Titchfield Haven - End of August Update 2014

This weeks ringing activities ended with a decidedly mixed weekend. Saturday started with strong winds and heavy rain whereas Sunday was still and calm after a clear night. We had planned one of our public events on the Saturday morning and were on the verge of calling it off when the rained eased and the wind dropped. The adverse overnight weather was not ideal for a good ringing total but that did mean that we had time to discuss the birds we caught in detail with our guests. We struggled to a total of only 37 birds which included Sedge (8), Reed (8), Grasshopper (2) and Cetti's Warblers (1), Whitethroats (8) and Blackcaps (4). As with most ringing sessions there is usually a stand out species and this sessions was a stunning juvenile male Eurasian Sparrowhawk. This was the first Sparrowhawk we have ringed this year and it certainly proved to be a crowd pleaser.

Juvenile Male Eurasian Sparrowhawk

It is relatively straight forward to age and sex Sparrowhawks, males are much smaller than females and therefore biometric measurements of a wing or tarsus can determine sex. Age is determined by the presence of chestnut fringing to the upper parts and bold heart shaped markings on the underparts. The iris colour is described as grey-olive in Baker (1993) for a first winter, becoming bright yellow, sometimes with a hint of orange in a second winter. This individual had a bright yellow iris which may suggest it was from an early brood. For comparison I have included an image of a second winter male that ringed in December 2012.

Second winter male ringed in December 2012 

In the image below the heart shaped tips to the feathers on the underparts are clearly evident as is the chestnut fringing on the subsequent images.

Juvenile Sparrowhawk showing heart shaped tips

Juvenile male Sparrowhawk showing broad chestnut fringing to upperparts

Juvenile male Sparrowhawk showing broad chestnut fringing to upper parts and tail

By contrast Sunday can only be described as a bit manic. The previous nights weather had evidently halted migration for a while and birds were desperate to get going. Our total was an excellent 324 birds including Sedge (108), Reed (49) and Grasshopper Warblers (40). Blackcaps had evidently started to move with 80 ringed, and Common Whitethroat numbers remained strong with another 14 ringed. Other species included a further 15 Willow Warblers, eight Chiffchaff, two Garden Warblers and our first Pied Flycatcher of the year.

I have updated the graph and table which compares this years total up to the 31st August with those of 14th September for the years 2010 to 2013. The outstanding total remains that of Willow Warbler which is evidently a record year for us. All the other key migrant species also appear to have had a good breeding seasons with the majority of the totals being above average and some, such as Reed and Cetti's Warblers already being above of close to the September 14th totals of previous years.

Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I have been making some changes. One of those changes in the addition of a new page which provides some recent recoveries from the Haven, which is viewable by clicking on the tab at the top of the page.

The First Common Cuckoo ever ringed at Titchfield Haven - July 2014

The title pretty much gives away what the highlight of our first bird ringing session of the autumn at the Haven was today, and so I'll start this blog with a picture of it, a juvenile Common Cuckoo. It was a welcome reward for our hard work cutting in the net rides over the last week and the first Common Cuckoo ever ringed at the Haven.

Juvenile Common Cuckoo

The morning began with a 4am start and as usual our nets were set low in the hope of catching Grasshopper Warblers. Our quest started well and we started the season with nine new Grasshopper Warblers, all of them juveniles.

Juvenile Grasshopper Warbler (yellow form)

We caught most (six) of the Grasshopper Warblers in the first round, but added the odd single throughout the morning. The rounded tail shape is typical of the genus Locustella but the dark streaks along the shaft of the under tail coverts can be very variable in their extent.

Under-tail Coverts and Tail of Grasshopper Warbler

It was whilst extracting one of the Grasshopper Warblers that we heard an odd call. We recognised it as a juvenile begging call, but couldn't work out what it was, that is until we saw a Cuckoo fly over the top of the reeds. The very next round the bird, or another, was in the net. The bird was clearly still dependant on its unfortunate parents, who happened to be a pair of Reed Warblers, as its wing feathers had not fully grown. According to the BTO website the average wing length is 219mm, this birds wing was only 137mm. This was the first cuckoo I have ever had the pleasure to handle, other than a dead Yellow-billed Cuckoo that was found in Woolston, nr Southampton, many years ago. It was a truly stunning bird with heavily chestnut barred upper parts and strongly barred underparts. Most of the upper parts were pale fringed and the white nape patch, typical of a juvenile bird was clearly visible. The gape was a deep orange colouration, and was striking. After release the bird moved around the ringing area begging constantly, its busy parents in constant attendance.

