Billinge: 6th August 2016

I was joined by a trainee from Merseyside Ringing Group at Billinge this morning and we had 3 nets set up in the top willows just after sunrise. The weather was near perfect for most of the session with no wind to speak of and broken cloud keeping the sun off the nets most of the time. A breeze did pick up towards the end of the morning but the catching rate had already slowed by then and we were thinking about packing up anyway.

The catching rate was fairly steady from the off with Willow Warbler being the most numerous species; the 27 new and single retrap caught being the highest day total of the autumn so far. Most of the juvenile Willow Warblers have completed or very nearly completed their post juvenile moult, as is to be expected by this date, so the capture of a recently fledged youngster in full juvenile plumage was a bit of a surprise.

This recently fledged juvenile Willow Warbler really stood compared to the freshly moulted  and very neat lemon yellow juveniles from earlier broods.

I didn't take any photos of today's juvenile Willow Warblers that had completed their pj moult so here is one from the other day for compaison.

Regular readers of this blog will know my interest in the occurrences of Acros at the site and Sedge Warblers in particular (link here). The capture of yet another adult Sedge Warbler only deepened that interest as it keeps the proportion of adults caught unexpectedly high. However, I am beginning to think the proportion of adults to juveniles recorded could be a true reflection of the population that migrates through the area, although the usual caveats about the small sample size needs to be borne in mind. Perhaps the proportion of adults caught on migration in reedbeds is lower than that in the overall population rather than the numbers at Billinge being too high.

Another adult Sedge Warbler - 3 of the six Sedge Warblers caught this autumn have been adults making it a total of 6 adults out of 16 in the last 3 autumns.

I was full of hope for a good movement of Tree Pipits following yesterdays capture of 3 but it was not to be and we had to settle for just one. While it was the only Tree Pipit recorded at Billinge today others were on the move as 2 were caught at Oxmoor, 17 km to the south and another at Woolston, 18 km south east (info from MRG).

Today's token Tree Pipit

A Garden Warbler, caught towards the end of the session, was the first to be ringed this autumn. They are not common in the area and only occur at the site as a relatively scarce passage migrant (6 were ringed in autumn 2014 and 4 in autumn 2015 with most records coming in August).

1cy Garden Warbler

I suppose I can't finish without mentioning tits again or I should say the lack of them. Once again they were very thin on the ground and none were caught which is exceptional for this time of year. A couple of Blue Tits were seen and both Willow Tit and Coal Tit were heard but that was about it.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) were: Goldcrest 1; Chiffchaff 7 (1); Willow Warbler 27 (1); Blackcap 5; Garden Warbler 1; Whitethroat 1; Sedge Warbler 1; Wren 1; Blackbird 1; Robin 1; Tree Pipit 1; Chaffinch 2; Goldfinch 1; Linnet 4; Lesser Redpoll 1. Total 55 new birds and 2 retraps.

Billinge: 1st August 2016

A somewhat belated post but hopefully still of interest. The new month started much as last month ended with a session at Billinge producing a decent total of 36 new birds and 3 retraps. Once again Willow Warblers were the most numerous species and they accounted for nearly half the total with 15 new birds and 3 retraps. I don't know of any other ringing site in the area where Willow Warblers can still be caught in such good numbers and can also match Chiffchaff in the ringing totals at the end of the season, give or take a few. Why Willow Warblers occur at Billinge in such good numbers is a bit of a mystery but the combination of the habitats, topography and elevation of the area clearly play a part in attracting and funneling Willow Warblers and a several other migrant species through the site.

Adult Willow Warbler, some of the adults have completed their moult like this bird.

The attraction the site has for birds on passage was also demonstrated by the capture of another 2 Sedge Warblers, this time an adult and a juvenile. If the occurrences of Sedge Warblers only involved the occasional juvenile it could be simply put down to post juvenile dispersal which is fairly random in direction initially and sometimes leads to inexperienced birds being out of habitat. The fact that I catch more than just the odd one and adults as well a juveniles suggests there is more to it than that.

