Prehistoric Woodpecker - July 2014

The local Green Woodpeckers were particularly vocal this afternoon in the field behind my house, but even so it was a real surprise when one turned up in my net. This is not a species I get to handle that often, although we did catch three during the ringing sessions at Titchfield Haven last year. This individual was a juvenile bird that was still exhibiting the heavy mottling that they show, and the grey iris. In this plumage you have to admit that Green Woodpeckers look as if they would be better placed in prehistoric times, and resemble a Pterodactyl.

Juvenile Male Green Woodpecker

Juvenile Green Woodpeckers undergo a partial post-juvenile moult which involves the primary, tail and body feathers; they do not moult their secondaries, primary coverts or tertials. Adult birds undergo a complete moult post breeding. They can usually be sexed from June, and it is possible to see the red malar stripe in the picture above that identifies this bird as a male.

Juvenile Green Woodpecker showing primary moult

The image above shows the primary moult in this individual, and no moult in the secondaries or tertials, as would be expected. Green Woodpeckers will breed at one year old and according to the BTO website the longevity record is 15 years and 8 days and was set in 1985.

Juvenile Green Woodpecker showing bright yellow rump.

Green Woodpeckers feed mainly on ants, which is why they are often seen on the ground. Their long thin tongue is around 10cm long and is armed with barbs that hook the ants out of their nests. Local names for the Green Woodpecker include 'yaffle', 'pick-a-tree' and 'rain fowl'.

Our First Ringing Control in Portugal

Ringing activities during November for me have been restricted to a couple of sessions at Titchfield Haven and a bit in the garden. The sessions at the Haven were the latest we have ever done and did not really amount to much despite having all of our nets open. In fact on both dates half of the birds were resident retraps. However we did manage to add a few more chiffs to our annual total and caught more goldcrests in those two sessions than we had all year.

Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita

We also caught another new kingfisher which takes our total to the year to four. This bird was an adult, this can be seen by the all black colouration at the base of the lower mandible.

Adult Kingfisher Alcedo atthis

One session was also memorable due to the capture of two green woodpeckers. Both birds were retraps and adults, but one was a male and the other a female.

Male Green Woodpecker Picus viridis

Male birds (above) exhibit a red centre to the black moustache, whereas female birds (below) have no red in the black moustache. 

Female Green Woodpecker

One thing I do like about winter is the fantastic light and lack of heat haze, on a still clear day this lends itself to taking crisp photos with lots of contrast.

The River Meon at Titchfield Haven from our ringing area

The downside of ringing in the winter, is that on clear nights you can start your session with a heavy frost. This is not ideal when trying to open furled nets as it quickly saps any heat from your hands and makes your nets stand out until the sun melts the frost.

Frost on Phragmities Reed Head

Within the last couple of weeks we have also had a few recoveries back from BTO HQ, a summary is provided below. It is sometimes quite frustrating how long some of these take to come back, this is very evident with the blackcap T619991. This bird was controlled in Portugal in February 2010, but we have only just received the information. In these days of instant news and computerised data it is a shame it takes so long. On a very positive note though this is the first bird that was ringed at the Haven to be controlled in Portugal, so a great recovery for us.

Other interesting foreign controls were two French ringed sedge warblers. One bird was ringed as a juvenile in France in 2011 and retrapped at the Haven this autumn two years and a day since its original capture. The second bird was first ringed as an adult in France last August and and retrapped at the Haven this August. Both were presumably British birds migrating south when they were trapped in France, which is why they have been retrapped at the Haven. A reed warbler ringed on the Isle of Wight was retrapped at the Haven, having travelled north by 17km in five days. It is possible that weather conditions were preventing this bird from migrating south and therefore it was coasting waiting for suitable conditions.

Species	Ring No.	Capture Type	Age	Date	Details
Blackcap
	T619991	N	3	27/09/2009	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire
		C		06/02/2010	Fontes, Faro, Portugal (132 days, 1623km  SSW)
	Y759573	N	3J	22/07/2013	Bessacarr, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire
		C	3F	07/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (47 days, 297km, S)
Reed Warbler
	Y718412	N	3	17/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire
		C	3	05/09/2013	Litlington, East Sussex (19 days, 99km, E)
		C	3	12/09/2013	Litlington, East Sussex (26 days, 99km, E)
	Y813442	N	3	01/09/2013	Great Meadow Pond, Windsor, Windsor and Maidenhead
		C	3	24/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (23 days, 80km, SW)
	D562011	N	3	29/08/2013	Haseley Manor, Arreton, Isle of Wight
		C	3	03/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (5 days, 17km, N)
	Y544426	N	3	01/09/2013	Thatcham Marsh, Thatcham, West Berkshire
		C		08/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (7 days, 65km, S)
	Y813442	N	3	01/09/2013	Great Meadow Pond, Windsor, Windsor and Maidenhead
		C		21/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (20 days, 80km, SW)
Sedge Warbler
	Y719541	N	3	07/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire
		C	3	20/09/2013	Nanjizal, Land's End, Cornwall (13 days, 327km, WSW)
	6693908	N	3	19/08/2011	Marais de Cap, Montmartin-en-Graignes, Manche, France
		C	4	20/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (732 days, 173km, N)
	6706223	N	4	24/08/2012	Urdains, Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France
		C	4	02/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (343 days, 819km, N)
	D218893	N	3	26/07/2013	Kirkton of Logie Buchan, Aberdeenshire
		C	3	10/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (15 days, 728km, S)
	D610553	N	3	21/08/2013	Dunkirk, Little Downham, near Ely, Cambridgeshire
		C	3	19/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (29 days, 209km, SSW)
	D639756	N	3	21/08/2013	Much Marcle, Herefordshire
		C		07/09/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (17 days, 159km, SSE)
	L931682	N	3J	04/08/2013	Bellflask, West Tanfield, North Yorkshire
		C	3	10/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (6 days, 375km, S)
	Y661622	N	3J	22/07/2013	Rye Meads, Hertfordshire
		C		06/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (15 days, 137km, SW)
		C		08/08/2013	Titchfield Haven, Hill Head, Fareham, Hampshire (17 days, 137km, SW)

