Titchfield Haven - Late October update

Typically at this time of the year the frequency of suitable ringing days declines, as does the number of birds that we catch. This year hasn't quote worked like that, in that the weather has been generally set fair, and just as we thought the number of birds was declining, we suddenly have a good day. Since my last post we have ringed on seven occasions with the totals varying from 25 on 16th to 95 on 20th. 

In contrast to earlier in the year, Chiffchaff has become the commonest species, with Blackcap and Goldcrest making up the supporting cast. Blackcap numbers are now well and truly at a record level with 964 birds ringed, Chiffchaff numbers stand at 500. A catch of 27 Goldcrests on 20th October has taken the total to 76 for the year; a very respectable total for us but not unexpected given the numbers recorded on the east coast. 

Female Goldcrest

Again, not unexpectedly two Firecrests have also been trapped, a species that we never get bored with ringing.

Male Firecrest

We have not caught any more Sedge, Willow, Grasshopper or Garden Warblers, but have added the occasional Whitethroat and Reed Warbler. There is always a tinge of excitement when we find a Reed Warbler at this time of year, but as yet they have all been just reeds. A comparison of key species up to 26th October from 2010 - 2014 and up to 22nd October for 2015 is below.

With the key species now tailing off, others have started to increase. We have been regularly catching new Robins and our total now stands at 78, 17 Bearded Tits, 18 Lesser Redpolls, a record for the site, 14 Reed Buntings and seven Song Thrush. Ten Kingfishers is a very good total for the site.

To date the total number of new birds ringed since July stands at 3778 of 37 species.

Mealy Redpolls at Blashford Lakes - January 2014

A recent visit to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trusts Blashford Lakes reserve gave me the opportunity to pop into the woodland hide to look at the visiting finches. The feeders are a popular place for visiting birders as you can get great views of a variety of species, especially lesser redpolls, siskins and bramblings, although there have been none of the latter recorded so far this year. Siskins too have been thin on the ground, but there are good numbers of lesser redpolls coming to the feeders, despite the mild weather. There has also been reports of a mealy redpoll frequenting the feeders and fortunately for me it was there as I entered the hide.

Mealy Redpoll Carduelis flammea (first bird)

The bird was very obvious amongst the lesser's since it was larger and paler with pale fringing to the wing feathers and an obvious white rump. The wingbar formed by the greater coverts was also broad and white, and an obvious white tramline was present on the mantle. Looking at the pointed shape of the tail feathers on this bird it appeared that it was a first winter bird.

Mealy Redpoll (first bird)

After a while the Mealy flew off, but before long it appeared to be back again. However, looking at this bird it did not have the overall grey tones of the first bird, the mantle was warmer brown in tone and the streaking on the flanks was not as bold. Looking more closely at the bird the white fringing on the tertials and tips of the primaries was broader. The white rump on this bird was more heavily streaked than the first bird, but this is not visible in the photo below.

Mealy Redpoll (second bird)

For comparison, below is an image of a typical lesser redpoll. The plumage of this bird is much warmer brown in its tone and heavily streaked. The wing bars are buff coloured and the flanks are boldly streaked and brown. Most birds tend to lack the white tramlines down the mantle, but not all.

Lesser Redpoll C. cabaret

Redpolls are notoriously variable in their plumage and therefore care needs to be taken when identifying them. A recent article published the the birding journal British Birds (Volume 106, December 2013) provides an interesting insight into the complexities of redpolls and is worth a read. The image below shows the variation in three birds seen during my visit to Blashford Lakes.

Lesser Redpolls and Eurasian Siskin

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, you do get some excellent views of birds on the feeders, so it is definitely worth a visit. But please remember that the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust is a charity and needs your support, so make sure you leave a donation to help pay for the bird food.

Eurasian Siskin

Birding in the West of Hampshire

Over the last few weeks bird ringing activity has been non-existent, mainly due to the waves of torrential rain and high winds that have been sweeping the country. Even just getting out to do a spot of birding has been difficult, unless, that is, you are covered from head to toe with waterproofs. However, over the weekend of 8/9th December I did manage to get in a spot of birding in the west of County.

