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Ring Ouzel sightings
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Sightings in 2010 and 2009
JULY 2010
12th July (from Dave Emery)
Sprinkling Tarn
One male ring ouzel spotted on the crags above Sprinkling Tarn in the
Lake District on 12th July.
JUNE 2010
22nd June (from Graham Rebecca)
Ring Ouzel behaviour
Innes and I will reply properly to this in early autumn
1) Innes and Sonja's juvenile tracking will have masses of such data.
And, we often have the 1st broods (colour ringed) hanging around in the
territory during 2nd brood time, and begging/getting fed by male.
2) We have had this a number of times (but switching is commoner, easy
to switch if partner not there!!).
3) We have not witnessed this - but have not tried.
21st June (from Bill Gordon via Tim Melling)
Ring Ouzel behaviour
Bill Gordon has made some unusual observations of Ring Ouzels at Stanage
this year and he is interested to hear if anyone has observed anything
similar at other study sites. We are thinking about a note to BB or similar.
1) The parental bond seems to last much longer than we assumed. One pair
at Stanage are feeding second brood youngsters about 8 days old but last
night at 10pm the male left the nest area and called to the three (poss
four) fledged juveniles from their first brood, which joined him to roost
in a tree just 30m from the nest. These juveniles “fledged”
about 4 weeks ago. Bill has also seen a female feeding a fledged juvenile
with a Bilberry while she was also feeding a second brood of youngsters
in the nest. Has anyone else witnessed such protracted bonds with fledged
youngsters? Might these parties we see on migration be migrating families?
2) The bond between adults might be stronger than we suspected. Last
year a pair nested on Burbage Edge, and both male and female were ringed,
and were recogniseable by distinctive plumage (white speckles etc). This
year, it appears that the same pair have returned to the same nest site
(both ringed, both with distinctive markings). I thought that other studies
showed that males sometimes switched partners between broods. Has anyone
else any evidence of pairs persisting between seasons?
3) Bill is now almost certain that he has seen and heard females singing,
both complex and simple songs. He has observed this from the female when
she has chicks in the nest. Always more subdued than the male’s
song, but basically similar. This isn’t unprecedented among passerines
as it is well known that both Dipper and Robin females sing, but close
studies of Dunnock have also revealed that females sing. Interested to
hear if anyone else has reported females singing.
20th June (from Sue Worth)
Easdale Tarn
Saw a ring ouzel on Tarn Crag above Easdale Tarn near Grasmere, this past
Sunday 20th June. I was thrilled!
19th June (from Mike Coleman)
Bletchley, Bucks
Sighting of male Ring Ouzel at Blue Lagoon Nature Reserve, Bletchley,
Buckinghamshire,
Coordinates 51.9854N 0.7369W Saturday 19th June 11.45
Single short sighting perched in bush.
12th June (from Rowena Clayton)
Hathersage
Peak District on moors near Hathersage. Sighted just below escarpment
on other side of ridge from the Parson's House Outdoor Pursuit Centre.
Male, female and, I think, some grown up fledglings.
1st June (from Innes Simm)
Glen Effock and Glen Clunie
We have 12 pairs in the core study area in Glen Clunie this year, down
from 13 in 2009. So, a small decrease and no sign of the increases reported
elsewhere. However, nesting success has been high with 12 of 13 nests
raising young, continuing the correlation between low breeding numbers
and high breding success in recent years.
I had a day in Glen Effock with Mike on Sat, which brought back memories
of how Clunie used to be (ouzels everywhere!). Looks like Effock is quite
a bit wetter and grassier than Clunie, and the heather is older and taller
than in Clunie. Other than that, no obvious differences between the 2
glens.
Anyway, the differing trends within Britain don't suggest that the problem
lies solely on migration/in the wintering areas. This gives us reason
to believe that at least part of the problem lies on the breeding grounds.
A comparative demographic study between Clunie and Effock would be a good
starting point, and this is what we'll be proposing for a new study starting
in 2011.
