Returning Black-heads

No lotions, potions or squeezing required in this case as the returning Black-heads, as you will have realised, are Black-headed Gulls. I started checking the gulls that come to bread at Orrell Water Park back in October and I was really pleased to find IA141745 was present on 08/10/2018. This bird was ringed as an adult on 29/04/2012 at Bohmke und Werder, Germany, near the Baltic coast and border with Poland, and has been recorded at Orrell Water Park each winter since then.

Black-headed Gull IA141745 back for its 5th winter.
This photograph was taken yesterday but it has been present since 08/10/2018, at least.

The next ringed Black-head to return was photographed on 29/10/18 and was another German bird. This bird was originally ringed as a nestling on 10/06/2016 at Esterweger Dose, Weser-Ems in north-west Germany and was previously recorded at Orrell Water Park from 02/10/2017 to 17/03/2018.

Black-headed Gull 5437612
Photographed on 29/10/2018 and recorded several times since, most recently on 29/11/2018.

A check of the gulls on 11/11/2018 produced another returning bird but this time it was a British ringed Black-headed Gull EZ33149. This bird was ringed as a nestling on 20/06/2017 at Elvanfoot, South Lanarkshire and was previously recorded at Orrell Water Park between 10/11/2017 and 17/03/2018.

EZ33149 just wouldn't stand still for very long so I concentrated on getting photographs of the ring rather than the bird. I only just managed to get the full number but it took 25 photographs along with a lot of cropping and some enhancement afterwards.

Only 4 ringed Black-headed Gulls were recorded at Orrell Water Park in the whole of last winter so to have 3 of them back already is a very good return rate and shows how site faithful they can be.

Icelandic Redwings & Sparrowhawks

I only had time for a brief ringing ringing session at Billinge this morning but it turned out to be well worth the effort. A total of 12 Redwings, 3 Goldcrests and 1 Sparrowhawk were caught in little more than an hour which isn't bad going for mid November, especially as only 2 nets were used. The Sparrowhawk was a new female and another that failed to do the usual last minute climb out of the net and escape trick. However, it was the fact that 3 of the Redwings were stand out examples of the Icelandic race, coburni, that made it particularly worthwhile.

The upperparts of Icelandic Redwings tend to be a shade darker overall but it is the much heavier (blotchier) and more extensive streaking of the underparts, dark brown legs and toes, and well marked under-tail coverts that make them really stand out from continental birds (nominate race iliacus).

Icelandic birds average bigger too but in my experience wing length is of limited value as most will fall in the overlap between the two races. This bird had a wing length of 126.5 mm and was noticeably bulkier than the iliacus that were caught at the same time. However, it still falls within the overlap as iliacus can have a wing length of up to 129 mm (yes 129 mm and I have caught one that big myself) although most publications used by ringers only give an upper limit of 126, 127 or 128 mm. 

November and mid November in particular seems to be a good time for Icelandic Redwings at Billinge; my first were recorded in mid November 2014 (link here)

Today's 1cy female Sparrowhawk was the 4th female of the autumn.

While on the subject of Sparrowhawks I managed to get a photograph of a cracking little male that caught a Goldfinch in the garden a few days ago. It was already wearing a ring and I was able to read part of the number which suggests it is one that I ringed at Billinge in autumn 2015 but that is as far as I could narrow it down.

Male Sparrowhawk 12/11/2018

Easterly winds have set in and are forecast to continue for a good few days so it will be interesting to see if they bring anything unusual this way. They could pep up thrush movements initially, if nothing else. I just hope they are not too strong and give me the chance to get some nets up.

Collybita, abietinus or tristis: the Chiffchaff conundrum.

Regular readers of the blog may remember that I caught a very interesting looking Chiffchaff back in September (link here). Its largely greyish-green and white livery was very different to the standard olive-green and mustard-yellow of the nominate race (collybita) Chiffchaffs that I normally catch in autumn. I thought it was likely to be a Chiffchaff of the race abietinus (the range of which includes large parts of Scandinavia, parts of eastern Europe and European Russia) but, as I commented in that earlier post, I also thought it had a look about it that potentially gave it more easterly credentials, although the early date (23/09/2018) seemed to make that unlikely.


