Meet Antonio and José

The group had a busy weekend, out and about on both days. On Saturday we were once again helped out by Alan and Roo (from Rope Geeks) to safely access the first Chough nests of the season to continue the colour-ringing project. We managed to access two nests in mine shafts in West Penwith and a sea cave nest site on the Lizard, ringing a total of 10 chicks. This is a great result for all of these sites and we hope to be visiting a few more in the coming week.

There were of course a couple of other big events happening on Saturday (Royal wedding and FA Cup final for those reading this way in the future), so in recognition of this, meet Antonio and José who we ringed at one of the sites.

Brood of four chicks happily back in their sea-cave nest after ringing

Sunday was a bit less strenuous, but rather busier, as we were running a ringing demonstration and nest-finding trips at the Cornwall Wildlife Trust event at Caerhays Castle. In the nets we caught a nice variety of birds, including Great Spotted Woodpecker and Jay, and also managed to show families various nests including Robin, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Great Tit and Coal Tit.

Newly-hatched Song Thrush chicks

Endoscope view of a brooding Great Tit

Hola TBZ and a Chough update

After a day out ringing Chough chicks in the far west of the county (more on that later) it was a pleasant surprise to find an email reporting one of our Mullion Island Cormorants in Spain! We've had a bird seen in France before, but Spain is a great record. It's not unprecedented though, and two chicks ringed in Cornwall in the 1960s were later found dead on the north coast of Spain. But this is the first live sighting.

TBZ was ringed in 2016 and was seen near Castropol on the northwest coast of Spain, so thanks to Gilberto Sánchez Jardón for the photo and for reporting it back to us.

As for Choughs, it was mixed news sadly... We visited three sites in West Penwith: the first produced two male and two female chicks, the second just a single chick and the last nest site was empty! This was rather surprising as the pair had been showing all the usual behaviours seen when feeding young, but the nest (below) was very clean and obviously hadn't held any chicks.

Thanks to Alan and Christian who came along to ensure that we safely got into these sites, so do check out their Rope Geeks page on Facebook. Also thanks to Robbie Phillips for the photos.

A very Lizard day

As part of the celebrations for the extension of the Lizard National Nature Reserve the group ran a ringing demonstration at the weekend at Windmill Farm, which is jointly owned by Cornwall Bird Watching & Preservation Society and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

It was great to see a few young faces coming along to see what we do and we were able to show them a variety of birds, including some long-distance migrants, some local breeders and even a very recently fledged young Blackbird.

Whilst down on the Lizard we also took the opportunity of a low tide to get into one of the sea caves to ring the first of the year's Cornish Choughs. After a climb and a scramble it was a pleasure to find four very healthy-looking chicks in the nest, all at a perfect size for ringing. Each then got its own combination of coloured rings which will allow the dedicated band of Chough-watchers to follow their progress and movements around the county in years to come. This gives a vital understanding of the behaviour and conservation needs of this iconic Cornish species.

Leg length is one of the best ways to identify the sex of nestlings

After returning the chicks to the nest, we took the opportunity to look at their nest site from their own perspective. You can see how well-protected the nest is from the worst of the Cornish weather and also pretty safe from predators. Perched at the top of an isolated sea cave, their view of the outside world is limited - for now.

Last of the Choughs

Not quite as ominous as it sounds, but this week saw us ringing the final brood of Chough chicks for the year. A small but very experienced rope team joined us to help us access this new site on National Trust land. A short abseil and some inventive ladder-work later and we found the nest, with three small but healthy chicks. This is rather notable as the female here is just one year old and breeding in their first year is exceptional in Choughs. Her partner is a three-year-old male so almost as inexperienced.

Choughs do always pick the most stunning locations to nest

...although this can make access 'interesting'!

The three chicks were big enough to ring but not big enough to know their sex, which is normally judged on size (by measuring leg length). All were good weights though, so hopefully will all fledge in the coming weeks.

This brings the number of Cornish chicks colour-ringed this year to 15; slightly down on previous years, but a great result considering several of these broods were raised by young, inexperienced birds. Many thanks to Alan, Roo, Christian and Will for their expert advice and help in safely accessing the site and to the RSPB staff and volunteers for monitoring the site in advance of our visit.

Lizard Choughs

Being a bit behind the other pairs, yesterday saw us finally scrambling round to see how the Lizard Choughs were doing. We weren't quite sure what we'd find in the nest, so it was a pleasant surprise to find four chicks in the rather tight fissure in the cave.

As Cornish Choughs go this site was quite accessible!

Unfortunately one of the chicks was a bit of a runt, being 50g lighter than its siblings, so it'll be interesting to see if it survives. Apart from the runt, the other birds were all given a unique combination of colour rings which will allow us to follow their fortunes in the coming years. Measuring the leg length also gives us a good indication of sex and the three larger birds appeared to be two females and a male.

All four chicks safely returned to their rather scruffy nest

The Lizard brood brings the number of chicks ringed this year to 13, with one further site to check next week. This figure may seem low in comparison to previous years, but many of this year's pairs were inexperienced birds, so this number will only increase.

Many thanks as ever to all of the dedicated Chough-watchers who make our life so much easier by following these birds and working out hatching dates and to Cat Lee from the National Trust for the photos. More information on these iconic birds can be found on the Cornish Choughs website.

Cornwall ringing isn't for the faint-hearted!

The last couple of days seem to have been a bit full on, but full of adventure! Yesterday a small team joined the ringing legend that is Tony Cross to do the annual round of Chough sites in the county, colour-ringing chicks to continue the RSPB's long-term work on the recolonisation of Cornwall by these enigmatic birds. It's a dirty and very hard job, requiring an array of climbing kit, but a full-day saw us checking most of the sites, with mixed success. Whilst some nests were empty or predated, we did ring healthy broods of two, three and four, with a few more to check next week. This might not seem very many, but the breeding population is dominated by young, inexperienced birds at the moment, so things will improve in time...

Some sites are more accessible than others!
After a long abseil and then a secondary abseil down this ominous hole,
this nest was seemingly predated...

Somewhere near the bottom of this very large hole lies a very well-hidden nest site...

Ascending back to level ground after a 50m abseil down to the afore-mentioned nest,
where four chicks were ringed

Even by Chough standards this was a pretty tight squeeze!

Three chicks from an open mine shaft site getting their first view of the outside world!

The long day yesterday was followed by a more sedate one today. Accompanied by two surveying apprentices from Natural England we did the first of our checks on Barn Owl boxes. We only visited half a dozen sites, finding birds on eggs, including one clutch of five eggs.The afternoon was then spent kayaking out to one of our Kittiwake sites at Trewavas Head to read some colour-rings on returning birds. Whilst we only found four of our own birds and a single French-ringed bird, we take any opportunity for a kayak out on a sunny day!

Standard kit for West Cornwall Ringing Group being a wetsuit
and a dry-bag to put your scope in!

More urban gulls and a very Cornish surprise

Yesterday was spent catching up with the Rinsey Kittiwakes, but this didn't entirely go to plan. In perfect weather, the colony was worryingly quiet and a scan through produced a few sat birds but the only birds I could see on anything were three pairs on a total of four eggs! I know the season is a bit late, but compare this to 5th July last year when I counted 32 chicks, some of which were well on their way to fledging...

The only consolation was a very Cornish surprise on the way down to the site, barely viewable in this shockingly low-quality iPhone footage.

So further work abandoned we headed to Falmouth to mop up a few more roof-nesting gulls. This was marginally more successful, with an easy roof yielding 13 Herring Gulls of various sizes, but all big enough to now be sporting a colour ring.