First Wheatear of the year

A frosty start to the day but being the first week of April it was time to dust off the spring traps, buy some new Waxworms (Pets at Home finest £2.49) and head to Mwnt looking for migrants.This week last year there were large numbers of Wheatears on the headland every morning but rather a different story today. Just one Wheatear ringed out of only two seen and they soon moved on as soon as the early dog walkers appeared.The headland was generally quiet and even the resident Chough and Kestrel didn't put in an appearance.

The White Wagtail passage begins

Last year we were suprised at the number of White Wagtails that we caught on Spring migration. A total of 119 birds were ringed in April with no retraps. Only a handful were Pied Wagtails, the rest were White Wagtails. This was our first effort at catching them so whether 2011 was a just a particularly good year for migration along the West Wales coast remains to be seen when we repeat the exercise this Spring.

This evening there were only around 12 Wagtails over the marsh at dusk but we were successful in catching six of which 3 were Pied Wagtails and 3 were White Wagtails.

The marsh was generally quiet with no hirundines compared to c50 Sand Martins and a couple of Swallows a few days ago before the weather turned colder.

Two firsts for the garden....

- a Treecreeper and using five AA rings consecutively !
Not many birds needing an AA ring have been caught in the garden in the past, so it was a bit of a surprise today when five consecutive birds had rings off the blue string - the Treecreeper, then 2 Chiffchaffs, a Goldcrest and a Wren.
A Bullfinch had started the morning off nicely and retrap Goldcrest, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Blackbird all ringed last year were good too.
The Siskins seem to have gone now.
With migration getting underway, our site in the dunes down at the Teifi estuary will now take over from garden sessions.
The marshy area that runs through the dunes is looking wonderful a the moment with the Marsh Marigolds out - an area that caught us some good early migrants last year.

"Curlew" Tit

Having read the recent BTO blog about birds with deformities, it was interesting to catch this odd looking Blue Tit. It was a retrap, having been ringed by us in September as a juvenile when it had a completely normal beak. It was the same weight as others caught this morning so must be managing to feed sufficiently well, though the bird had moulted less coverts than expected.
A nice selection of warblers today too, including our first Blackcaps for the year, some Chiffs - one Chiffchaff - CNP216 was ringed as an adult in June 2009. Also nice to ring a new Cetti's Warbler, Cetti's singing from the usual five territories.

In Ffynone wood, a new project for the group this week was to help some local children put up nest boxes that they had made. This was organised by Kate from Growing Heart Workers Co-operative as part of their aim to make it a community woodland.This wood is the site of the first record of breeding Pied Flycatchers in Pembrokeshire. They are seen here every spring but no recent breeding records so hopefully the boxes will be successful. The wood has some good areas for a potential new ringing site.

Snow in March !

Small numbers of Snow Buntings are regular winter visitors to the man- made breakwater at Fishguard.
The female above was one of three seen in November 2011. From other photographs taken and monthly WeBS counts there do seem to be different birds using the breakwater. The answer to the question of whether they are wintering or passage birds and from where, came a step closer today when we caught the first of what is an ongoing project with permission from Stenna Line.
This was a first year male of the ssp nivalis. Mike Young-Powell was with us today as he has a special interest in Snow Bunting races and led to some interesting discussions as we watched the birds. We suspect that one of them was a male of the Icelandic ssp insulae.
Yesterday we had a good morning on the reserve checking nets and tidying net rides ready for the CES season ahead.
The first Chiffchaff of the year was the highlight of a few birds ringed.

We are grateful for the continuing support of Environment Wales with funding from the Welsh Government. The grant enabled us to purchase some tools which were put to good use yesterday.
Also the funding of a digital projector has been a great aid for talks about ringing that we have given to local groups.

Site faithful in the garden

Site faithful wintering Reed Warblers a memory in Uganda, so back to West Wales.
Back in the garden and 0f 48 Siskins caught, 3 from last winter. On top of the hills, 78 new Woodcock caught and 6 retraps.
Wendy is giving a talk, " An introduction to bird ringing - the Teifi and beyond" tomorrow in Cardigan, our AGM on Thursday...Mist net fitting in the Marsh rides on Saturday....Let us get ready for Spring, 2 Sand Martins were over the Marsh on March 1st.. !!

The Magic Garden

An unbeatable view of Lake Victoria from the ringing table!
We were privileged to spend some time at the beginning and end of our journey at this special garden warmly welcomed by Roger and Kathy.

Not many gardens can boast thirteen species of sunbirds like this Collared Sunbird
and Green-headed Sunbirds.
Not just small birds either - African and Eurasian Hobbies were overhead with numerous Black Kites. Both Shikra and African Goshawk were caught.
Splendid Glossy Starlings were coming to the bird bath but were far more challenging to catch.
but we did!Although we caught lots of colourful birds like this Brown Twinspot
even more fascinating was finding out that a recaptured Reed Warbler was ringed in the same garden in January 2011. The oldest retrap though was a Dark-capped Bulbul which Malcolm ringed in the garden in October 1997. Over 14 years old!
Reluctantly we came to the end of our trip but not without a couple of nets being put up in another garden on the way to the airport.
The poles being unloaded for the last time ......until next year??
This Woodland Kingfisher was nearly our last bird ringed but was not interested in the mealworm on our springtrap. We could have waited a bit longer but Richard had to pack the springtraps in his luggage clean and tidy for the benefit of customs!

If our recent postings from this three week ringing and birding expedition into the heart of Uganda has excited you then contact Malcolm Wilson ( shoebill@mweb.co.za) about future trips. Also have a look at his blog, African Affinity, for trip reports.