Barred Warbler again

I woke early this morning and as I knew Barry was ringing again decided to nip down the the Haven before work. I don't know why, but just had a feeling that I ought to. The conditions were perfect for ringing, but the clear overnight conditions didn't bode well for the Barred Warbler still being there, but I did it all the same. There was an early flurry of activity with the a handful of Grasshopper Warblers, loads of Blackcaps and a scattering of other species in the first round. The same theme continued for the second round until we got to the jetty net, and there it was, the Barred Warbler. It was pretty much in the area where it had been released, which unfortunately is not really viewable from anywhere, not even our ringing area, so will be tough to pin down in the field.

The bird had lost weight from when it was originally caught two days ago, and had no fat and a muscle score of 1. In this condition I suspect it will need to feed up before moving on. Based on the colour of my hands after handling it, it has been gorging itself on blackberries, so may fatten up quite quickly.

It was a first winter bird with a grey iris as opposed to the yellow one of an adult. The large bill, with pale pink basel part of the lower mandible was extremely prominent. The wing coverts and tertials were pale fringed but not a prominently as some that I have seen, but overall it was a cracking bird. I think you can imagine how pleased I was to catch up with it.

Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven

Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven

Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven

Barred Warbler tail - note the shorter, greyer and pale tipped adult feather
contrasting with the other juvenile feathers

Barred Warbler - undertail coverts showing darker centres with pale fringing

Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven 8th September 2015

I has a strange feeling today that something good was going to be caught at the Haven, I don't know why, but just had a sixth sense. Barry was ringing and Duncan and I were both at work, but I kept my phone close just is case. 

Unbeknown to me Barry was feeling quietly optimistic, with south easterly winds and clear overnight skies, conditions were perfect for an arrival of autumn migrants. We have been  hoping for something big, after the Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler of last year and the influx of Western Bonelli's Warblers and Barred Warblers throughout the country this year and we (well Barry) were not disappointed. 

Barry quotes "As first light came at 5.30am the low scrub and reeds in our ringing area was alive with the calls of newly arrived warblers, mainly Blackcaps, Sedge Warblers and Reed Warblers, with lesser numbers of Chiffchaffs, Whitethroats and the trickling liquid calls of Grasshopper Warblers. Then whilst carrying out a net round at 8.45am, shortly before ending the morning's session, we came across a large warbler among a number of Blackcaps high up in one of the nets.  Identification was not immediate as the sun was in our eyes but on lowering the net for extracting the birds we were pleased to find the Haven's first Barred Warbler."

Barred Warbler - Titchfield Haven (Photo: B Duffin)

Unfortunately, at this point I was away from my phone and missed the text; being only 10 minutes away I could have easily have made it.

Not only is this the first recorded at the Haven, but also it is the first ever ringed in Hampshire, and a species that would have been new for me in the County........as you can imagine I was gutted to have missed it.

Bringing up the half century, Bird Ringing and the Barred Warbler on Portland

It has been a bit of a milestone for me this week in that I celebrated my 50th birthday, as a result much of my time has been spent on social events, or recovering from them! That said I have still been able to get in a couple of ringing sessions, and also a visit to Portland Bill to catch up with the Barred Warbler.

The first session was on Friday 12th December, I met Rob at Curbridge in the hope of catching some Goldcrests and Firecrests. Unfortunately we didn't succeed on the Firecrest front but did catch five Goldcrests and a couple of Blue Tits. After Curbridge we headed to Manor Farm Country Park, to set nets for the following morning, but left the nets open for a while just in case. A Treecreeper was the only notable capture, the other seven birds were a re-trap Goldcrest, five Long-tailed Tits and a Great Tit.

Eurasian Treecreeper

The morning of Saturday 13th December was cold, with a light frost, which fortunately hadn't frozen my furled nets. I was joined by Rob and Megan for a pre-dawn start, but was on a tight deadline as I had to be home by 11am. The pre-dawn start proved well worth the effort as we caught seven Redwing on the first round, with a further seven caught throughout the session. In total we caught 28 birds, which other than the 14 Redwing included two Blackbirds, one Song Thrush, eight House Sparrows, four of which were retraps and single Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Dunnock.

After a night away in Dorset I decided to pop into the bird observatory on Portland to look for the wintering Barred Warbler. I arrived expecting the bird to be performing well, as it had been for the last week, but chose the time when it decided not to show for about an hour and a half. Eventually, though it was back in the apple laden Sycamore in the Obs garden. It was a very active bird which rather than sitting and feeding on one apple, jumped around sampling a piece of each one that was on offer. It had one of its outer tail feathers hanging off, but otherwise was a very smart bird, performing much better than the usual skulkers that I have seen. I am embarrassed to admit that this is the first Barred Warbler that I have seen in the UK for many years, so it was good to catch up with this bird. My most recent Barred Warblers have been spring birds that I have encountered whilst guiding for Ornitholidays in Turkey.

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Barred Warbler - Portland Bird Observatory

Farewell to 2011 and Turkish Memories

Well there it is, the end of 2011 and the end of my first year of blogging. It has been an interesting year for me which included record numbers of birds ringed at Titchfield Haven, and foreign trips to Crete, Portugal and Turkey; I hope you have enjoyed my posts. I had hoped to complete two more updates from the Turkey trip, but just ran out of time, and so I thought I would end the year with a few random pictures of that trip.

In summary, I was the co-guide on a trip to central and southern Turkey for Ornitholidays. The trip included stops in four main areas, some of which I have reported on previously. This post summarises the latter part of the trip where we birded around Birecik and Gaziantep, and a few places in between.

Bald Ibis - Birecik

Bald Ibis were very easy to see around Birecik, and at times were very confiding, whilst the scrub outside the Ibis centre sheltered migrants such as Barred and Garden Warbler.

Barred Warbler - Birecik

Great Reed Warblers were very vocal and surprisingly visible at Tabaklar Fishponds.....

Great Reed Warbler - Tabaklar Fish Ponds

                                                    ......and excellent views of Pied and White-throated Kingfishers were gained here and at Kirmitli Bird Paradise.

Pied Kingfisher - Kirmitli Bird Paradise

The reservoir at Nizip added a few new species to the trip list, with the most surprising being a flock of 8 Red-necked Phalarope......

Red-necked Phalarope - Nizip

                                   ..................and the nearby pistachio fields proved to be a popular feeding place for a large flock of Yellow-throated and Dead Sea Sparrows.

Yellow-throated Sparrow - Nizip

The scrubby valleys and olive groves on the outskirts of Gaziantep were a personal highlight for me since they provided out first views of White-throated Robin....and what a way to start, two cracking males!

White-throated Robin - Gaziantep

  

White-throated Robin - Gaziantep

Whilst watching the White-throated Robins, Long-legged Buzzards circled over head, and then settled on a cliff ledge above, where they were nesting. Cinereous Buntings, Olive-tree Warblers and both Western and Eastern Rock Nuthatches were also recorded.

Long-legged Buzzard - Gaziantep

Other species recorded in the valleys included Isabelline, Black-eared and Finch's Wheatears.....

Isabelline Wheatear - Gaziantep

                                             

                                                                .....and a trip specially in the form of Kurdish Wheatear.

Kurdish Wheatear - Gaziantep

The trip ended with a trip to the local park in the centre of Birecik where we were able to locate the much sought after Pallid Scops Owl.

Pallid Scops Owl - Birecik

And so that brings me to the end of my last post of 2011, a Happy New Year to all my readers and if you fancy meeting up in Turkey next year check out the Ornitholidays website  http://www.ornitholidays.co.uk/details.asp?id=312 as I hope to be guiding this trip again next year.