Luckily I was able to salvage a few small feathers that it dropped in a bird bag and submitted them to Professor Martin Collinson for DNA analysis. I was certain that it would prove to be a very interesting individual whatever the result of the DNA analysis turned out to be:

1. It would be very interesting if it turned out to be collybita simply because its appearance is so unlike that of collybita.
2. It would be equally if not more interesting if it proved to be abietinus as very few have been confirmed by DNA in western Europe and also because there had been no easterly winds up to that point in September to help drift a migrant of such origin to the UK (especially the west side of the UK).
3. It would also be very interesting (if not remarkable) if it was shown to have tristis origins because of the early date, again because there had been no easterly winds up to that point in September and because its abietinus like appearance would point to it being a abietinus x tristis hybrid.

Greyish-green and white Chiffchaff caught at Billinge 23/09/2018.
Unfortunately it was not heard to call so there were no clues there. Its appearance most closely matches the descriptions for abietinus but I also knew the identification of abietinus was not necessarily that straightforward. A genetic study of migrant Chiffchaffs caught in the Netherlands found that all 23 of the birds that were identified by ringers as being abietinus, based on their appearance, turned out to have tristis mtDNA (de Knijff et al.)

The flanks were washed with pale brown similar to a tea or coffee stain on a white cloth.

The belly, breast and throat were largely white. The undertail coverts were similar to the flanks but there was a stronger buff to yellowish-buff suffusion around the vent.

The supercillium had yellow tones above and in front of the eye but was pale brown and much less distinct behind the eye. 

To say the result was eagerly awaited is a bit of an understatement and my interest was heightened after reading a paper on the genetics of Chiffchaffs caught in Britain and Ireland (Collinson et al.) that was published in British Birds earlier this year (link here). That paper looked at the genetics of 149 migrant and wintering Chiffchaffs caught during 2009 - 2017. It was interesting to see that only 9 birds in that study were found to have abietinus mtDNA and only one of those 9 was actually identified as abietinus by the ringer with the other 8 being tentatively identified as collybita or at least 'not tristis'. As for timing of autumn occurrences the few abietinus were within the same period that tristis were found with the earliest of either race being a tristis caught on the Isle of May on 28/09/2015. The study also found one Chiffchaff that was submitted as a potential tristis actually had collybita mtDNA, however, its quite dull grey appearance was considered to be unlike any of the Chiffchaff races and it was suggested that it was an aberrantly plumaged collybita.

Well I didn't have to wait too long to get the DNA result and I received an email from Thom Shannon, a PhD student working with Martin Collinson, saying that the mtDNA they recovered was that of a tristis Chiffchaff. Thom also commented that the plumage was a much better fit for an abietinus type and that they were of the opinion that it was a clear abietinus/tristis intergrade. As I said earlier the result was going to be interesting whichever way it went and to my mind the combination of its abietinus type appearance, its tristis mtDNA and the early date is the most intriguing outcome of all. 

For those of you that may not know mtDNA is only inherited through the maternal line so it only tells us that its Mum, Grandma or a direct female relative further back through the generations was a 'pure' tristis Chiffchaff. There is no way of knowing from the mtDNA or the bird's appearance if its genetic make-up is more tristis than abietinus or vice versa. Some may be tempted to think it is more abietinus than tristis because its appearance is a much better fit for abietinus but genetic studies on the breeding grounds have shown that is not necessarily the case (Shipilina et al.; Marova et al.). In those studies some birds with abietinus morphology (appearance) were found to have tristis mtDNA and a predominance of tristis DNA overall.

So the mismatch between the Billinge bird's appearance and its mtDNA points to it being an abietinus/tristis intergrade (hybrid) and one thing we can we can say with some certainty about such intergrades is where they originate. The contact zone (the area where the two races meet and overlap) is a relatively narrow band running from the southern Urals northwards to the White Sea and genetic studies have shown that past and ongoing hybridisation occurs in this area and that a similar mismatch of appearance and mtDNA is not found in other parts of either subspecies breeding range (Marova et al and Shipilina et al). Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that this particular bird originated in that contact zone and will have travelled around 3250 km to reach Billinge.


Approximate zone of contact between abietinus and tristis (redrawn from Shipilina et al. and Marova et al.) and location of the site where the bird was caught.

