Spring is in the air

It hasn't really felt like spring the last couple of mornings, with frosty cars and freezing cold metal poles! But once the sun was up, Dunnocks and Chiffchaffs were singing and Goldcrests displaying to each other at the sewage works, so things are definitely getting going.

But there's still plenty of signs of winter around, with this rather subtle Siberian Chiffchaff one of the last birds ringed this morning at Carnon Downs STW. It showed quite a lot of green tones to the upperparts and tail, but was nice and plain underneath and also had the distinctive long supercilium we see of some Sibe Chiffs. There was also a remaining Yellow-browed Warbler, but even this was darting round wing-fluttering at a Goldcrest!

In fact the last bird of the morning could be a sign of winter of a sign of spring, as this male Blackcap could wel be a wintering bird, but the fact it had a good amount of pollen on its forehead might indicate it was travelled from points south recently. We did look around for any pollinating trees nearby but even the local catkins weren't producing much pollen yet.

But the fact that we only caught three Chiffchaffs at Carnon Downs STW this morning and just one at Gwennap STW yesterday is perhaps a sign that birds have already started to move north, or at least have other things on their mind...

Late autumn 2016 at Nanjizal - 100 Yellow-broweds and counting

Like many ringing sites in the UK, 2016 didn't seem to be the best of breeding seasons, with the cold, wet spring seeming to have reduced the amount of successful first broods. Compared to 2015, the most noticeable drop in numbers over the autumn was for Sedge Warbler, from over 1,300 ringed to barely 700 this year. This may have been due to the weather and slightly reduced coverage, but the national picture seemed to be show a poor breeding season. Blackcaps were late arriving in September and, like Sedge Warbler, in much lower numbers. The current total of just over 1,450 again compares poorly to the 1,933 ringed in 2015. The only real up sides saw Willow Warbler pretty stable at 469 compared to 473 last year, and Whitethroat actually increased, from 248 to 366.

During September coverage was similar to last year, but increased dramatically in October with extended periods of calm weather. During this later part of the autumn, the most noticeable absentees were the crests. There may yet be more to come, but the total of just 167 Goldcrest is well down on last year's 469. Similarly, just 27 Firecrest ringed so far doesn't compare to the bumper catch of 114 in 2015. The highlight of the autumn though was the mass arrival of Yellow-browed Warblers. After the dramatic increase in 2015 (with 22 ringed), this autumn has so far seen an incredible 105 birds ringed, with 13 ringed in one day alone! Long-distance movements of Yellow-broweds are rare, so we were surprised to catch a bird in 2015 ringed in Lincolnshire the week before. This year, we retrapped a bird on 31st October that had originally been ringed at St Abb's Head, Borders on 9th October, almost 700km to the north.

Other unusual species trapped during the autumn include two Nightingale, four Wryneck, Melodious Warbler, Marsh Warbler, an unprecedented two Paddyfield Warblers, two Dusky Warbler and Little Bunting. With the weather now turning for the worse, it's doubtful we'll get many more days in before packing up at the end of the month, which is a pity as the thrushes have arrived and the ongoing turnover of Chiffchaffs has included numerous tristis, with several 'Siberian' Lesser Whitethroats also turning up, but more on these later...

Stripe overload with SEVEN Yellow-broweds ringed

It's always a highlight of a day out birding or ringing when you come across a Yellow-browed Warbler, so to find three on our first net round at Nanjizal was an absolute bonus! These stunning little birds originate in the Siberia and used to be rather scarcer than they are now, but with hundreds arriving along the east coast over the last couple of weeks it was only a matter of time before they filtered down to the southwest.

Three happy ringers with a Yellow-browed each

As if that wasn't enough, our second net round also produced three unringed Yellow-broweds, with one later in the morning bringing the total to a staggering seven birds! This brings the autumn total to10 birds, which compares well to previous years: the annual total in Cornwall counting backwards are 24, 13, 19, 8, 3, 4, 1, 7, 6.

The morning ended on 167 birds ringed, including 44 Blackcap, 28 Robin (fresh-in Continental birds), 27 Meadow Pipit, 26 Chiffchaff, two each of Willow and Reed Warbler, Grey Wagtail and Stonechat, a single Firecrest and the mystery bird below... Scroll down for the species.

A very smart first-year female Whinchat!

Lincolnshire-ringed Yellow-browed Warbler

With Yellow-browed Warblers seemingly flooding into the north and east of the country, it was only a matter of time before they made it down to Cornwall in numbers. The last week has seen Yellow-broweds in seemingly every valley and Nanjizal has been no exception. This morning's catch of seven was rather notable though, especially as it included a bird that was already ringed, and not by the group.

One of the seven Yellow-browed Warblers caught at Nanjizal this morning

HPY702 had actually been ringed just seven days previously at Gibraltar Point Bird Observatory in Lincolnshire (over 530km distant). That day there were five ringed at the bird observatory (with an obs record count of 11 in the recording area!). Interestingly, this bird weighed 5.5g when first ringed and a week later it had actually increased in weight to 6.1g.

Dutch-ringed Chiffchaff (and 28 others)

With a carload of the group out of county cannon-netting ducks and waders with the Axe Estuary Ringing Group, I was on my own at Gwennap sewage works today. With just two nets, a couple of hours produced a very respectable 41 birds, including 29 Chiffchaffs!

