But not at the same time of course!!!
The back of the ringers newsletter is a great way of finding new ringing opportunities. Last year we spent a week in Israel but this year our adventures took us to southern Spain for a week ringing with Dr Richard Banham
After a short 3hrs flight from Gatwick to Gibraltar we were met by Richard and his wife Thelma who took us shopping in Morrisons before the short drive north into Spain and our base for the week. We settled into our apartment and made our plans.
The great thing with the area is that there are lots of different ringing habitats with a short distance so we never had to travel far. Having said that, it wasn’t a ‘normal’ holiday as we were up at 4:30 most mornings to allow us to be out and have all the nets up before it got light.
Despite it being pretty early in the season and a bit too early for many migrants we had an excellent week ringing 251 birds of 18 species. The main species passing through during the week were blackcaps. Many of them were migrants but it was interesting to find that the resident birds differed slightly in their biometrics. We had plenty of practice in aging them; ringing 160 during our time
there.
The hazards of blackcap ringing!!!
One of the best things about the trip was ringing in different habitats each day. It was a fantastic experience to work in the orange groves. Not only were they full of birds but you could pick and eat the ripe fruits from the trees!
Male serin
Black redstart
Probably the best place we ringed at was a river site called Junta de los Rios. It was a mixture of scrub woodland, tamarisk patches and the edge of a wide river. We were also to put out nets on the river islands which were great for catching blackcaps but we also has a short net over a small backwater. This proved very successful in catching 2 kingfishers (bird of the trip) and an adult little ringed plover. The site was also excellent for raptors overhead with Bonellis, short-toed and booted eagles, 3 osprey, griffon vulture and black kite.
Male serin
Black redstart
Probably the best place we ringed at was a river site called Junta de los Rios. It was a mixture of scrub woodland, tamarisk patches and the edge of a wide river. We were also to put out nets on the river islands which were great for catching blackcaps but we also has a short net over a small backwater. This proved very successful in catching 2 kingfishers (bird of the trip) and an adult little ringed plover. The site was also excellent for raptors overhead with Bonellis, short-toed and booted eagles, 3 osprey, griffon vulture and black kite.
Easily the best bird of the trip!
Little ringed plover
The avocado orchard was a good site for adding new species to the bird list with a singing short-toed treecreeper close but not close enough to the nets, 6 flyover hawfinches (we were playing tapes for them) and a large passage of griffon vultures. Sadly the avocados were not ready to eat.
There was a subtle change in birds when we visited El Ventero del rio Palmones. It was a strange site in many ways. The habitat was sand dunes, coastal scrub with wet reed fringed pools but set on the edge of a massive container port with the Rock of Gibraltar dominating the skyline. After ringing loads of blackcaps earlier in the week, it was a surprise that there were not many about. Highlights were the 1st summer male subalpine warbler of the spring, 9 Sardinian warblers and 5 chiffchaffs. A couple of iberiae (Spanish) yellow wagtails spent a bit of time around the nets but decided not to go in.
'The Rock' shrouded in cloud
Little ringed plover
The avocado orchard was a good site for adding new species to the bird list with a singing short-toed treecreeper close but not close enough to the nets, 6 flyover hawfinches (we were playing tapes for them) and a large passage of griffon vultures. Sadly the avocados were not ready to eat.
There was a subtle change in birds when we visited El Ventero del rio Palmones. It was a strange site in many ways. The habitat was sand dunes, coastal scrub with wet reed fringed pools but set on the edge of a massive container port with the Rock of Gibraltar dominating the skyline. After ringing loads of blackcaps earlier in the week, it was a surprise that there were not many about. Highlights were the 1st summer male subalpine warbler of the spring, 9 Sardinian warblers and 5 chiffchaffs. A couple of iberiae (Spanish) yellow wagtails spent a bit of time around the nets but decided not to go in.
'The Rock' shrouded in cloud
Subalpine warbler
Sardinian warbler
This changed on our last day at the wetland site of Desembocadura Rio Guadiaro where we caught a very smart (5) male.
Sardinian warbler
This changed on our last day at the wetland site of Desembocadura Rio Guadiaro where we caught a very smart (5) male.
'Spanish' yellow wagtail
Despite it being a bit early for large numbers of migrants, we had a great visit and would definitely return in the future at a different time of year. Highly recommended to anyone
Species
|
New
|
Retrap
|
Total
|
Little ringed plover
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Reed warbler
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Kingfisher
|
2
|
0
|
2
|
Goldfinch
|
4
|
0
|
4
|
Greenfinch
|
21
|
0
|
21
|
Cetti’s warbler
|
6
|
5
|
11
|
Robin
|
10
|
0
|
10
|
Chaffinch
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Yellow wagtail
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
House sparrow
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
Black redstart
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Chiffchaff
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
Serin
|
6
|
0
|
6
|
Blackcap
|
160
|
8
|
168
|
Subalpine warbler
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
Sardinian warbler
|
10
|
7
|
17
|
Blackbird
|
11
|
10
|
21
|
Song thrush
|
3
|
0
|
3
|
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