No mist netting was scheduled by the Group until March, but as there were a few ringers available & the weather was looking good, we set up an extra session. It was a cold morning, so we were glad that we were able to use the Reed Base again, and set up 8 nets in the reeds and scrub in the vicinity.
It was quite slow at first, but as soon as the temperature rose allowing us to play tape lures of the smaller birds, we started catching. It actually turned into a good Chiffchaff day, as we caught 12, with one of the first being a bird that was already wearing a ring. The prefix of the ring number didn't seem familiar to anyone, and a quick check on the BTO database DemOn confirmed that the bird was a 'control' ie it hadn't been ringed by the Group. It's always exciting to catch a bird ringed elsewhere, after all, understanding bird movements is one of the main objectives of bird ringing. We'll have to wait to find out where the bird was ringed, although we know that it was ringed on 27/9/24 and was aged '3' ie hatched this year.
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| Control Chiffchaff |
One of the common means of ageing a bird is to look for a moult limit between different feather generations in the Greater Coverts. Having looked at hundreds of Goldcrest wings over the years hoping to find a moult limit & failing to find one, today was our lucky day! The photo isn't very good, but it is still possible to see the differently coloured feathers. The old outer Greater Coverts have a browner centre & a pale grey-green edge, whereas the newer inner Greater Coverts have a blacker centre & a darker green edge.
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| Goldcrest |
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| Goldcrest wing showing moult limit |
An 'Age UK' meeting was scheduled to take place in the Reed Base from 1030, led by ranger Penny. We'd arranged to share the hut & demonstrate our activities to the group. They were all enthusiastic & luckily we caught a nice variety of birds to show them. They were particularly pleased to see Cetti's warblers, as they are a bird usually heard & not seen. We caught 5, including the 4 year old bird that we caught at the last session.
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| Demonstrating ringing to the Age UK group. |
One of the last birds to be caught was a male Reed Bunting. They're always a bit tricky to age, and as often happens, we consulted the ringing guides, pondered, and then didn't age the bird as it was sending mixed messages!
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| Male Reed Bunting |
In total we caught 36 birds of 10 species.
Ringed | Re-trapped (date ringed) | Control | |
Blackbird | 2 | 2 (21/10/24) | |
Blue Tit | 2 | 2 (21/10/24) | |
Cetti’s Warbler | 3 | 2 (10/10/20, 26/9/24) | |
Chiffchaff | 11 | 1 (27/9/24) | |
Dunnock | 1 (21/10/24) | ||
Goldcrest | 3 | ||
Great Tit | 2 | ||
Reed Bunting | 1 | ||
Robin | 1 | ||
Wren | 2 | 1 (21/10/24) | |
27 | 8 | 1 |
