Early Spring arrivals....

Chiffchaffs were caught at a couple of sites from the 11th of March including three re-encounters from previous years. 

During last year we had only 6 similar re-encounters.

Now the earliest Willow Warblers ...

Two ringed on the 22nd, our previous earliest were ringed the 8th April, though we have heard a few before that date.

Earlier in the month a Firecrest was a surprise on the 7th, our first ever in March. 

Late news of a  Redwing    RY42097  ringed  on the Teifi Marshes, Pembs on the 13/10/2021

Shot  Soller, Mallorca, Spain 08/12/2022 421 days 1478km SSE

The nesting season for Dippers is well underway. Andrew has made some Dipper pipes this year for his Cwm Gwendraeth, Carmarthenshire sites and four out of six are already in use. At all of his sites, 7 nests have started, 2 with eggs and one where chicks have hatched.

Several of the bridges are on old industrial sites, now regenerating.

The number of Dipper boxes monitored by Alison in North Pembs have increased with both new sites and some taken over from Paddy Jenks.

Having visited myself earlier in the year, a few ringers with Kartong Bird Obs links recently spent a few days with friends involved with the West Oxfordshire Farmland Project.

The links below summarise our " farmland experience". A great weekend of learning and assisting with the WOFP work.

West Oxfordshire Farmland Bird Project tweet 16th March - shared experiences of farmland birds   

Corn Bunting

West Oxfordshire Farmland Bird Project tweet 19th March- A busy bird ringing survey on the Lambourn Downs

Yellowhammer

If interested, direct message them, Olly, Noah and Ian will be delighted to hear from you.

We will be returning and developing our relationship.

Reed Buntings...

We are continuing RAS (retrapping adults for survival) and colour-ringing of the Teifi Marshes Reed Buntings, ...

Many thanks to Chris for the meticulous preparation of another 120 combinations.

(Rich D and Wendy J)