Derbyhaven

I took a trip down to Derbyhaven early afternoon following recent reports of a Red-necked Grebe and a Little Auk. There was no sign of either of them following a thorough search of the bay but I did come up trumps with some other sightings.

On checking the flock of Light-Bellied Brent Geese I saw that one had colour rings on, grabbing my scope I was able to confirm the bird was the returning female "J4", first seen at Derbyhaven in November 2007 the bird has overwintered at Derbyhaven each Winter since. The bird was originally caught and ringed in Iceland in May 2007 as an adult female by the Irish Brent Goose Research Group.

On moving to Fort Island (officially known on maps as St Michaels Isle) I noticed 2 Divers close inshore and before raising my bins to them I presumed they would be the 2 Great Northern Divers that have been reported from this location for the last week or so that I hadn't manage to catch up with yet. However on getting my bins on them I immediately identified both of them as Black-throated Divers. A very rare sighting of this species of Diver in Derbyhaven Bay. I gave both birds a good grlling in the vain hope of one being the Isle of Man's first ever Pacific Diver and was able to prove that yes, neither of them were!

There were 8 Black Guillemots feeding in the bay, all in their cracking Winter plumage. They have to be one of my all time favourite birds, in either of their superb plumages. A scattering of Eiders were feeding in the Bay too, some smart adult males amongst them.

A quick check of the Gulls feeding on the shoreline produced nothing more than the usual mix of Black-headed, Herring and Great Black Backed. I had hoped there might have been a Little Gull present given the good numbers seen in the North West of England/North Wales recently.

Nothing to report on the ringing front, there's good numbers of finches coming to the garden feeding station and a Sparrowhawk has settled into a daily routine of hurtling through the garden! Here's looking forward to some calm winds...

Garden Ringing

Finally got the nets open in the garden today, the first time in over a month!
Caught a total of 34 in the 2 hours - 28 new, 4 retrap and 2 controls (both ringed at the Calf Bird Obs).

Goldfinch 11 new, 1 control
Great Tit 6 new, 1 retrap, 1 control
Blue Tit 4 new, 4 retrap
Coal Tit 2 new
Chaffinch 1 new, 1 retrap
Robin 1new
Dunnock 1 new

The retrap Chaffinch was originally ringed in the garden as a 5 (i.e. definitely hatched previous Spring) Female on 6th Feb 2007, making it 3.5 yrs old. It had not been retrapped since.
I don't have the details of the 2 controls from the Calf yet (although I know that the ring sequence is one issued to the Calf).

A Male Sparrowhawk came belting through the garden at one point, but unfortunately it didn't go near the net.

Not much else to report on the birding front as I've not had the time to do any! However, I did have a cracking view of a Barn Owl flying over the road just down from home last night.