Fabulous photos....mist netting 10/11th May

A small group of us had two very early mornings mist netting around the Discovery Hut on Sunday 10th & Monday 11th May, and also ringing the first two broods of Sand Martins in the Sand Martin cliff. We were pleased to be joined on both days by Jimmy Irwin, a professional photographer who has just started a long term project centred on bird ringing activities. He will be working with various other ringers, but as the first, we  were able to give him an introduction to the practice. So sit back & enjoy Jimmy's fabulous photos!

And one of mine.... Jimmy photographing the ringing of the First brood of Sand Martins of 2026. 

10th May	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackbird		1
Reed Warbler	4	5
Robin	1	2
Song Thrush		1
Wren		1
	5	10

11th May	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackbird	2	2
Blackcap	1
Cetti’s Warbler		2
Dunnock		1
Reed Warbler	3	9
Sand Martin	1	1
Sedge Warbler	3
Wren		1
	10	16

First juveniles of the year - mist netting the Crop Field area, 8th May

A team of three early risers set nets around the reed bed and crop field areas of the Wetlands and were soon joined by four more.  One of the first birds in the nets was our first juvenile bird to be ringed of the year - a robin.  I am very fond of these birds as they initially look very little like their parents in terms of their plumage, and then gradually moult into something much more similar.  This particularly bird was still very much in juvenile spotty plumage, with just a very few feathers in pin.  

Also quite early on we caught a greater spotted woodpecker.  We don't catch too many of these birds so it was a nice surprise. Though they are an attractive and interesting bird they are also very noisy and inclined to peck (perhaps unsurprisingly).  Just as we do for almost all our captures, we record biometrics, in this case the wing length is being measured.

This bird is a male, as the back of its head has a red stripe.  This is perhaps  more clearly seen on this picture.

 

Other species caught included linnet and house sparrow, which we rarely encounter in other areas of the reserve.

We also caught three Cetti's warblers which are one of our target species.  I am often reminded of how similar the head of a Cetti's warbler is to a wren. 

This is a Cetti's warbler...  

And here is a wren...

Potentially the highlight bird, which I have no picture of, was a greenfinch which was already ringed, but not with one of our rings, so potentially an interesting recovery.  We await the original ringing details with interest!

Overall a most enjoyable morning with a good number of birds and a good variety of species.  The full list is in the table below.

And thank you to Bev for most of the pictures on today's post!

News from behind the sand martin wall - 29th April 2026

I had the pleasure of joining Doug behind the sand martin wall for a full survey of the nesting holes.  While I did some of the ringing last year, and have helped out a little on a few occasions, I did not have a chance to join in with a full survey last year.

The process is very efficient and gives great data for nest record submissions, as well as to know when we need to be on hand to ring the pulli.  The holes are generally surveyed twice in a week, with a full survey once a week and a survey of the known active holes on a second day.  An endoscope is used to check each nest through a small port in the back of each nest hole so we do not need to visit the front of the wall, and so there is minimal disturbance.

We found 101 nest holes with well formed nests, which compares with 89 holes which were used in 2025.  There were 59 nests with eggs and 41 holes containing substantial amounts of nesting material but no eggs as yet.  There are a further 23 nests cavities with some blades of grass which may be the beginnings of a new nest.  The final nest (for those of you adding up as we go along!) has the first chick hatched of the year!  

This bird obviously hatched on the day and we will see on the next survey how many of the other eggs have hatched.

Ripples to Reeds Event

On 25th April the Wetlands hosted the Ripples to Reeds event. This was a celebration of the nature in the River Axe catchment. Our ringing group was one of those that took part, manning a stall with displays about our activities.

We took the opportunity to combine this with a ringing session around the Discovery Hut which began at first light and continued until mid afternoon. We caught 42 birds of 10 species and brought a few of the birds across to our stall for the public to see. Ian Stanbridge, our Chairperson, made the following observations: “We did our ringing tucked away near the feeder nets. We caught well for so early in the spring. Particularly pleasing were the reed warblers and sand martins. The sand martins were collecting nesting material from the cut grass beside the path and we managed to catch three of the four in a net we put up there. All four were birds which were ringed last year as nestlings, so they are last year's juveniles returning after their first trip to Africa. We caught a good number of reed warblers, including a number of retraps, all ringed by ourselves, with the oldest bird one ringed on 19th May 2022.”