Juvenile Common Cuckoo

Juvenile Common Cuckoo

Juvenile Common Cuckoo

Juvenile Common Cuckoo

Juvenile Common Cuckoo

A Common Kingfisher would have normally been a good candidate for bird of the session, but on this occasion the juvenile had to make do with the runners up spot. This bird was clearly a juvenile as the front of its tarsus and upper foot was brown and there were dark smudges on the breast, that almost formed a band. In colouration this individual was quite dull, the we considered that the crown feathers were more green-blue, than blue-green, making it a female, but this was the first of the year so we didn't sex it.

Juvenile Kingfisher

Juvenile Kingfisher

A juvenile Reed Bunting was another good bird for us at this location. This individual was sexed as a female due to the pattern and lack of black in the crown and throat feathers. Other species captured included Reed, Sedge and Cetti's Warbler, Blackcap and Whitethroat, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.

Juvenile Reed Bunting (female)

A canary yellow Willow Warbler was the first of the autumn, and hopefully will be the first of many. They certainly appear to have had a good breeding season at Botley Wood.

Juvenile Willow Warbler

We have often had discussions about ageing Cetti's Warblers. Swensson suggests that there are no plumage differences between adult and juveniles, but adults undergo a complete moult post breeding, whereas juveniles undergo a partial mount. In most passerines this would mean that juvenile greater coverts are retained and thus a difference should be visible. A couple of years ago I read a paper that suggested this was indeed the case and we started looking and ageing birds based on this feature. Given the generally plain plumage, good light is needed to see the feature, but it is visible in some individuals. Today we ringed five Cetti's Warblers, one of which was undergoing its post juvenile moult and had retained two of its greater coverts. It will be interesting to see whether this feather is picked up throughout the autumn as we re-trap this bird, which we will undoubtedly do.

Cetti's Warbler Wing

The session finished with 74 birds ringed of 15 species; Reed Warbler (21), Grasshopper Warbler (9), Sedge Warbler (9), Chiffchaff (9), Blackcap (6), Cetti's Warbler (5), Wren (4), Whitethroat (3), Robin (2) and single Cuckoo, Kingfisher, Blue Tit, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest and Reed Bunting. Let's hope it's not all downhill from here.

Titchfield Haven Bird Ringing Update - 21st October 2012

This weekends ringing had a very, late autumn, end of season feel about it, with the numbers of birds and diversity of species, much lower than they have been during August and September. The acro's have now gone, we did not catch a single reed or sedge warbler, and the same with groppers. Our gropper total ended on 360 birds, the third most numerous species ringed, with sedge warbler (635) and blackcap (368 so far), the two most numerous species. The gropper total is the fourth highest ever for the site, with the previous highest being the three preceding years, 950 (2011), 569 (2009) and 463 (2010). In the last 14 seasons we have ringed a total of 4019 groppers, which is an astonishing total seeing as in the previous 25 years only 18 birds were ringed.

Yellow-browed Warbler (B. S. Duffin)

As I mentioned in my last post, Friday began with a bit of excitement as a yellow-browed warbler was one of the first birds extracted. A cracking juvenile bird, in very fresh plumage and only the third to be ringed at the Haven. Saturday also began with a bit of excitement, although not the same rarity value as yellow-browed, but another firecrest. This is our fifth firecrest of the year, and our best year ever for this species, the grand total for the site is 15. This latest bird was a juvenile female.

Juvenile female Firecrest

The most numerous species of the last two days was chiffchaff, with 25 ringed Friday and 26 ringed Saturday, only eight blackcaps, six goldcrests and three wrens. Cetti's warblers have been a bit elusive in recent weeks, since they will have been undergoing their post breeding or post juvenile moults, but two new birds were ringed this weekend, and also two new robins.

Cetti's Warbler

Another surprise was a juvenile common redstart, which was the fifth bird ringed this year. This is the highest total for this species, four being the previous highest total in 2001 and 2004; a total of 33 have now been ringed at the Haven. Single song thrush and blackbird, and a retrap Eurasian treecreeper made up the totals; 37 new birds Friday and 42 Saturday.

Eurasian Treecreeper

Two the the Havens volunteers, Andy and Eddie, have recently put in a lot of time renovating the Heligoland trap at the Haven. Now finished it is being baited with the hope of attracting reed buntings for some winter ringing. A quick visit to see if any birds were there resulted in a single jay on 14/10/2012. This bird turned out to be a retrap that was first ringed on 16/08/1997, some 15 years 1 month and 28 days earlier. The longevity record for jay currently belongs to a North Yorkshire bird that was retrapped 16 years 9 months and 19 days after its original capture, although not the record this is a pretty good innings for our bird.

Burning the candle at both ends....

Saturday 7th July is not a memorable date for me but it was the date that we decided we were going to start our autumn ringing at Titchfield Haven. We were not expecting to catch much, as the session was more about trimming net rides, setting nets and just making sure the electrics were working, nonetheless, we were there so we opened the nets. The overnight rain had passed and the strong winds died down so a 4 o'clock start was planned.

