It Worked

Craig, Huw, Ian and Me were back at the Swallow roost again this evening itching to see whether the newly cut ride would work, and it did! There were less Swallows coming in, which was expected given the weather over the past couple of days, perhaps only about 800 and we managed to ring more than last time out; evidence that the new ride worked.

 Swallow

We ringed 80 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Reed Warbler - 1 (1)
Swallow - 79

We also controlled two Swallows that have been safely input into IPMR but if L863614 or D466408 are yours please let me know.

What was also interesting last night was the number of adults amongst the juveniles. Normally when the roost is made up of large numbers of Swallows the percentage of adults is low. However, when the roost starts to decrease in size or break up due to poor weather the percentage of adults in the catch increases. Based just upon the birds that I handled below are the percentage of adults ringed by date:

18th July - 6%
21st July - 0%
24th July - 0%
29th July - 22%

On 18th July the roost was just starting to build, 21st & 24th at its peak, and 29th July numbers had reduced as stated above due to inclement weather. This is probably due to a number of factors; the ratio of adults to juveniles moving that day, juveniles less likely to move when the weather is poor and perhaps that the adults have learnt that there is a safe roosting place and are prepared to travel further even when the weather is unsettled.

Prior to us commencing our Swallow catch a Peregrine flew past us carrying prey; a Swallow perhaps? We will be back at the Swallow roost again later in the week, but how well we'll catch will depend on what the weather is like between now and then. I'll keep you posted.

Reed Bunts Replace Whitethroats

It was the second session in a row this morning in the reedbeds that a single species dominated our catch and this time it was the turn of the Reed Bunting. The conditions were perfect for mist netting with no wind and slightly overcast skies to reduce glare on the nets, but the totals ringed informed us that birds had moved out and we now await fresh migrants to come through.

 Reed Bunting

Ian and I ringed 19 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Reed Warbler - 3 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 1
Great Tit - 1
Reed Bunting - 10
Dunnock - 1
Whitethroat - 2 (1)
Chiffchaff - 1

 Whitethroat

It is no surprise to learn that as the ringing was quiet the birding was too. Of interest we had five Grey Herons, a high flying calling Dunlin, six Snipe, two Sand Martins and six Pied Wagtails.

There is an expression that only 'mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun', and maybe that should be changed to ringers as Craig, Ian and I were out in the midday sun extending the net ride at the Swallow roost. However we won't be able to put our extension to the test tonight as it is forecast for some heavy rain, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for tomorrow evening. Having said that the forecast for the next few days is changeable so we'll have to wait and see.

More And Less

It's more ringing and Swallows I'm afraid because it's a case of 'making hay whilst the sun shines', and we need to take advantage of these calm conditions to get mist nets up.

Craig, Ian and I were at the Swallow roost again last night and we had more roosting, approximately 2,000 birds, but we ringed less. The main reason for this is that the birds are going in to roost further on from where our nets are set up. This is usually the case, but generally the MP3 player with Swallow song on calls them to where the nets are. I think with the increase in birds and all the excited calls prior to roost they are paying less attention to the MP3, or in fact might not be hearing it as well over the commotion of the birds, and are therefore not coming down to investigate the 'super singing' Swallow.

We ringed 39 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Swallow - 31
Reed Warbler - 4
Sand Martin - 3
Sedge Warbler - 1 (2)

To try and ensure we ring more Swallows next time out we are going to extend the existing net ride towards where the birds are roosting and hopefully this should increase our catch. I'll keep you posted.

A Few More Swallows

Craig, Huw, Ian and I 'worked' the Swallow roost again last evening and we had quite a good session. On Saturday evening there had been over a thousand Swallows roosting again but we weren't certain if there would be as many last night. During clear, calm conditions the roost tends to build up as more Swallows are on the move, but as soon as the conditions change leading to less Swallows moving the roost starts to break up. It had been an overcast, breezier and cooler kind of day yesterday and this is why we wondered whether there would be quite as many Swallows roosting. We needn't have worried!

In the end there must have been at least a thousand Swallows roosting with a few Sand Martins mixed in and we ringed 74 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Sand Martin - 5
Swallow - 66
Sedge Warbler - 2
Reed Warbler - 1 (3)

We caught the two old Reed Warblers again and after being 'missing' for some time they aren't any more!

