Mist netting 18/11/2025

In order to beat the forecast rain, the group's most recent session was again organised around the shelter of the Discovery Hut. Five nets were set: two in the feeders area, two in the central reed bed and the fifth on the south side of the reeds. The morning was cold, there were few birds about and so our initial catches were low. We caught the first of our reed buntings and the first of the fourteen blue tits that were to be caught throughout the morning. We put up a sixth net in reeds behind the pond that it visible from the Discovery Hut. Our catches picked up from about 9am, presumably because birds were then foraging more widely with the increased temperature, and we had a good number of birds in short succession including five goldcrests and a song thrush - a species that we dont catch frequently at the wetlands.

Above: songthrush showing the rufous under-wing coverts, normally only visible in flight. Compare this with the very much brighter under wing of the Redwing (below) in which the red colouration extends down from the wing and into the flanks, making the red visible in the field.

After another quiet spell numbers again picked up from about 11am including a handful of reed buntings, several blue tits - both new birds and retraps - and a solitary goldfinch which was lured in to the nets with a goldfinch tape.

This is a male goldfinch. The red feathers on the head extend behind the eye. In females the red colouration does not go beyond the eye. The nasal bistles are black, which is a male feature. Females have brown bristles. Goldfinches, like most finches, have a thick bill that is adapted for breaking open seeds and cereals. They use their tongues to manipulate the seed in to position so that it can be cracked open and the kernels can be eaten. Finches will often monopolise bird seed feeders because they can feed on one seed after another, whereas less specialised species, such as tits, have to take each seed away and peck at it to open the shell.

Here is a bird with a very different bill. This is a wren and their bills are fine and pointed for winkling out insects and grubs from nooks and crannies. The wing of this individual shows it to be this year's bird: the rufous old greater coverts are juvenile feathers which have yet to be replaced by the greyer coverts of the adult plumage.

Here is another bird that was hatched this year, this time a blue tit. The greenish coloured primary coverts are those of a young bird and have yet to be replaced by the blue feathers of the adult plumage.

The session concluded with a min-flurry of blackbirds, one of which is having it's wing measurement taken in the photo above. Blackbirds are good to see because their numbers have been reduced as a result of the mosquito-borne Usutu virus which was first recorded in Britain in London in 2020 and which has subsequently spread across southern England. More information about the disease can be found here: www.bto.org/our-work/news/press/much-loved-songbird-threatened-mosquito-borne-virus. We began taking down the nets at about 1pm as the first of the day's showers arrived having caught 51 birds of 13 species.

Mist netting 2/11/25

Although the latest session was scheduled for 3rd or 4th November, the forecast weather was so bad that we brought it forward to Sunday 2nd.  We met at the Discovery Hut at 630, and although the session was meant to take place at Colyford Common, as the forecast still wasn't ideal, we set nets near the Hut so we'd have shelter if needed. As it turned out, it was a lovely morning!

We set six nets, four in the reed bed & two near the feeders. We caught a total of 67 birds of 13 species. Due to the fact that we've ringed regularly in the area recently, 18 of the birds were retraps, having been ringed at previous sessions on the site. 

The Team ringing in the Discovery Hut

View from the Hut of the reed beds where the nets are set .....note the blue sky!

Goldcrests, along with Firecrests, are the UK's smallest birds. They're also quite tricky to age.  The shape of the tail and the colour of the edge of the central alula feather are two features to check. However, there is a lot of individual variation, which often makes it difficult to assign a definite age. It was therefore great to retrap a Goldcrest that had been ringed on 15/11/24, allowing us to say that it was definitely an adult. The tail is relatively rounded, and the central alula feather has quite a green edge, both features expected of an adult. 

A Goldcrest. The orange coloured crown stripe shows it to be a male (it would be yellow in a female)

The rounded tail of the adult Goldcrest (age code 4)

Alula of adult Goldcrest

We also caught our third ever Firecrest, the differences between this male & the male Goldcrest shown above are obvious....it has a much more striking face pattern, with the bold white stripe over the eye, and the bold black eye-stripe.

Male Firecrest

Another rarely caught bird at the Wetlands is the Magpie.....and we caught the Groups fifth during the session. It was rather feisty! Using a number of features, the bird was given an age code of 3 (ie hatched this year). One of the features used was the amount of black on the second primary feather. In an adult the white area would extend further towards the tip. 

Robin ringing the Magpie

The magpie's wing 

The Magpie about to be released.

After a session on 25/9/25 a photo was posted showing the pattern found on the crown feathers of a male Reed Bunting (https://axeestuaryringinggroup.blogspot.com/2025/10/mist-netting-25th-sept.htm). The pattern found on a female Reed Bunting is shown below. The more pointed shape of the black centre means that as the feather wears over winter,  the head will retain a more brown colour than in the male. 

Pattern of crown feather on female Reed Bunting

The weather was much better than predicted, and we were very pleased with the catch. 

