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

Titchfield Haven Ringing Update - 23rd August

There is no doubt what the headline species, in terms of numbers has been so far this year, and that is Willow Warbler. We have continued to catch good numbers this week, with another 37 added which brings the total this year to 222. This is already by far the best annual total for the site ever, which surely must indicate a good breeding season for the species.

Juvenile Willow Warbler - one of 19 caught today

Grasshopper Warbler numbers have also started to build this week with 69 new birds added. The total of 31 birds ringed on 23rd included six adults, which were the first of the year. Adult and juvenile Grasshopper Warblers undergo a partial post juvenile or post nuptial moult. In juvenile birds this is not really obvious as all the feathers are fresh, but in adults it results in a mixture of new, fresh feathers and very tatty, worn feathers. There seems to be no strategy as to what feathers are replaced, as throughout the body, head, wing and tail feathers, random feathers can be replaced. The Images below illustrate this.

Adult Grasshopper Warbler crown, note mixture of new (fresh) and old (worn) feathers

Very worn wing feathers of the adult Grasshopper Warbler

Very worn tail feathers of adult Grasshopper Warbler

Of the other key warbler species, Sedge Warbler numbers are on a par with the record numbers of 2011 and 2013, and Reed Warbler numbers are the highest of the last five years. Garden Warbler numbers are also on a par with the record year of 2011 and Blackcap numbers are significantly higher than at this point in any of the last five years. Chiffchaff and Whitethroat are also high and are the second highest totals in the last five years for both species. Cetti's Warbler numbers are also the highest of the last five years, although the numbers have slowed in recent days as the breeding birds have moved away from the ringing area and into the reed beds.

Table summarising key species total up to 23rd August in the last five years

Graph illustrating key species totals over the last five years.

Other notable species ringed this week were the second Lesser Whitethroat and Treecreeper of the year. Both species are only ever trapped in small numbers at The Haven.

Juvenile Lesser Whitethroat - the second of the year

Treecreeper - the second of the year

We had ringed over 220 birds by the end of the session 23rd August. Sedge Warbler (still no Aquatics) was the most numerous species with 69 birds ringed, followed by Reed Warbler (46), Blackcap (35) and Grasshopper Warbler (31).

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.

Manor Farm Country Park - Bird Ringing Again

The weather conditions were ideal for bird ringing this morning, flat calm, slightly overcast and as a bonus there was no frost!! We started early and had all the nets open by 6:30, and waited in eager anticipation.......and waited.....and waited! There was plenty of bird song in the air, with Song Thrush, Blackbird and Dunnocks all proclaiming their territories, and a mixed flock of about 100 Redwing and Fieldfare, but other than that there were very few birds around. But still we persevered and soon started to catch a few birds, two Robins, three blackbirds, a single Greenfinch and the usual Blue and Great Tits made up the bulk of the birds, and eight House Sparrows added to the information for my RAS project. My favourite bird of the day though was a Eurasian Treecreeper.

Eurasian Treecreeper

I have written about this species a couple of times before, and as they are such stunning little birds I thought that I would write about them again. There are two species of Treecreeper in the Western Palearctic, Eurasian and Short-toed, but it is only the Eurasian Treecreeper that is resident to the UK, therefore the likelihood of catching the a Short-toed is slim, nevertheless it is always worth checking!

Eurasian Treecreeper

It can be difficult to separate the two species since the plumage differences are slight and the biometrics overlap, but in most cases it is usually possible to easily identify a bird using a combination of features. Firstly, in Eurasian Treecreeper the lower edge of the prominent wingbar is more square edged or rounded, with a large and prominent pale spot forming the end of the wingbar on the fourth primary. In Short-toed the lower edge of the wingbar is more pointed and the spot on the fourth primary is either very small or even absent.

Eurasian Treecreeper

In addition the hind claw of Eurasian measures between 7.6 - 11.5mm, whereas it measures between 6.8 - 8.9mm in Short-toed. The hind claw on this bird was very long and well outside the range for Short-toed.

Long claws for gripping the bark of trees

So putting all the features together, this bird was clearly a Eurasian Treecreeper. 

Fine and pointed tool, ideal for locating food in the crevices in bark

In evolutionary terms Treecreepers are amazing, they have been perfectly designed to climb up the trunk of a tree, usually starting low down and working up to the spindly twigs at the top. The bill is long and thin and ideal for teasing out food from small crevices....

Rigid spiked tail....a third leg!

                            ...........and the rigid and spiny tail is used to rest against the trunk of a tree, providing extra support and acting as a third leg.

Eurasian Treecreeper

They are tiny birds, weighing around 8.0 grams, and their mottled brown colouration provides excellent camouflage, which is why the are probably heard more often than seen.   

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 in Mid - Late June 2011

Not much to report on the bird ringing front in the latter half of June, but a session on the Leckford Estate in Hampshire was interesting. The bird ringing session was part of an educational wildlife day that included moth trapping, plant and invertebrate identification. I was doing the bird ringing demonstration, along with two helpers, to over 50 eager visitors. I did the same event last year and only managed to catch 11 birds, but the number was not important as I caught a juvenile Common Kingfisher, so I was invited back again to see if I could repeat the feat.

The visitors were not due to arrive at the ringing area until around 10:30 and would remain until around 14:30, but we had to arrive early in order to cut in net rides and put the nets up. In terms of the number of birds and the mix of species, the day surpassed the previous years total with 37 birds captured of 14 species, Blackcap, Great, Blue, Marsh and Long-tailed Tits, Robin and Eurasian Treecreeper were all on the list.

Eurasian Treecreeper, Hampshire June 2011

The Eurasian Treecreeper was a juvenile bird, which had yet to undergo its post-juvenile moult. Both adult and juvenile birds undergo a complete moult and therefore cannot be aged, once they have completed it. 

Head of Eurasian Treecreeper June 2011

During the session two European Reed Warblers and nine Sedge Warblers were also captured. Five of the Sedge Warblers were recently  fledged birds and had not even fully grown their wing feathers, but the most interesting bird of the nine was the adult male that I had captured the previous year. Other species included a pair of Eurasian Bullfinch's and a couple of Chiffchaff, but once again it was the juvenile Common Kingfisher that stole the show.

Common Kingfisher, Hampshire - June 2011

Most peoples view of a Common Kingfisher is a turquoise flash as one quickly flies off down a river or stream, so you can image the response to seeing one in the hand. Adult birds can be sexed by the presence of red at the base of the lower mandible, in females and an all dark lower mandible in males, although this feature is generally unreliable in juveniles.

Common Kingfisher, Hamphire  - June 2011

I think overall the day was again a success, and everybody certainly enjoyed the Kingfisher, hopefully I will be invited back next year, but will I be able to catch another?