MAY 2010:
30th May (from Kelvin Jones)
Snowdonia
Male Ring Ouzel seen in Cwm Trwsgl, (top of Cwm Pennant) Snowdonia 30/5/10.
No sign of female. Watched it above old quarry buildings for a couple
of minutes then lost sight of it when it flew across valley to boulder-field
/ scree slope.
28th May (from Ken Hutchinson)
Rosedale
Thought members would be interested in the early results for Rosedale.
We have 7 confirmed nests and 2 probable. A total of 9 so far this year.
This is the same as 2009 so we have not seen the increase reported from
other areas. The positive being we are not down on last year which was
our fear at the start of this season. Interesting we had a large group
of passage birds 10+ lingering in the dale for a week or so in late April
early May and mixing in with the local ouzels. Probably Fennoscandias
and we tried hard to persuade them to stay, nice habitat and plenty of
good food, but to no avail. Good ouzeling to all.
27th May (from Graham Rebecca)
Glen Effock
Metal over Yellow Right, Yellow over Red Left. Female, NO514892, Burn
of Allen Stank, NE of Glen Effock (Tayside) 15km.
Ringed 17/05/2009 Glen Effock NO4477 Shank of Cocklie. Ringed as a pullus.
26th May (from Mike Nicholl)
Glen Effock
Red above Orange Left,Metal above Red Right was ringed as a chick at
Shank of Cochlie,Glen Effock on 15/05/2007. It was sighted near the
Aberdeenshire boundary 8.5 KM NNE. The observer didn't mention its sex.
So far in Effock, this season looks like being the highest population
yet!
Its getting almost impossible to get proper coverage of the ground.
The study area part may well have as many as 35 to 40 pairs.
Confirmed 28 pairs,located 21 nests, another 13 territories with males
but havn't had time to check properly for nests.
25th May (from Dave Shackleton)
Haweswater
I managed to take advantage of the good weather in my study area at Haweswater
in the north eastern Lake District this spring and have now finished my
survey of singing males. Occupancy levels are almost back to the levels
of 2006 before a dip in the last 3 years, so pretty encouraging here this
year.
22nd May (from Bill Gordon)
Stanage Edge
It’s very differcult to put any real figures on whether RZs numbers
are up or down in the area that l monitor. On the surface it might suggest
that there is an increase in numbers, but that would be too easy and the
position is far more complicated than first appearances. Because the area
has a heavily disturbed RZs population and that disturbance is human and
that disturbance is also dependant on the weather.
An indication of potential nests on the part of Stanage that l have direct
responsibility- is that by mid April there were five pairs of RZs looking
for nest sites- but by the beginning of May only two nest were built and
both have signs and restrictions placed on them. Three pairs have moved
on.
One of those pairs moved to part of the estate that hadn’t had RZs
breeding for some years (see below) The habitat is absolutely right and
there is a strong determination to nest.
We now have three years of experience of Highland cattle grazing on Moorland
and Moorland edges, and eight years of putting horse manure on roadside
bunds, it works –short, nutrient rich sward the RZs are now feeding
on these areas. Our Third nest is close to such an area. But we have to
catch them nest building to put up a restriction but it can very easily
go wrong and we have to activity intervene to prevent failer.
Example- 9.30pm 22nd May-Public School From Sheffield, 80 kids had an
impromptu wide game on a Moorland close to our safest nest-l had to go
and stop it.
Example-had to stop group of people lowering 20 foot banner over the edge
close to a nest site with “Katie Forster l love you”
So lots of stress as second broods are coming up.
13th May (from Prof David Healey)
Glen Esk
Upper Glen Esk 13th May at 15:30 Two Ring Ouzel, 1 x M and 1 X F feeding
on grass area between boulders at foot of scree at NO 429 802 on north
side of Loch Lee. Both occasionally flew onto scree and entered a cavity
between boulders. Possible breeding?
