Mist netting 9/1/25

The team met at 730, and after a walk through the reserve with the kit, 8 nets were set around the reed bed & the 'crop field' at the Colyford Common end of the reserve. There was no frost or snow, and there was little wind, so it didn't feel too cold. Although we didn't catch a huge number of birds (31), we had a great variety with 16 species, which included a control Dunnock ie a bird ringed at a different site.  We'll have to wait to find out where the bird was ringed, although we know it was ringed on 23/8/2023. 

We caught 2 Reed Buntings, one new & one that we caught at the roost near the Discovery Hut on 10/12/24. 

Male Reed Bunting from the December roost catch

We caught a Treecreeper, which isn't a bird we catch very often on the reserve, with this being only the 23rd over the last decade. They're well adapted for their lifestyle, being well camouflaged against tree bark,  with long sharp claws for clinging to trees, stiff tail feathers for propping them up as they climb, and a long curved bill for probing cracks & crevices for insects. Once they've completed their post juvenile & post breeding moults, it's very difficult to age a Treecreeper. It may be possible to use the shape of the pale tip of the outer Primary Covert, but it's a feature that's shown as being highly variable and to 'use with caution'. Using this criteria, that the pale tip may spread along the shaft in young birds and be smaller in adults, this could have been a bird hatched last year (age code 5), but it was left un-aged due to the uncertainty of using this feature. 

Treecreeper

Treecreeper

Outer Primary Covert (arrowed)

We caught 2 Meadow Pipits in the nets beside the reed bed. The one shown below was aged as a 5 as it had a clear moult limit in its Greater Coverts, with the new inner 2 being edged a much darker buff colour than the paler edged outer 8. 

Meadow Pipit

Meadow Pipit Greater Coverts

Our most surprising bird of the day was a Kingfisher, a bird more usually caught during sessions around the Discovery Hut. This bird was a male, indicated by the lack of any red on the bill.

Male Kingfisher

Kingfisher 

We had company a couple of times during the morning......

Fox: Photo by Robin Pearson

The Team ringing on the Colyford Common viewing platform

	Ringed	Re-trapped	Control
Blue Tit	4
Cetti’s Warbler	2
Chiffchaff	2
Dunnock	1		1 (22/8/23)
Goldcrest	2	1 (30/11/24)
Great Tit	1	1 (15/8/23)
Greenfinch	1
House Sparrow	2
Kingfisher	1
Long-tailed Tit		1 (26/9/24)
Meadow Pipit	2
Reed Bunting	1	1 (10/12/24)
Robin	1
Sonechat	1
Treecreeper	1
Wren	4
	26	4	1

Roost mist-netting 10/12/24

A very small team assembled at midday to try and catch Reed Buntings coming in to roost. As it's something that the Group hasn't done for a very long time, it was a bit of an experiment. It was rather windy, so 6 nets were set in the more sheltered areas around the reeds & willows to the west of the Discovery Hut. 

The first Chiffchaff was caught almost straight away and was a control, having been ringed somewhere other than the Wetlands. It turned out that the bird was having a bad day, having been caught and ringed earlier the same day by our leader Mike Tyler at his own site at the Colyton Waste Water Treatment Works further up the River Axe. A short time later another interesting Chiffchaff was caught, this one looking much paler & greyer than normal, so possibly a Siberian Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita tristis).

Possible Siberian Chiffchaff

Possible Siberian Chiffchaff

We caught our first Reed Buntings just after 2pm, but it wasn't until nearer 4pm that they really started to arrive, and we had our biggest round of 8 Reed Buntings at 5pm, taking our total to 19. Some of the birds were quite easy to age, having obviously pointed juvenile tails, but as quite a few Reed Buntings moult their entire tails during their post juvenile moult, a nice rounded adult tail doesn't necessarily mean that the bird's an adult. Sexing the birds is usually done using the shape of the black centre of the crown feathers, and although most could be sexed in this way, a few were a bit ambiguous. The presence of white in the collar around the neck & grey feathers on the rump can also assist in sexing, but there were still a couple of birds that were only provisionally sexed.

The bird below was a male, as shown by the rounded shape of the black feather centre, and the slight white collar. The pointed tail indicates that it's a bird hatched this year ie age code 3. 

Reed Bunting 

Pointed tail...age code 3

Rounded black feather centre & white collar....male

The 'Team' & a row of bagged Reed Buntings 

It had been a successful evening, with 39 birds caught in total. An attempt was made to catch owls after the roost, but unfortunately the only owl encountered during the session was the stuffed one in the Discovery Hut. 

	Ringed	Re-trapped	Control
Blackbird		1
Blue Tit		2
Cetti’s Warbler		1
Chiffchaff	5		1
Dunnock	1
Goldcrest		2
Reed Bunting	19
Robin	3	2
Wren	2
	30	8	1

Mist netting, 29/11/24

A last minute session was held in the vicinity of the Discovery Hut. It was a bit windy, but 28 birds were caught and processed.

Cetti's warbler

Chiffchaff

Female Bullfinch 

Goldcrest

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Blackbird	2	3
Blue Tit		1
Bullfinch	1
Cetti’s Warbler		1
Chiffchaff	3	2
Dunnock	1
Goldcrest	4	2
Great Tit	1
Long-tailed Tit	1	6
	13	15

Photos by Mark Wills