Spring appears to have Sprung on the Patch!

After what has been a very long and drawn out winter, it appears that spring has finally sprung on the patch. Blackcaps and chiffchaffs are seemingly now settled on their respective territories and a steady arrival of migrants saw my first willow warblers of the year on 14th April at Botley Wood.

Willow Warbler - Botley Wood April 2013

Near daily visits to the patch produced a white wagtail, also on 14th April, a male redstart on 15th, a nightingale on 16th and two whitethroats on 19th April. Other resident species have established their territories and are singing from the tree tops, some being more prominent than others. A green woodpecker was happy to call its distinctive yaffle, but was not too keen being watched do it and spent most of the time hiding behind the trunk.

Green Woodpecker - Botley Wood 

Butterflies were also evident, although still in small numbers, comma, peacock, brimstone and small tortoiseshell were all recorded on the patch. Hedgehog evidence (droppings) was once again present in the garden, it has been a while since I saw that.....

Comma - April 2013

       
                   ...and common and soprano pipistrelle bats were out foraging around Manor Farm.

Manor Farm Country Park and Curbridge - 5th and 6th March 2011

Another weekend and another ringing session at Manor Farm. The weather was good on Saturday, albeit cold, so I decided to get up early and give it a go. It was also the first weekend of the new RAS season...and therefore was the ideal time to catch some house sparrows.

This male House Sparrow was obviously aware that I was watching him; this image
was digiscoped  using my Swarovski scope and Sony compact

The session itself started slowly, with only a wren and a redwing on the first two rounds. I was beginning to wonder whether it would have been better to have stayed in bed, snuggled under the duvet, but by the next round things had picked up; three blackbirds, four house sparrows, a song thrush and a pair of Bullfinch's were soon added. By the end of the session we had amassed a total of 28 birds, of which 13 were re-traps; 9 house sparrows were captured, seven of which were re-traps, with the oldest being a female that was originally captured in January 2007, 4 years and 37 days before.


Highlights were the pair of bullfinch, which I didn't photograph, and this cracking female green woodpecker.......

Green Woodpecker, Manor Farm Country Park 2011

.......there is a fair amount of variation in this species within its range, but the nominate sub species, which is the one occurring in the British Isles, can be sexed by the colouration of the moustache. This bird had no red and therefore was a female. This is only the fourth individual captured at the park, the last one was six years ago.

Green Woodpecker, Manor Farm Country Park March 2011

I usually run a moth trap and intend to post my captures when I do, but the moth below was disturbed from vegetation in my garden as I was cutting back some shrubs. In 11 years of moth trapping I have recorded 569 species in my garden but this is the first time I have recorded this one. Ypsolopha mucronella is a local species of woodlands, but fairly widely distributed across Hampshire. Adult moths hibernate, but can be recorded flying on mild nights during the winter; the larvae feed on spindle.

Ypsolopha mucronella March 2011

A late afternoon stroll around Curbridge on the evening of 6th March, was timed to coincide with the falling tide. I positioned myself at the mouth of one of the narrow creeks in order to count wading birds. During spring the number of greenshank present can reach double figures, and previously the odd bird bearing colour rings has been present. However, this time only two un-ringed birds were present. 

Greenshank Curbridge March 2011

Two common sandpipers were also feeding on the intertidal mud; two birds have been present all winter, perhaps foolishly I assumed these two birds were those, but it is perfectly feasible that they were in fact returning spring migrants. The supporting cast included 17 redshank, two little grebe  and a little egret.

Little Egret, Curbridge, March 2011

The little egret was once a very rare bird in Hampshire, in fact I remember climbing a tree that overlooked Titchfield Haven National Nature Reserve to get a view of my first. Now the species is well and truly established in the British Isles and breeds all along the south coast.