Wetland Area with Lapwing, Wigeon, Black-tailed Godwit and Glossy Ibis (the small black dot in the middle)

I had not recently been birding in this area and with the arrival of a few unusual birds it seemed like a good place to go on the one day it wasn't raining, although it looked like it was going to at any minute. My first port of call was Bickerley Common, a flooded meadow to the south of Ringwood. Most of the river valleys in Hampshire are swollen at the moment, and the River Avon is no exception. Water has spilled from the main river channel into the adjacent floodplain creating some interesting wetland habitat for birds. On the plus side this has created sanctuary areas that have become inaccessible to humans thereby limiting disturbance, but on the negative side, there are so many of these flooded areas that birds are widely spread and often difficult to find. But this is not the case at Bickerley Common, where the flooded meadow has become a haven for wetland birds, with the two most noteworthy species being glossy ibis and great white egret.

Great White Egret

Arriving at the site the closest bird was the great white egret, this species has become semi-resident in the area over the last few years, with a colour-ringed bird, originally of French origin, spending most winters at the nearby Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust (HIWWT), Blashford Lakes reserve. Unfortunately this bird spent all of its time feeding in thigh deep water and so it was not possible to see if it was the colour-ringed individual.

Great White Egret

In contrast the glossy ibis was happily feeding right at the back and was virtually the furthest bird, giving acceptable scope views but useless for photography (as can be seen in the first picture). There was also a good mix of other wetland species including black-tailed godwit, snipe, green sandpiper, lapwing, kingfisher, Canada and greylag goose, teal, wigeon, gadwall, shoveler and tufted duck. So a good variety of species to start the day. I next headed up to the Avon causeway and Harbridge in search of a Bewick's swan, a species which used to winter in large numbers in the Avon Valley, but those days are long gone. With no sign of the Bewick's and not much else to see in the area I headed back to the HIWWT's Blashford Lakes reserve.

Little Grebe

I started at Ibsley Water and more wetland birds. The middle of the day is not the best time to visit since all of the goosanders will have dispersed across the valley, but nonetheless there were still birds to see, pochard, tufted duck, goldeneye, pintail and good numbers of shoveler. Another noteworthy species for its scarcity these days was ruddy duck, an introduced species  from North America into the UK, that has recently undergone a massive decline due to a licenced cull. The species' fate was sealed due to its interbreeding with the closely related and much rarer white-headed duck in Spain. Ruddy ducks are the more dominant species, as with many North America species, and have been identified as one of the causes of the decline of the now endangered white-headed duck. The licenced cull has been very effective and now only very small numbers of this species exist in the UK.

Wigeon, Gadwall, Coot and Red-crested Pochard

My next stop was Ivy Lake, and the usual location for a very obliging bittern, but not this day. A drake red-crested pochard was causing some interest among the local birders but otherwise the species present were much the same as seen on Ibsley Water. One of the highlights of visiting Blashford Lakes is the excellent views of lesser redpolls and other finches and woodland birds drawn in by the abundance of food provided by the Trust. Identification of the different redpoll types can be very tricky when they are feeding at the top of an alder tree, but here the birds are drawn down low to the feeders.

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis flammea cabaret

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis flammea cabaret

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis flammea cabaret

The redpoll sub-species cabaret, which is the common race in the UK, is generally smaller and darker than the flammea race, which occurs in Fenno-Scandia. Occasional birds of the race rostrata have been recorded at Blashford lakes in recent years, these birds generally larger, darker and more heavily streaked than the race cabaret.

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis flammea cabaret

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis flammea cabaret

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis flammea cabaret

The variation in colour and size of individual birds can make identification of the different races very subjective, and things are not helped by variations in lighting conditions. I did not see any birds that even vaguely resembled a common (mealy) redpoll, maybe one will turn up later in the winter.

Brambling Fringilla montifringilla

Of course redpolls are not the only species visiting the feeders bramblings, chaffinch's, siskins and nuthatch's are all attracted in and give excellent views.

Female Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs

Eurasian Nuthatch Sitta europaea caesia

So if you are visiting Hampshire and want to get to grips with identifying lesser redpolls, there are not many better places to visit than Blashford Lakes in the winter.

