Juveniles and Autumn migration.

I always get excited this time of year. August through to the end of September you can experience lots of birds on passage, also the anticipation of something different or even a new species is always at the back of your mind. Here we are already half way through the month!

For me at Fygyn Common and Ffynnon Gro like everywhere else there are lots of juveniles being caught. From the birds processed in the table below this month, 18% were adults an 82% juveniles. 

The first week in August the weather forecasters were suggesting the heat wave was over and the second week here we are again awash with rain and wind, albeit the rain has been great for the garden. It has made it difficult to get out, many of the sessions have been organised at the last minute to take advantage of a break in the weather.

Fygyn Common and Fynnon Gro - August 2018
Species	New	Recaptures	Total
Chaffinch	49      +        5	23	72      +       5
Lesser Redpoll	9	2	11
Great Tit	5        +        2	12     +     2	17      +       4
Wren	5		5
Blackcap	14      +        2		14       +      2
Dunnock	7        +        2	9       +     1	16       +      3
Blue Tit	4        +        7	6	10       +      7
Willow Warbler	12      +        1	1	13       +      1
Swallow	61      +        1		61      +      1
Jay	1		1
Whitethroat	6		6
Robin	4	1	5
Great Spotted Woodpecker	1		1
Siskin	15       +     14	23     +     8	38       +     22
Bullfinch	5		5
Willow Tit	3	8	11
Treecreeper	1		1
Grasshopper Warbler	3		3
Redstart	1		1
Nuthatch		1	1
Marsh Tit	1		1
Tawny Owl		1	1
Sedge Warbler	1		1

                              Total                                      207 + 35             85 + 13            292 + 48

                      Grand Total                                       242                    98                     340

Highlights first two weeks in August

• Every year I seem to get one Redstart as is the case again this August. It was a juvenile just starting its post juvenile moult.
• I was pleased to have caight 77 Chaffinch during the period. Many were in post juvenile moult and some could be sexed as males because the reddish plumage was begining to appear.
• 6 Whitethroat this month bringing the Fygyn Common total to 13 this year.
• 3 Grasshopper Warbler this month bringing the Fygyn Common total to 6 this year.
• Willow Tit and the Jay were new species for Alison Rees one of our trainees. She joined me earlier in the month and we caught and she processed 76 birds many of the adults were in main moult so we were able to get some practice doing moult scores.

All the bird pictures below are this years juveniles.

The change in weather caused a blanket of mist/fog to hang over the common on two occasions. When the sun rises it eventually breaks through and the mist/fog clears. It does create a slow start in the morning but noticable the birds quickly appear in the nets in the improved conditions.

Doing reasonable well with Whitethroat this year all birds being juveniles on passage. Noticable after a nights bad weather many warblers drop in overnight.

Grasshopper Warblers have been reasonable scarce and numbers including the 3 caught this month brings the total to 6 compared with 12 in 2017 over the same time period. Again all birds were juveniles.

In August, 61 Swallows were caught and the total for the year is currently at 166. After every session we have tried to catch Nightjar and were lucky to have caught two males. One was a new bird and the second was a recovery and hope to get the recovery report soon. These were the first for the site

I don't know how other sites are doing but Willow Warbler numbers are really down this year, all birds being juveniles.

Juvenile Bullfinch.

Juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, the second bird for Alison since she started ringing at the beginning of the year. The full red cap makes this a juvenile.

Whilst Redpolls haven't been as common as last year the number of juvenile Redpoll have increased.

This Sedge Warbler caught only a few days ago was the first this year. As the one caught last year it was probably on passage and had dropped in over night.

One of the Redpolls I caught on the 14th Aug had a ring on it S994687 belonging to some one else, a bird not ringed by the Teifi Ringing Group. On the 15th Aug I received the ringing recovery report from the BTO. The bird was ringed at a site called Crabtree Hill, Gloucestershire as a juvenile 318 days ago on 30/09/2017. When caught at Fygyn Common it was a female having bred this summer, the Brood Patch was wrinkled and soon would be feathering over again. it was also in main moult.


We have had some really good weather this year and many birds have had more than one brood and juvenile bird numbers seem to have increased, especially Chaffinch which are doing really well. Goldfinch on the other hand were good in the spring but numbers have plumeted since.
No sign of Tree Pipit this year and Stonechat are about in small numbers.

Thanks to Alison Rees, Andrew Hughes, Dawn Jay and Karen Meatyard for their help recently.