The end

12/09/17
With a very strong easterly winds, and forecast rain encroaching on the island, it was again impossible to employ any standard catching techniques. So during the dry spell at the start of the day, we baited the gull trap we had placed the previous day, however, being the end of summer, and presumably because of good volumes of natural food, we failed to attract many birds to the trap. With little activity and with the first belt of rain coming across the island, that ended our hopes for any ringing for the day.
Our walk the previous night however had proved more eventual, and resulted in a further Purple Sandpiper being processed. We feel like in the short time we have been lamping here, we have learned a lot and identified the sites which show the most promise.
With a clear sky above, the moon shone brightly on the wet mud along the western side of the island, making any approach impossible, despite there being good numbers of waders present. To add to this, about 2 hours after dark, the first glimmer of the Aurora picked up, and within another couple of hours, produced one of the brightest auroras I have seen so far, at one point covering a large portion of the sky above us, spectacular, but increasing the difficulty for the task at hand!

So with the rain setting in, and an early start beckoning for our journey home, that ended the Varanger Ringing project 2017. A follow up post will be posted in the following days discussing the project, results, and the future. Exciting stuff!

The long road north.

9-10/09/17

From Pasvik, we have now drove the long journey north to the most eastern point of Norway. We arrived in Vardø yesterday evening and have been very busy since.

Along the Varangerfjord yesterday, we saw good numbers of both White-tailed Eagle and Rough-legged Buzzard, which were both seen regularly along the northern shoreline of the fjord. The 5 hour drive was punctuated by regular stops, including at another of our ringing sites at Nesseby.

The last few days however have seen a strong easterly wind develop, making it difficult to see many birds and keeping migration to a minimum. This wind has also impacted on our plans for our trip up north, with the strong winds preventing us from reaching Hornoya and helping to start up a new geolocator project on Leach’s Petrel.

We have however tried to look at the bright side and have highlighted lamping and gull ringing as the priorities of the trip. We hope to colour ring a few of the hundreds of Gulls in the harbour to broaden the current project which has been ongoing for a number of years. Additionally, we are looking at methods of catching Purple Sandpiper on Vardø island, to look at the feasibility of a colour ringing project which will help understand the movements of this species.

This started last night when 2 members of the team headed out in the middle of the night to see what was possible. The results were promising and a Purple Sandpiper was caught. With further refinements and practise, we hope we can improve on this.

As well as actual ringing, the team are also involved with scouting work to further the extent of the ‘arctic ringing’ project. We visited 2 sites around Vardø in the hope of developing them as future ringing sites. All seemed promising, with excellent habitat reminiscent of the very successful Nesseby site. We look forward to seeing how these develop in the future.

As the wind today has resulted in a mostly non ringing day, we spent much of the time exploring Vardø and an excursion to Hamningberg this evening looking for some arctic and tundra specialities. Large numbers of waders are currently roaming the beaches of the island, with many Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, Dunlin and Ringed Plover. With many being juveniles, excellent views are possible! 

A number of very white Arctic Redpolls are present within the dwarf Willows, together with many migrant Bluethroats and Pipits. A Glaucous Gull joined one of the many Gull flocks and large number of seaducks are rafting off every side of the island.

A trio of Woodpeckers

08/09/17

Another day, and another trio of Woodpeckers!

As well as our 6^th Three-toed of the trip (a 2^nd juvenile), also caught today were 2 ‘northern’ Great Spotted Woodpeckers. As with the majority of the woodpeckers caught this trip, they were again found in the ‘Woodland’ net, among the birch scrub. This was yet another new species for the trip, and made a total of 8 Woodpeckers caught this trip. A very good total!

The most numerous species of the day proved to be Common Redpoll, with 11 caught and ringed. This included a very long winged and heavy billed bird. Could this potentially be a holboellii?

Bluethroat numbers have dropped off now, with only small numbers being seen around the ringing site. This resulted in only 2 new birds, with a retrap from a few days ago.

A calm, cloudy morning proved good for numbers with the first 2 rounds producing almost all of the mornings catch, however once the sun came out, the wind picked up and the birds stopped moving.