Titchfield Haven, Bird Ringing Update - 23rd October 2012

Bird ringing at The Haven was very quiet today, with a total of 22 birds ringed, the commonest species being European robin, with five new birds ringed. This is typical of this time of year, as continental birds cross the North Sea to winter in the United Kingdom, in fact regular readers of this blog may remember a previous post, The fruits of our Labour - August 2012, where we received a recovery of a robin that was ringed at The Haven in October 2010, and retrapped in Germany in October 2011...maybe one of today's will head the same way.

European Robin (B. S. Duffin)

We also caught our fifth Bullfinch of the year, this bird being a juvenile male. As I have previously described, young bullfinches are quite straightforward to age since they usually retain some of their outer greater coverts, as can be clearly seen with the bird below (indicated by the arrow).

Juvenile Male Bullfinch (B. S. Duffin)

Other species ringed included two more goldcrests, three chiffs, three wrens, a song thrush, blue and great tits, and our first lesser redpoll of the year. We have heard the occasional redpoll pass over the ringing area this autumn, but this is the first to have been low enough to  be captured.

Lesser Redpoll (B. S. Duffin)

This is the 28th lesser redpoll to have been ringed at The Haven, 12 of those have been ringed in the last four years.

In Search of Winter Birds, Norfolk 2012 (Day3)

The third day of our winter birding trip to Norfolk, and it would appear that the predicted four inches of snow overnight had arrived. So prepared for the worst we opened the door, stepped out only to be surprised by the depth of the snow!!!

BTO Birding Team Surprised by Snow

After digging ourselves out we headed off to Titchwell for some more birding and in particular, the chance of seeing the Coues' Arctic Redpoll that had been in the area for a while. We arrived at Titchwell to be immediately greeted by a Jack Snipe and a Woodcock in the car park, but pressed on to the main path where the redpolls had been seen.

We immediately picked up a group of redpolls feeding low down in the Alder trees, with the lowest bird being the Coues' Caduelis hornemanni exilipes. The Redpoll species complex (Lesser, Mealy and Arctic) can be a tricky one and so we set about working through the features on the birds in front of us.

Coues' Arctic Redpoll  Carduelis hornemanni exilipes  - Titchwell

Our immediate impression of the Coues' Arctic was of a very cold, pale bird lacking any hint of brown.

Coues' Arctic Redpoll  Carduelis hornemanni exilipes  - Titchwell

The bill was very small and the rump pure white and predominantly unstreaked; the flanks were not heavily streaked, and a single central dark streak in the central undertail covert (as seen below) was evident, this is a very good 'exilipes' feature.

Coues' Arctic Redpoll   Carduelis hornemanni exilipes  - Titchwell

Given that this bird exhibited some streaking on the flanks, and had very pointed tail feathers , it is indicative of it being first year bird. The next bird we looked at was a Mealy (common) Redpoll C Flammea, which in contrast to the Arctic is a warmer coloured bird, but still with pale underparts. The bill is larger and male birds can show a pinkish flush across the upper breast.

Mealy (common) Redpoll Carduelis flammea - Titchwell

A variable amount of streaking is present on the flanks and the undertail coverts usually are streaked, a few can be unstreaked. Both Arctic and Mealy Redpolls are larger than Lesser Redpoll, with Mealy being the largest.

Mealy (common) Redpoll Carduelis flammea - Titchwell

Lesser Redpolls C. caberet are generally much browner in coloration and much more heavily streaked on the flanks, with a darker rump. In addition this species is much smaller than the two former species.

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis caberet

In all we spent a good hour working our way through the different repolls present, which currently have been split into three species.

Lesser Redpoll Carduelis caberet

We continued on down the main track and were faced with a scene that would be more fitting in the Arctic. All of the lagoons were frozen solid except from small areas of water, and these areas were crammed full of birds. 

A Frozen Titchwell 

Scanning though the birds produced good numbers of Shoveler, Tufted Ducks, Pochard, Pintail, Gadwall, Teal and Wigeon.

Drake and Duck Shoveler - Titchwell

A handful of Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit,and Golden Plover, two Ruff, and single Avocet and Bar-tailed Godwit, and two Juvenile Spoonbills, which were a bit of a surprise.