8th May (from Allistair Moore)
Scale Force near Buttermere
A pair of ring ouzels at Scale Force near Buttermere, Lake District on
Saturday, 8th May 2010 about 09.30. They were in the trees above the waterfall
and we had good views for a few minutes before they flew off to the NE.
7th May (from Prof David Heeley)
Glen Lethnot, Angus
09:30am. Three Ring Ouzel seen in Glen Lethnot, Angus, beyond the car
park at the end of the metalled road to NE of track at:- NO 462 721 One
M one F together. Third bird was retreating rear view, gender uncertain.
Reports of several ROs in same location on 2nd.
3rd May (from Phil Curtis)
Stanhope, Co Durham - Fledged Ousel
While out birding today at Stanhope, Co Durham I heard the familiar call
of an alarm calling Ring Ousel. An Ousel then landed on a wall only 5
yards from where I was sitting. The bird sat on the wall for about 15
seconds before dropping down onto the opposite side of the wall. The bird
seen was a fledged chick. I repositioned myself so that I could watch
the area where the bird had gone expecting to see an adult bird appear
to feed it. However after only a couple of minutes I located the fledged
chick foraging for itself. I watched the bird for another 7 mins before
in moved around a bend in the stream valley and out of view. Given the
incubation and nestling periods of Ousels and the obvious independance
of this bird it must have originated from a nest started in mid March.
APRIL 2010:
24th April (from Lee Murphy)
Liverpool
Single Ring Ouzel sited in Liverpool, not far from Croxteth park. Never
seen one before, but the white band was very distinctive so I looked it
up.
19th April (from Dean Kyle)
Craken Edge, Derbyshire
Towards the Hayfield side of Cracken Edge, situated close to Chinley in
the Peak District National Park, 15 Turdus torquatus were observed feeding
in a grazed field that contained gorse and a number of Saxicola rubetra
and saxicola torquata. I was actually in the area to photograph a pair
of Athene noctua at their nest site but the Ring ouzels were a nice surprise!
15th April (from Bill & Flo Gordon)
Stanage Edge, Derbyshire
Today we found our first female nest building - diving into a bilberry
bush with nesting material at the top of a popular climbing route about
25 metres off the ground.
We have put up a climbing restriction taking out 27 climbing routes
14th April (from David Bathers)
Tal Y Cafn Conwy
Just to report that I saw 6 Ring Ouzels on the eastern flanks of Tal Y
Cafn Conwy at 1,360 feet on the 14th April at 2pm . I waited about and
several males appeared on the crest. I am told this is a popular spot
for these birds.
13th April (from Darren Oakley-Martin)
Field opposite The Lodge RSPB entrance, Sandy
One on hemp stubble with small flock of Fieldfares at 08:55 per Dave Buckingham.
11th April (from Dave Titmuss)
Sightings of Ring Ouzel today in Ampthill Park were in fact in my fields
adjacent to Ampthill Park. I saw several bird watchers staring into the
fields during the day, on approaching, one of them kindly let me look
through his telescope and I had a good clear sighting.
2nd April (from Graham Pyatt)
Peeblesshire has had over a foot of snow this week, so access up Valley
has been limited. However, after some sunshine in last 2 days some green
patches are showing through on south-facing slopes. On a tiny patch of
green at 300m elevation was a male ouzel, quite scaly beneath, long wings
held low, having a good feed on earthworms. No photo I'm afraid, my camera
batteries had run out earlier. Wheatears also around in good numbers.
2nd April (from Graham Rebecca)
A colleague of mine had 2 ouzels and a merlin in Glen Lochsie, Spital
of Glenshee, Tayside (NO 0772) on 2nd April. This is only ~10km from the
southern boundary of our Glen Clunie study area, so might get some later
this week in Clunie (although snow cover still apparently ~50%). A few
osprey, sand martin and chiffchaff in NE Scotland last week so we are
getting there!
MARCH 2010:
31st March (from Jens Mikkel Lausten - Denmark)
Hello David
At 31-03-2010 Lars Falck photographed a Ringouzel with color rings.