There are other aspects to this record that make it particularly interesting with the early date being one of them. The Billinge bird is a week earlier than the earliest tristis identified in genetic study by Collinson et al and if you factor in the westerly location and absence of easterly winds up to that point in September it makes that early date even more exceptional. We will never know when it actually arrived in the UK but it was presumably at least a day or two before the capture date at Billinge, if not longer. In addition, it is a bird that calls into question what we know or think we know about the likelihood of abietinus occurring in western Europe and the UK in particular. I appreciate it is not safe to draw any firm conclusions from just one individual but if abietinus is the regular, if relatively scarce, passage migrant it is generally thought to be then the Billinge bird should have had a much greater chance of being found to have abietinus mtDNA as opposed to the tristis mtDNA that was found.

I am no expert on the subject but I would have thought there are far more 'pure' abietinus in this world (birds with abietinus appearance and abietinus mtDNA) than there are abietinus looking hybrids that have tristis mtDNA, especially when you consider the large range that abietinus occupies west of the overlap zone and the relatively small area of overlap zone itself, where all abietinus x tristis intergrades are thought to originate. It has been suggested, by some who know far more about this subject than me, that many abietinus are so similar to collybita that they probably go unnoticed in western Europe but even if that is the case I would have still thought that should leave enough abietinus that look sufficiently different to be picked out with relative ease, at least in the hand if not in the field. More importantly I would have also thought it more likely that those abietinus that can be identified from their appearance should still outnumber abietinus/tristis intergrades with abietinus morphology, assuming they are the regular and more common passage migrant that presumed wisdom suggests.

As I said earlier it is not safe to draw any conclusions from one individual but the Billinge bird is another record that adds to the uncertainty that surrounds the true status of abietinus as a migrant to the UK. In addition it extends the period when birds of tristis origin can occur and, if nothing else, is simply a very interesting record in its own right as we can be reasonably certain of the region it came from.

References:
Collinson, J.M., Murcia, A., Ladeira, G., Dewars, K., Roberts, F. & Shannon, T. 2018. Siberian and Scandinavian Common Chiffchaffs in Britain and Ireland - a genetic study. British Birds 111: 384-394.

Shipilina, D., Serbyn, M., Ivanitskii, V., Marova, I. &  Backström, N. 2017. Patterns of genetic, phenotypic, and acoustic variation across a chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita abietinus/tristis) hybrid zone. Ecology and Evolution 2017; 1–12.

Marova, I.M.,Shipilina, D., Federov, V., Alekseev, V. & Ivanitskii, V. 2017. Interaction between Common and Siberian Chiffchaff in a contact zone. Ornis Fennica 94: 66-81.

de Knijff, P., van der Spek, V. & Fisher, J. 2012. Genetic identity of grey chiffchaffs trapped in the Netherlands in autumns of 2009 - 2011. Dutch Birding 34: 386-392.

Billinge 29th October 2018

I wasn't sure what to expect after my week away, more so given the clear and frosty start, but it ended up being quite a good session for late October. There were a few thrushes moving early on resulting in 9 Redwings, a Fieldfare, and a Blackbird being caught but they soon fizzled out. There wasn't much in the way of visible migration, once the thrushes had stopped, but a Crossbill and a few high flying Siskins were noted along with a small movement of Woodpigeons. The most interesting sighting came mid-morning when a Woodcock (my first of the autumn) landed on the track near to where I was stood, it took a few steps and then fanned its tail and raised it over its back in the manner of a Black Grouse but then it noticed me an flew off. I have never had such a good view of a Woodcock before or seen one tail fanning so that was a nice bonus.

The nets continued to produced a few birds after the initial rush of thrushes and the final total of 36 new birds and 1 retrap was quite a good result, all things considered. There were no surprises but 10 Goldcrests was a good number and a flock of Long-tailed Tits helped bulk the numbers too, while a female Sparrowhawk caught in the last round was a great way to end the session.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 29/10/2018 were: Sparrowhawk 1; Coal Tit 2; Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 7 (1); Goldcrest 10; Robin 1; Blackbird 1; Fieldfare 1; Redwing 9; Lesser Redpoll 1.

This 1CY female Sparrowhawk was in one of the nets when I went to take them down at the end of the session. I have done quite well for catching female Sparrowhawks this autumn as they are usually very good at getting out of mist-nets.

 

Billinge 18th & 19th October 2018

I didn't get chance to write reports on these visits before going away on holiday, or while I was away for that matter, but I felt there was enough of note to merit this belated summary.

