Waders to warblers - Spring

The annual commercial reed cut for thatching on the Teifi Marshes gives us an opportunity for wader catching. As the tide pushes birds off the river edges they move to the cut area to feed and roost.

The reed cut mud is covered in tracks of Snipe, Curlew, ducks and geese

On the 18th March, an adult female islandica race Black-tailed Godwit was ringed. With only 2 Black-tailed Godwits around at the moment it has been possible to watch the gradual change into breeding plumage of this ringed bird. It is still present on the 30th.

A Curlew that we ringed with a metal ring in April 2022 was caught and colour rings added. It has since been seen regularly from various hides on the Teifi Marshes.

Curlew J0 - Tommy Evans

Two Jack Snipe were also caught in the wader net.

While still quiet on our drier sites there has been a notable arrival of Willow Warblers this week. After a very early Willow Warbler ringed on the 20th March, on the 24th a catch of 11 Willow Warblers outnumbering the 5 Chiffchaffs. Over the winter period, the majority of Reed Buntings seen were colour ringed but currently more unringed birds are turning up and being added to the pool of colour ringed birds for our RAS.

Dipper nest checks have started but no chicks yet. Sometimes Grey Wagtail nests are encountered when looking for Dippers. Andrew monitored some in the Gwendraeth valley which resulted in an interesting movement of one of the Grey Wagtail chicks.

Grey Wagtail nest site and pulli - Andrew Hughes

Grey Wagtail  AVZ2443 was ringed as a pullus in a nest under a bridge in Pont Henri, Carmarthenshire. On the 18th April this year it was found dead by the roadside in Hartland, Devon

331 days 95km SSW

On the 22nd, the first visit to Lleine, our Linnet RAS site. It was pleasing to catch 52 Linnets as only two were seen on a visit the week before. 

The following visit on the 27th yielded 102 Linnets...

A new species for Emporium near Tregaron. Only the 6th to be ringed by the group.

A Rook

(Rich D and Wendy J)