News From Portugal

It's all quiet on the Northern Front this week - a combination of wind and rain has put a hold on any ringing plans although this has allowed me to do some maintenance at Fulwood, Brook Vale and Kings Moss. With nothing to report at home, I thought I would share two interesting pieces of news from my-home-away-from-Liverpool, Portugal.

I will start with my colleagues from the PADA Grupo de Anilhadores. Yesterday was the first PEEC (Constant Effort Project) session of the year at Paul do Taipal. As expected, the reed beds held Reed Warblers but no-one had expected a total of three that were caught to hold BTO rings! Speculation is rife that the Reed Warbler were held in a t-shirt that I sent over for Paulo Ferreira that he happened to be wearing that day!

 BTO-ringed Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) (PHOTO: Miguel Araújo)

The Stig - PJF (PHOTO: PADA)

The subsequent sessions at Madriz have revealed Chaffinch, Serin and Long-tailed Tit with active brood patches, which is similar to what I have found in the past week, catching Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Dunnock and Long-tailed Tit with brood patches, although no Serin! A massive well done to the team on the first of many foreign controls this summer!

The second piece of news relates to Paul da Coura - the ringing site where me and Tó completed a ringing session last July. You can read about that session here. We visited Paul da Coura in February when I was over but decided against a ringing session there as it was pretty quiet, but if we had, maybe we would have encountered this chap:

Little Bunting (Emberiza pusilla) (PHOTO: Rafael Salvadores)

Tó forwarded the SPEA (Sociedad Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves) email with the news. The sighting, made by Rafael Salvadores, was made in some scrub close to the ringing site. The sighting has been submitted to the rarities committee.

Paul da Coura is one of a number of sites where we will be conducting Ciencia Viva: Biología no Verao sessions in the summer. The other sites are: Veiga da S.Simao, Figuiera da Foz and Paul do Taipal. Biologia no Verao is an opportunity for members of the public to get out and about to experience some scientific projects that are underway in Portugal during the summer. Members of APAA will be conducting ringing sessions all over the country providing an excellent opportunity to share findings and generate enthusiasm of ornithological research.