The most notable feature of the 18th was the number of Goldcrests present with the 27 ringed being the highest total of the autumn in terms of new birds but equalling the 26 new and 1 retrap that were caught on 7th October. Thrushes made up much of the rest of the catch with 21 Redwing and 4 Song Thrush keeping me busy in that first hour or so around sunrise.
Ringing Totals for 18/10/2018 were: Coal Tit 1; Great Tit 2; Goldcrest 27; Redwing 21; Song Thrush 4; Chaffinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 2.

Goldcrest 18/10/2018

The 19th saw a big change in the number of Goldcrests present with only 2 ringed and there were fewer thrushes around too. However, there were more finches moving with a good movement of Bramblings in particular. I wasn't able to keep track of the numbers of Bramblings involved but the flocks and groups I counted in between net rounds just got into 3 figures so I am sure the true figure must have been far higher. A few Bramblings also found their way into the nets and 5 were ringed (first to be ringed this autumn).
Ringing totals for 19/10/2018 were: Goldcrest 2; Redwing 9; Brambling 5; Lesser Redpoll 5.

Male Brambling 19/10/2018

Coal Tits on the move.

The highlight of this mornings visit to Billinge was the capture of 15 Coal Tits which is the highest total for the site by some margin. They were all caught towards the end of the session with a flock of 7 being caught at 10am and a flock of 8 an hour later. The previous day record of 8 was only set on 7th October this year so it is clear there is much more movement going on than usual. Some vis-mig sites around the country are recording similar irruptive behaviour so it is a widespread phenomena. It's not just happening in the UK either as Falsterbo Bird Observatory, in southern Sweden, is also ringing above average numbers of Coal Tits and is on track for one of their highest autumn totals.

One of this mornings Coal Tits, 

Ringing totals for 16/10/2018 were: Coal Tit 15; Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 5; Blackcap 1; Goldcrest 7; Nuthatch 1;  Redwing 14; Song Thrush 5; Robin 1;Lesser Redpoll 3. Total 54 new birds.

Sparrowhawk double

It had to be a shorter session than usual at Billinge this morning because I had an appointment to go to but it turned out to be interesting nevertheless. There weren't many thrushes moving but over 2,000 Woodpigeons were counted going south by 9:00am (per CAD). A single Brambling was the first of the autumn and another or the same was heard again later. There were no warblers, not even a Chiffchaff, but Goldcrests found their way into the nets at regular intervals and a total of 13 were ringed. A couple of Sparrowhawks livened things up with a 1cy male being caught first and a 2cy female being caught in the same net an hour later. Catching 2 Sparrowhawks in the same session doesn't happen very often but the 3 previous occasion it has happened have all been in mid October like today's double act. The lively theme continued when a rather feisty Jay was caught and it did its best to take lumps out of me, as they usually do. The last net round produced a group of 5 Lesser Redpolls and, interestingly, 4 of the 5 were adult males which continues the predominance of adults in the Redpolls caught so far this month.

1cy male Sparrowhawk

1cy male Sparrowhawk

2cy female Sparrowhawk

The female Sparrowhawk had an unusual and very hard accretion on the tip of one of its claws. I have never seen anything like this before and have no idea what could have caused it..

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 15.09.18 were: Sparrowhawk 2; Jay 1; Coal Tit 2, Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 1; Goldcrest 13; Blackbird 1; Song Thrush 3 (1); Bullfinch (2); Lesser Redpoll 5. Total 29 new birds and 3 retraps.

Late Willow Warbler

I nearly didn't go out this morning as the forecast said there was going to be more of a breeze than yesterday but the chance of catching more Redwings or something unusual got the better of me. The south-westerly breeze was a bit too strong for the net rides in the top willows so I opted for the more sheltered rides in north-east corner of the site. I set up the first net before it started to get light and unlike yesterday there were the occasional calls of Redwings flying overhead to give me some encouragement.

