A look back at 2018

Yesterday evening, the Group reviewed our year of ringing at the AGM. 

One of the 773 Sedge Warblers ringed in 2018

With the Group growing we have now had to move on from meeting in one of our homes. Thanks to The Grosvenor Hotel in Cardigan for the use of a room.

The totals for the year are now published on the blog
2018 totals

During the year we ringed 7,541 birds and re-encountered 2,362 making a total of 9,903.
Now that the group has moved on to DemOn for our data entry we are unable to produce the usual table of retraps and controls but will hopefully publish some of the most interesting controls soon.

We discussed the activities at the different sites used by the group. Some new species for the Group were caught this year at Fygyn Common, one of Charlie's sites.

 Cuckoo and Nightjar are species that we hope to study more in the coming years.

Charlie also had a good number of Redwing passing through his Llanfynydd site and with trainees ringed 277. Unfortunately one that he ringed in November 2017 was shot in Gironde, France November 2018 (745km).

We will continue to run our Constant Effort site at the Teifi Marshes as well as the four RAS projects  on Reed Warblers, Reed Buntings, Siskins and Linnets.
Sedge Warblers are once again our most frequently encountered bird on the Teifi Marshes with big catches as they pass through on migration in May and late July/August. We caught 11 that had been ringed elsewhere and 13 of our birds were caught by other ringers, mostly in Western France. Note in particular the bird that was controlled in Ireland by Irish Midlands Ringing Group. This recovery adds weight to our thoughts that the Teifi Marsh is a stopover site before the migration hop over the Irish Sea to breeding sites in Ireland.

We have been colour ringing Reed Buntings on the Teifi Marshes since 2014 to add to subsequent encounters of them for RAS (Retrapping Adults for Survival). In 2018 we added 110 to the study population. We are grateful to the photographers who send us photos. The photo below is from Colin Dalton who has sent us many photos over the last few weeks.

At Mwnt, Chris continues the study on Linnets with 603 birds ringed. Some other species were caught at Mwnt too including Stonechat, Chough, Wheatear, Storm Petrels and a Magpie.

We only caught 7 Storm Petrels this year, one had been ringed on Bardsey Island in 2016.

On winter nights we continued our long term study on birds roosting on sheep pasture. We now have continuous data for these sites since 2008.
The most common bird encountered is Woodcock but other species are ringed too.

At the AGM we asked Group members which species would they most like to ring on our local sites. This will help us plan our activities this year. Skylark was a popular choice!!

We start a new year with an enthusiastic growing group comprising 18 members including 6 A ringers, 5 C ringers and trainees. Great to welcome Andy Turner to the Teifi Ringing Group.