Recent recoveries, and the Woodcock season ahead.

We have received details from the BTO of three recoveries on Skokholm of Storm Petrels ringed at our Mwnt site this summer.

2674671 was ringed on the 20th June and retrapped on Skokholm on the 25th July, 35 days later.
2721405 was ringed on the 22nd July and retrapped on Skokholm on the 25th July, 3 days later.
2721410 was ringed on the 26th July and retrapped on Skokholm on the 5th August, 10 days later.

Mwnt to Skokholm 65 km

This raises some questions. Are the birds we capture at Mwnt from the Skokholm population though we don't see obvious signs of breeding, or non-breeders roaming the Irish Sea whose origins may be from further afield ?
Some questions might soon be answered as interesting research is going on at Cork University in Ireland with trackers on Storm Petrels. This has shown that they forage considerable distances up to 330km from their breeding colony. A map which illustrates this by Dr Adam Kane was on Twitter from a recent Irish Ornithological Research Conference...
Storm Petrel foraging

Other news this week from the BTO was the original ringing details of a Reed Warbler with a Jersey ring that we caught on the Teifi Marsh on the 30th July this year.
Not ringed on Jersey but....

It had been ringed at Longis reserve on Alderney on 18th September 2016.

Some other control news:-
Sedge Warbler 7505874 ringed at Tour aux Moutons, Loire-Atlantique, France on 8th August 2015 caught Teifi Marsh 22nd July 2017  560km, 714 days later.
Sedge Warbler 12257597 ringed at Jonkershove, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium 15th August 2011 caught Teifi Marsh 28th April 2016 538km, 1718 days later.

The French ringed bird, a typical movement. The Belgian ringed bird is probably our oldest Sedge Warbler, though no doubt a passage bird.

Reed Warbler S191815  ringed by Pembs RG at Rhoscrowther 17th July 2017
caught Teifi Marsh 11th August 2017 25 days, 53km later.

The Reed Warbler, an inter county movement between the two main county acro ringing sites.

Our Preseli Woodcock study season is here.....

Since 2009....382 captures, including 30 recaptures and 7 recoveries -  2 to Russia, 1 to Denmark, 1 to Norway, 1 to France and 2 to Cornwall.

The map above shows our latest recapture.
EY81422 was recaptured two nights ago on the 24th November, ringed on the 15th January 2015.
The two capture sites being 150m apart, showing the usual wintering site fidelity.

We are in the first few days of the new season. We hope to achieve our 400th capture during the next moon phase and we will be targeting our three main sites Crymych, Frenni and Boncath. The current Woodcock capture totals for each site are 113, 89 and 89 respectively. The three sites have also produced other species captured totalling 188 birds, a combination of mainly Golden Plovers, Snipe, Fieldfare, Redwing, Skylark, Meadow Pipits and the nicest.. a Stock Dove...

September and October at Fygyn Common and Ffynnon Gro

I called my last post "Fygyn..... developing a new ringing site". I thought this time I would summarise the results from both my sites Fygyn Common and Ffynnon Gro for the months of September and October.
This year I have had fewer ringing sessions abroad and have had more time to ring at Fygyn Common in particular, the months from August to September producing some interesting birds and caught some new birds for this site as well.

Fygyn Common Totals

Species	New	Re-traps	Totals
Sparrowhawk	1		1
Green Woodpecker	1		1
Swallow	41		41
Tree Pipit	2		2
Meadow Pipit	115		115
Grey Wagtail	1		1
Wren	3	1	4
Dunnock	7	6	13
Robin	5	3	8
Stonechat	2		2
Blackbird	2		2
Song Thrush	1		1
Redwing	1		1
Grasshopper Warbler	1		1
Chiffchaff	14		14
Goldcrest	21	3	24
Long-tailed Tit	1		1
Willow Tit	1	7	8
Coal Tit	4	5	9
Blue Tit	33	9	42
Great Tit	11	8	19
Chaffinch	38	5	43
Goldfinch	7	6	13
Siskin	7	5	12
Bullfinch	8	1	9
Reed Bunting	4	1	5
Totals	332	60	392

The highlights of the ringing sessions at Fygyn Common were:-

The Green Woodpecker was a first for Fygyn Common and a new bird for me. It was totally unexpected even though I have seen a number of them about and have investigated with ringing friends and on the internet the best way to catch them. Within a few days of each other I also caught a male Great Spotted Woodpecker from my garden site at Ffynnon Gro 

This year has been the best since I started to ring at Fygyn Common for Grasshopper Warblers. The first to be caught was on 20/04/17, in total 12 birds were ringed 6 juveniles and 6 adults. 

I strongly suspect they have been breeding at the site.

The last bird caught was on 02/09/17 and was this scraggy looking adult above and as with some of the other birds they were probably on migration passage.

Not big numbers but 6 Tree Pipits have made a presence again this year, all juveniles. Again probably have bred on the site. They were first heard calling by Karen Meatyard from the Teifi Group in late Spring when she came to ring with me. 

More success with Meadow Pipits. They started to arrive in late August and increased in numbers and 115 being caught for September and October. The last bird caught was 30/10/17 and brought the total to 151 birds this year.

This picture just gives you some comparison between a Tree Pipit and a Meadow Pipit

Tree Pipit claw 6mm - 9mm, Stronger supercilium and bill is thicker and stumpier

Meadow Pipit claw 10mm - 13mm, weaker supercillium and the bill is finer.

First for the site this Grey Wagtail

My first Stonechat was caught in 2013 in a spring trap, many attempts since then has caught Robins but no more Stonechats but 2 birds were caught in mist nets this year, the one above in September.

        Ffynnon Gro Totals

Species	New	Re-traps	Totals
Great Spotted Woodpecker	1		1
Swallow	3		3
Wren	1		1
Dunnock	1	2	3
Robin		2	2
Blackbird	1	1	2
Mistle Thrush	3		3
Redwing	78		78
Chiffchaff	1		1
Goldcrest	2		2
Marsh Tit	2	2	4
Long-tailed Tit	3		3
Willow Tit	3		3
Coal Tit	7		7
Blue Tit	28	5	33
Great Tit	22	2	24
Nuthatch	1		1
House Sparrow	5		5
Chaffinch	10	1	11
Goldfinch	36	13	49
Siskin	4	5	9
Totals	212	33	245

                                                                                 

The highlights of the ringing sessions at Ffynnon Gro were:-

This male Great Spotted Woodpecker caught on 28/10/17 was a juvenile,  looking closely at its head you can still see some red juvenile feathers that have not moulted.

3 new Mistle Thrush have been caught in October which brings the total to 4 birds for this year and a total of 7 birds for the site.

Redwing, regular every year have shown up in bigger numbers with a total of 78 new birds, site total this year being 151. All the birds have been caught in my High Flyer and still birds fly over the top of the nets. Another project coming on I think.

Many thanks to all members of the Teifi Ringing group that came along to help this year and especially the last couple of months:- Karen Meatyard, Dawn Jay, Arfon Williams, trainee's Molly Heal, Andrew Hughes and Katie Dix. Their presence has given opportunities to increase the number of nets used and experiment netting arrangements in new areas. I enjoy their company and it's nice to have like minded people ringing with you.

I am looking forward and hoping that I may have Firecrest and YellowBrowed warbler this winter. Goldcrest have started to show on Fygyn Common. Woodcock and Snipe have also started to arrive, so catching any of these species would be special.