Mist netting 10th Jan

The first session of 2026 took place last Saturday, with a very civilised 730 start. There were five of us, and we set seven nets in the feeder & reed bed areas near to the Discovery Hut. It was a very cold start, so we made continual rounds to check the nets & didn't play lures of the smaller species until it warmed up a bit. 

It was pretty quiet, but we did catch 22 birds. As we've mostly been ringing in the area around the Discovery Hut recently, we did catch lots of retraps, although we did catch 8 new birds. We caught 3 Great Tits, including this female which was hatched last year (age code 5)

Great Tit

Great Tits can usually be aged using the difference in colour between the blue Greater Coverts which have been replaced during the post-juvenile moult, and the duller greener old Primary Coverts that are the original feathers grown in the nest. This bird had also replaced the small Alula feather which is a nice blue colour, leaving the two old greener Alula feathers unmoulted. 

Great Tit: hatched last year (age code 5)

The bird had a narrow, dull, patchy black stripe down its chest & belly. This indicates that it's a female, as a male would have a much darker, glossy, unbroken black stripe that would reach out as far as the legs at the base of the belly. 

Great Tit: female

Young Blue Tits often replace their centre two tail feathers, which can also be helpful in ageing the bird. However the majority of young Great Tits replace all tail feathers during their post-juvenile moult, so their tail is usually of no use for ageing purposes. 

We only caught one Reed Bunting, which we recorded as an adult male. The head was quite black, and it had a white collar. This normally indicates that the bird is male, however there have been records of birds with completely black heads & white collars which are female. Another feature which can help to confirm the sex of the bird is the greyness of the rump. This bird had a very grey bump, confirming that it was a male. The tail was quite rounded & in good condition, and although young birds can also sometimes replace their tails, as the rest of the feathers were also in good condition, it indicated that the feathers were probably better quality adult feathers. 

Reed Bunting

Reed Bunting: Grey rump confirming that it's male

We also retrapped a Kingfisher that had been ringed in October. You can never have too many Kingfishers! There were quite a few visitors to the Discovery Hut at the time who appreciated a close up view.

Ian with the Kingfisher 

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blue Tit	1	3
Chaffinch	2
Chiffchaff	1
Coal Tit	1
Dunnock		3
Great Tit	1	2
Kingfisher		1
Reed Bunting	1
Robin		3
Wren	1	2
	8	14

Meanwhile, Doug was busy with some maintenance in the Sand Martin cliff, removing a shelf that had rotted. Not a nice job, but the shelf needs to be replaced before the Sand Martins start arriving in March. 

Doug in his PPE

The shelf with tunnels that run from the cliff front to the nest chamber

Christmas mist netting 20/12/2025

We met at the very civilised time of 8am for the last session of 2025. The session was nearly cancelled due to the dodgy weather forecast, but luckily we managed to remain dry, although it was rather too windy. We set 6 nets in the feeder area,  the reed bed & next to the Reed Base classroom where we set up our ringing station for the morning. It was a good turn out, with 8 members attending.

We only caught 17 birds, although we had a nice variety including our 11th Kingfisher & 3rd Treecreeper of the year. Ten of the birds were re-traps, mostly from earlier this year, and with just one Goldcrest & a Blackbird from last year. 

Part of the Team working in the Reed Base

Female Kingfisher, as indicated by the amount of red on the lower mandible

Treecreeper

We also caught a Coal Tit, only the 2nd this year, and the 22nd in the last decade. The bird was aged as a 3, ie hatched this year. It had replaced its inner Greater Coverts, which had a blacker centre & greyish-blue edge when compared with the 4  old Greater Coverts (OGCs) which had slightly browner centres & a a paler greenish fringe.  The colour of the OGCs was the same as that of the un-moulted old Primary Coverts & Alula. 

Coal Tit

Coal Tit wing

We found some Otter paw prints near to one of the nets set beside a small stream, the size of them suggests that it was a male. 

Otter prints

After the ringing, we indulged in some festive nibbles & a bird ID/ringing quiz, set by Adrian in memory of local ringer Geoff Pearce, who sadly died this year. Geoff specialised in pulli (nestlings), particularly Barn & Tawny Owls, which he'd been ringing for decades,  kindly giving several Group members the opportunity to join him & gain valuable experience. 

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackbird		1
Blue Tit	1	2
Chiffchaff		1
Coal Tit	1
Goldcrest	2	4
Great Tit	1	1
Kingfisher	1
Treecreeper	1
Wren		1
	7	10

A different perspective.....

Mark Loughlin writes a regular piece for the Turn Lyme Green website. His latest article is about his recent experiences as a new Trainee ringer, and can be found here:

https://www.turnlymegreen.co.uk/lymelight/birdringingdecember2025

 Mist netting 3/12/2025

Another session in the area of the Discovery Hut as the ringer in charge was suffering with mobility issues and did not fancy venturing further afield.  A quiet but very enjoyable session of 20 birds.  The highlight was the recapture of a reed bunting which we have caught once before earlier in the Autumn that was originally ringed in the summer by the Llangorse ringing group.  The birds processed were 6 blue tits, 2 Cetti’s warblers, 2 chiffchaffs, 1 dunnock,  4 reed buntings, 1 robin, 1 song thrush and 3 wrens.  