Totals from today:

Species	Totals
Common Redpoll	11
Reed bunting	4
Willow Warbler	4+1
Meadow Pipit	3
Bluethroat	2 +1
White Wagtail	2
Great Spotted Woodpecker	2
Three-toed Woodpecker	1
	29+2

Last night saw a great display from the aurora borealis, with many of the team enjoying the lights until late in the evening:

Today marked our last morning ringing at Nyrud, with us starting the long drive north to Vardø

 along the Varangerfyord tomorrow morning, following a short session at our Vaggatem site.

Migrants trickling through

7/09/17

After a quiet day at Nyrud yesterday ringing wise, we chose to again open nets on our Vaggatem site in the hope of attracting in some migrating pipits and buntings. Despite our bests efforts though, we only managed 5 Meadow Pipits, despite lots of activity around the nets, however we faired better with Buntings, with 8 Reed processed. Willow Warblers again made the bulk of the catch, with 9 ringed.

Bluethroats again added a fair bit of colour to the day, and retraps on previous days proved that birds are still hanging on before their migration,

Todays for today are below:

Species	Totals
Willow Warbler	9
Reed Bunting	8
Great Tit	6
Meadow Pipit	5
Bluethroat	4 +2
Greenfinch	2
	34+2

As per usual, the team journeyed up to Birk Huskey for our annual evening meal. As well as great food, we managed a bit of birding around the site, with the highlight going to a low flyover from a Taiga Bean Goose as it flew along the river. The evening meal was enjoyed in the Long house, with a crackling fire and a cold beer.

BEAR!

06/09/17

Today was one of those days where being in the right place at the right time really plays dividends. Having driven a few Km towards our ringing site at Nyrud, we found 3 Moose beside the road in the same field where we saw a pair last year (Photo by HH). Always a great start to any day in the boreal forest!

However, only a short time later, this was superseded when a Brown Bear ran across the road in front of us around Noatun! Although they are present within the forest, like many mammals, they are very difficult to find, so seeing them proved quite a challenge!

To put this sighting in context, some members of the group have been visiting Varanger for 6 years, and this was their first sighting of a Bear, so you can imagine the excitement with the chance sighting!

This particular Bear, an immature, around 1-2 years old has been seen on a number of occasions in the area in the last few weeks, so our hopes were high to see it!

Once at Nyrud, we were initially optimistic for the days ringing with lots of birds moving through the vegetation, again mostly Willow Warblers, with smaller numbers of Reed Bunting. Overhead, a significant passage of Meadow Pipits was underway, with smaller numbers of Tree Pipits among them. Additionally, 2 Lapland Bunting flew around the clearing calling, before flying of south east into Russia.

The first round revealed the bulk of the days catch, with activity dropping off very quickly after this, to almost nothing by the time we left at 11am. Things move very quickly in the arctic!

Totals for this morning:

Species	Totals
Willow Warbler	11+2
Meadow Pipit	5
Reed Bunting	3
White Wagtail	3
Fieldfare	1
Common Redpoll	1
	24+2

  

Perhaps the most interesting bird of the morning was taken by a very large Willow Warbler, with a wing of 75mm. Possibly indicative of a far eastern bird?

When in Russia...

5/09/17

For the 3^rd day in a row, the day dawned cold, but quickly warmed up as the sun rose. And as it did so, the woodlands around the Nyrud police station became alive to the sounds of calling Willow Warbler. This was represented by the large proportion of birds ringed also during the morning, with almost 2/3rds of the total being made of this total. The remaining species ringed were all in the low single figures, and following a quick pulse of activity at the start of the day, quickly tailed off.

A juvenile female Bluethroat was re-trapped from earlier in the trip, and she was found to have increased in weight by 0.4g, obviously feeding up for an imminent migration with the current settled weather conditions.

Totals from Nyrud today:

Species	Totals
Willow Warbler	24
Reed Bunting	5
Meadow Pipit	3
Willow Tit	1
Great Tit	1
Bluethroat	(1)
	34 +(1)

Today, 2 members of the group, Fergus and Espen were invited into Russia to join up with the nearby Russian ringing team. The trilateral park, covering Norway, Russia and Finland has been designed to increase co-operation between the 3 nations that the forest spans, to share skills and expertise, and also to improve knowledge of Pasvik, to involve and work with local communities to enhance conservation and understanding. As well as liaising with the Russian Pasvik ringing group, a team from Norway also conducted a waterbird survey  along a 12km stretch of the Pasvik river, to continue annual monitoring of the area.

