ROOKERY CENSUS

WATERFOWL COUNTS

The mid-month waterfowl counts covered the Anglezarke/Rivington Reservoirs together with Heapey Lodges, Roddlesworth Reservoirs and Belmont Reservoir.

RINGING REPORT

This is my fifth year of writing the ringing report and my first year free from the worry of hassles by the editor and Annual Report deadlines!

The format will follow that of previous years' reports starting with a brief outline of ringing done outside the area by Ken Green, my son Alan and myself.

The most enjoyable event for me this year as far as ringing goes was the two days that I spent at a ringing camp in Hungary in early July during our two weeks holiday there. My son Alan has made very slow progress as a trainee ringer this year due to mock exams and girls! He did however manage to go on a swan catch at Martin Mere, two wader catches on the Ribble marshes and a couple of sessions at the baited site at Mere Sands Wood whilst on work experience there as a nature reserve warden.

The number of birds ringed in the area was 329 - one of the lowest totals for a good number of years, due in part to the non-ringing of Blue and Great Tit pulli and also the fact that I missed many of the Swallow pulli due to work commitments,

Yearly Summary

Unfortunately, once again this year Ken Green did very little ringing due to work commitments. During the first quarter of the year only three ringing sessions took place in the area, two of which were at my garden baited site with three each of Blackbird and Dunnock and two of Collared Dove on 7^th February and 3 Goldfinch on 13^th February. Seven ringing sessions took place outside the area, these being four at Mere Sands Wood, a swan catch at Martin Mere, a wader catch on the Ribble and cannon netting of waders at Heysham. No ringing took place anywhere in April.

May and June were very busy with the Constant Effort Site (C.E.S.) Study entering its third year at Hic Bibi and the first (and last) year of Arley reserve as an afternoon C.E.S., which proved to be a disaster. Due to running two C.E.S. sites and working long hours, a lot of the nest boxes went unchecked this year. However, 75 pulli were ringed. These included 36 Pied Flycatchers, 21 Swallows, 4 Oystercatchers, 4 Magpies and 3 each of Tawny Owl, Stock Dove and Blackbird. Along with the adult Pied Flycatcher caught and the C.E.S. visits, this brought the half year total to a very poor 128 birds.

The only ringing in the area during July and August was again in the form of visits to constant effort sites with slightly below average numbers of Willow Warblers and very low numbers of Blackcaps. Only one further ringing session took place in the year, this being at my garden baited site on 23^rd September when 6 Blue Tits were caught bringing the years total to 329.

Andy Leach

Adlington Park Study Area (Arley Reserve)

Table 1

List of birds ringed at Arley Reserve in 1999 and the grand total to date.

Black Coppice

Once again, no ringing took place at this site due to Ken Green's business commitments.

Hic Bibi Nature Reserve Constant Effort Site

Table 2

A list of birds ringed at Hic Bibi during 1999 and the Grand Total ringed to date.

Morris's Barn

Ringing of pulli took place as follows:-

Stock dove 2

Swallow 21

Total 23

Garden Ringing 1999

A.L.'s Garden Site

Three ringing sessions were carried out. The total of 42 birds included three Blackbird pulli.

Table 3

A list of birds ringed at the garden baited site during 1999 and the Grand Total to date.

Table 4

Anglezarke reservoir

F.G. Pulli Total

Pied Flycatcher 5 36 41

Nest recording 1999

Due to other commitments, no nest record cards were completed this year.

Recoveries

Siskin

Ring No: J569828

Age ringed: 2^nd year (5)

Where/When ringed: Bray, Wicklow, Eire 16.3.96

Where/When recovered Chorley 14.1.99

Time since ringing 1034 days distance 235 km direction 78 deg

Comments Freshly dead taken by cat.

CHORLEY RINGING TOTALS

TABLE 5

Table 5 Cont’d

CHORLEY RINGING TOTALS

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