Juvenile Sedge Warbler

Interestingly 5 of the 15 Sedge Warblers ringed over the last 3 autumns have been adults and this is a higher proportion of adults than you would expect to catch at a lowland reedbed site in autumn. There is still time to catch a few more Sedges this autumn so that proportion could change but if I just use the ages of the 10 birds caught in autumn 2014 and 2015 adults still made up 30% of the total. I know it is only a very small sample size but it is still intriguing that such a high proportion of adults is involved, especially as the migration of adult Sedge Warblers is known to be more direct and involve fewer stops compared to that of juveniles. 

Adult Sedge Warbler

It was another very quiet day on the tit front but 2 or 3 Willow Tits were heard and one was caught and ringed.

Juvenile Willow Tit, the first to be ringed this autumn.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 1st August 2015 were: Willow Warbler 15 (3); Chiffchaff 5; Sedge Warbler 2; Blackcap 4; Whitethroat 2; Dunnock 1; Robin 1; Willow Tit 1; Blue Tit 1; Goldfinch 3; Lesser Redpoll 1.

Late July: a quick update.

I managed to get out to Billinge a few times during the period 24th to 31st July but some of the sessions were weather restricted. The generally unsettled conditions with bands of showers and spells of rain also had an impact on the number of birds moving through the site on some days so the combined total of 140 new birds and 16 retraps was quite good, all things considered. 

The main target species was Willow Warbler with a total of 45 ringed during the period. This brings the number of Willow Warblers ringed in July to 105 with 101 of those having been ringed in the last 2 weeks. This is a slightly better total than last year, when 84 were ringed in July, but the increase has been achieved through extra effort rather than there being more birds around. I am still of the opinion that Willow Warblers have had a relatively poor breeding season, locally at least.

Willow Warbler migration is getting into full swing.

 A late evening visit on the 25th, to check if any Swallows were roosting, revealed that only 30 or so were gathering to roost. These were harassed a few times by a young male Sparrowhawk and this caused them to settle in a different area of the willows but not before 18 had been caught and ringed.

Juvenile Swallow

Adult Swallow

Acros continued to put in an appearance now and again with another Sedge Warbler ringed on the 28th followed by single Reed Warblers on the 30th and 31st; all were young birds. 

Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler

Bullfinches are starting to take advantage of the Knapweed and other meadow plants that are going to seed and this resulted in 4 juveniles and 3 adult males being ringed.

Male Bullfinch

Tits continued to be very thin on the ground, to say the least, but Long-tailed Tits finally put in an appearance with a party of 3 seen on the 28th one of which, a juvenile, was caught and ringed.

Combined totals (retraps in brackets) for the period 24th to 31st July were: Swallow 18; Chiffchaff 19 (3); Willow Warbler 45 (4); Blackcap 13 (5); Whitethroat 5 (2); Reed Warbler 2; Sedge Warbler 1; Goldcrest 4 (1); Blackbird 1; Long-tailed Tit 1; Blue Tit 4; Great Tit 4; Coal Tit 1; Chaffinch 4; Goldfinch 8; Linnet 2; Bullfinch 7; Reed Bunting 1 (1).

I don't see many dragonflies at the site as the nearest pond is some distance away but this Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis) found its way into one of the mist-nets. 

Brown Hawker (Aeshna grandis)

Acros on cue.

I wasn't going to go out this morning but an ideal weather forecast and the likelihood of more warblers being on the move was just too tempting to pass up. We are at a time when more juvenile warblers will be dispersing from their natal areas and some of the early migrating species will be starting to head south in earnest, so I decided to go up to Billinge again. As I was driving towards the site I could see it was shrouded in fog, which hadn't been forecast, so I just had to hope it would lift and burn off quite quickly.

I arrived at the site just after 06:00, with the fog already starting to thin and lift, and I was greeted by a reeling Grasshopper Warbler. I don't think they have bred on site this year although one had been reeling in the spring in a different part of the site but that bird was only heard on one day for certain. Wherever it had come from it was the first record for the autumn and a good start to the morning.

Further promise of a good session came while I was putting up the nets with a few phylloscopus warblers flitting around and young Willow Warbler and Blackcap trying out their voices. I set the usual 3 nets in quick order and on going back to the first net I found it had already caught 7 Willow Warblers and a Chiffchaff, all of which were unringed.

