Early spring at Nanjizal - Little Bunting and Hoopoes (yes plural)!

Early spring has always been a bit hit and miss at Nanjizal. With the site being so exposed to the winter weather, the vegetation growth usually lags behind sites just inland, so we presume that early migrants overfly the rather wintery-looking site. Like a lot of other sites in the southwest, early spring is dominated by Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, but constant northwesterly winds are never good news, and this year seems to be no exception. When the wind does drop, birds seem to find themselves further east; perfect for Portland Bill!

Over the last winter, the surrounding fields at Nanjizal held good numbers of Reed Bunting and the first ringing session of the season targetting them (on 5th March) saw a nice surprise in the form of a Little Bunting. It could well have been overlooked during the winter months, but was light, with little in the way of fat, so may have actually been on the move back north.

Chiffchaff numbers were very low in March and only one Willow Warbler was ringed, but things improved in April following a period of good weather. Despite there being no large numbers of Willow Warbler or Chiffchaff present, the vegetation is improving and Blackcap are finding the flowering Blackthorn to their liking, with the first Grasshopper Warbler and Whitethroat also now in.

Highlight of the spring so far came at the start of April though, with three Hoopoes frequenting rough, pony-grazed pasture next to the site. On consecutive days, a male and female were caught, giving a great opportunity to compare plumage details on these two second-year birds.

We won't necessarily tell you which is which of these two birds, but if you'd like to have a go at sexing them yourself then there's a great online resource here:

2012 Cornish online ringing report released

The BTO has just released the 2012 Online Ringing Report, which makes fascinating reading. The various reports don't just show national figures, but also break them down by county, so there's plenty in here for Cornish birders.

The Cornish ringing totals for the year (here) show 7,161 birds ringed which is well down on the last few years, symptomatic of the poor breeding season. The top five species ringed in the county (with 2012 totals for comparison) were:

• Swallow - 748 (445)
• Blue Tit - 712 (1,455)
• Chiffchaff - 681 (1,054)
• Willow Warbler - 516 (377)
• Chaffinch - 508 (666)

Notable in the totals were the only Hoopoe and Iberian Chiffchaff to be ringed in the UK in 2012 and also Spotted Crake (one of only three ringed nationally), Wood Sandpiper (four ringed of just eight nationally) and Aquatic Warbler (two of only seven ringed nationally).

Perhaps of more interest though are the recoveries that these, and other, ringed birds generate (here). Considering the relatively low ringing total for the county (not enough ringers!), most of the most interesting recoveries are of birds ringed elsewhere and seen or found here. But amongst the 1,803 recoveries involving the county, the highlights included colour ring sightings of:

• Great White Egret from France (seen at Amble Marshes)
• Ringed Plover from Norway (actually the fourth to be seen in the county)
• The first Lesser Black-backed Gulls from Germany and The Netherlands

recaptures of:

• Green Sandpiper in The Netherlands (ringed at Nanjizal)
• Firecrest originally ringed in Sussex
• Swallow originally ringed in Belgium (just one day earlier!)

The one-day, 787km movement of a young Swallow from Belgium to Gunwalloe

• The first ever Chiffchaffs in the county originally ringed in Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands (and the third from France)

and the unfortunate dead birds:

• German Jack Snipe and German Snipe (shot at St Austell and Zennor respectively)
• Russian and French Woodcock also shot

• Collared Dove ringed in Dorset and found dead 195km distant near Truro
• Dutch-ringed Yellow-browed Warbler found in Truro in 2008 (only the second foreign-ringed Yellow-browed Warbler to be found in the UK, following a quick movement of a Norwegian-ringed bird to Fair Isle in 1990)

 

Most of these recoveries of ringed birds came from birders and members of public, so if you've been lucky enough to find a ringed bird or see a colour-ringed bird, report it online via www.ring.ac or contact us direct and we'll pass it on.