Last but not least

What a cracking day to round off this year's Varanger/Nesseby ringing project! Perfect weather, lots of birds, good teamwork, and a couple of 'nearly birds' in the form of two Citrine wagtails and a Great grey shrike--next time maybe. We dismantled the site at midday, then to make sure we squeezed every last drop out of our time here, did a bit in the garden and got a second baby Waxwing ; and followed that up with a roost attempt for more Waxwing (which unfortunately didn't show), and Brambling of which we caught 10 bringing our daily total to a very respectable 401, with and overall total for our trip coming to 3531 of 36 species (plus about 500 which Anders did before we arrived). Full details will be published when we get home.
Apart from the birds we have had a good laugh, been given superb hospitality, and learned new things- like what a hoot Ivor Cutler is. Must get some of his stuff ASAP. All packed and ready for a lie in till 6.30, before Anders ferries us to the airport. We hope that we can firm up some good proposals to take the project forward in the future; we will be working on that as soon as things settle down.
Wheatear 1
House sparrow 1
Redwing 2
Redpoll 18
Arctic redpoll 10
Fieldfare 1
Magpie 1
Great tit 11
Willow warbler 21
Garden warbler 1
Sedge warbler 1
Meadow pipit 192
Reed bunting 73
Bluethroat 9
Lapland bunting 6
Greenfinch 3
Dunnock 4
Red throated pipit 1
Waxwing 1
Brambling 44
Total 401

Merlin's Magic? Sure is!

Another day, another set of birds at the Nesseby ringing site on our penultimate day. The wind was again from the east and yet again the birds were moving into the wind ie in the opposite direction to the last 10 days-why? Generally passage was lighter than of late but we still managed a very healthy total-see below. Our thoughts are now turning to home but we still want to make the most of our last session tomorrow morning, and the weather looks set fair with gentle east winds.
Today's highlight was undoubtedly the young female Merlin which had been hanging around for a couple of hours, even perching on the top shelf of one net giving me the evil eye. In the end it's fascination with the nets got the better of it and it was in the bag.
Wader numbers have dropped dramatically and although we caught a few, we think we know the remaining Dunlin by name, and similarly they have sussed out our twinkling techniques and manage to avoid the nets with ease. Let's see what tomorrow brings.
Ringed plover 1
Dunlin 3
Redwing 3
Merlin 1
Redpoll 43
Arctic redpoll 5
Willow warbler 9
Reed bunting 51
Meadow pipit 95
Brambling 16
Red throated pipit 1
Dunnock 3
Bluethroat 5
Greenfinch 2
Lapland bunting 1
Yellow wagtail 1
Total 240

It's a pretty rustic lifestyle up here

Ok so I know that's a pretty naff way of introducing the major highlight of the day in the form of a young female Rustic Bunting! This was a lifer for all of us and a ringing lifer for Anders, and adds yet another rare bird to the Varanger Ringing Project list. To make matters worse this bird brought up the hat-trick of top birds that Ferg has delivered, so we must all give him a heart felt well done.....?!
Seriously though it was a top bird and fortunately we have a techy expert in Tormod who has helped me get the picture for you:

The wind turned east today but seemed to reduce the amount of visible passge-but we still managed a good total as shown below. The other highlight was another Willow/Siberian tit hybrid very similar to the one we caught (but failed to properly identify) last year. Fortunately we caught a Willow tit for comparison- the hybrid is on the left. The lower picture shows the photo gallery for recording purposes.

After a few hours in the garden, the final totals (unless we catch birds roosting in the garden later) are:-
Reed bunting 78
Brambling 13
Meadow pipit 58
Redpoll 58
Arctic redpoll 5
Bluethroat 6
White wagtail 2
Great tit 2
Dunnock 12
Lapland bunting 2
Rustic bunting 1
Greenfinch 4
Dunlin 3
Ringed plover 2
Chiffchaff 1
Willow warbler 20
Willow tit 1
Willow/ Siberian hybrid 1
Total 269

For interest, here is a picture of the Nesseby Ringing site:

"Aren't the northern lights brilliant"...........

