Four members of the Group were joined by Fiona, a Countryside Assistant with Wild East Devon, for a session in the 'Willows'. This area, which is quite close to the Discovery Hut, hasn't been ringed for quite some time. Severn nets were set, including one across the small brook which runs along the edge of the area, and a ringing base was set up in the pond-dipping shelter.
Ringing underway in the pond-dipping shelter.
It was rather windier than ideal, although better than had been forecast, and quite slow going with just a few birds each round. A Long-tailed Tit already wearing a ring turned out to have been originally ringed as a newly hatched bird on 9/8/21, by one of the Group present at this session, and to have been subsequently re-trapped on 18/11/21 & 19/1/22. The typical lifespan of a Long-tailed Tit is 2 years, so it's already doing fairly well, although it has a long way to go before reaching the maximum known age of 8 years & 11 months.
Long-tailed Tit first ringed 9/8/21
The undoubted stars of the show were two Grey Wagtails, caught in the net over the brook. The Group has only previously caught nine Grey Wagtails, the last one having been ringed in November 2019. Both birds were hatched this year. The birds were aged using the difference in colour between the Median Coverts, which had been moulted during the Post-juvenile Moult & were dark black, and the duller brown Greater Coverts, which were grown in the nest.
The first Grey Wagtail.
Feature used to age the Grey Wagtail as having been hatched this year (age code 3)
Underside of Grey Wagtail
Ringed | Re-trapped | |
Blackbird | 1 | |
Chiffchaff | 3 | |
Dunnock | 2 | |
Great Tit | 1 | |
Grey Wagtail | 2 | |
Long-tailed Tit | 4 | 1 |
Robin | 1 | |
Wren | 3 | |
17 | 1 |