Juvenile Spoonbills - Titchwell

A quick view out to sea produced two Velvet Scoter, five Long-tailed ducks, including one drake and several Goldeneye. With not much else to see at Titchwell we moved on to Thornham Harbour, where we walked along the bank to the sea. On route we saw several Rock Pipits, a Peregrine Falcon, two Barn Owls, a Rough-legged Buzzard that gave great and prolonged views, and two Short-eared Owls. Very few ducks were present on the sea, but we did catch up with our first Red-breasted Mergansers, two Black-throated and several Red-throated Divers and a single Gannet. A Kingfisher in the creek back near the car was a very unusual record for the area.

Choseley Drying Barns were our next stop, where we had 30+ Corn Buntings, 20+ Yellowhammers, several Red-legged and Grey Partridges and loads of mad boxing Hares. Our final stop of the day was the cliff at Hunstanton where we saw Fulmar and a handful of Common Scoter. 

Surprisingly, we ended the day having seen 100 species, 18 of which were new, thereby bringing our trip today to 127.

Botley Wood, Hampshire - 3rd April 2011

Today I decided to visit Botley Wood with a view to cutting in the net rides in readiness for the arrival of 'the barley bird' or common nightingale, to most of you. But alas due to the regular management of the site, all of the scrub in the vicinity of my trapping area from last year had gone! Unfortunately, one of these areas was the territory of a bird that I have been capturing for the last six years, this year would have been its seventh, and possibly would have been a national longevity record for the species.......I will keep you posted if it returns.

With no net rides to cut in I decided to put up some nets and try to catch some of the singing chiffchaffs and willow warblers that were present instead. Success was almost instantaneous, with the first bird captured being a 2nd year male chiffchaff.

Chiffchaff Botley Wood - April 2011 (T D codlin)

Adult chiffchaffs undergo a complete moult in the summer after breeding, whereas juvenile birds undergo only a partial moult. Therefore juvenile birds can often be aged in spring by the extent of wear and the colouration of their flight feathers. This bird was aged due to the extent of wear on the tips of the primaries and tail feathers, and by the presence of two generations of feathers within the wing and tail, presumably where feathers had been lost and replaced.

All of the primary tips are heavily abraded in this picture,
in addition the first secondary has been replaced - March 2011
(T D Codlin)

Heavy abrasion was also present on the tail feathers, however one feather within the tail had been replaced, thereby providing a contrast between the unmoulted juvenile feathers and the new adult feather.

The longer, darker coloured and unworn adult feather
is clearly obvious within the tail - April 2011 (T D Codlin)

By contrast the next bird captured was an adult, the colouration of the feathers and the lack of noticeable wear on the wing tips confirms this bird as being an adult.

Adult chiffchaff wing, note the emargination on the 3rd, 4th, 5th
and 6th primaries and the wing point formed by the 3rd, 4th and 5th 
primaries - April 2011 (T D Codlin)

The next bird captured was a willow warbler, at least three singing males and one female were present. In willow warblers the moult strategy is completely different to chiffchaffs, in that both adult and juvenile birds undergo a complete winter moult. Therefore it is not possible to age birds in the spring since both adult and juvenile birds will have replaced all their feathers.

Willow warbler, note the strong supercilium and more robust,
 longer bill, paler underparts and longer primary projection
beyond tertials - April 2011 (T D Codlin)

As well as having a different moult strategy, willow warblers also have a different wing formula and a longer wing.

This willow warbler wing shows the wing point formed by the 3rd and 4th
primaries only, unlike with chiffchaff, and on close examination it is possible
to see that only primaries 3, 4 and 5 are emarginated, and not the 6th as in
chiffchaff - April 2011 (T D Codlin)

In all, three chiffchaffs and a single willow warbler were captured along with two long-tailed tits, but the highlight was the two lesser redpolls. I have very rarely captured this species, and so was very pleased with these two birds. The published literature states that in spring quite a few birds cannot be aged, but it should be possible to age extremes. In juvenile birds the tips of the tail feathers are abraded and sharply pointed......

First year lesser redpoll showing paler more abraded and
pointed tail features - April 2011 (T D Codlin)

...... whereas adult birds have tail feathers rather fresh.

Adult lesser redpoll showing more rounded and
fresh tail feathers - April 2011 (T D Codlin)

Luckily it appeared that I had two extremes, as both birds seemed to be fairly obvious to age.