Fingers crossed that the roost will last for a while so we can ring a good few Swallows. What we have found is that as soon as maize on farms is at a similar height to Common Reed in reedbeds the roost will break up. When I first started ringing thirty years ago there was not nearly as much maize grown round here and the Swallows would roost in reedbeds and at this particular reedbed would sometimes have 10,000 Swallows roosting. Happy days!

All At Sea

I knew high tide wasn't until 10.30 a.m. today but I still decided to have a look at the sea off the obs. As I got there just after first light I realised that I wouldn't see too many waders as it was unlikely that I would still be watching the sea at high tide. It was cooler than recent days and during the two and a half hours I was there I had a more or less constant very light drizzle.

Although I didn't see many waders I did have four Curlews, 79 Oystercatchers, my first returning Grey Plovers numbering twenty and heading west, 22 Turnstones and a Redshank.

As I walked west along the front a Ringed Plover alarm called from the shingle beach and then it was on the promenade doing a distraction display to lead me away from its nest or young. On the golf course I also had my first Golden Plover for the autumn as a single bird fed on the fairways.

Ringed Plover doing it's distraction display

There was a little vis this morning in the form of an Alba Wag west and two Swifts west. In fact there were a number of Swifts at sea and I had a further 35 flying east into the bay.

The sea itself produced 36 Manx Shearwaters, seven Gannets, four Sandwich Terns, 26 Common Scoters and an Atlantic Grey Seal.

We're having another ringing session at the Swallow roost this evening, so I'll let you know how we got on tomorrow.

Over Two Dozen Nettle Creepers

Ian and I were ringing at one of the reedbeds this morning and driving down to the site in calm conditions with clear skies we spotted a member of the local constabulary demonstrating how stretched, hard working, not able to move because of paperwork, value for taxpayers money he was by sleeping in his van!!! I had another example of this a couple of years ago where a literally 'sleeping policeman' was blocking my access to the obs and I had to tap on the window (tempted to bang) and ask him to move! Anyway, on with the birds.

At first it seemed as though we wouldn't catch too well this morning as it 'felt' quiet and on the second round (usually the busiest) we only caught a couple of birds. However it picked up and we ringed 43 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Dunnock - 1
Whitethroat - 23 (2)
Reed Warbler - 2 (2)
Blackcap - 1
Robin - 1
Sedge Warbler - 3
Greenfinch - 10
Reed Bunting - 1 (1)
Song Thrush - 1 

 Greenfinch

Of course the 'nettle creepers' in my title refers to the Whitethroats that we caught and since the 7th July we have ringed 39 Whitethroats at this site!

Whitethroat

From a birding perspective it was fairly quiet and my notebook records four Lapwings, four Linnets, two Sand Martins, a Snipe, a Stock Dove, seven Goldfinches and a Little Egret.

 Sedge Warbler

It's looking a tad breezy for some more ringing at the obs tomorrow, other than for Swallows at the roost in the evening, so it will be a look on the sea for me I think.

Swallows and Old Reed Warblers

No pictures today I'm afraid as it was a little busy ringing Swallows yesterday evening. First of all Ian and I had to cut a 100 foot by 10 feet net ride through the reeds in the sweltering heat and I must have sweated a few pounds off I can tell you! Work completed, we put the nets up, put the MP3 players on and waited.

It was difficult to estimate how many Swallows were actually coming in because the view over the reedbed is obscured by some trees and we went in to extract the Swallows before they had gone to roost so that we didn't catch too many as there was only two of us. Having said all that I think there must have been somewhere in the region of a 1,000 - 1,500 birds roosting.

We managed to ring 61 birds as follows (recaptures in brackets):

Swallow - 56 (4)
Sand Martin - 1
Reed Warbler - 2 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 1
Reed Bunting - 1

The four Swallow recaptures were all controls and details have been entered into the BTO's Integrated Population Monitoring Reporter (IPMR) so it will be interesting to see where they have come from. Having said that if D006682, D006621, D006680 and Y782898 are yours please let me know.

The two Reed Warbler recaptures were very interesting. One was originally ringed in 2006 and the other in 2005 at one of our other reedbed sites close by. At the time of ringing they were both aged as adults which makes them respectively at least eight and nine years old!  The 2006 bird hadn't been recaptured again until last night and the 2005 bird was recaptured in 2011 and 2012. It is fascinating to think how many times these birds weighing 11.5 g have crossed the Sahara, mind boggling!