Mist netting 10/4/26....the migrants are here!

Things have picked up! A group of us had a session in the vicinity of the Discovery Hut which proved to be a different kettle of fish to the last one.....the migrants have arrived and gave us an interesting morning. We set seven nets and caught 36 birds of 13 species. Our very first bird was very exciting....a Reed Warbler that had been ringed by the Group on 17/6/2017, caught twice in 2018, and hadn't been caught again until today. The life expectancy of a Reed Warbler is about 2 years, and as this bird was an adult when it was ringed, it must now be at least 10 years old.  It's amazing to think of how many miles it must have travelled going backwards & forwards to sub-Saharan Africa each year, a total distance of about 54,000 to 60,000 miles. In an odd coincidence, it was in 2017 that we last caught a Reed Warbler that was of a similar age...we caught a bird on 24/5/2017 that had been ringed as an adult on 16/7/2009, making it at least 9 years old. The oldest recorded Reed Warbler was 12 years, 11 months & 21 days old, so just a couple more trips & our bird will be a record breaker. 

A very well travelled 10+ year old Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler wing 

We caught three Willow Warblers, our first of the year. They also migrate to sub-Saharan Africa for the Winter. Adult Willow Warblers undergo two complete moults each year, one after breeding before leaving the UK, and one whilst in their wintering quarters in Africa. The juveniles undergo a partial post-juvenile moult, and then also complete a full moult in Africa before returning. Therefore, there is no way to age a returning Willow Warbler.

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler wing

Willow Warblers are often more yellow and have paler legs than a Chiffchaff. However, there's a lot of individual variation, and some can be hard to tell apart. Before ringing, it is therefore necessary to correctly identify which species you have. This is done by looking carefully at the Primary feathers. On a Willow Warbler, the outer vane is emarginated (ie narrows) only to the 5th Primary feather, whereas on a Chiffchaff the 6th feather is also emarginated. As the wing shape is also slightly different, the length of the 2nd Primary on a Willow Warbler is roughly the same length as the 5th or 6th Primary, whereas on a Chiffchaff it would be about the same as the 7th or 8th. 

Willow Warbler wing

We did catch four Chiffchaffs, which did show the typically duller plumage when compared to the Willow Warbler. 

Chiffchaff

We also caught the Group's 21st Woodpigeon, an adult female with a large brood patch,  indicating that she's actively breeding. 

Woodpigeon

Woodpigeon uniform adult wing

One Reed Bunting was caught, which had been ringed as a young male on 2/11/25. 

Male Reed Bunting (age code 5)

	Ringed	Retrapped
Reed Warbler	1	2
Cetti’s Warbler	1	1
Willow Warbler	3
Blackcap	7
Sedge Warbler	5
Wren	1	1
Reed Bunting		1
Chaffinch	1
Blackbird	2
Chiffchaff	3	1
Blue Tit	1	2
Dunnock		2
Wood Pigeon	1
	26	10

There were plenty of Sand Martins whizzing about over the reeds & visiting the nesting wall. So far at least 19 nest cavities are being visited & contain nesting material, and two of the nests already contain an egg. Sadly there are at least two less Sand Martins than arrived back from Africa. One was taken in the air by a raptor, and one was taken from the front of the wall by a Moorhen, which then drowned the Sand Martin before swimming off with it. The wall will be monitored weekly & the youngsters ringed when old enough. 

We have also received very late notification of a Reed Warbler which was ringed by the Group on 17/6/25 as a juvenile bird, and which was subsequently caught on 16/8/25 in Caminha, Viana do Castelo, Portugal, 60 days & 1077km later.

A quiet morning...28/3/26

Four of us set six nets around the reed bed & feeders. It was pretty cold at the start, and as it warmed up the wind increased, so not ideal conditions. It proved to be a very quiet session, with only 12 birds caught, of which 9 were re-traps. Having low numbers is actually good for training as you can take the time to explain the various ageing features, and having re-traps is useful as you can check the accuracy of your conclusions against earlier records. So, although quiet, it was a very pleasant training session!

Our three Blackbirds were an interesting set. 

The first was an adult male (age code 6), ringed as an adult in August last year, which had a lovely uniform black plumage, apart from one white feather in the left wing. 

Adult male Blackbird

Uniform adult wing....with one white feather!

Next came an adult female Blackbird (age code 6), first ringed as an adult in October 2024, which had a nice uniform brown plumage. This bird had a large well defined brood patch (code BP2), so she's probably started or completed a clutch of eggs.

Adult female Blackbird

Adult female wing

Our third Blackbird was an un-ringed male, which had a very obvious moult limit, with the brown juvenile flight feathers & Primary Coverts contrasting with the new black feathers replaced as part of its post-juvenile moult.