Here’s one of the sand martins that we caught

Sand martins complete a full moult before the breeding season and so we cannot age the birds from the appearance of the wing because all feathers are the same age. However, we know that the birds we caught were hatched last year since we ringed them as nestlings.

This is a Great Tit that we caught early on. It is a male because the belly is wholly black as opposed to the black and yellow belly of the female.

This is one of the Sedge Warblers that we captured. Like the Sand Martins Sedge Warblers moult before returning to the UK and cannot be accurately aged.

Visitors inspecting our mist net erected to catch the Sand Martins that were collecting nesting material and...

nearby, a male Reed Bunting with food for its young keeps a beady eye on our nets!

Crop Field Ringing 19th April - Breeding is under way!

We had our first session of the breeding season down in the crop field area.  It was a very cold start but developed into a particularly beautiful day weather wise (though a little too bright and sunny for ideal ringing conditions), as you can see from a picture of the busy team for the day (minus myself). 

I had cleared some new rides in the Colyford Common reed bed for us to use and we set nets in our usual areas otherwise.  The reed beds are still a little quiet as yet, but the new rides did catch us a few birds including a reed warbler, one of our target species, and a swallow.  Overall it was quite a productive day for the four of us, with a good mixture of birds including some we don't catch particularly frequently which is nice, especially when they may be locally breeding.  

Our total for today, of 41 birds encountered, is given in the table.

	New Birds	Retraps	Total
Blackbird	1		1
Blue Tit	1		1
Cetti's Warbler	2	2	4
Chaffinch	2		2
Chiffchaff	4		4
Dunnock	4		4
Great Tit	3	3	6
Greenfinch	2		2
House Sparrow	1		1
Linnet	2		2
Long Tailed Tit	1	1	2
Reed Bunting		1	1
Reed Warbler		1	1
Robin	3	1	4
Sedge Warbler	1		1
Stonechat		2	2
Swallow	1		1
Wren	2		2
Total	30	11	41

As always at this time of year we are looking for signs that the birds are breeding locally.  We check the birds for signs of cloacal protuberance and/or brood patches.  We can use cloacal protuberance to relatively easily sex some of the birds as male, and we can use the extent of the brood patch to sex some birds as female.  We also look for these indicators in birds we can sex by plumage so we have some idea whether they are breeding in the area or are passing through, perhaps still migrating north.

The picture below shows a greenfinch we have sexed as female based on her plumage with a very obvious and clearly defined brood patch.

Cetti's warblers cannot be sexed on plumage differences, but one we caught we thought might show signs of having cloacal protuberance, but we were not certain, so released it unsexed and watched it fly into the reeds 5 yards away and then sing loudly to us!

The unusual birds for us included the two linnets, which we catch one or two of per year.  The bird on the right, though with very little pink colouration, is a male, while the bird on the left is female.  They were caught side by side in the same net.  The female was starting to develop a brood patch, though there was no sign of cloacal protuberance on the male.

Similarly swallow is a bird we might expect one or two a year, though I always think we should perhaps get more as they skim over the reeds. 

The sex of a swallow can be determined by the relative lengths of the tail feathers. A male has longer 'streamers' which is effectively the length of the outer most tail feather. We measure the difference in length between the outer feather and the feather next to it and/or the shortest tail feather. This bird has relatively short streamers and was sexed as female.

Stonechat feel as if they are increasing in numbers, and we have a pair or two breeding.  The stonechats we caught today were both male, but there was also a female collecting nesting material just by where we were ringing.

House sparrows are very nice to catch, and this area is one where we might expect to catch at least one most sessions.  They travel down from the local houses (in the back of the linnet photograph) to feed in the grassy area in the old crop field and are readily caught moving between bramble bushes or in the gateway between two hedges. 

Another interesting record was a reed bunting which we caught for a second time, having caught it initially in the reed bed by the Discovery Hut during one of our evening roost catches.  This suggests this bird does not move much!  It was showing signs of breeding and we also saw a female collecting nesting material.

So overall a very interesting session which gave us some good indications as to what is happening in that area of the reserve.  We will be visiting again shortly so will keep you updated!