It turned out to be a much busier morning at the nets than I had expected so I didn't have much time for looking up to see what was passing overhead but at least 200 Redwings went south and many others would have been missed. Redwings were also the most numerous birds in the nets with a total of 19 caught but unlike yesterday there weren't many Goldcrests around and only 4 were ringed. It was almost a repeat performance as far as Coal Tits were concerned with a total of 7 ringed which becomes the second highest day total after yesterday's 8 and it increasingly looks like some are genuinely on the move. The poor autumn for Lesser Redpolls continued with only 3 ringed and 2 of those were adults which, as I said in yesterday's post, isn't a good sign. The most unusual capture was a Willow Warbler as it is a very late date for the species in this area.  It is only the second I have recorded in October but it still well short of the latest which was a bird ringed on 23rd October 2014.

Adult female Lesser Redpoll.

Ageing was straightforward as it hadn't finished moulting with the inner secondaries still growing in both wings. The tertials and coverts were also very fresh and similarly coloured as they should be.

If any further confirmation was required the tail was about as fresh and rounded as they get in adult Lesser Redpolls in autumn.

An October Willow Warbler is rarer than Yellow-browed Warbler at Billinge.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 08/10/2013 were: Coal Tit 7; Blue Tit 6; Great Tit 8 (2); Long-tailed Tit 7 (4); Willow Warbler 1; Chiffchaff 2; Goldcrest 4; Blackbird 1; Redwing 19; Song Thrush 2;  Robin 2; Chaffinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 3. Total 63 new birds and 6 retraps.

First Redwings and a glut of Goldcrest.

There have been some reasonable arrivals of Redwings on the east coast and in the northern isles over the last week so I thought there would be a good chance of seeing and possibly catching my first of the autumn at Billinge this morning. I was so keen I got up extra early and had the first net set up in the top willows before it started to get light but I didn't hear any nocturnal flight calls of Redwings or any other thrushes for that matter. I quickly set another 3 nets (my usual set up of 3 nets generally becomes 4 once Redwings start to arrive) and while I still didn't hear any Redwings flying over there were 2 or 3 Song Thrushes calling in the bushes as it it started to get light.

Initially there wasn't much moving through the bushes or overhead but that changed after the sun was up and it became quite an eventful morning. There wasn't a huge amount moving overhead but there was a quite a bit more than there has been recently. A Redwing, my first of the autumn, was heard shortly after sunrise and groups of 4, 2, 4 and 15 were seen subsequently. A couple of high flying Song Thrushes and 4 equally high flying Blackbirds were also seen and likely to be migrants from the continent. The morning was punctuated by the occasional calls of Siskins and Meadow Pipits but the stand out highlight was a flock of 19 Crossbills which passed me at eye level and close range as they flew SSW over the SE flank of the hill. Other birds on the move included small numbers of Woodpigeons, Goldfinches, and Chaffinches.

The nets were quite productive and produced one of the best catches of what has been a below par autumn so far. Highlights were 26 Goldcrests (the highest day total this autumn by some margin), a Redwing (obviously the first ringed this autumn), 3 Song Thrush (all likely migrants) and 8 Coal Tits (the highest day total for the site and suggestive of irruptive movement). Also of note were 2 Lesser Redpolls but only because they were both adult males; there haven't been many Redpolls this autumn and the appearance of adults without any first-years doesn't bode well for the rest of the autumn.

It was a return to something like normal numbers of Goldcrests today but the big question is will it last or is it just a one off improvement. One thing is certain only time tell.

It is always good to see and ring the first Redwing of the autumn and hopefully there will be some really big movements to come. The forecast for the middle of next week (Wednesday into Thursday) is looking promising at the moment and may bring the first really big arrivals of the autumn, lets hope so.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 07/10/2018 were: Coal Tit 8; Blue Tit 3; Great Tit 7; Long-tailed Tit 2 (4); Chiffchaff 2; Goldcrest 26 (1); Wren 2; Redwing 1; Song Thrush 3; Robin 3; Bullfinch 3; Lesser Redpoll 2; Goldfinch 1; Reed Bunting 2. A total of 65 new birds and 5 retraps.

Billinge: 1st October 2018

A light northerly breeze and generally clear conditions weren't likely to produce many birds so I wasn't surprised when a session in the top willows started off very slowly. Only 9 birds were caught in the first couple of hours so I decided to pack up early but then a flock of 8 Long-tailed Tits was caught in what was going to be the final net round and tempted me to stay a bit longer. I am certainly glad I decided to stay as the catching rate wasn't too bad for the next couple of hours, although it was largely made up of tits.  However, there were a few Goldcrests too and they included a bird that was already wearing a ring from elsewhere which was the clear highlight of the morning. The final total of 44 new birds and 1 control was much better than expected and was a good start to the month.

