More Reed Warblers by day...Stormies by night

15 juvenile Reed Warblers were the highlight of CES 8 on the Teifi Marsh this week.

A total of 68 birds were caught with 56 new including 11 juvenile Chiffs. A young Whitethroat was the first of the year.
The following morning we ringed at our two other sites on the Teifi Marsh adding another 70 birds including  more juvenile Reed Warblers and the first Sedge Warblers of autumn migration. Also more Reed Buntings for our colour ringing project. Local photographers are still keeping their eyes open for ringed birds.

This adult male was re-sighted several times over the winter on the feeders at the Wildlife Centre, around the car park and now regularly seen near creek Hide. Thanks to Fred Cripps for this picture.

The Teifi Marsh is an important stopover for migrant Sedge Warblers with 3,024 ringed since 2009. Several have been controlled as they migrate south across England and the west coast of France but few from further north so good news this week from the BTO of a Sedge Warbler ringed on the Teifi Marsh in May 2013 and controlled by Kelvin Jones (BTO Cymru) at Llyn Ystumllyn near Criccieth,  in June this year as a breeding female. (100km)

As well as ringing on the Teifi Marsh, Storm Petrel ringing is being fitted in whenever there is a rare calm weather window. Last night another 7 were ringed at Mwnt before today's persistent unseasonal rain started at 2am.

An old acro, a new grasshopper ...and a stormie

Chris and Wendy opened the Pentwd nets yesterday morning whilst preparing more rides for the acro migration season ahead. 25 birds caught of which L531065 stands out !
L531065 a Reed Warbler was ringed as a juvenile in the nearby Mallard run nets (by Wendy !) on 11/08/2010 and surprisingly never captured since.
The 3JP Grasshopper Warbler was the first juvenile since 2013. One adult earlier this year surprisingly our only bird since.

Ryan, our trainee, came down from Aberystwyth for a small Storm Petrel session at Mwnt last night. We were disappointed with only one bird, but Ryan was happier as it was the 30th species that he has now ringed.
Our low catch seemed to be mirrored by Skokholm where they only managed 16 birds at a site away from the colonies. They usually catch 100+. But Mark Grantham in Cornwall caught 75 - suggesting the northerly wind had moved these predominantly non-breeders temporarily south...


Friday update...
Last night on Skokholm Island a much better catch of 180 Storm Petrels. One in 15 were already ringed, 5 were ringed on Skokholm last year and 7 were ringed elsewhere. Had the wind changing round to the south and cloud cover made the difference? So many variables to consider when planning a Stormie session, not just the moon and wind speed.
See Skokholm Blog

CES, Siskins and Stormies..

Eighty-three captures of 18 species at CES 7 yesterday morning.
Meanwhile Chris was with Ryan at the Pentwd nets on the Ceredigion side of the reserve, where they captured a further 28 birds and a further species, Sedge Warbler.

Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps both reached double figures at CES.

This Reed Bunting was ringed on the reserve in 2013 and colour rings added last year for our RAS project.

Other highlights of CES were Treecreeper, a Kingfisher and this juvenile Redtstart

To add to the day's species for the group, Siskins, again for a RAS project and Greenfinches, Goldfinches and House Sparrow were all ringed in Boncath. More on the Siskin RAS at the end of the breeding season when they appear to leave until February.

The final species of the day was achieved with 6 Storm Petrels at Mwnt.

The scene at 10pm last night with 2 nets in a new location so we have different options depending on the wind direction..

Just returned from preparing for ringing in the morning at our Mallard reed bed site on the Teifi Marsh. Great to see juvenile Swallows already in numbers - hirundine roost ringing can't be far away!

101 stormies....and a French control

A French control topped the catch, with two British controls and a 101 new Storm Petrels !
We were down at the western tip of the Dale peninsula at the best stormie catching site on mainland Pembs.

Here you can see Skomer offshore, and Skokholm with it's 2000 pairs of Storm Petrels is a little further south. This catch was arranged by Steve and the Pembs RG, and we were asked to attend with additional sound from the Teifi !

Steve has been ringing Storm Petrels here since c1977, and Bob and I first ringed stormies here in 1984 ..so bring on some younger ringers, and a party of five staff and field workers from Skomer joined us.

