Monday 24 September 2018

The Teifi Autumn - scarce migrants and re-encounters

Blackcaps show the greatest increase of all Warblers passing through the Teifi scrub in the Autumn.


This adult male may be a site faithful migrant using the Teifi as a stopover refuelling site?
Ringed on 13th September 2015 and re encountered 3 years to the day.
From 1st Sept we have caught 107 new Blackcaps though the weather has prevented several ringing sessions.

We don't see a large number of Willow Warblers pass through in Autumn but we do see an increase in Chiffchaffs, 42 so far this September.

We continue to catch both Reed and Sedge Warblers into the month, we hope to catch some late passage birds this week, some of the Reed Warblers may have fledged only recently.
15 Reed and 11 Sedge Warblers ringed so far this month.



We usually find our Sedge Warblers show the largest weight and fat gain of the Warblers, our highest fat so far though, a juvenile with a fat score of 6.

We will continue at our  Teifi Marsh ringing sites through the Autumn....

Wryneck, Bluethroat, Common Rosefinch, Siberian Chiffchaff, 3 Yellow-browed Warblers, Whinchat and 15 Firecrests have all been caught in Autumn on the Teifi Marsh since 2011

One of Charlie's Siskins ringed last July went to the Isle of Arran, controlled in May 2018


 The Arran Natural History Society report says;-


"The Siskin is a common and abundant breeding bird and passage migrant on Arran during the spring and summer months but it is mostly absent during the autumn and winter.
Returning birds start to reappear at feeders from the beginning of March onwards and local birds may start to breed from the middle of this month.
The majority of birds arrive during April although some may still continue to arrive as late as May. During this period Siskins which are migrating to breeding grounds further north add to the number of birds on Arran.
Birds start to move away from Arran during late summer once the breeding season has ended."



Although the RAS period is over for our Teifi Reed Buntings we intend to monitor the activity at our Mallard site where some birds may roost and we are trying to develop a feeding station to encourage them. We have colour-ringed c200 now.

We will try and increase our effort monitoring Pipits on the estuary too. We have ringed both passage and local Rock Pipits, this bird caught last December - we ringed in Oct 2010 !!


With a tail as below and other interesting differences to local birds, where are the migrants from..?
This was one of several birds showing "littorallis"  features.



Andrew and Alison (independently) are off to ring in Gibraltar in the coming weeks and Charlie having just returned from an amazing ringing trip to Mongolia is writing a post as I write.....


Tuesday 11 September 2018

Recoveries - - Home and Away

Our 1st Grasshopper Warbler recovery, an adult ringed on 28th April 2018 at Charlie's Fygyn Common site near Brechfa Forest in Carmarthenshire was re-encountered on Squire's Down, Gillingham, in Dorset on the 30th August 2018


9 Grasshopper Warblers have been ringed on Fygyn Common this year compared to none across the Teifi Marsh sites and just 1 at Goodwick Moor.



Back in January / February 2012 we made a 3 week ringing trip to Uganda. We captured 3 species of Nightjar including just one Long-tailed Nightjar

Two days ago on the 9th September Malcolm Wilson posted..

 "Went out for a dazzle with the torch and net, only got one bird, but what a bird! Long-tailed Nightjar that we ringed in January 2012!!
Almost got a Water Thick-knee, but there was a hippo standing just behind it and my net wasn’t big enough..!"




We don't have a photo of the bird when it was originally ringed but this is a blog post about the day it was caught and location. Some Plain Nightjars were ringed that night too.
Uganda 2012, Long-tailed Nightjar

I am back ringing with Malcolm in Uganda in November....... what recaptures and new data awaits us.


Back to nearer home, Jenny one of our trainees joined Wendy and I on Skokholm for the weekend, a short 3 night trip with the ringing of young Manx Shearwaters the priority...


 Of course a bit of migrant ringing too, with this Wryneck being the highlight...


Andrew and Alison, two of our other trainees couldn't make the Skokholm trip due to participating in the joint BTO /  Gower Ringing Group training course - -some highlights soon. Looking forward to highlights from Charlie too, out ringing in Mongolia as I write.
We are introducing Alison to lamping on the Teifi tonight, this juvenile Bar-tailed Godwit the highlight amongst the Dunlin and Ringed Plover caught last night.