Norweigian Hawfinch

A startling fact alluded to by Jerry Lewis during his talk at the WOS/BTO conference on woodland birds, was that there were more records for Barred Warblers ringed in the UK than Hawfinches. Jerry perfected a technique for catching Hawfinches in the Forest of Dean and challenged more ringers to study this difficult woodland species. David Smith has been studying Hawfinch in the Dolgellau area for a number of years, and this spring he and Tony Cross teamed up to try and further their knowledge of the birds locally. Incredibly a total of 128 birds were caught and ringed between March and May 2011, far more than the local population was expected to be. On 6th April an adult male was caught bearing a Norwegian ring!!.

photo Tony Cross

It had originally been ringed as an adult male at Mandal, Norway on the 15th April 2010, so had travelled a distance of 925 km in a time span of 356 days. Amazingly this is not the first Norwegian-ringed bird caught in Wales, Jerry Lewis also controlled a bird from Norway in 2010,which might suggest that Scandinavian birds are regular winter visitors.

Tony has been individually colour-ringing the birds and already reports are being received of ringed birds with chicks in gardens. There would appear to be a lot more to be learnt about the elusive Hawfinch in Wales.

View hawfinches in a larger map

Lansio BTO Cymru

Diwrnod cyffrous i adar Cymru yn sioe Frenhinol Cymru, pan lansiwyd swyddfa BTO Cymru.

Dywedodd Dr Andy Clements, Prif Weithredwr y BTO, yn y lansiad “ Mae cael y BTO yng Nghymru yn gyfle bendigedig I Gymru ai adar a bywyd gwyllt, a hefyd i bobol Cymru sydd yn gwerthfawrogi ein hetifeddiaeth naturiol. Rydyn yn bwriadu adeiladu ar waith ein gwirfoddolwyr sydd wedi bod yn gweithio mor galed ar Atlas y BTO, a rhoi cyfeiriad i adarydda ein gwirfoddolwyr yng Nghymru, I gael ateb , pam mae rhywogaethau fel y Gnocell werdd ar Tinwen yn dinistrio, pan mae Adar y to yn cynyddu yng Nghymru ond yn dinistrio ym mhob nam arall. Rydyn eisiau ein gwyddoniaeth annibynnol fod yn rhan o benderfyniadau ac i fod yn fynnon o wybodaeth i bawb yng Nghymru.”

llun gan Ellen Walford

John Lloyd Honorary Wales Officer, Dr. Rachel Taylor, Ieuan Evans Membership and Volunteering,

Dr Andy Clements CEO BTO, Morgan Parry Chair CCW, Kelvin Jones Development Officer Wales,

Alison Colebrook Enviroment Wales, Dr Geoff Gibbs Ass. Wales Officer

BTO Cymru launched

An exciting day for Welsh birds at the Royal Welsh show, when the BTO’s welsh office was launched.

Speaking at the launch of BTO Cymru, Dr Andy Clements, BTO Director, said, "BTO in Wales is a real opportunity for Wales' birds and wildlife, and for the people of Wales who appreciate such a great wildlife heritage. We aim to build on recent volunteer effort from the BTO Atlas, and to channel energies of growing volunteer numbers in Wales to answer questions about declines in birds such as Green Woodpecker and Wheatear, while understanding why House Sparrow in Wales bucks the trend of decline elsewhere in the UK. We want our impartial science to count in decisions and to be a source of knowledge for everyone in Wales"