Wandering finches

Where do our winter Goldfinches go?
Some recoveries and controls show just how random their winter movements seem to be.
The first recovery of one of our Goldfinches in Ireland was caught in Thomastown in Kildare on New Year's Eve 2016 having been ringed in my garden near Cardigan in January 2016.

This Goldfinch was ringed in Charlie Sargent's garden 40km away in 2014. Last month it was feeding in my garden.

Unfortunately it has diseased legs and overgrown claws but was a good weight and otherwise healthy.

Another Goldfinch ringed in 2014 in Charlie's garden also moved west, being caught in Richard's Boncath garden last March. 39km 218 days.
Today the triangle of movement between group members' gardens was completed with a Goldfinch ringed in my garden in Llechryd last March being caught by Chris in his St Dogmael's garden today.

Other Goldfinch movements on the map are an adult ringed on Bardsey Island in April 2013 that was in St Dogmaels 56 days later in June and again in October.
A Goldfinch ringed in St Dogmaels in March 2014 was in Leswalt, Dumfries and Galloway the following January, 2015.
One ringed in Funtley, Hampshire 19th March 2016 was near Cardigan 29 days later 271km.
Our only foreign recovery was one from Boncath ringed in April 2014 found sick in Ports, Indre et Loir in April the following year.
Charlie has recently controlled a Goldfinch with a Paris ring. We are awaiting details from the BTO.

This week the first Siskins of the year have returned to my garden

These, like Goldfinches move around the country seemingly randomly in Winter.
 Have a look back at this previous blog about them
Siskins;  winterers, migrants, breeders and RAS

Lamping at night is continuing but this year so far the number of Woodcock wintering on local sheep pasture seems very low. Other night field roosting species are down too including Fieldfare, Golden Plover and only a handful Skylark but we did ring one this week.

A break from braving the wild weather on the hills last night for our ringing group AGM. Ten of us reflected on last years activities and data. (5,124 birds of 73 species). Looking at some data in comparison with 2015 was interesting and helped us plan target species and sites for the year.

Linnets up from 2 to 573!
We are keen to engage with project ringing as much as possible and this year will be once again doing CES on the Teifi Marsh with thoughts of a 2nd CES along with 4 RAS projects.