Ringing Resumes!

A small team of ringers met at 6am yesterday for a mist netting session at the Colyford Common end of the Seaton Wetlands, our first session since September. Ringing had been suspended largely due to concerns over HPAI (Bird Flu), however we have now resumed, implementing the BTO guidelines on the sanitising of equipment. 

We were faced with an unexpected challenge on our arrival, when we were met by a herd of cows grazing in the field where we were planning to set two of our nets. Luckily we managed to herd them into an adjoining field without too much difficulty. 

Pre-ringing herding practice required!

It was a successful session, catching 33 birds of 15 species in 6 nets. One of the first birds of the day was a Common Whitethroat.

Male Common Whitethroat

We caught 3 male Reed Warblers, all of which appeared to be breeding on the site. One of them seems to have had a bit of a close call at some stage, having lost a number of tail feathers which it's now re-growing.

Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler tail, growing 3 new feathers 

Three of the birds caught had been previously ringed. A male Chaffinch had been ringed on 4.6.18, having been hatched the previous year. The bird is now almost 6 years old, where the average age for a Chaffinch is 3 years, so it's doing quite well. However, it has a long way to go to beat the oldest know Chaffinch which was 13 years & 11 months old. 

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Blackbird	1	1  (ringed 3.11.20)
Blue Tit	2
Cetti’s Warbler	1
Chaffinch	1	1 (ringed 4.6.18)
Chiffchaff	3
Common Whitethroat	1
Dunnock	4
Greenfinch	5
House Sparrow	1
Long-tailed Tit	2
Reed Warbler	3
Robin	1
Sedge Warbler	1
Song Thrush	2	1 (ringed 19.5.21)
Wren	2
	30	3

Mist netting 6/9/2022

A session was planned for Tuesday morning, to take place before the forecast rain at about 10. As it was, there was a short sharp shower at about 8, and other than that it was dry, if a bit windy. Six nets were set in the vicinity of the Discovery Hut, and 25 birds were captured, of 13 species. It was great that a lot of the birds were warblers, including 7 Sedge Warblers, 6 youngsters and an adult.

The 2 Chiffchaffs caught were both hatched this year, one was still in its juvenile plumage, and one had almost completed its post-juvenile moult. A Willow Warbler which had also completed its post-juvenile moult, provided a nice comparison to the 2 Chiffchaffs.

Chiffchaff hatched this year (age code 3), which had almost finished its post-juvenile moult

Wing of Chiffchaff showing 3 Old Greater Coverts (OGCs) with slightly browner centres & paler edges. 

Chiffchaff in juvenile plumage

Willow Warbler hatched this year, which has finished its post-juvenile moult.

A Woodpigeon, only the 18th caught by the Group since 2007, was a nice surprise. The pale green eye and the presence of 2 secondaries which were browner & slightly shorter than the rest of the wing indicate that it was probably a 2nd year bird (age code 5).

Woodpigeon

Wing of Woodpigeon showing 2 older secondary feathers. 

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Blackbird	1
Blackcap	1
Blue Tit	2
Chiffchaff	2
Dunnock	1
Reed Warbler	3
Robin	1	1
Sedge Warbler	7
Song Thrush		1
Whitethroat	1
Willow Warbler	1
Woodpigeon	1
Wren	2
	23	2

Mist netting 27/8/22

On Friday, 3 members of the Group set up 5 nets in the vicinity of the Discovery Hut. It was a pretty quiet session as we only managed to catch 24 birds. It was also a fairly painful session due to some rampant &  ferocious nettles & brambles in the net rides. We had a nice variety of birds, with 13 different species, although unlike the last session, we had a fairly even split of adults and juveniles. 

It was great to catch a juvenile Sedge Warbler, the Group's first this year. All Sedge Warblers undergo a complete moult in their wintering quarters in Africa, so an adult bird would look very worn, having had its feathers for well over 6 months, in comparison to the new feathers of a recently fledged bird. A juvenile also usually has a 'necklace' of dark spots around it's breast. 

Juvenile Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler showing 'necklace' of dark spots

Nice fresh wing of the Sedge Warbler, with buffy edges to the Tertials.

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Blackbird	2
Blackcap	1
Blue Tit	3
Cetti’s Warbler	2
Chiffchaff	3
Dunnock	3	1
Goldcrest	1
Great Tit	1
Greenfinch	1
Robin	1
Sedge Warbler	1
Song Thrush	2
Wren	1	1
	22	2

On Sunday, the Group's stand at the Axe Vale Wildlife Day was well attended. Quite a few more people now know about ringing, and hopefully a few may join up!

AERG stand at the Axe Vale Wildlife Day

Axe Vale Wildlife Day 28/8/22

 

The AERG will have a stand at the Axe Vale Wildlife Day this coming Sunday.  If you're a ringer & interested in joining the Group, would like to find out about becoming a ringer, or would just like to learn more about bird ringing, please come along for a chat!

Mist netting 19/8/22

After a number of cancellations for various reasons, 3 members of the Group managed a productive session at the Colyford Common end of the Wetlands on Friday 19th August. The catch was predominantly of birds hatched this year, with only one adult amongst the 37 birds, that being a Reed Warbler. 

Plenty of Blackcaps & Blackbirds were caught, mostly from a net set between brambles where plenty of ripe Blackberries were providing a tasty buffet. Although all hatched this year, the Blackcaps were in various stages of development, many still with their juvenile head feathers, and thus unable to be sexed. Once the new head feathers start to grow, it's possible to see whether the bird is male or female, even if just a small tuft of new feather is visible. 

Blackcap hatched this year. 

A close inspection of the head shows a feather starting to emerge, and as it's brown, this bird is a female.  A male bird would be growing black feathers. 

There were numerous Greenfinch on site, and 3 juveniles were caught, 2 females and a male. 

Juvenile Greenfinch

This Greenfinch is a female, as shown by the narrow yellow border on the Primary feathers. In the male, the yellow band would be much wider.

The age of a Reed Warbler is determined by the quality and condition of the plumage. This is a juvenile, as shown by the good condition of the feathers. An adult would look much more worn. 

Juvenile Green Woodpecker. Possibly a female as no red is visible in the malar stripe (dark area behind the lower mandible) although this bird was not sexed as it was still very young and red may still appear. 

A  juvenile Common Whitethroat. It had buffy edges to the outer tail feathers (not visible in this photo). An adult would have pure white on the outer tail feathers. 

	Ringed
Blackbird	6
Blackcap	8
Blue Tit	5
Dunnock	3
Great Tit	1
Green Woodpecker	1
Greenfinch	3
House Sparrow	1
Reed Warbler	2
Robin	2
Whitethroat	2
Wren	3
	37