After a spot of cow herding, 8 nets were set around the Colyford Common end of the reserve. It was the best turn out for some time, with 8 ringers attending. The first couple of rounds we had more ringers than birds, and it looked like there would be a lot of thumb-twiddling during the morning. However, at around 9:30 it livened up and we had an excellent session, catching 74 birds of 18 species.
Whilst birding, Willow Warblers & Chiffchafs can be quite difficult to tell apart unless they're singing. However, a pair of young birds caught together show how different they can be.
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| Chiffchaff in complete juvenile plumage on the left. Young Willow Warbler on the right. |
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In the hand, a close look at the wing can differentiate between the species, even in birds that have the same general appearance. A Chiffchaff will have the outer 6 primary flight feathers emarginated, but a Willow Warbler will only be emarginated to the 5th feather.
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| The wing of a Willow Warbler as only the outer 5 feathers emarginated (feathers 1 & 2 partly obscured in this photo) |
We caught 15 Blackcaps, all of which were this year's youngsters, although they had been hatched at various times & were in different stages of their post-juvenile moult; some were still in complete juvenile plumage, some were part way through their moult, and one had finished.
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| Blackcap undergoing post-juvenile moult, still with juvenile head feathers. |
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| Blackcap wing showing greater coverts in various stages of growth, this bird having lost the greater coverts grown in the nest. |
16 of the 17 Goldfinches caught were juveniles which hadn't yet completed their post-juvenile moult to acquire their red faces.
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| Juvenile Goldfinch |
The star of the show though was the Marsh Tit, a first for the site!
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| Marsh Tit |
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| Part of the Team! |
Rung | Re-trapped (original ringing date) | |
Blackbird | 2 | 1 (22/5/23) |
Blackcap | 15 | |
Blue Tit | 1 | 1 (13/7/23) |
Chiffchaff | 2 | |
Dunnock | 1 | 2 (12/6/23 & 2/11/21) |
Goldfinch | 17 | |
Great Tit | 1 | |
Greenfinch | 9 | |
House Sparrow | 6 | |
Linnet | 1 | |
Marsh Tit | 1 | |
Reed Warbler | 1 | |
Robin | 6 | |
Song Thrush | 1 | |
Stonechat | 1 | |
Swallow | 1 | |
Willow Warbler | 2 | |
Wren | 1 | 1 (22/5/23) |
69 | 5 |