 Below the positioning of two of the nets on the cliff at Wooltack Point.

The combined group await....

We shall be returning to our patch and hopefully continue to catch small numbers at Mwnt and maybe Ceibwr as we develop our understanding of Storm Petrel movements within Cardigan Bay,
 - maybe even find a new breeding site.......?
We will also plan a few sessions in at the reliable and potentially larger catching site of Strumble Head.

(Photos by Wendy J and Rich D)

CES 6, new birds, new people...

82 birds for CES 6, 61 new and very surprisingly only 21 retraps.
Plenty of juveniles including our first capture of 2 Redstarts in a CES session.

Other first juveniles for the year included 3 Garden Warblers, 3 Reed Warblers, Treecreeper and 2 Goldcrest.
The group is growing and nice to have involved today Nia, the Teifi Marsh reserve People and Wildlife Officer, Dai Stacey and Andrew Hughes.

All three regularly visit and work on the Welsh Islands, from north to south, Bardsey, Ramsey, Skomer and Skokholm. See our post below for our recent visit to Skokholm. Useful to be able to share our island experiences of volunteering and management.

Not only the trainees do the work !

A week on Skokholm..

Fitted in between CES 5 and 6, two of us spent a week on Skokholm ringing and counting birds.
Although very quiet for migrants in June, we were able to help with the long term seabird projects.
Just a brief summary of the work here but for a more in depth look at  the daily work on the island follow the excellent Skokholm blog which is updated daily.

Juvenile Wheatear were appearing in increasing numbers during the week and we ringed a few from the 13 pairs. This one was along the track to the light house.

Most of the Great Black-backed Gull chicks were a good size for colour ringing. This is an important part of a study looking at juvenile survival, dispersal and recruitment into the breeding population. Over 25% of the chicks colour-ringed last year were resighted in Cornwall. 

 Waiting for glue to set on a numbered colour ring...

Along the lighthouse track, a study transect was established in 2013 where Manx Shearwaters are ringed and retrapped to look at adult survival and recruitment of juveniles to the population.  Many visiting ringers find this nocturnal activity to be the highlight of their stay. Visitors to the island are invited to join the ringers and find it fascinating to see this secretive bird in the hand and to learn more about them.

Work in the Manx Shearwater study plots - there 193 study burrows which are natural burrows with a slab over the nest chamber to allow easy access. These are visited early in the season to see which adults have returned to the colony. All burrows where an egg is produced are then monitored to see what proportion of pairs fledge a chick.

We checked out the last few unknown partners in occupied burrows.

Adult Razorbills are ringed as part of long term studies into adult survival and the juveniles as part of long term productivity monitoring.

 A day of nips and scratches and crawling around in guano!

Razorbills carry ticks and a search after the visit to the Razorbill colony was justified as one was found firmly attached!

A visit to Skokholm a week earlier last year was busy with ringing Oystercatcher chicks. This year they are later and we only ringed one, though many more will be produced from the 40 pairs.

Herring and Lesser Black-backed gulls are ringed as part of the study into long-term survival. Here Richard is teaching one of the long term volunteers how to measure the head and bill of a Lesser Black-backed Gull.

Ringers and non- ringers are welcome to stay on Skokholm. Further details here..
Visit Skokholm

The Skokholm annual report is well worth a read for a detailed insight into the work on the island.
Skokholm Annual Report 2014

Redstarts and Pied Flycatchers

A visit to our nest boxes today to ring the pulli.
In Ffynone wood just one box was used by Pied Flycatchers.

All 6 eggs hatched but for some reason, maybe bad weather, only 3 were alive today.

Only one box was used by Pied Flycatchers in Pengelli wood too. Better success here though with 7 pulli from 7 eggs ringed.
For the first time in Pengelli, one box was used by Redstart

although in previous years they had nested in a nearby tree which has since fallen down

6 Redstart pulli were ringed, their red tails making no doubt about the identification!

A disappointing year for Pied Flycatchers in our North Pembrokeshire woods but every successful nest is a bonus as we are right on the limit of their range in Wales. Excellent distribution maps illustrating this can be viewed on the BTO Atlas mapstore