The control Goldcrest had a ring number with prefix KHV and it looked like a very new ring so may have been ringed quite recently. With Goldcrest numbers being very low this autumn I thought my prospects of getting any controls or recoveries would be very low too so this bird was a very welcome surprise.

There haven't been many Redpolls on the move so far this autumn and today's was the first adult male.

Adult male Lesser Redpoll

Noisy Coal Tits are often a feature of clear days in late September and much of  October but how many actually move very far is open to question.

Photographs of Great Tits rarely appear in the blog but I had to include these two as they show how different the intensity of the yellow can be. Both were first-year females. I have looked back at the sexes of the Greats Tits that were caught in September and there was a clear preponderance of females; of the 44 handled 31 were females,12 were males and 1 was left unsexed as it hadn't completed its post juvenile moult.

Ringing totals for 01/10/2018 were: Coal Tit 4; Blue Tit 8; Great Tit 6; Long-tailed Tit 9; Chiffchaff 2; Blackcap 1; Goldcrest 10 (1 control); Blackbird 1; Dunnock 1; Bullfinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 1. 44 new birds and 1 control.

Late September

The last few days of the month saw no significant change at Billinge and, like the month as a whole, can be summed up as disappointing. The ringing totals below tell the story with the only highlight, although it is not much of one, being the 15 Goldcrests caught on the 27th; their highest day total in what has been an exceptionally poor month for that species. I know I have gone on about the low numbers of Goldcrests in recent posts but that is because their numbers have been very low compared to previous years. The total for this September ended up at 71 which is very poor when compared with previous September totals of 258 in 2015, 237 in 2016 and 269 in 2017. They will bounce back in time but how quickly will depend on the severity of winter weather going forward.

September	26th	27th	28th	30th	Total
Goldcrest	12	15	4	7	38
Blue Tit	4	2	5	3	14
Great Tit	2	2	3	3	10
Long-tailed Tit	12	-	-	2 (1)	14 (1)
Chiffchaff	4 (1)	2	4	2	12 (1)
Blackcap	3	3	3	-	9
Treecreeper	-	-	-	1	1
Wren	-	-	-	1	1
Song Thrush	-	-	-	1	1
Dunnock	-	1	-	-	1
Chaffinch	3	1	-	-	4
Lesser Redpoll	-	1	-	-	1
Reed Bunting	1	-	1	-	2
Total	42	27	20	21	110

Lets hope we get some easterly winds to help improve things in October and looking at some of the long range pressure charts there is a chance, and it is only a chance, that there will be a brief spell of easterlies this coming Saturday and a longer period around the middle of the month.

Billinge: 25th September 2018

The prospect of catching more Redpolls tempted me out again this morning and the usual 3 nets produced 34 birds in just over 3 hours but no Redpolls were ringed.

Highlights and observations of note were as follows:

• A Willow Warbler was ringed and is a fairly late record but still well short of the latest for the site which was on 23/10/2014.
• Goldcrests just managed to scrape into double figures for the first time this month with 10 ringed but it still looks like the UK population has taken a tumble as double figure totals should be the norm for much of September. Interestingly, 9 of the 10 Goldcrests were females.
• This was the first session of the autumn without a Blackcap being ringed and none were seen or even heard.
• Tits are starting to show signs of getting itchy feet with Coal Tits becoming much more vocal and flighty. While I sure some do move others may just go through the motions and turn back or only go a relatively short distance.
• Great Tits also showed a sex bias today with the 7 ringed all being females.
• There was next to no visible migration despite the clear conditions and fairly light breeze with only a handful of Meadow Pipits, a few Skylarks, 4 Reed Buntings, 2 Siskins and 3 Redpolls being noted.

Ringing totals for 25/09/2018 were: Coal Tit 3; Blue Tit 4; Great Tit 7; Willow Warbler 1; Chiffchaff 4; Goldcrest 10; Chaffinch 2; Yellowhammer 2; Reed Bunting 1.

Willow Warbler 25/09/2018

A marked improvement in numbers.

Another day and another session in the top willows at Billinge but unlike yesterday there was a brisk pace to proceedings and there was a bit more in the way of variety too, although nothing unusual. Tits accounted for the bulk of the increase in numbers and made up almost half the final total of 63 birds but there were a few more warblers and crests too.