Left below GREEN RED, Right below Metal ring YELLOW or LBG,R; RBM,Y.
Could this be one of your birds?
The bird was seen at Juvre Enge, placed at the northern parts of Rømø,
Jylland, Denmark 55.11N-08.32E.
Regards Mikkel Lausten
Copenhagen Ringing Scheme.
Hi Jens
Excellent sighting, we have recently had incomplete sightings which are
very frustrating. The colour photographs confirm it is a Glen Effock bird
again and is one of Mike's. This is a female ringed in Glen Effock which
is a Glen off Glen Esk, Invermark, Angus, Scotland. I have checked it
out on Mike's files and he confirmed it today Ring no LB49256 ringed on
31/05/2009 at Grid Ref No 4478 from a brood of 4 - please see co- ordinates
below which will be submitted to BTO. Right Leg Metal / Yellow Left Leg
Light Green / Red. This could be a second year bird ringed in Scotland
overshooting and heading into Scandinavia, I had one a few years ago on
the Norwegian coast ,brilliant !!!!
Thanks for that, we have had some partial colour code sightings recently
and its good to get a confirmed one.
Best Regards
Dave Arthur
30th March (from Pengjun CHENG [China])
Ring Ouzel identified in China !
A report has been received
from Pengjun CHENG (Beijing Forestry University) who is editor of a new
ornithological journal Chinese Birds, published by the China Ornithological
Society. The report identifies
the sighting of a Ring Ouzel in China. For more information about the
journal visit www.chinesebirds.net
15 April 2010
Dear Pengjun Cheng
I too am a member of the Ring Ouzel group and have also served on the
British Ornithologists’ Union Records Committee (BOURC) for a full
term of ten years. The BOURC is the committee that judges records for
admission or deletion from the official British List of birds. I have
much experience of assessing bird records and I also have much experience
of both Ring Ouzel and Dark-throated Thrush (Turdus atrogularis).
I am certain that the bird in your photograph is a Dark-throated Thrush,
probably a first year male. It is not a hybrid and is definitely not a
Ring Ouzel. The problem has arisen because young male Dark-throated Thrushes,
when freshly moulted, have extensive white edges to the dark breast and
throat feathers. These wear off as winter progresses, leaving a very black
throat. However, when the white edges are still present, they sometimes
coalesce in the angle between the throat and the breast forming a white
crescent, superficially similar to Ring Ouzel. But this crescent, when
present is smaller, and higher up on the breast compared with Ring Ouzel.
It also only appears when the bird is in exactly the right position. In
1990 I went to check a record of a wintering Ring Ouzel in a garden in
Yorkshire. The lady clearly described a crescent on a black breast. When
I arrived the bird was a Dark-throated Thrush, but it did have a conspicuous
white crescent when the bird was perched at certain angles. Photographs
of this bird were published in the journal British Birds Vol 84 page 486,
plates 248 and 249, although the crescent does not look quite so conspicuous
in these photographs.
This is not the only reason for my identification though. You can see
that the upperparts of the thrush are grey (not black or very dark brown
as in Ring Ouzel). Further, you can see the distinctive dark wedge on
the lores (in front of the eye) which is diagnostic of Dark-throated Thrush.
I also think you can see paler underparts through the leaves.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss this
further.
Best Regards
Dr Tim Melling
16 April 2010
To: Melling, Tim
Subject: Re: help to idenfity Ring Ouzel
Dear Dr Tim Melling:
Thanks very much for your detailed explanation for this ring ouzel issue.
Your knowledge and experience in ornithological taxonomy have convinced
me that the bird in the photo is not a ring ouzel, and I will discuss
with the author about this bird species.
As an acknowledgement, We would like to post you and your colleagues some
hard copies of our new journal Chinese Birds on a complimentlary basis
if you can give me your postal address.
Best regards.
