Titchfield Haven Ringing Group Update - September 2016

Since my last post things have not really improved in terms of our ringing totals for this year, and a spell of bad weather during September has meant that our ringing effort has also suffered. The graphs below illustrate our totals for the usual species for the period 7th July to 24th September for the years 2011 to 2016. We have at least had a few sessions where we have ringed over 100 birds, but generally the numbers of birds have remained low, and the overall total has now dropped below that of 2012, our previous worst year.

There have still been some highlights and the latest one was the capture of our first Brown long-eared bat. We have previously caught Pipistrelles and Daubenton's so it was nice to add a new species. Being a licenced bat worker and very experienced at extracting bats from mist nets it was left to me to extract it.

Brown Long-eared  Bat - Titchfield Haven

To make the graphs easier to interpret I have grouped similar species onto a graph rather than put them all on one. Sedge and Reed Warbler totals remain low and well below average; for the period 1998 to 2015 for the whole season for these two species the total is 841 and 459, respectively, so it is looking like Sedge will be down but Reed may end up around the average.

Sedge and Reed Warbler totals between 7th & 24th September 2011 - 2016

Chiffchaff migration is in full swing at present and the numbers are not looking too bad but Willow Warblers are all but over. We did catch one new Willow Warbler this weekend, but the total of 74 is unlikely to grow much more, which will make this year's total our 4th worst since 1998.

Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler totals between 7th & 24th September 2011 - 2016

The totals of the three species of Sylvia warbler are significantly lower than the average. For the period 7th - 24th the average is 116 for Whitethroat, 55 for Garden Warbler and 471 for Blackcap. For each of these three species the totals are 50% below average.

Whitethroat, Garden Warbler & Blackcap totals between 7th & 24th September 2011 - 2016

Both Cetti's Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler numbers are below average; the Grasshopper Warbler total is at least already higher than last year's total of 135 but is still 62% down on the average.

Cetti's Warbler and Grasshopper Warbler totals between 7th & 24th September 2011 - 2016

Overall, this year is the lowest total in the period 2011 to 2016 but as mentioned earlier our ringing effort is down. This year we have only managed to ring on 29 days compared with 39, 35, 34, 32 and 31 for the period 2011 to 2015.