The wet weather this year has meant that the ringing area was flooded, to the point that I have never seen it before, well maybe once in mid November...but this is early July! This is not a major issue except for the fact that it meant that we could not set our nets to the ground, as we usually do for Grasshopper Warblers.

The session was slow and we began with a tailless Robin and a Blackbird, before catching our first Reed Warbler of the autumn. In total we caught four Reed Warblers, two adults and two juveniles and all local breeders. Apparently this species has had a terrible breeding season at the haven with numbers well down and nests failing, so it was good to see at least two young had fledged.

Adult Reed Warbler

Our next round produced two Song Thrush, a Blue Tit and the first of three Cetti's Warblers. All of the Cetti's were adults and were extremely tatty birds; they have not finished breeding yet and subsequently had not undergone their post breeding moult, and the female still had a very prominent brood patch.

Tatty Cetti's Warbler

Two Common Whitethroats and a Great Tit later we caught a few Chiffchaffs, these again were local breeders and extremely tatty and again have not undergone their post breeding moult and were still singing, so must be having another attempt at breeding.

Tatty Chiffchaff

It was a steady session with 20 birds captured and then the rain arrived, and did it rain! From 7 o'clock in the morning until just after 7 o'clock in the evening, 12 hours of torrential rain it was dreadful. 


Feeling like a caged lion after being confined to the house all day, I decided on a late evening visit to Botley Wood for a nocturnal ringing session. Everywhere was soaked, but at least the sodden grass would keep the ticks at bay, well hopefully.

Almost immediately on arrival at my chosen ringing site I heard a brief bust of a Nightjar, and so set a net and waited. Whilst waiting patiently a lone Woodcock was roding overhead and Song Thrush song filled the air. Once dark enough I began the session, a male nightjar performed really well, and flew around the net churring and wing clapping, but unfortunately managed to avoid going in it. So after the early start and the now late finish, it was time to call it a day, lets hope that the weather is better tomorrow.

Titchfield Haven Ringing Update 21st/22nd October

After the excitement of last weekend we were slightly excited about the prospect of another good bird in the trapping area, but with the autumn migration nearly over, we were well aware that the chances were much reduced. Nonetheless we opened the nets on Friday 21st with cold, clear and still conditions, whilst the now usual passage of Eurasian Siskin's, Common Redpolls and occasional Bramblings passed overhead. It wasn't until we had closed our nets that we heard there was a Glossy Ibis at the top end of the reserve, and after a some searching of the reserve we eventually got some brief flight views.

The numbers of birds captured each session has reduced dramatically since the distant days of July, August and September, but there are still notable numbers to be had, and the 21st was the turn of Cetti's Warbler. In a previous post I reported how few we had captured, and that this was probably the result of two hard winters. But the number of birds captured has gradually increased, to the point where we caught six on the 21st, taking our total for the year to 31, which although not a record is more in line with our yearly average.

Cetti's Warbler - October 2011

Blackbird numbers too are also steadily increasing as birds arriving from the continent for the winter, swell the numbers present. Before this weekend we had only caught nine new birds, but our two days of ringing produced four new birds. 

Juvenile Blackbird - October 2011

Of the birds captured three were juvenile males and one was an adult female, but it was interesting to see the difference in bill colour between different individuals.

Juvenile Blackbird - October 2011

The birds were aged by the presence of retained juvenile flight feathers in the wing, that contrast with the moulted adult feathers.......

Wing of Juvenile Blackbird - October 2011

..............and by the presence of pointed tail feathers.

Tail of Juvenile Blackbird - October 2011

Song Thrush numbers have also started to increase, with two new birds captured this weekend and several birds recorded passing overhead. This might not seem like a particularly large increase in numbers, but since July we have only captured three birds. Both the new birds captured were juvenile, and as with the Blackbirds above, birds are aged by the presence of retained juvenile wing feathers, which in the case of Song Thrush there are distinctive thorns on the greater coverts.

Juvenile Song Thrush - October 2011

The image below shows a close up of the greater coverts, the inner two (left side) are adult, with the remainder (right side), showing distinctive thorns of juvenile greater coverts.

Greater Coverts of Song Thrush - October 2011

As with the Blackbirds above, junvenile tail feathers are more pointed and narrower than adult feathers.

Juvenile Song Thrush Tail - October 2011

Reed Buntings have also started to arrive in the ringing area, and this weekend we captured five new birds, two on Friday and three on Saturday.

Male Reed Bunting - October 2011

All of the birds captured were considered to be males due the extent of black on the crown feathers, some birds even showed an almost complete black head, as pictured below.

Male Reed Bunting - October 2011

Ageing is carried out by the amount of abrasion on the wing and tail feathers, with adult birds having very fresh plumage, whilst juvenile birds are more worn, in addition, juvenile tail feathers are more pointed.