Pengjun Cheng
27th March (from Dave Arthur)
I received a sighting of a Ring Ouzel Right Leg Orange /Metal
Left Leg Red/Light green or Light Green/Red Male unfortunately the warden
could not confirm the left leg so another incomplete sighting. It was
observed by Sarah Harris a warden on the Calf of Man Bird Observatory,
Isle of Man shortly after dawn until 0800hrs on 27th March 2010. The colour
combinations appear to be both from Mike Nicoll and he has confirmed that
they were both ringed as Chicks in Glen Effock NO4578 on the 23/05/2008
one of 4 and 01/06/2008 1 of 3 It is still a decent observation for Mike
and his work in Effock.
24th Mar (from Ken Hutchinson)
Ring Ouzel male seen today in Rosedale. Earliest recorded and
a day earlier than last year.
21st Mar (sent in by Graham Pyatt, Manor, Peebles)
One male Ring Ouzel reported in Manor by a reliable observer
on 21st March, but not seen by me same day or later. Must have been on
passage. It was 5 days earlier than I have ever seen one here.
FEBRUARY 2010:
Request for samples from ring ouzels
from Michael Bacht in Germany
I am a member of the department of biology and the work group: Animal
ecology of Prof. Brandl at the University of Marburg in Germany. Our group
has been engaged for several years in topics of population genetics. I
am currently working on my Masters thesis and I want to analyse the genetic
divergences in Ring Ouzels in the central European low mountain ranges.
Do you have any genetic material or even sequenced DNA of the ring ouzel
you can share? E.g. Feathers.
Best regards from Germany,
Michael Bacht (MSc student)
Email: Bachtm@students.uni-marburg.de
Philipps Universität Marburg
Fachbereich Biologie
AG "Allgemeine Ökologie und Tierökologie"
Prof. Dr. Roland Brandl
Karl-von-Frisch Str. 8
35043 Marburg
- GERMANY -
Tel: ++49 6421 28 26665
Fax: ++49 6421 28 23387
www.tieroeko.de
JANUARY 2010:
17th Jan (from Carol)
I am writing to you because yesterday I spotted a black bird sitting
on the tree opposite my home and thought it had a piece of white bread
in its mouth. When I looked through my binoculars, to my surprise, it
was a white breast! Could this be male Ring Ouzel? It seems most unlikely
this early and with the snow we have suffered, but I could not find any
other to fit the picture. I live in NE Derbyshire. Retired and time on
our hands to spot all sorts of wildlife.
Julian Hughes comments:
Another one from Northeast Derbyshire. I confirmed with Carol that the
white was a crescent and that it was not a leucistic blackbird. Her postcode
is DE55.
13th Jan (from Christine)
13th January 2010 the ground is covered in snow here on the Surrey/Kent
border, and I'm sure I have a Ring Ouzel feeding in my garden. I've been
putting out various edible items for the blackbirds etc. but one regular
looks like a blackbird but has a white bib as I look down on it from my
upstairs window. I presume it must be an Ouzel that has not migrated and
been caught out by the bad weather. Can you please confirm that my assumption
is possibly correct?
Chris Rollie comments:
Yes you may well be correct in thinking it is indeed a ring ouzel. Most
ring ouzels over winter in the Atlas mountains of Morocco (especially)
and Algeria (to a lesser extent), with a few perhaps remaining in the
Sierra Nevada mountains of southern Spain. In these wintering areas they
feed almost exclusively on juniper berries.
However, in most years there are one or two reports of winter ouzels
in the UK, and indeed elsewhere in Europe - last year I think we had at
least five in UK, with one in Holland. This year, unsurprisingly perhaps
given the exceptional cold and snow, we have had only one record - from
Wetherby (West Yorks) on 14 December. So your record is a very good one.
Leucystic blackbirds occur, with varying amounts of white in various
areas of their plumage, but rarely if ever occurring as a bib, in my experience.
An orange bill would definitely indicate a blackbird, but there is considerable
overlap and potential for confusion between the two species otherwise.
A photograph would help to confirm the matter, but it does sound to me
like a ring ouzel. I have circulated your record to other members of the
ring ouzel group to see if anyone else has comments, or indeed further
wintering records. Many thanks again for letting us know.