Male Blackbird, hatched last year  (age code 5)

Wing of male Blackbird hatched last year (age code 5)

One of the other re-traps was a Blue Tit which had been ringed as a young bird in August 2022. The life expectancy of a Blue Tit is about 3 years, so it's already doing quite well.

	Ringed	Re-trapped
Chiffchaff	1	1
Blackbird	1	2
Wren		1
Dunnock		2
Sing Thrush		1
Blue Tit		2
Chaffinch	1
	3	9

Pastures New: A Ringing Away Day 25/2/26

The group was invited to ring on a farm in the Blackdown Hills where one of our members regularly rings. The farm is predominantly arable with areas of woodland. The ringing sites are well provisioned with bird feeders and these were all topped up for our visit. As there were seven of us we were able to set some 100 metres of net. We caught 194 birds in total. The majority were finches, attracted by the feeders, and of these siskin was the most numerous species followed by chaffinch and goldfinch.

This is a male siskin characterised by the dark crown.

This is the siskin from above. It is an age code 5 (born last year) showing new rounded adult tail feathers (1) together with the pointed feathers (2) that are yet to be replaced and is typical of an immature bird. This individual also shows one old and dull (3) and two new colourful tertial feathers (4).

These are two of the five Great-spotted Woodpeckers that we caught. The male with his crimson nape is shown above and the female with her black nape is shown below.

Later in the year we may catch a juvenile which has red crown unlike either the male or female adults.

Many Passerine species typically have pointed tail feathers in their first year of life. These are replaced by the rounded feathers of the adult. Above is the tail of a male greenfinch showing a pointed tail feather yet to be replaced by the adult form. This makes it an age code 5 (born last year). Interestingly, in this particular individual the juvenile feather has been retained since feathers are usually replaced from the centre outwards and so the outer tail feathers are usually the last to be replaced.

We caught two yellowhammers. We decided that the slightly more colourful bird on the left in this photo was a male and the other more streaked bird on the right a female.

Above is one the nine Lesser Redpoll that were caught. This male is characterised by his rose-coloured chest and bright crown while the female, below, is overall duller.

Of the 194 birds that wecaught 63% were new birds and 37% were re-traps.

Mist netting 17/2, Abberton Trap & African Recovery

On Tues 17th Feb, just Ian & myself had a session, setting 5 nets around the feeders & reeds near the Discovery Hut.  It was very quiet, but we did catch 16 birds of 9 species.

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackbird	1
Blue Tit		3
Chiffchaff	2
Great Tit		4
Long-tailed Tit		1
Mallard	1
Reed Bunting	1
Song Thrush	2
Treecreeper		1
	7	9

The two Song Thrushes were age code 5 (hatched last year) with 3 unmoulted Greater Coverts (see photo).

Song Thrush

Song Thrush wing, age code 5 (hatched last year)

During the last few sessions,  there's been quite a lot of standing (and running!) water near to the feeder nets & several pairs of Mallards have been milling about. This time Ian decided to try & encourage one into the net, and he succeeded, much to our excitement! The Group has a registered colour-ringing project targeting Mallard, which are in decline in the UK. As our Abberton duck trap was dismantled last year to allow the scrapes to be dredged, we'd not yet  managed to catch a Mallard & put on one of our rings. A metal BTO ring was put on the Mallard, followed by the first of our colour-rings. However, the glue we used to hold the ring at the right diameter wouldn't hold, so we had to remove it. Very disappointing, but at least we'd discovered the problem so can source a different type of glue before we catch any more. 

Ian, having just taken the female Mallard from the net

Very well behaved Mallard being fitted with a BTO ring

The colour ring that went on & then came off again! 

The Mallard was a female, and we aged it as a Code 5 (hatched last year), based on the presence of an old Tertial & the shape of the black tips on the Greater Coverts.

Mallard wing showing Speculum (blue Secondaries) & GCs

Mallard Tertials 

Although this Mallard went off without its colour ring, yesterday five of us spent five hours erecting the Abberton duck trap which had been removed last year. Doug had worked out what repairs were needed & came equipped with the materials & tools to make the necessary repairs, clear some reeds & assemble the trap. So, hopefully we'll soon be catching more Mallards & giving them colour rings. Watch this space!

Before.....

During.....

After!

On 18th Feb, we received an exciting report from the BTO about a Reed Warbler that had been ringed by the Group back on 22nd August last year. The bird had been caught that morning at the Kartong Bird Observatory in The Gambia! The bird had been hatched in 2025, and then flown at least 4365km to its wintering grounds. It's the first ever African recovery of a bird ringed by the Group. In an amazing coincidence, another Reed Warbler ringed on Salisbury Plain in August 2024 by Matt Prior was also caught at Kartong Bird Obs on the same morning....it was also his first African recovery.

Reed Warbler BBJ3329