There was a good turn out for today's mist netting session, with 9 members attending. The old 'feeders' area (where no feeders are currently in use), had been cut back by the Wetland volunteers, and Dave, the Wild East Devon ranger, had strimmed some great rides in the reeds. We therefore based ourselves in the Reed Base and set 7 nets to make use of the newly cleared areas. It was the first time that we've ringed in this area since September 2022.
We caught 36 birds of 12 species. The star bird was an unexpected Kingfisher, a female that was hatched this year.
Kingfisher: female as the red lower mandible is >1/3 of the bill length The brown tops of the feet indicate it was hatched this year
We caught 2 Blackcaps during the session. This male was hatched this year, as indicated by the small amount of brown in the black cap & the presence of 2 generations of feathers in the wing. The inner 9 Greater Coverts have been renewed since the bird hatched, and have a nice olive-grey edge. The outer Greater Covert is is an old feather, as are the Carpal Covert & Primary Coverts. These feathers are duller with a browner fringe, contrasting with the new Greater Coverts.
Blackcap male: black cap with small brown tips. Blackcap wing
It was a great session for Stonechats, as we caught 4 around the edges of the reed bed. All 4 birds had been hatched this year, 2 were male & 2 female. The male Stonechat below has no old Greater Coverts, but there is a clear contrast between the new black Greater Coverts & 2 upper Alula feathers, and the older brown Primary Coverts & lower Alula feather.
Male Stonechat, with black face & white neck
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| Male Stonechat wing |
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| Female Stonechat |
We caught 3 new Cetti's warblers, and re-trapped one that was originally ringed on 10/10/20 as a bird hatched that year, ie it is now 4 years old. He had also been caught on 17/4/21 & 18/11/21. The typical lifespan of a Cetti's is 2 years, so he's doing quite well, although the maximum known age from ringing is 9 years 3 months & 28 days. Hopefully we'll keep catching him until it reaches a ripe old age! I say 'he' as he could be sexed due to having a very long wing length of 66mm.
4 year old Cetti's Warbler Part of the Team in our luxury ringing base!
New | Re-trapped (date ringed) | |
Blackbird | 3 | |
Blackcap | 2 | |
Blue Tit | 6 | |
Cetti’s Warbler | 3 | 1 (10/10/20) |
Chiffchaff | 3 | |
Dunnock | 4 | |
Goldcrest | 1 | |
Kingfisher | 1 | |
Robin | 2 | 1 (27/8/22) |
Song Thrush | 1 | |
Stonechat | 4 | |
Wren | 3 | 1 (26/9/24) |
33 | 3 |