DECEMBER 2009
14th Dec (from David Mcintee)
I'm dropping you a line as my wife and I saw a Ring Ouzel today in a
field here in Wetherby. I don’t know if this is significant, but
as the website says they only rarely winter in Britain, and it's outside
the distribution for them that the RSPB website shows on a map.
It was healthy-looking, a large male, not shy, and hopped up onto a tree
as we got close.
I hope that's of interest to your study group.
Comment from Julian Hughes:
Thank you for your e-mail. Ring ouzels are unusual in Britain in the winter,
so any record is notable. At this time of year, they would normally be
in the mountains of southern Spain or, more likely, in the Atlas mountains
of North Africa. Have you seen ring ouzels before? Would you say that
the back was all dark, or was greyer and scaly? It might indicate whether
it was a British or a continental bird that you saw.
Reply from David:
I'd never seen one before, and didn't recognize it to start with as they're
not usually in this area. It was all dark, black as far as I could tell,
apart from the distinctive "collar" and beak.
Reply from Julian:
That's very helpful, thanks. It sounds like it would be a torquatus type
bird, which breed in Britain and Scandinavia. A great record, many thanks!
OCTOBER 2009
12th Oct (from Stuart Benn)
I was out at my eagles again yesterday in the hills just south of Inverness
and had a group of 8 ouzels moving through with a couple of song thrushes
in a steep rocky glen. I also had a report from another eagle worker of
ten feeding in small native woodland exclosures at Loch Garry on Saturday
(the one just south of Drumochter Pass).
I'm assuming these are likely to be Scandinavian birds which have come
in as part of the same movement that's just brought in redwings and fieldfares
with us. Any thoughts?
Comment from Chris Rollie:
Yep, almost certainly Fennoscanders - Durman's cut off date was about
beginning of Oct from memory - probably do get a few early ones, and a
few later Scottish ones than 1 October, but as a general rule, I'd say
Oct birds are foreigners. They will continue right through this month
and next - often lots in Nov, and even one or two in Dec.
SEPTEMBER 2009
7th Sept (from Stuart Benn)
I was in at my eagles in the Monadhliaths yesterday (almost adult pair
parallel soaring and talon grappling in a territory I've just had immatures
for years - things are looking up in that blackest of black holes!) and
had a couple of parties of ouzels feeding on the rowans. Also had a juvenile
at another site - tempted to put it down as a proven breeding in the Atlas
(it looked a really good spot for them) but I would guess it could have
moved a fair way from where it was reared so probably best not to.
9th Sept (from Graham Pyatt)
I had been thinking about reporting seeing ouzels in Rowans this autumn
and Stuart's note has encouraged me to do so. There is a very good crop
of berries this year, here in Peeblesshire at least. I have found groups
of 16, 6, 4 and 1 in four traditional places in the Manor Valley. There
are also small flocks (up to 30 birds) of Mistle Thrushes and one flock
of Mistles included one ouzel. At this stage of the year I like to think
these birds are locally bred. I had great difficulty finding ouzels in
the spring, so it is very gratifying to see good numbers at last. Many
of the birds have weakly contrasting gorgets, and I assume are juveniles.
The photo
is of 2 birds that were in a Rowan bush but came nearer and were picking
insects off the dyke. Photographed at about 40m distance, with 18x lens
and some digital cropping.
MARCH 2009:
16th March (from Mick Green)
This from one of my colleagues: Nant y Moch is NE of Aberystwyth. An
area we've mainly lost breeding birds from - no confirmed pairs in recent
years. On the way back from surveying by nant y moch I had really good
view of male Ring Ouzel. It was on the crags at around SN7172 8984 up
the Ceulan.
18th March (from Tim Melling)
Just heard from Bill and Flo and the first Ring Ouzel of the year was
back at Stanage. Definitely a male but they think they might have seen
a female too.
To view a record of Ring Ouzel sightings in 2006, 2007 and 2008
click <here>.
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