In Russia, the team were able to communicate with local communities and express the importance of the entirety of the Pasvik forest, regardless of political borders. Covering such a huge area, significant co-operation is needed to preserve it and we are humbled to play a role in the trilateral park collaboration, helping in avian studies to understand the movements of birds within the forest, but also reaching out to local communities and involving local schools to work toward highlighting, and protecting this superb area for years to come.

Another Russian!

4/09/17

Today, we continued with our exploration of the forest, and again chose to open nets at our new Vaggatem site. The sun shone all day, and the temperature rose to a high of 18.5°c, hard to believe for the arctic circle! A steady stream of birds throughout the morning resulted in a decent catch of 48 birds, featuring a very interesting mix of species.

Another day and another Russian control. Today, this resulted in the first foreign control of a Willow Tit for the project. This juvenile had obviously moved some way from the nearby Russian ringing station we know of (if it does originate from here) which may prove interesting for this usually sedentary species.

Among the more unusual catches of the day were a juvenile Tree Pipit and an adult female Redstart, both of which were new species for us on this years project. Both were unexpected additions to the trip as many of these will have left the boreal forests by this point. However, both were gratefully received and kept the stream of birds coming throughout the morning.

Today saw significant increases in visible migration, and this is represented by increases in totals of Redpolls and sightings of Meadow Pipits, both of which were obvious today. Among these were smaller numbers of Tree Pipits and a couple of Red-throated Pipits

Species	Totals
Willow Warbler	12
Common Redpoll	10
Reed Bunting	9
White Wagtail	6
Bluethroat	5+2
Meadow Pipit	2
Willow Tit	(1)
Redstart	1
	45+2 + (1)

A Pied Flycatcher near the ringing site proved to be another new species for the trip, as well as a flyby Great Black Backed Gull- very out of place in the boreal forest. A large number of species were out enjoying the sun, including Small Tortoishell, Arctic Hare and a Root Vole.

From Russia with love

3/09/17

Today dawned very cold, with the temperature gauge reading below zero and fog carpeting the valley. With the sun shining through, this quickly burned off, leaving an almost cloudless, and warm day within the pasvik forests. Our drive to Nyrud proved eventful, when 2 Elk crossed the road in front of us, giving great views of this young male and female duo.

Again, we concentrated on our main site at Nyrud, which proved to be more busy than on the last few days, with lots of birds vis-migging south and lots of calling birds within the surrounding woodland. This translated to a much better mornings ringing, with 51 birds processed. This is a significant increase on the last couple of days, and shows how variable the level of migration is on a day to day level.

Among the catch were a good array of species, with both Willow Warbler and Bluethroat being well represented, however the former made up more than half of the total catch. Also increased on previous days was the number of Reed Buntings, which may indicate the start of some passage of the species. Together with sightings of Rustic/ Little Buntings and Lapland Bunting today, hopefully we will be able to increase the variety in the coming days.

The main find of the day happened to be the very last bird of the morning as we were closing nets, when a Willow Warbler wearing a Russian ring was found! With increase co-operation between the 3 ringing schemes within the Pasvik trilateral park, we hope we may be able to hear where this bird came from when some of the group meet at their site in Russia later this week.

Remarkably, the 5^th Three-toed Woodpecker of the trip was found early in the morning, meaning that every member of the group has now had the opportunity to process and study this species in the hand.

Species	Totals
Willow Warbler	29 + 1 foreign control
Reed Bunting	9
Bluethroat	5
Meadow Pipit	4
White Wagtail	2
Three-toed Woodpecker	1
	50+1

We opened our feeder net at Ovre-Pasvik camping again briefly , resulting in a modest catch of Greenfinch. However, after a scouting effort the previous evening, plans were made to try to ring at a site adjacent to the camp. Plans were put into action and resulted in a good catch of Bluethroat, using the long grassland/ willowherb scrub habitats on the edge of the river. We look forward to exploring the potential of this site in the coming days.

Species	Totals
Bluethroat	6
Greenfinch	4
Reed Bunting	2
Great Tit	2
	14

Three-toes steal the show

2/09/2017

A very busy day for the group today.