The highlight was the capture of the first Lesser Redpolls of the autumn with 7 ringed. This wasn't totally unexpected as I had seen 2 fly south yesterday which were the first recorded at the site this autumn. The only other captures of note were a Willow Tit and a Treecreeper and sightings included a Golden Plover south and 2 small skeins of Pink-footed Geese.

Lesser Redpoll 24/09/2018. All 7 ringed today were first-year birds.

I don't catch many Treecreepers as they don't venture into the scrubby habitat of the ringing site very often. This is a first-year bird that had recently completed its post juvenile moult so was particularly clean and bright.

Ringing totals for 24/09/2018 were: Coal Tit 2; Willow Tit 1; Blue Tit 10, Great Tit 8; Long-tailed Tit 8; Chiffchaff 9; Blackcap 5; Goldcrest 9; Treecreeper 1; Robin 1; Chaffinch 1; Bullfinch 1; Lesser Redpoll 7. Total 63

Two good birds save the day.

The silence that greeted me at dawn this morning did not bode well for a ringing session in the top willows at Billinge and pointed to another poor showing by Goldcrests in particular. In previous autumns, when Goldcrests have passed through in large numbers, they have usually been the first species to call at daybreak and early net rounds nearly always produced the bulk of the birds. This morning the first Goldcrest wasn't heard until well after after sunrise and there wasn't much happening at the nets either.

To say it was quiet and slow going is an understatement and I thought I would end up cutting my losses by packing up early. However, the first Chiffchaff caught was really quite striking and wasn't your typical September green and mustard-yellow 'collybita'.  It was distinctly paler having much greyer tones to the upperparts, was much whiter underneath and the flanks were washed with pale brown and I immediately thought this must be a Scandinavian 'abietinus' Chiffchaff. It was certainly very different to any 'collybita' I have ever seen and I have ringed well over a thousand at Billinge and many more elsewhere.

A very grey and white looking Chiffchaff compared to your typical autumn 'collybita'. It was aged as a first-year from the shape and wear of the tail feathers.

A typical autumn 'collybita' photographed the same day in similar lighting conditions and also aged as a first-year.

The different races of Chiffchaffs present all manner of problems when it comes to identification as shown by the DNA analysis of birds caught in Holland that were identified as 'abietinus' on appearance and proved to be 'tristis' from their DNA. This and other studies have thrown the status of abietinus in western Europe into question and it now appears to be much rarer than its more easterly Siberian (tristis) counterpart. 

There are a couple of other factors that make today's bird even more interesting: one is the date, it is quite early for seeing a dodgy looking Chiffchaff which are usually associated with late autumn or winter; the other is lack of easterly winds so far this autumn which are generally needed to drift birds of such origin to the UK. Had I caught this bird in late October or early November I may have thought it to be a bird with more easterly credentials and possibly from the intergrade zone between abietinus and tristis. It has certainly got some of that look about it.

A collage of both birds. Whatever it is, and potentially proves to be in due course from its DNA, is going to be interesting.

Had I not caught that Chiffchaff I may have packed up by 9:00 but I decided to stick it out and I am glad I did as the second bird that helped 'save the day' was a 1cy female Redstart. This species is a regular but scarce passage migrant at the site and this one was only my second of the autumn and my latest by some margin. Redstarts are usually a bird of late August and early September at this site and my previous latest was caught on 14th September 2017 with all the others recorded between 23rd August and 7th September.

1cy female Redstart

The are not called Redstarts for nothing.

The final total of 30 new birds wasn't too bad but was below the average for the time of year, largely due to the continued lack of Goldcrests. Only 5 Goldcrests were caught compared to 25 on the same date in 2016 and 14 on the same date last year. One minor point of interest about today's Goldcrests is that they were all first-year females, not that anything significant should be read into that as the sex ratios usually even out over time. So while the catching rate was slow from start to finish a couple of interesting birds really did 'save the day' and made staying the course worthwhile.

Ringing totals for 23/09/2018 were: Coal Tit 1; Blue Tit 4; Great Tit 2;  Chiffchaff 6; Blackcap 2; Goldcrest 5; Wren 3; Robin 2; Redstart 1; Chaffinch 1; Linnet 1; Reed Bunting 2.