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

Mist netting 25th Sept.

On Thurs 25th Sept a team met at the Discovery Hut at 0630. We set seven nets around the feeders & reed bed to the east of the hut. It was quite quiet compared to recent sessions, although still productive compared to this time last year. We caught a total of 42 birds of 13 species.

On 26th Set last year we caught a Cetti's warbler which we aged as an adult using a number of criteria (https://axeestuaryringinggroup.blogspot.com/2024/09/). At this session we caught a Cetti's warbler which had been hatched this year, showing two generations of feathers in its Undertail Coverts. The feathers that had been replaced as part of the post-juvenile moult were in good condition with pale tips, whereas the juvenile feather was a more chestnut shade of brown, tatty, with no pale tip. 

Cetti's warbler

Cetti's warbler Undertail Coverts. Age Code 3 (hatched this year)

We caught two Reed Buntings, which are often quite difficult to age. The first one was a new bird, which we decided was an adult male. Male Reed Buntings acquire their black heads as the brown feather tips wear off over the winter. This male was still largely showing a brown head, but the shape of the black centre of the feathers show that the brown will wear to show black. The grey feathers on the rump also confirm that it's a male. The relatively rounded tail feathers in good condition & warm brown eye indicate that this is an adult bird. 

Male Reed Bunting

The head feathers of the male Reed Bunting. The black centre on a female would be more pointed. 

Relatively rounded tail feathers in good condition. 

The second Reed Bunting was a retrap. Being able to check when a bird was ringed is useful for confirming the age of a bird, and helps the learning process. We decided that this bird was also an adult male & this time we were able to check to see if we were right. We were! The bird had been ringed as a male on 12/1/25 during an evening roost session, as a bird hatched in 2024 (age code 5). The head showed  more black than the earlier bird, and the grey rump feathers are also a male feature. 

Retrapped adult male Reed Bunting

 

The tail wasn't quite as rounded as the last bird, but was in good condition. 

It was nice to catch a Stonechat, a male hatched this year (age code 3). The bird was aged using the difference in colour between the black Greater Coverts that had been replaced in the post-juvenile moult & the browner & more frayed Primary Coverts. The broad pale fringe at the tip of the Primary Coverts is also a juvenile feature.

Male Stonechat

Wing of the Stonechat

Mariana joined us again from the Zoological Society of London to take samples to test for Usutu & West Nile virus. Samples taken during her earlier visit on 17th June were negative for both viruses. (https://axeestuaryringinggroup.blogspot.com/2025/06/)

Mariana taking samples

The Team 

	New	Retrapped
Blackcap	3
Blue Tit		1
Cetti’s Warbler	4	2
Chiffchaff	12
Dunnock	2	1
Goldcrest	3
Great Tit		2
Kingfisher	1
Reed Bunting	1	1
Reed Warbler	5
Sedge Warbler	1
Stonechat	1
Wren	1	1
	34	8