DRP664 see post below........

Richard and all at TRG.
I can confirm the bird was ringed at PBO by Emma Cockburn on 27th April 2011. Wing 65 therefore not sexed on measurement by us. Wgt 8.7 gms 1200hrs. Will write longer re reewas etc, must dash off to the excellent Chinese down here.
All best wishes
Peter Morgan.

Thanks Peter for following our blog, recognising the sequence and the follow up.....superb !!
Our 1st movement between Portland and the Teifi...? Certainly for the Teifi RG, and as Wendy as just reminded me, we only left Portland ourselves 2 days before on the 25th !!!.. From one of our regular six monthly visits to Portland B Obs.

A follow up on Peter's reewa (Reed Warbler) comment and activities from the Mallard Run soon...

Chiffchaffs provide the numbers, a Willow Warbler the highlight

CES 6:-
DRP664...an adult Willow Warbler control, the highlight with 36 Chiffchaffs (16, CES 6 2010).
Another species on focus this week versus last year, Reed Warbler, with 14 (17, CES 6 2010).
Other highlights of a tremendous team effort, juveniles.... Kingfisher, Marsh Tit, Coal Tit, Treecreeper, Pied Wagtail & Lesser Whitethroat.....all good CES birds for us !!
CES 6 totals, 103 new, 35 retrap(2010...87 new, 20 retrap)

L447220... a Sedge on the move??

A noticeable difference in a short session in the reed bed this morning.
Recently we have been catching our breeding Sedge Warblers but today had 4 new adults including a control, L447220, but none of our own. It looks like birds are on the move.
More juvs too including a Cetti's warbler, Swallow, Reed Buntings and Reed and Sedge Warblers.
An adult Little Egret flew over - the first around the Teifi for months.
Plenty of juvenile Swallows around which came out of roost quite late and stayed around the reed bed looking as if they were practising perching on the reeds.
Also a Kingfisher over Mallard pool which headed straight for the net run just after the net was taken down of course!

Puffin colour-ringing update !!

Wendy with skokholm puffin 99
Just had a quick chat with Jerry on Skokholm, between himself, staff and visitors staying on the island, they are just coming up to the 50th Puffin being individually recognised out of the 100 colour-ringed a couple of weeks ago.. an impressive result !

Herring Gulls on Caldey

Yesterday we joined the annual visit by Steve and The Pembs RG to Caldey to look at Herring Gull productivity. Several of the colonies were checked, all with poor, although variable productivity.
Even at the most successful part of the colony, only 100 juveniles from c400 nests were ringed. We would expect to be able to ring the required 200 juveniles at this part of the colony.
Small numbers of gull chicks were either too small or too big to ring, but overall Steve will have some poor productivity figures to report, even though this was a late season visit.

CES, with controls, retraps and juveniles

An excellent CES today..
(photo Dawn J)









The highlight maybe this Common Whitethroat, we don't record many on the site, and surprised by this female with a brood patch...and a control !! (L399822)
An odd coincidence... Paddy had a control Garden Warbler in Ty rhyg last week L399232..the same origins of ringing ?....but not Pembs ?

Reed Warbler R424229 -- may be of equal significance, an old local bird that pre-dates the Teifi RG, or another control?

131 birds caught this session. 84 new, including our 1st juvenile Cetti's of the year, 1 week later than last year, (more on the Cetti population another time, a decline?)
Our 1st juvenile Treecreeper of the year, c1 month earlier than normal, a sign of successful early breeding.

A nice return from Senegal

Sedge Warbler T990464 was ringed on the 4 May 2009.
This was one of 144 Sedge Warblers ringed that morning, and also amongst these 2 controls bearing PARIS rings, what a session on the Teifi Marsh.

T990464 was controlled on 15 January 2011, Djoudj National Park, Senegal
(by DEW Wilhelmshaven)

The two other dots on the map are two Sedge Warbler recoveries received today, showing typical passage movements of our Teifi Sedge Warblers through Western France.

Fault bars

A short session in the Mallard Run before work. The first juvenile Reed Buntings this morning, along with more juvenile Reed Warblers. This juvenile with a well marked growth bar across the tail, indicating a poor period of feeding at some point in it's feather growth.
(Photo. Wendy J.)

Too wet to ring so.....

The Welsh Wildlife Centre at Cilgerran have kindly let us have the use of a noticeboard for ringing news and information.
It is on the middle floor of the centre along with other information about the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales..

Reed Warbler P216372

P216372..retrapped 11 June 2011 on the Teifi.............
Ringed ...24 July 2000 as an adult on the Teifi.........
He has been known on the Teifi as an adult for nearly 11 years, afraid he will have to make the return journey again to be considored for the oldest recorded Reed Warbler.
(the current oldest 12yrs 11 months, photo Dawn J.)

Puffin colour ringing

Another wonderful day out with the Pembs Ringing Group. This was a trip to Skokholm Island to colour ring Puffins as part of a research project for Oxford University (E.G.I.).

Den and Renate extracting from the 2 x 60ft nets through a small part of the Puffin colony.
Part of the ringing team in action including Jerry, the Skokholm warden.
Each bird was fitted with a unique combination of 3 colour rings and a BTO metal ring.
Biometrics including bill depth, number of grooves on the bill and head to bill tip were taken.
And weighed. Puffins weigh around 360 - 400g.
The sample required by EGI is 150 birds. This is Skokholm 99 taking a final bite before release!!Back to the boat after a very successful day out on Skokholm hoping this will be a valuable contribution to ongoing seabird research.

L018186 - Sedge Warbler

A new control for the Mallard Run this evening.......
Also the 1st juvenile Reed Warbler of the year.

Garden ringing

After the excitement of seabirds, back to reality with some garden ringing to try out our new Potter traps.
An adult Robin that was first ringed in December 2008 was finally sexed as a female as today when it was caught it had a brood patch. A few juvenile Robins caught too.

Shag ringing on Midland Island

At last the wind dropped enough yesterday for a trip to Midland Island near Skomer to ring Shags. A very enjoyable evening away from the Teifi with Pembs RG and four girls from Skomer.
Steve teaching Becky the knack of ringing a Shag without being stabbed by its needle like bill.
Some of the Shags nest in crevices in the cliff so a bit of scrambling over the rocks is needed to get to the nest.
Ringing a quite large Shag. No chance of keeping clean on this trip!
Not only Shags were ringed. There were a few Great black-backed gulls of the right age too. Odd to find out that Becky from Leicestershire, doing the ringing here has the same trainer, Mick, who trained Richard 30 years ago!
As it got darker it was lovely to watch thousands of seabirds returning to Skomer for the night.
A total of 70 Shag were ringed with good productivity of 2.89 per nest.
Thanks to Steve S for organising the trip and to Sash for the use of his boat.

CES 4 and some week-end highlights... Paris again

CES 4 was brought forward to Saturday from the planned Sunday due to weather, a good decision with 94 birds trapped, 63 new - including juveniles of 10 species, and 31 re-traps. A slight increase on CES 4 in 2010.
2 further broods of Pied Flycatcher were ringed in Pengelli.
Nets were opened in the Mallard Run on Saturday evening, a few acros and most surprisingly 25 Sand Martins & 11 Swallows were caught.
Museum Paris 5634103 !!.....on a Sedge Warbler......our 13th French /Belgian Sedge Warbler control was the highlight of a couple of hours on Sunday morning, again the Mallard Run !!