Blackcap with Albino Primary Coverts

During our ringing activities we have captured varying degrees of albinism or leucism in birds, in particular Blackcaps and Grasshopper Warblers, and Saturday 22nd produced another such example. This male Blackcap was not as striking as the previous birds but had three primary coverts that were almost completely white.

Titchfield Haven Ringing Update 14th October 2011

Well today was an interesting day, and it started with an early morning ringing session at Titchfield Haven. Although, when I say early morning, a 7am start was very civilised compared with the 4am starts of earlier in the season. Bird numbers have been lower over the last couple of weeks so despite only two ringers being present we opened all of the nets and waited with eager anticipation.

The first bird was somewhat of a surprise in the form of an unseasonably late Willow Warbler. It has been over a month since we last caught one but there was no mistaking its identity.

Juvenile Willow Warbler - October 2011

However given the late date of this bird we checked and double checked its identity, but it was just a Willow Warbler! Its wing measured 67mm, it was emarginated on only the 3rd, 4th and 5th primaries, and its wing point was formed by the 3rd and 4th primaries...this may well prove to be the last Willow Warbler record from Hampshire this year!

Juvenile Willow Warbler Showing Wing Formula

Other species captured included the usual Blackcaps and Robins, whilst Chiffchaffs continued to smash the previous annual total for the species, and by the end of today we have ringed 797 birds. Our previous highest total was recorded in 2000, when 449 birds were captured. Our annual total for Kingfishers stands at four, and today we recaptured one of those birds.

Juvenile Kingfisher

Cetti's Warbler numbers continued to struggle after two harsh winters, and the new bird captured today brought our total for the year to 25, 71 birds down on our record total....

Cetti's Warbler, Titchfield Haven October 2011

.....and a lone Treecreeper was only our second of the year and one of only 39 birds ringed at the site since 1973.

Treecreeper, Titchfield Haven October 2011

By the end of the session we had captured and ringed just short of 70 birds, a very respectable total given the time of year. 

Being the holder of a Natural England European Protected Species licence in respect to dormice, I offered to help out with ongoing survey work for the species, whilst training staff at the Haven. And so after finishing our ringing session we set about checking the dormouse boxes. Our first boxes were situated around out ringing site, and the first four boxes produced three nests, one of which had four animals, an adult female and three youngsters, in it.......instant success!!

Hazel Dormouse, Titchfield Haven 2011

We have found the species in the ringing area before, but were pleasantly surprised by the presence of four animals in one box.

Hazel Dormouse, Hampshire - October 2011

We then continued onto the next site, which is still managed by the same Hampshire County Council team. Last year we found several dormouse nests but no actual animals. This year however things were very different.......out of 30 boxes we found a total of five dormice in three different boxes...

Two Hazel Dormice, Hampshire 2011

                               ...... and five other boxes with nests indicating that the boxes had been used by dormice. So all in all a cracking day, and our best ever total of dormice at both sites, maybe they have had a good year too!!!!

Bird Ringing Throughout July 2011 at Titchfield Haven

Well here we are, the beginning of August already so I thought it would an ideal time to provide a summary of the months ringing at Titchfield Haven. In all we carried out 11 ringing sessions, with the first on 10th July through to the last on 31st July. A total of 884 new birds were ringed and the peak day was 30th July, when 145 birds were ringed, and numbers have been steadily building throughout the month for most species.

Grasshopper Warbler

Those regular followers of this blog will have already got wind of the most notable news during July, and that is the extraordinary number of Grasshopper Warblers moving through. We have always caught large numbers of this species at Titchfield Haven, with our peak being in 2009, when a massive 569 birds were captured. That year we had ringed 58 birds by the end of July, whereas this year we have ringed 267 new birds, by the end of July!!! The other interesting fact is that we have only captured one adult bird, which we are assuming means that this species has had a very good breeding season.

Cetti's Warbler

 
In stark contrast to Grasshopper Warblers, Reed Warbler numbers have been low, with only 109 new birds ringed, and Sedge warbler numbers have been decidedly average with 339 new birds ringed. The interesting fact about Sedge Warblers is that on some days nearly 50% of the birds captured have been adult, does this mean they have had a bad breeding season? Cetti's Warbler is one of our specialty species and we can easily catch over 100 new birds in a season, during July we only captured 7 new birds, perhaps another example of a bad breeding season.

Common Kingfisher

Blackcap, Garden Warbler and Whitethroat numbers started slowly, but by the end of July we had amassed 21, 11 and 25 respectively; totals of 37 Willow Warbler and 16 Chiffchaff were again decidedly average, although Willow Warbler numbers tend to peak in August and Chiffchaff in September. Three juvenile Common Kingfishers added a bit of colour to our ringing sessions, with one caught on the 15th and two on the 31st.  

Common Redstart

And the only real surprise was our first Common Redstart of the season, a species that we do not usually capture until August or even September.