RAS 484 for the House Sparrow in Bancyffordd continued through the 2022 season with 137 adults recorded between the 1st of April and the 31st of August.
107 of the adult birds were either sightings of colour ringed individuals or recaptures of birds carrying a metal ring. 30 new birds were encountered.
17 males within the 107 were known to be offspring from the 2021 breeding along
with 22 females. 10 males and 3 females were known to be from the 2020 breeding
season. Far less ringing was conducted in previous breeding seasons and so just
a single known age female from 2019 and a single male from 2018 were amongst
the total.
12 previously metal ringed individuals (6 males and 6 females)
were recaptured and fitted with colour rings with male VZ70863 being the oldest
(ringed as a 2 on the 1st of December 2017). 1 male was a known
juvenile from 2018 and a further 7 birds (3m,4f) were known juveniles from
2020.
The number of known age ‘first year’ birds (including
nestlings) ringed in 2020 was 367 and in 2021 it was 371. So far in 2022 the
total is 292 (not including nestlings); this lower figure is partly due to no
nestling ringing but in the main thought to be because of the number of bright sunny
days in July and August when mist netting was considered unproductive. Casual
observations suggest that there is no obvious reduction in the number of
juveniles in the village this year so hopefully September will be productive.
To summarise, for the adults recorded in 2022, 39 individuals
were known to have come from the 2021 breeding season and 20 individuals were known
to have come from the 2020 breeding season which represent 28.5% and 14.6% of
the total respectively.
The split of the entire adult population recorded was 76
males and 61 females. It is quite possible that not all birds were paired
however it would be safe to assume that somewhere in the region of 60-75 pairs bred
in the vicinity but how far breeding birds venture to find food during the
breeding season is unknown from this study.
A single deceased individual was reported at a farm near
Pencader approximately 5km SE of the ringing site.