After a very interesting journey to the end of the world- Hamningberg-with a little birding on the way we returned to Vardo to prepare for an attempt at Leach's and Storm petrels. It was a little too windy but we gave it a try-unsuccessfully as it turned out BUT as we sat by the net and semi-darkness fell we were treated to a superb display of the Aurora Borealis which was much more inspiring than what we saw a couple of nights ago. We will try to post some of John 's pics when we get the technical know-how. A night over in Vardo thanks to the hospitality of Elin and Alonza meant we had a lie in and very little ringing today. We arrived back at Nesseby at around 3 pm after a couple of awesome stops on the way giving the team views of White Billed Diver followed by an amazing sight of hundreds of gulls feeding on a fish frenzy. They were being harassed by lots of Arctic Skuas, but then an otter appeared tackling an Eider duck which it wrestled with for several minutes before giving up and letting a very luck duck flap away! We caught some birds in the garden while Dave and Col tried for some waders with some success, but in truth it feels like the waders are moving out so we may get very few in our remaining days. However we have the possibility of an even better show of the lights tonight if the clouds lift, and tomorrow looks great for migration so another early morning start for us. No problem though because only a couple more days to go so we must make the most of it. Chief chaff 1 House sparrow 1 Curlew sandpiper 1 Dunlin 2 Ringed plover 2 Willow warbler 5 Willow tit 1 Great tit 8 Brambling 2 Redpoll 1 Total 24 The major downside of the day came through at 5 o'clock when we (Col) heard that the Saddlers had lost 3-0 at home to Preston.......

A day out at the seaside

Today was very windy but we had sufficient nets in sheltered places to be able to operate at reduced capacity. The totals are therefore much lower than recently but 138 was a good total given the circumstances and included the project's first Chiffchaff. Unfortunately this was not a grey Siberian type, but a good bird for here nevertheless.
We then decided to accept the generous offer from Tormod, Elin and Alonza to pick us up and take us for a tour of Vardø-check it out on a map as at the very edge of the northern European landmass. We have been invited to stay over after trying for petrels later tonight-news tomorrow if any success.
In a previous post we suggested that if readers wanted to see some pics of our birds the Anders Facebook site would be worth a look- but we understand the link didn't work. This should…..

Birdwatching Norway

Today's Chiffchaff

Vardø

Arctic redpoll 7

Redpoll 29

Willow warbler 11

Chiffchaff 1

White wagtail 2

Meadow pipit 58

Dunnock 4

Redstart 1

Reed bunting 10

Bluethroat 3

Brambling 10

Lapland bunting 1

Great tit 1

Total 138.

Lapp dancing with Ferg's bit of Ruff

The meal last night proved to be a big hit with a couple of culinary delights in the form of Varanger Burgers for Dave and John while Ferg, Col, and Anders enjoyed a delicately spiced loin of reindeer. Suitably replete we headed back for a slice of fruit cake as pud accompanied by either tea or whisky....But the evening entertainment was far from over as just as folk were hitting the hay, Col managed to convince Ferg that the Aurora Borealis was starting to appear ( not smoke from a small bonfire as John Killjoy Hodson would have us believe )-Ferg even managed to get a pic on his mobile for proof. At this point Dave and Col would like to apologise to Chris and Jan respectively. in our defence, it wasn't the most spectacular event we had ever seen- but the prediction is for a more dramatic scene on Saturday if it stays clear. The team allowed itself a massive lie in as a reward so we got up at 3.30 this morning....All nets open and soon we were ringing steadily although there was little apparent passage overhead. The wader nets were catching steadily until out of the blue a larger than normal bird lodged in the net- our first Ruff of these trips. A delightful juvenile bird was sexed as female on the very short wing length. As the morning wore on the temperature rose until it was shirtsleeves, and then the Lapland Buntings started to appear. On one round at 9am there were 10 of these beauties in one net with others elsewhere giving a smart total of 18 for the day. Anders saw a Little Bunting first thing but we didn't catch it. Eventually after a group of delightful schoolchildren had enjoyed the birds we were decidedly birdied out so returned home. As I write this Dave is washing up after we have eaten a superb (albeit unidentified ) ungulate chilli followed by a pudding closely resembling choc-cornflake cookies-but not quite the same in that the experimental approach to its manufacture went a bit wonky? Early night ready for another bash in the morning with Rustic Bunting as our target...more anon. Ruff 1, Dunlin 19, Ringed plover 1, Arctic redpoll 10, Redpoll 62, Willow warbler 22, Reed bunting 61, Meadow pipit 76, Bluethroat 6, Willow tit 1, Brambling 24, Dunnock 5, Lapland bunting 18, White wagtail 3, Great tit 2 Total 311

A kind of start stop start start start type day.

Five bright eyed bushy tailed ringers dragged themselves out of their sleeping pits as the 3am alarms went, only to find when we arrived at the ringing station that rain stopped play. Back home trying to get a few more Zs, when Ferg announced " it's clearing up". None of us were completely convinced as the demister on Anders car started to overheat....
Things did eventually brighten up and catching went on briskly without ever feeling manic. We even managed to entertain two school parties - or rather Anders did as we fed him the birds. At about 2pm we finally gave up as we all felt "ringed out", and desperately in need of food, tea/coffee and a shower in that order of priority. Eventually Dave did his usual totals trick and announced to a disbelieving audience that we had ringed 414 new birds! We have decided to celebrate by going out to eat tonight-we'll probably have Arctic Roll..... Meadow pipit 175 Reed Bunting 40 Brambling 32 Bluethroat 6 Redpoll 85 Arctic redpoll 19 Willow warbler 40 White wagtail 3 Redwing 1 Great tit 1 Greenfinch 1 Garden warbler 1 Dunlin 10
 No rarities for a couple of days now so we are sleeping with things crossed..?!

