Ripples to Reeds Event

On 25th April the Wetlands hosted the Ripples to Reeds event. This was a celebration of the nature in the River Axe catchment. Our ringing group was one of those that took part, manning a stall with displays about our activities.

We took the opportunity to combine this with a ringing session around the Discovery Hut which began at first light and continued until mid afternoon. We caught 42 birds of 10 species and brought a few of the birds across to our stall for the public to see. Ian Stanbridge, our Chairperson, made the following observations: “We did our ringing tucked away near the feeder nets. We caught well for so early in the spring. Particularly pleasing were the reed warblers and sand martins. The sand martins were collecting nesting material from the cut grass beside the path and we managed to catch three of the four in a net we put up there. All four were birds which were ringed last year as nestlings, so they are last year's juveniles returning after their first trip to Africa. We caught a good number of reed warblers, including a number of retraps, all ringed by ourselves, with the oldest bird one ringed on 19th May 2022.”

Here’s one of the sand martins that we caught

Sand martins complete a full moult before the breeding season and so we cannot age the birds from the appearance of the wing because all feathers are the same age. However, we know that the birds we caught were hatched last year since we ringed them as nestlings.

This is a Great Tit that we caught early on. It is a male because the belly is wholly black as opposed to the black and yellow belly of the female.

This is one of the Sedge Warblers that we captured. Like the Sand Martins Sedge Warblers moult before returning to the UK and cannot be accurately aged.

Visitors inspecting our mist net erected to catch the Sand Martins that were collecting nesting material and...

nearby, a male Reed Bunting with food for its young keeps a beady eye on our nets!