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackcap	3
Blue Tit	5	5
Cetti’s Warbler	1	2
Chaffinch	1	1
Chiffchaff	19
Dunnock	3	5
Firecrest	1
Goldcrest	1	1
Great Tit	1	1
Magpie	1
Reed Bunting	13
Robin		1
Wren		2
	49	18

The previous all-day session held on 16/10/25 will appear on the blog at some stage! 

Mist netting 5th October

The largest team we've had in ages assembled at the Discovery Hut at 0630 with the intention of ringing in the 'cropfield' at Colyford Common. We loaded the kit onto a wheelbarrow & were just about to leave when the heavens opened. We decided to stay in the vicinity of the Discovery Hut in case of further showers, so put up nets in the usual areas around the reed beds & feeder area. 

We caught 60 birds of 12 species, with Reed Bunting being by far the most numerous bird. We'll be targeting Reed Buntings over the winter, so it will be interesting to see if we retrap any of them.

Most of the Reed Buntings were juveniles, but there were a few adults. Ageing is quite difficult, and our decisions were mostly based on tail shape & wear. 

Reed Buntings

Left: rounded adult tail in good condition. Right: pointed, worn juvenile tail 

Each bird caught is aged & sexed if possible, and the basic biometrics of wing length & weight are taken. Wrens can be a challenge to extract from the mist net used to catch them, and can also be a challenge to age. This wren was hatched this year & luckily had an obvious moult limit, ie the point between two generations of feathers. The Old Greater Coverts (OGCs) grown in the nest are a more rufous colour  than the new, more bronzy coloured Greater Coverts which have been replaced the juvenile coverts as part of the post-juvenile moult. 

Measurement of a Wren's wing length

Wing of juvenile Wren (age code 3)

We play the songs and/or calls of birds we hope to catch in order to try & improve our chances of catching them. We hadn't caught a Reed or Sedge Warbler since 25th Sept, so their songs had been removed from the lures. However, we caught one of each during this session, which is very late in the season to do so. 

A very late Sedge Warbler (Photo: Brendan Shiels)

Most of the Team, hard at work at the Discovery Hut

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackcap	3
Blue Tit	4	2
Cetti’s Warbler	2	1
Chiffchaff	5	1
Dunnock	2	1
Goldcrest	4
Reed Bunting	27
Reed Warbler	1
Robin		2
Sedge Warbler	1
Stonechat	2	1
Wren	1
	52	8

Mist netting 2nd October

On Thursday 2nd October a very small team set 6 nets around the reed bed & feeders near the Discovery Hut. It was a very busy session, with a Woodpigeon blundering into a net before we'd finished putting them up. We caught a total 65 birds of 18 species. As we've ringed in the vicinity of the Discovery Hut quite a lot recently, 16 of the birds had been ringed during earlier sessions.

We caught two Meadow Pipits in the reed bed. More than that went in the net, but they're very good at getting out again before we can get to them. Both birds had been hatched this year (age code 3). The birds were aged using the two generations of Greater Coverts present in the wings. Most of the coverts were quite pale edged, these were grown in the nest. One inner covert had been replaced as part of the post-juvenile moult, and this feather was longer & olive-edged. The Tertials also had pale edges & were quite tatty, so these were also the feathers that had been grown in the nest. 

Meadow Pipit

Wing of Meadow Pipit (age code 3)

We've done very well for Kingfishers so far this year, & we caught two during this session, one new & one that had been ringed on 3/8/25. The new bird was a female hatched this year, as shown by the large amount  of red on the bottom mandible, & the dark brown colouration on the top of the feet. 

Young female Kingfisher

We haven't caught many Great Spotted Woodpeckers recently, so it was nice to catch one that had probably been feeding on peanuts in the small woodland feeder. Due to the risk of disease, we don't keep the feeders filled permanently, but just top them up for the few days before a ringing session. They're always very feisty & it's unusual to process one without blood flowing....ours not theirs! This bird had red feathers on the back of its head, which indicates that it's a male & two generations of feathers in the wing, indicating that it was hatched this year (age code 3)

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker

Bird of the day though was a gorgeous Firecrest. They've become more common in England in recent years, but this is only the second ever caught on the Seaton Wetlands, the first having been caught on 5th November 2019. Although there was some orange in the crown stripe, we decided it would have been brighter in a male, & therefore we provisionally sexed this as female. The tail was very pointed, as were the alula feathers, which also had very pale edges, so therefore this appears to be a bird hatched this year (age code 3). 

Young Female Firecrest

Young female Firecrest

It had been a very successful morning. Although this wasn't officially a public session, we'd drawn quite a crowd, and they were also very pleased to see the Firecrest. 

The session turned into a bit of a public demo!

	Ringed	Retrapped
Blackbird		1
Blackcap	2
Blue Tit	3	5
Cetti’s Warbler	3	1
Chaffinch	1	2
Chiffchaff	15	1
Dunnock	3	4
Firecrest	1
Great Spotted Woodpecker	1
Great Tit	2
Kingfisher	1	1
Long-tailed Tit	2
Meadow Pipit	2
Reed Bunting	3
Robin	3
Song Thrush	1
Wood Pigeon	1
Wren	5	1
	49	16