It always feels like autumn migration has got going properly when you catch a species that doesn't breed at the site or even close by and is out of its usual habitat. Well that happened a few rounds in when a 1CY Reed Warbler turned up in a net and was quickly followed by an adult in the next net round. The nearest breeding site is a few kilometers away and although Reed Warblers can happily feed in willows it is far more unusual when those willows are at a dry site and near the top of a hill. I have only caught 6 Reed Warblers at the site in the previous 2 years but interestingly 5 of those were caught in the last week of July with the other being at the end of August.

1CY Reed Warbler. 

Adult Reed Warbler.

The dry willow scrub habitat at the ringing site with the farmland in the distance giving an idea of its elevation.

Two Reed Warblers had already made it a very interesting session but then I caught an adult Sedge Warbler and a little while later a juvenile found its way into a net. I obviously don't catch many Sedge Warblers either but these two are within the range of the 10 previous autumn records which run from 22nd July to 22nd August. Interestingly, the first Sedge Warbler was caught on 22nd July in both 2014 and 2015 so the two today were very much on cue.

Adult Sedge Warbler.

1CY Sedge Warbler

While the Reed and Sedge Warblers were the icing on the cake the cake wasn't bad either as can be seen in the totals below. The turnover of  Willow Warblers and Blackcaps has been greater than expected with 62 Willow Warblers and 50 Blackcaps ringed at the site in just the last 7 days. Once again it was a relatively titless session with Long-tailed Tits continuing to be absent.

Ringing totals (retraps in brackets) for 23/07/16 were: Sedge Warbler 2; Reed Warbler 2; Blackcap 15 (1); Willow Warbler 15 (1); Chiffchaff 7 (1); Wren 1; Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 2; Chaffinch 2; Goldfinch 17; Lesser Redpoll 2; Reed Bunting 1.

Juvenile Lesser Redpoll. The two juveniles ringed today add to the evidence of successful breeding at the site.

An unexpected recovery

As a general rule the more birds you ring of a particular species the greater the chance there is of one or more being recovered (found elsewhere) and larger species tend to have higher recovery rates than the smaller ones. While that is the way things average out over time at the national level it doesn't always work out that way in practice for individual ringers or ringing groups.

Last year I ringed 746 warblers at Billinge with the majority being Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers with totals of 269 and 256 respectively and Blackcap came in third place with a respectable 173 ringed. Statistically there was a reasonable chance that one or more birds from those top 3 ringed species of warbler would have been recovered by now but, disappointingly, not a single one has been reported so far.

At the other end of the numbers scale I ring very few Sedge Warblers at Billinge as it is a dry habitat on the side of a hill with no Sedge Warbler breeding sites close by. They only occur as a very scarce passage migrant as a result and only 6 were ringed in 2015. All were caught in the autumn between 22nd July and 11th August with 5 being first year birds and 1 an adult. So when I received a recovery report for one of these Sedge Warblers from the BTO the other day it was more than a little unexpected, to say the least.

Sedge Warbler Z680292 was a first year bird ringed at Billinge on 07/08/2015 and was controlled 679 km SSE in Noyant, Soulaire-et-Bourg, Maine-et-Loire France on 15/08/2015. This is a fairly quick movement averaging at just under 85 km per day although it is likely that the bird covered the 679 km in a couple of overnight flights with a refuelling stop in between.

Not the bird in question but one of the other first year Sedge Warblers ringed at Billinge last autumn.

The vagaries of recoveries and recovery rates can be a frustration for ringers especially when you don't get any recoveries from ringing large numbers of a particular species but just occasionally things work out the other way, as in this case.

TREPI time

August started off fairly quiet with unsettled weather holding up many migrants but a welcome change in the weather to clear conditions overnight and this morning was just what was needed to get passerine migration going again. The sharp drop in temperature overnight resulted in pockets of mist and a heavy dew this morning and it was like walking through a car wash as I made my way through the saturated bushes to the net rides at Billinge.

I soon had three nets up and a couple of Sedge Warblers in the first net round made for a good start and indicated that some new migrants had dropped in. Catching was fairly steady and mainly involved the usual species but an adult Garden Warbler was also notable, being a scarce passage migrant at the site, and only the second to be ringed this autumn. Also of interest was a Willow Warbler that was wearing a ring from elsewhere and is the first of this species to be controlled at the site.

Sedge Warblers don't breed at the site and only a few turn up on passage. It is always interesting to catch migrants like this in bushes on a dry hillside rather than in their usual lowland wetland habitat. 