The day after the night before.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. Lets set a couple of nets so that just as the tide goes out and under cover of darkness we will catch a good number of waders in 'stinky corner' Dave drew the short straw and gave Col a hand which almost put an end to 30 years of friendship. By 1am only 5 waders had been ringed, Dave was bored senseless and Col had a left wading boot full to the knee with a mixture of seawater and sewage......No comment from Dave during the walk home didn't bode well but by lunchtime today he had thawed out. The late finish meant the early morning team was short handed so only half the nets were opened. However, as reinforcements arrived around 7am things picked up, and the visiting school group seemed to have a great time. A quick shopping break at lunchtime was then followed by a useful session with more waders and more passerines as left-overs from the massive and continued passage we saw today. Forecast looks good for tomorrow so we hope that the free-flowing whisky tonight won't interfere too much with an early start? Curlew sandpiper 2, Dunlin 16, Little stint 3, Ringed plover 1, Redwing 1, Arctic redpoll 13, Redpoll 45, Willow warbler 22, Willow tit 2, Meadow pipit149, Reed bunting 24, Bluethroat 13, Dunnock 14, Brambling 25, Greenfinch 1, White wagtail 6 Yellow wagtail 1, Redstart 1, Total 339

A Lilttle offering from Ferg...?

Slightly windier this morning than yesterday but still lots of passage going on. The main highlights during the early morning period were several Lapland buntings which seem to be coming through in increasing numbers now- bring em on! Then things took a turn for the even better when Ferg
arrived looking quite smug and graciously handed Col a ringing tick in the form of a gorgeous Little Bunting! This is only the 3rd ringed in the area, the team having ringed 2 last year. Things tailed off pretty quickly so sleep took over back at the ranch while Col had a bash at waders after the high tide with good results. After sleep the boys tried netting in Kate's garden with a good score of Redpoll and an Arctic Redpoll and 2 Willow tits? A super evening meal was rounded off with Col's third and (finally) successful attempt at rice pud- using the proper rice really does make a difference! Dave and Col off to have another bash at waders after high tide this evening while Fergus John and Anders get their beauty sleep in preparation for a visiting school party in the morning- more news on both these exciting events in due course. Due to our ineptitude with IT photos of all the good birds cannot be seen here-however if you link to Anders's blog you can see the pics there:-

www.facebook.com/pages/Birdwatching-Norway/53689838304530

Meadow pipit 94 Reed bunting 58 Blue throat 14 Brambling 23 Dunnock 11 Greenfinch 2 Lapland bunting 5 Red throated pipit 1 Spotted flycatcher 1 Redstart 1 Great tit 1 Redwing 2 Redpoll 38 Arctic redpoll 4 Willow warbler 34 Little bunting 1 Willow tit 2 Dunlin 17 Ringed plover. 1 Curlew sandpiper 1
Total 311

The wind is all behind us now!,,,

After yesterday's wind the forecast for today was perfect and that is how it was. Up at 3 am to get nets open by 4-it was quickly evident that birds were on the move- big time. By 9 am we had ringed 400 new birds and still we could see flocks of passerines flying over the trapping area. This really is a migration hot spot!
Unfortunately we were caught out a little because we ran out of rings for the most regularly caught birds as Anders was on his way back from Vardo with 3000 more. Unfortunately this is a 2 hour drive so we ended up having to release almost 100 birds without rings. However we soldiered on by concentrating effort on the birds we had rings for and as can be seen we had superb results:-
Ringed plover
Dublin 1
Field fare 12
Redwing 6
Song thrush 1
Reed bunting 57
Meadow pipit 88
Blue throat 13
Brambling 34
Dun nock 7
White wagtail 1
Sedge warbler 1
Red throated pipit 4
Garden warbler 1
Lapland bunting 1
Willow tit 3
Willow warbler 71
Arctic redpoll 60
Redpoll144
Total 507
Readers who know us will not be surprised to know that we may be trying this evening for a few more waders.  However, sleep is a priority because tomorrow looks like being just as
Good

