Up-country warblers and a lesson in coverts

We recently received details from the BTO of two warblers caught on our penultimate CES ringing session at Gunwalloe on 16th August, both originating from up-country. Reed Warbler D992026 was ringed at Squire's Down, Dorset, on 11th August so had made the take just five days to make the 230km trip down to Cornwall. It almost certainly did it in one go though, and had also had time to put on some pre-migration weight, fattening from 11.2g to 12.4g in those five days.

An altogether different bird was Sedge Warbler Y941821, ringed at Icklesham, Sussex, on 6th August 2013. You then wonder if this bird chose different autumn migration routes as a juvenile and adult, now coming further west, or was this just coincidence.

The only other ringing of late has been a bit of garden ringing for new trainees, but it's always good to catch some instructive birds. The Blue Tit below very nicely shows the contrast between retained juvenile coverts (dull greeny-blue) and moulted adult-type coverts (blue). This bird had moulted all bar one of its greater coverts, the carpal covert and just the smallest alula feather, so see if you can identify them all in the pic!

Think we'll be able to identify this Dunnock without recatching it!

As an aside, I also dropped into Devoran before high-tide in the evening to check the roosting Curlews, to find two colour-ringed birds. We think the below might be a Scottish bird (the single yellow ring was coded BI) and the other bird looked German, but refused to stand on more than one leg in all the time I was sat watching!