Mist netting 18/11/2025

In order to beat the forecast rain, the group's most recent session was again organised around the shelter of the Discovery Hut. Five nets were set: two in the feeders area, two in the central reed bed and the fifth on the south side of the reeds. The morning was cold, there were few birds about and so our initial catches were low. We caught the first of our reed buntings and the first of the fourteen blue tits that were to be caught throughout the morning. We put up a sixth net in reeds behind the pond that it visible from the Discovery Hut. Our catches picked up from about 9am, presumably because birds were then foraging more widely with the increased temperature, and we had a good number of birds in short succession including five goldcrests and a song thrush - a species that we dont catch frequently at the wetlands.

Above: songthrush showing the rufous under-wing coverts, normally only visible in flight. Compare this with the very much brighter under wing of the Redwing (below) in which the red colouration extends down from the wing and into the flanks, making the red visible in the field.

After another quiet spell numbers again picked up from about 11am including a handful of reed buntings, several blue tits - both new birds and retraps - and a solitary goldfinch which was lured in to the nets with a goldfinch tape.

This is a male goldfinch. The red feathers on the head extend behind the eye. In females the red colouration does not go beyond the eye. The nasal bistles are black, which is a male feature. Females have brown bristles. Goldfinches, like most finches, have a thick bill that is adapted for breaking open seeds and cereals. They use their tongues to manipulate the seed in to position so that it can be cracked open and the kernels can be eaten. Finches will often monopolise bird seed feeders because they can feed on one seed after another, whereas less specialised species, such as tits, have to take each seed away and peck at it to open the shell.

Here is a bird with a very different bill. This is a wren and their bills are fine and pointed for winkling out insects and grubs from nooks and crannies. The wing of this individual shows it to be this year's bird: the rufous old greater coverts are juvenile feathers which have yet to be replaced by the greyer coverts of the adult plumage.

Here is another bird that was hatched this year, this time a blue tit. The greenish coloured primary coverts are those of a young bird and have yet to be replaced by the blue feathers of the adult plumage.

The session concluded with a min-flurry of blackbirds, one of which is having it's wing measurement taken in the photo above. Blackbirds are good to see because their numbers have been reduced as a result of the mosquito-borne Usutu virus which was first recorded in Britain in London in 2020 and which has subsequently spread across southern England. More information about the disease can be found here: www.bto.org/our-work/news/press/much-loved-songbird-threatened-mosquito-borne-virus. We began taking down the nets at about 1pm as the first of the day's showers arrived having caught 51 birds of 13 species.

Mist netting 2/11/25

Although the latest session was scheduled for 3rd or 4th November, the forecast weather was so bad that we brought it forward to Sunday 2nd.  We met at the Discovery Hut at 630, and although the session was meant to take place at Colyford Common, as the forecast still wasn't ideal, we set nets near the Hut so we'd have shelter if needed. As it turned out, it was a lovely morning!

We set six nets, four in the reed bed & two near the feeders. We caught a total of 67 birds of 13 species. Due to the fact that we've ringed regularly in the area recently, 18 of the birds were retraps, having been ringed at previous sessions on the site. 

The Team ringing in the Discovery Hut

View from the Hut of the reed beds where the nets are set .....note the blue sky!

Goldcrests, along with Firecrests, are the UK's smallest birds. They're also quite tricky to age.  The shape of the tail and the colour of the edge of the central alula feather are two features to check. However, there is a lot of individual variation, which often makes it difficult to assign a definite age. It was therefore great to retrap a Goldcrest that had been ringed on 15/11/24, allowing us to say that it was definitely an adult. The tail is relatively rounded, and the central alula feather has quite a green edge, both features expected of an adult. 

A Goldcrest. The orange coloured crown stripe shows it to be a male (it would be yellow in a female)

The rounded tail of the adult Goldcrest (age code 4)

Alula of adult Goldcrest

We also caught our third ever Firecrest, the differences between this male & the male Goldcrest shown above are obvious....it has a much more striking face pattern, with the bold white stripe over the eye, and the bold black eye-stripe.

Male Firecrest

Another rarely caught bird at the Wetlands is the Magpie.....and we caught the Groups fifth during the session. It was rather feisty! Using a number of features, the bird was given an age code of 3 (ie hatched this year). One of the features used was the amount of black on the second primary feather. In an adult the white area would extend further towards the tip. 

Robin ringing the Magpie

The magpie's wing 

The Magpie about to be released.

After a session on 25/9/25 a photo was posted showing the pattern found on the crown feathers of a male Reed Bunting (https://axeestuaryringinggroup.blogspot.com/2025/10/mist-netting-25th-sept.htm). The pattern found on a female Reed Bunting is shown below. The more pointed shape of the black centre means that as the feather wears over winter,  the head will retain a more brown colour than in the male. 

Pattern of crown feather on female Reed Bunting

The weather was much better than predicted, and we were very pleased with the catch. 

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackcap	3
Blue Tit	5	5
Cetti’s Warbler	1	2
Chaffinch	1	1
Chiffchaff	19
Dunnock	3	5
Firecrest	1
Goldcrest	1	1
Great Tit	1	1
Magpie	1
Reed Bunting	13
Robin		1
Wren		2
	49	18

The previous all-day session held on 16/10/25 will appear on the blog at some stage!