Adult Garden Warbler

Control Willow Warbler. If you are using rings starting with the letters HLA then the details of its capture today will be coming to you very soon.

Now it was around this time last year that I started to catch Tree Pipits at the site and I soon discovered that it was an exceptional location for the species with a total of 57 ringed and over 133 recorded during autumn 2014. As I hadn't ringed at the site previously I didn't know if it was going to be a regular occurrence or if 2014 was a 'one off' due to exceptional circumstances including the particularly productive breeding season of 2014. I caught the first Tree Pipit of last year on August 4th and today has provided the first really good conditions for the species to be on the move this autumn so it was a delight when 2 turned up pretty much on cue and both were caught. Now I don't want to count my Tree Pipits too early but it certainly is a promising start.

The first Tree Pipit of autumn 2015 and hopefully the first of many

One interesting aspect of the Tree Pipit passage at Billinge last autumn was that it started and peaked earlier than at many of the well watched coastal and inland 'vis mig' sites. It will be interesting to see if the same happens this year.

Ringing totals (retraps/controls in brackets) were: Tree Pipit 2; Sedge Warbler 2; Whitethroat 1; Garden Warbler 1; Blackcap 7 (3); Chiffchaff 5; Willow Warbler 8 (2); Goldcrest 1; Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 2; Treecreeper 1; Chaffinch 7; Goldfinch 2. Total 46 comprised of 41 new birds, 4 retraps and 1 control.

Whilst walking between the nets I noticed that a group of caterpillars had defoliated one of the small willows.

Spot the caterpillars

The culprits were these Buff-tip (moth) caterpillars. 

House Martins no fluke

I went back to the Billinge site this evening with a view to catching some more Swallows at the roost and to see if any House Martins were roosting with them. While I was putting up the first net a juvenile Sedge Warbler appeared in the willows beside me. This was a first for the site, for me at least, and well away from the nearest breeding population so obviously a bird on passage. It made its way into the net soon after I had set up along with 5 Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff , a Blackcap and 2 Goldfinches, not a bad start.

Juvenile Sedge Warbler 22/07/14

There were more Swallows around than last night with an esimated 400 present and there were at least 2 Sand Martins and 4 House Martins with them. The conditions were perfect and the first Swallows were caught well before the light started to fade. A Sand Martin was also caught along with 2 House Martins showing that the 2 caught last night was no fluke. The final tally of Swallows for the evening was 54 and brought the total ringed at the roost over the last few weeks to 386.

Juvenile House Martin 22/07/14

Juvenile Sand Martin 22/07/14

Juvenile Swallow 22/07/14

Ringing Totals for 22/07/14
Swallow 54
House Martin 2
Sand Martin 1
Sedge Warbler 1
Blackcap 1
Willow Warbler 5
Chiffchaff 1
Goldfinch 2
Total 67

From Ironman to Ironbirds

I have been really busy at work since the trip to Anglesey and haven't had time to do much in the way of ringing or any blogging. I have put in a lot of hours at work and over last weekend in particular when Pennington Flash hosted the swim section and transition to bike for the UK Ironman triathlon. On Sunday my working day started at 03:10hrs and didn't end until after 22:00hrs. Ironman is an increasingly popular endurance event and I have nothing but admiration for those who take part. However, the endurance and distances of that event pale into insignificance when compared with those faced by our migrant birds.



The event starts with a 2.4 mile swim in Pennington Flash

The start of the 112 mile bike ride which is then followed by a 26.2 mile run.

Now that event is over I have managed to take a couple of days off work and it has given me the chance to get the ringing back on track. I went to Scotman's  Flash on Wednesday evening to see if there was a Swallow roost and caught 55 birds including 43 Swallows. I went back again last night and the roost was bigger with around a thousand Swallows present. The total for that late afternoon / evening ringing session was 92 birds and included another 74 Swallows.

Juvenile Swallow.
This young bird could travel well over 9,000km to winter in South Africa

It was quieter than might be expected on the warbler front with very few heard calling in the reeds or the scrub and only one Sedge Warbler was caught over the two sessions. It doesn't seem to have been a particularly productive breeding season at many of our sites despite the generally better weather of late. Reed Warblers seem to be doing much worse than last year and that wasn't a good year either.