An arresting evening---almost

After failing abysmally with high tide wader catching (can't work out where they are going) we decided to go for broke and catch the first ever Varanger Storm Petrels but again a complete failure. However the evening was not without incident. The well dressed Norwegian petrel ringer these days needs to look not unlike a hardened terrorist/rapist-(we hope to have a pic when someone under 12 years old shows up). However, the local police ignored this and instead went for Fergus who was innocently ambling around with a torch trying to dazzle waders. He managed to duck under their searchlight and seek the safety of the group under the Stormie net..... Day3 was almost a write off due to very strong west winds. Not all was lost as we had a sleep deficit reducing lie in then managed to find some English channels on the telly. The wind eased slightly late on so we opened a couple of nets in the hope of catching some birds coming in to roost Meadow pipit 9, Red-throated pipit 1, White wagtail 1, Willow warbler 5, Redpoll 13, Arctic redpoll 1, Total 30 A couple of culinary notes: Dave took on the chef cap For the first ever time-with the help of a packet sauce delivered a smashing chili con carne And Tormod's gift yesterday has been chewed on with great delight by some of us--salted and air dried moose heart-magic!!! Weather looking much better tomorrow so more news after what we hope will be a good session.

Evening of day 2 and still shaking with excitement.....!?

Today had a very different feel as we opened the nets just before 4am- a fresh west wind was rising and fewer birds were moving. We also decided to use tapes for quality rather than quantity, although that strategy changed when it became clear that we were not going to be awash. Nevertheless we did catch steadily and Dave got one of his wish list birds in the form of a Lapland Bunting. Quite a few of these passed over during the morning but they were reluctant to land.
Then it happened--Ferg and John pulled a Thrush Nightingale out of their nets and so early in the trip Anders became a satisfied hombre. This is the first record of this species so far north in Norway and by early afternoon it had made the local radio news!!!
Final total including a few hours in the afternoon messing about in the garden were;-
House sparrow 9
Fieldfare 1
Willow warbler 20
Redpoll 21
Arctic redpoll 7
Meadow pipit 76
Reed bunting 22
Bluethroat 12
Brambling 7
Dunnock, Lapland bunting, Thrush nightingale, Red-throated pipit, Great tit, Greenfinch and Willow tit all 1 each.
Total 182
An early evening wader attempt was aborted due to lack of birds--which was a bit of a shame as Col wanted to enhance his herding technique with the use of a set of reindeer antlers--eager readers will be kept informed on developments.....
PS not content with one failure we have decided to try for another--no one has ringed Storm Petrels up here so we thought we would try and be the first-- results tomorrow! 

Post Script- how to herd waders.......?

After yesterday's exciting events-lots of birds and a shopping trip abroad (Finland), we managed to ring 1 Waxwing out of the small flocks of these birds flying around. We are hoping that we will catch more as the trip goes on and they get used to our water drip which we have set up.
Unfortunately Colin's attempts at predicting the tide times were up to his usual standard and we missed the rising tide completely. However your ever resourceful team got their act together and tried herding waders along the shoreline to our waiting nets. Crawling on all fours making a moo-ing noise really helped even though the men in the white coats were waiting when we finished ( see photo)

 Our final total was  20 birds of which 12 were Dunlin, 6 were Little Stint and 2 Ringed Plover.
I am writing this at lunchtime after our early morning ringing session on Friday --very exciting--see later post for details......!!
If you want a sneek preview check out Anders' facebook page

Cheers Colin

First Report from Varanger 2013

A short update from the boys in Norway posted by way of a text message to the UK. This is less to do with Norwegian government censorship of the blogosphere and more to do with a forgotten login id.

A fab first day after a good journey with 341 birds ringed. The totals so far are:

Arctic Redpoll 47
Redpoll 39
Willow warbler 44

Bluethroat 48
Sedge warbler 2
Field fare 5
Redwing 10
Reed bunting 29

Meadow Pipit 91

Red-throated Pipit 4
Brambling 9
Greenfinch  4
Dunnock 4
White wagtail 3
Redstart 1
Great tit 4
Waxwing 1
Little stint 6
Dublin 11
Ringed plover 3
Total 364

The team are also going to try for some waxwing in the garden (if I understand the text speak correctly) and some waders.

All being well the rest of the updates will come straight from the reindeer's mouth.

(A later text confirmed that the totals now include at least one waxwing)

DP (on behalf of Col et al.)
44
Little stint

The 2013 Expedition starts on Wednesday!

A small team of 4 Brits from last year's teams are setting off on Wednesday 21st August to meet up with our Norwegian ringing pal Anders to build on the work we did last year. Anders has already started last week and reports good numbers of passerines around--so we hope to be ringing good numbers when we arrive to supplement the nets and effort that Anders has been able to put in. We hope to report daily as we did last year but that will depend on access to a linked computer--hope that you enjoy reading about our exploits if we can post them.