We were out for 4:30 this morning, with nets open soon after at our Nyrud site. Quickly we soon realised we may be in for quiet morning as bird activity had died down on yesterday. We believe this may be due to light northerly winds and clear skies, which may have caused a mass exodus. However of the birds caught, we were again heartened to find a number of migrant species, with good numbers of Bluethroat still present within the Pasvik valley. This included 5 birds caught and ringed by the time we had to leave at around 10am.

Without a doubt though, the highlight for most of the members of the team occurred when a small flock of Three-toed Woodpeckers found their way into our ‘woodland’ mist nets. This was a new bird in the hand for the majority of the group and therefore proved quite exciting for us all.

The party of 3 consisted of all adult birds, with 2 stunning males. For one of the group, having seen their first only a few minutes before in a different area, it probed quite exciting!

They were stunning!

Later in the session, a 4^th bird was caught, a juvenile, which proved a nice comparison to the earlier adults. To put this in context, in the previous 5 years of the project, the various groups have only caught 3 Three-toed Woodpeckers, so to catch 4 within a couple of hours was noteworthy for the project!

Species	Total
Reed Bunting	7
Bluethroat	5
Three-toed Woodpecker	4
Willow Warbler	3
Willow Tit	3
	22

This afternoon, the team were invited to attend a conference at the NIBIO Svanhovd centre where the team were invited to speak alongside our partners Biotope about the Varanger ringing project and the community outreach and educational objectives of the project. A very interesting afternoon listening to a number of lectures about the future of conservation and tourism to this spectacular region. A huge thank you goes to all those involved.

4 Elk were observed today, with 1 crossing the river into Russia at Nyrud and 3 huge males at Skrøytnesmyra viewing platform.  Here, a number of Cranes flew around giving great views, their calls echoing across the mire. An Osprey spent the morning fishing along the Pasvik river at Nyrud, giving some decent views. A number of Great Grey Shrikes were seen today, with a minimum of 6 seen.

With such an unusually patterned wing, it may be hard to judge the species on this photo. So what is it?

The beginning

1/09/17

After a late arrival at Øvre Pasvik Camping at Vaggatem, we couldn’t drag ourselves out of bed for dawn at near 4am. So with a lie in recuperation session, we headed to our usual ringing site at Nyrud for 6am. Most of the group were awake from around 4:30 though, by which time the sun was already shining and broad daylight. We awoke to lots of activity, with Bluethroats, Willow Warblers and Redpolls moving through the trees, with Meadow Pipits and Bramblings flying through.

Soon, we had caught our first birds at Nyrud, with the first Willow Tits and Warblers of the trip. The majority of our normal nets were set, however the water level of the river was again high, preventing the setting of the nets in the low willow scrub. A bit of ingenuity on the part of Ferg however, found a suitable site where we could put up a 30ft net, which proved successful, with a number of Bluethoats and Willow Warblers as a result. We look forward to seeing the results of this net with a good attempt tomorrow.

A family party of Siberian Tits were particularly enjoyed by the newbie of the group, who saw the species in the hand for the first time.

Despite a low day total, the group is heartened to see a decent number of migrants still in the area. We hope that this translates to a good variety of number of birds over the coming week.

As always during the Varanger ringing project, the group again played host to a number of local schoolchildren, who came to learn about bird ringing, its importance to understanding the birdlife of the Pasvik forest and also to provide a connection with nature. As well as providing an insight into the large numbers of birds that live within the Pasvik forest, we hope to show the importance of the site for its wealth of wildlife, and the need to protect it. As always, lots of smiling faces were on show after close up views of Bluethroat, and a variety of other species .

Species	Total
Willow Warbler	6
Siberian Tit	5
Willow Tit	2
Reed Bunting	4
Bluethroat	4
Song Thrush	1
Common Redpoll	1
White Wagtail	1
	24

Returning back to Øvre Pasvik Camping, we again opened our regular feeder net, where we managed a couple of new species for the trip. With the good numbers of finches observed within the forest and with a regular supply of food, we hope to increase the number of birds visiting the feeding stations and hopefully…. Maybe a visit from the Pine Grosbeak that has been visiting most of the summer!

Species	Totals
Greenfinch	3
Great Tit	2
Willow Tit	2
White Wagtail	1
	8