The only Sedge Warbler caught.
Some Sedge Warblers may fly non stop from southern England to sub Saharan West Africa.
A distance of around 3,900km and a flight time of up to 3 to 4 days.

One of the juvenile Reed Warblers caught had quite severe fault barring in the wings and tail and some feathers on the rump had clearly broken off along fault lines. Fault bars are generally caused by a shortage of food when the young bird is growing its feathers in the nest and shortly after fledging. This leads to a band or bands of discolouration and weakness at intervals across the feathers and is usually most obvious in the tail.



Juvenile Reed Warbler with extensive fault barring.
Some feathers on the rump have broken off along a fault line.

One by-product of these ringing sessions was encountering quite a few Brown-veined Wainscot. This moth is a specialist of reedbeds and is most common in south-east England and only occurs locally north to Lancashire. A number of these moths were seen along the net rides and a few landed on the mist-nets. This species is generally regarded as nocturnal but one was seen and photographed feeding on Water Mint long before sunset. I may take an actinic trap back with me tonight to see what other reedbed specialists are on the wing especially as it is national moth night (8th to 10th).



Brown-veined Wainscot feeding on the nectar of Water Mint.
 

Combined ringing totals for 7th & 8th August
Swallow  117
Sand Martin   7
Reed Warbler  16 (+ 1 retrap and a control)
Sedge Warbler   1
Willow Warbler   2
Chiffchaff   1
Reed Bunting   2
Long-tailed Tit   1
Total   147 (+2)

Reed bed session produces few birds

I managed to drag myself out of bed at 04:30 this morning which was an hour later than planned. I hate early morning starts, always have and probably always will and I take my hat off to anyone that doesn't find it a problem. I joined John G at Scotman's Flash at around 05:30 where he had already erected 6 nets. We quickly erected another 4 nets in the glorious early morning light in high hopes of a reasonable catch.

First impressions were not great as it was much quieter than expected in both the audible and visual sense. At this time of year adults should be busy feeding fledged young or young in the nest and some juveniles should have reached independence. This should result in a lot of activity and calls of young begging for food but this was far less evident than expected.

Adult Reed Warbler

Juvenile Reed Warbler

Adult sedge Warbler

Juvenile Sedge Warbler, this bird is likely to leave the country by the beginning of August.

Catching was slow, very, very slow given the conditions and amount of netting deployed. Although the weather has been reasonable recently we still seem to be suffering the effects of the late cold spring. There were far fewer insects around than expected which may not seem a bad thing in terms of the biting variety but this is clearly having an effect on our breeding birds.

Not sure what this is but if they don't bite you many reed bed insects look like they could.

The final ringing total was rather disappointing and seems to reflect a dearth of birds and a generally poor breeding season to date. The number of juveniles caught was well below what might be expected for both migrant and resident species. Hopefully what is left of the breeding season will see some improvement but only time will tell.
 
Ringing totals 06/07/13 with retraps in brackets
Reed Warbler 7 (8)
Sedge Warbler 2 (6)
Blue Tit 5 (1)
Chiffchaff 2
Willow Warbler 2
Reed Bunting 1 (1)
Whitethroat 1
Treecreeper 1
Blackbird 1
Total 22 new birds and 16 retraps

Return to Southport 27/05/12

I went back to Southport with Jack and Bryn this morning. We set off earlier to avoid the crowds but that was still only around 9:00am. It was hot with a strong easterly breeze and the light was very harsh but we still managed to get a few decent photographs between us.

The first bird to greet us was a Meadow Pipit carrying food and judging by the food load this bird is feeding large young. You can generally gauge the age of a brood by the quantity and size of the food items the adults are carrying.


Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)


A very confident Carrion Crow put on a bit of a performance and seemed to be mainly feeding on insects and other invertebrates.


Carrion Crow (Corvus corone corone)


A few Sedge Warblers were singing and showed better than yesterday. One of my favourite birds.


Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)




Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus)

 The tide was well out and even though we walked around 2 miles to the tide line I only managed to get photos of a couple of waders today.


Jack and Bryn, the only waders photograped.

One of the pools in the dunes held 3 freshly emerged Four-spotted Chasers. They were hyperactive with the heat and the wind but settled occasionally.

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata)

There was little or no passage today with most of the hirundines and Swifts seen likely to be local breeding birds.