Ringing in my garden at Ffynnon Gro

It has been a fantastic year so far ringing in my garden. The total for the year at the moment is 355 birds and the breakdown by species being:-

Dunnock - 1, Robin - 1, Blackbird - 2, Songthrush - 1, Chiffchaff -2 ,
Marsh Tit - 2, Coal Tit - 1, Blue Tit - 61, Great Tit - 11, Nuthatch - 2,
House Sparrow - 8, Chaffinch - 16, Goldfinch - 77, Siskin - 156,
Lesser Redpoll - 9.

Yesterday I had another  session ringing without one Blue or Great Tit. I have feeders in various places in the garden which contain nijer seed, sunflower hearts and peanuts and attract most species in my area. When I have a ringing session planned I only have the nijer seed feeders hanging which will attract Siskin, Goldfinch and Lesser Redpoll. I completely remove the sunflower hearts and put them in the shed, I take down all the peanuts and put them in another part of the garden. The tits very quickly find the peanuts and carry on feeding which keep them away from where my nets and nijer seed feeders are.
It is more than a coincidence having tried this method for several weeks and every time the number of tits in the nets is minimal.

In the quieter parts of the morning I got my camera out and took some pictures of other birds around the area.

Male Siskin, plenty of these around the garden. New birds arrive every day without rings. From what I can gather flocks of siskin are very good this year for most ringers.

This Jackdaw has a nest in the chimney pot of my neighbours house across the road. I think the eggs must have hatched because they were bringing food in on a fairly regular basis.

Same Jackdaw just leaving the pot, returning about 20 minutes later.

The Goldfinch is very similar to the siskin in as much there are plenty around the garden. Again like Siskins they are very vocal when around the feeders.

I am lucky to see Red Kites nearly every day flying around the house. This Red Kite is being attacked by a Raven. This is not uncommon and if it is not Ravens then the Crows have a go. I also have Jays where I live but I have never seen any Rooks.

The sun was very bright and much of the underwing of this Red Kite was in partial shadow. Nevertheless the feather detail can be seen.

There seems to be some movement of Chaffinch at the moment since numbers have started to increase. The males in particular looking splendid unlike the female below.

Female Chaffinch

This is my second Chiffchaff since migration started, there is however still plenty calling in my area so I hope to catch a few more soon.

Lesser Redpoll number 9, a male. The numbers are not great but last year I did not have any at all. My ringing friends from the Teifi Marshes are having quite a lot. the Teifi Marshes is about 30 miles from me and I suspect that the Marsh is possibly more favourable to them than my garden.

As far as bird nests are concerned I have only found one Blackbird nest and a House Sparrow occupying an empty House Martin nest from last year. I am sure there must be more around but I am not trained on how to find them. I hope to have some training very soon which I will be looking forward to. As far as nest boxes are concerned I erected 47 (I think) about 6 weeks ago. From next week I will be monitoring these on a weekly basis. I do know that some of the boxes actually in my garden have gained interest from Tits. I am hoping to get some Pied Flycatchers in the boxes with 32mm holes and the boxes with 23mm holes are there hopefully to attract Marsh Tits. I await and see.