December 2014

Rufous (L) & grey phase Tawny Owls (Carl Hunter Roach)

At the turning of the year attention turns more to quality than quantity on the occasions we can get out and just 440 birds (227 Runnymede RG; 213 Maple Cross RG) were ringed this month.

Pride of place must go to 3 Tawny Owls, caught from boxes at Bisham Wood, just trumping 9 Yellowhammers at Woolley Firs.

Five male (age, left-right: 4, 4, 3, 3, 4) Yellowhammers (Carl Hunter Roach)

A Skylark at Langley Bottom and a Water Rail (and 2 retraps) at Hilfield were noteworthy. 10 Blackcaps all came from gardens and there was a Chiffchaff at Bedfont and 2 at Broadwater. Blue Tit just scraped into top spot at 88 ahead of a magnificent 80 Redwing.

Valentine's Day Bird Ringing Demonstration

Nuthatch, Woolley Firs, Feb 2014 (Carl Hunter Roach)

Book now and join us at Woolley Firs near Maidenhead on Saturday morning, 14th February 2015.

The event is organised by Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust.

November 2014

With the mild weather continuing and with no sign of significant flocks to tempt us, attention turned to stocking feeders to supplement the main sites with the resultant increase in Blue and Great Tits.

3M Firecrest (Carl Hunter Roach)

445 new birds were ringed (194 Runnymede RG; 251 Maple Cross RG) but they did represent 38 species.

52 Starlings were ringed in two gardens and 32 Goldfinch, mostly from Milton Keynes. 22 Goldcrest were widespread but a Firecrest at Woolley Firs was on its own.

Thrushes were well represented with a rare capture of 2 Mistle Thrush (Chobham and Woolley Firs), 5 Fieldfare (Willows), 8 Redwing (Hilfield), 14 Blackbird and a Song Thrush. A Dartford Warbler, 7 Blackcap and 9 Chiffchaff were ringed and there was a returning Chiffchaff at Bedfont.

6 Lesser Redpoll were all from Chobham; there were 7 more Yellowhammer from Willows, a total of 8 Reed Buntings (7 at Chobham) and a Carrion Crow from Eastcote - an unusual one for the groups' species list.

October 2014

With several trainers taking a holiday this month, sessions were down at some sites but still produced a healthy 557 birds (276 Runnymede RG; 281 Maple Cross RG) of 33 species.

Meadow Pipits headed the totals with 119 and peaks of 81 at Chobham and 25 at Hilfield. Goldfinch came in second at 60 with 41 from Milton Keynes gardens whilst Goldcrest and Blue Tit tied for bronze at 54.

There was a good catch of 16 Reed Buntings at Chobham and 7 Yellowhammer at The Willows. House Sparrows are rarely caught these days and 14 at The Willows (with 5 Trees) were notable.

Maple Cross produced an interesting result for a garden-ringed Starling (Eastcote, December 2013) recovered on the Baltic coast in Lithuania this September, 1,505km away.

Starling ring recovery. Eastcote, London to Silute, Lithuania

The benefits offered by bird ringing in the 21st century

In this editorial, I shall first mention the various methods of marking and tracking birds, and then go on to explain why I think that bird ringing is still essential to the development of both bird science and bird conservation. Ian Newton

Full article:
http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/article/bird-ringing-still-necessary/

Ageing and sexing Reed Bunting. Emberiza schoeniclus

Ageing and sexing Reed Bunting can be difficult when handling single birds. At a recent session on Chobham Common, where we caught 15 individuals, we had the opportunity to compare both males and females as well as different ages of birds too. Below is what we observed:

All photographs were taken on 5th October 2014 and are of four individuals (plus a fifth which better illustrated the alulae and primary coverts of a 1st autumn female).

Crown feathers

Sexing. The pattern of black and buff on crown feathers is straightforward at this time of year - the black base to the crown feathers in males is broad with 90%+ of the buff restricted to the feather tips. In females the black parts of the vanes form arrow-head shapes with the buff extending down from the feather tip either side of the black.

Alulae and primary coverts

Ageing. The two males follow the literature: the adult has neatly rounded primary coverts whereas the young, while still rounded, are more loosely defined; both along their edges and around the tips. The females are harder to differentiate though the 1st Autumn bird does have greater wear than both adults.

Note that both adults exhibit dark outer alulae whereas both juveniles are paler. This isn't something I've read and we'll check future buntings as a follow-up. If anyone has a reference for this criteria do get in touch and I'll update this post.

Primary feather wear

Ageing. One has to look carefully to judge the amount of primary wear in Reed Bunting and even in October, a cursory look is often not enough. Compare the lower two birds with those above: the young male exhibits the most wear but the young female also has greater wear than both adults. Using the primaries for ageing gets progressively more difficult as the season progresses.

Tail shape and wear

Ageing. Reed Bunting have broad outer tail feather but it's the shape that can help age a bird. Adult tail feathers are rounded at the tip and, in October, generally show little wear. Juveniles are more pointed and a close inspection will show a greater degree of wear.

Further reading

1. An excellent set of photographs for southern populations of Reed Bunting is definitely worth further study: http://www.ibercajalav.net/img/451_ReedBuntingEschoeniclus.pdf
2. The use of primary abrasion for ageing reed buntings emberiza schoeniclus, J del La Punte & J Seoane, April 2011
3. Birds ringe at Billinge: http://two-in-a-bush.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/first-redpolls-and-ageing-reed-buntings.html
4. Sexing first year reed buntings using biometrics, C Walton & P Walton, April 2011

September 2014

Good weather and extra activity at Wraysbury and Tythebarns gave a welcome total of 1,294 new birds (924 Runnymede RG; 370 Maple Cross RG).

Blackcaps were the most numerous species totalling 370 (including 198 Wraysbury, 108 Tythebarns and 24 at both Hilfield and Bedfont) followed by Chiffchaff at 198 (including 76 Tythebarns, 52 Wraysbury, 36 Chobham and 19 Broadwater).

Meadow Pipits also featured highly at 105 (57 Hilfield, 31 Chobham and 20 Bedfont) and Goldfinch made a healthy 80 (mostly at Wraysbury).

A total of 45 species were ringed (37 Runnymede RG: 29 Maple Cross RG) with the premier being a Wryneck at Wraysbury. Tree Pipit appeared at Chobham, Grey Wagtail at Windsor and Redstart at Wraysbury, with Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer at Willows.

Adult Wryneck at Wraysbury (C Hunter Roach)

Recent Recoveries

A Pied Wagtail we ringed at Bricket Wood in December 2010 was caught again, this May, 300 miles north in Peebles in the Scottish Borders.