / 14
Wren 27 / 113
Dunnock                     14 / 104
Robin                         250 / 318
Thrush Nightingale      56 / 0
Bluethroat    2 / 0
Black Redstart              0 / 1
Redstart 5 / 11
Whinchat    7 / 0
Wheatear                      4 / 0
Ring Ouzel    0 / 1
Blackbird                     36 / 52
Fieldfare 23 / 7
Song Thrush                18 / 68
Redwing                         3 / 21
Grasshopper Warbler 4 / 0
River Warbler                2 / 0
Savi's Warbler 1 / 0
Sedge Warbler             259 / 0
Marsh Warbler            19 / 0
Reed Warbler    818 / 1
Great Reed Warbler   149 / 0
Icterine Warbler    7 / 0
Barred Warbler             1 / 0
Lesser Whitethroat      12 / 0
Whitethroat                  36 / 1
Garden Warbler         106 / 0
Blackcap 104 / 19
Wood Warbler               2 / 0
Chiffchaff                    15 / 206
Willow Warbler 607 / 1
Goldcrest                    322 / 463
Firecrest                          0 / 2
Spot Fly                         29 / 0
Pied Fly                        119 / 0
Bearded Tit 52 / 0
Long-Tailed Tit 25 / 12
Coal Tit    95 / 13
Blue Tit 590 / 1342
Great Tit    362 / 166
Nuthatch                     30 / 0
Treecreeper                  8 / 0
Penduline Tit    17 / 0
Red-backed Shrike    5 / 0
Great-grey Shrike    0 / 1
Magpie                          4 / 0
Jay                                 0 / 4
Jackdaw                        1 / 0
Starling 269 / 0
Tree Sparrow            60 / 12
Chaffinch                135 / 83
Brambling                22 /10
Greenfinch               41 / 7
Goldfinch    4 / 4
Siskin                       20 / 8
Redpoll    0 / 4
Linnet                      1 / 0
Bullfinch                 0 / 12
Rosefinch    1 / 0
Yellowhammer        25 / 0
Ortolan Bunting      11 / 0
Reed Bunting        281 / 16

Totals              6397 / 3147

The UK totals will shortly be available on Seumus' Blog no doubt. Though as previously stated the guys in the ringing group must take the lion share of the credit, their perseverance through the atrocious weather has most certainly paid off.

Below are some of the highlights of 2012 for me!