The highlight was the bird below, which I thought was a British control (AAH203 - actually a Wren ringed in Cumbria in 2003) until I noticed the ring address which read 'ARNHEM HOLLAND'. Dutch-ringed Chiffchaffs aren't very regular in the UK, with fewer than 30 previous records. This isn't the first to be found in Cornwall though, as one was retrapped at Brew, near Sennen, in May 2007. Oddly this bird had been ringed just nine days previosuly in The Netherlands, so a very odd movement!

Another interesting bird was this Siberian Chiffchaff. Not the classic bird, lacking all olive and yellow tones, but a more subtle type. But it still showed very washed out plumage tones, along with a slightly flaring supercilium behind the eye and jet black legs.

Bit of sunny weather on a cold day was all it took to
bring out the insects and hence the birds

The 'bycatch' of the day wasn't too shabby either, including one of two Yellow-browed Warblers and one of three Firecrest present at the site.

More Sibes at Nanjizal

Thinking we'd have a busy thrush day at Nanjizal, a few of us headed out to Penwith in anticipation, but it wasn't to be. The curse of Grantham struck again, and our catch total of 39 new birds (and a scattering of retrap Wrens) was a bit on the low side...

But it did include a couple of nice Siberian visitors, in the shape of a Yellow-browed Warbler and a Siberian Chiffchaff.

Very hazy, burned out but unedited photo of the Yellow-browed

I thought I'd leave it unannounced in a bird bag as a little surprise for Guill McIvor, who runs the Exeter University Jackdaw project around Stithians and Penryn.

See left the slightly bemused look on his face on taking something small out of a bird bag, before the lightbulb moment happened and the resultant childlike grin below developed!

Bit hard to see in this photo, but this bird was carrying plenty of fat (4/8 on the ringing fat scale), and weighed in at over 8g. Doesn't seem like much, but it is if you're a Yellow-browed Warbler

Our second Sibe of the day was a rather smart Siberian Chiffchaff (tristis). It wasn't calling unfortunately, but the general lack of olive tones (it did have a green wash over a lot of the upperparts), gleaming white underparts and striking face pattern did make it stand out amongst the five more typically olive local Chiffchaffs (collybita).

Cornish weather can be a bit unpredictable, so you've got to use only the best storm ties!

Yellow-browed-tastic!

Finally the weather calmed down enough this morning to allow us to dash out an get some nets up. We still had to dodge the rain showers at Ponsanooth Sewage Works, but it was worth it with plenty of birds buzzing round the site. Whilst our total of 38 birds wasn't stunning, this was more than made up for in quality. The total included 13 Chiffchaffs, two of which were classic tristis Siberian Chiffchaffs, another was a bird we ringed at Ponsanooth in January 2013 and another had originally been ringed in Devon in September 2010. This was a juvenile when ringed so may have been on passage and may well have wintered in Cornwall each winter since then. Whilst we'll never know, it's a good age already so might even last another winter.

This Siberian Chiffchaff had a slightly funny eye (slight infection?), but didn't seem
to be inconvenienced by it, being a reasonable weight

After catching our first Yellow-browed Warbler of the year (but not the first of the winter of course), we then heard a bird calling just outside the site and when we finally tracked it down we noticed it was unringed, so we briefly put a playback call on and it was soon in a net. The first bird may well have been an adult, but these are quite hard to age confidently, but the second bird had a very pointed tail and was probably a first-winter.

Just to add to the above, we also ringed a single Firecrest, with another unringed bird around, so not a bad day all told!

Thanks to Emma Inzani for the photos, taken in very dim daylight!

Robins (and Earth girls apparently) are easy...

Our first proper team outing of the year saw us dropping in to a couple of our sewage works sites: Carnon Downs and Gwennap. The day saw us catch just 38 birds, but this did include 17 Chiffchaffs and a scattering of Pied Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and 'others'. One of the others was a juvenile Robin that showed quite nicely how easy they can be to age sometimes.

Apologies for yet another poor iPhone photo

On this bird, note how the retained juvenile greater coverts (yellow in colour) show obvious 'thorns' that are longer towards to bird's body, whereas the moulted adult-type greater coverts (more orange in colour) have more limited 'thorns' which are more obvious on the outside of the feather tract. Simples!

Unfortunately we didn't catch the three Siberian Chiffchaffs on the two sites nor the Yellow-browed Warbler at Gwennap. Next time...

Supermarket sparrows vs a sewage works Yellow-browed

This morning we were tasked with helping to remove a couple of House Sparrows from the back of one of Truro's largest supermarkets. They'd been stuck inside for a couple of months now, so once licences were sorted we were let loose.

It's rather surreal mist-netting in amongst pallets of toilet brush sets, washing powder and nappies, but we were based next to the alcohol section, so not all bad... But once some pallets were moved we could rig up 'Heath Robinson stylee' a single-shelf net at ceiling height, threaded through light fittings, air ducts and water pipes, and a full-height net between the shelving.

Terrible photo of our interesting morning netting site!

Remarkably, with the help of a tape-lure (well MP3-lure) we were eventually able to catch both birds darting through a small gap high up above the shelving. Both were ringed and liberated in a neighbouring garden, so let's hope this is the last we see of them.

Being so efficient at the supermarket, we used the extra couple of hours we had to stick up a few nets at Ponsanooth Sewage Works. There weren't many birds around (apart from a Siberian Chiffchaff, three Firecrest, Green Sandpiper and Woodcock), but one 40' net did catch a little group of warblers, including five Chiffchaffs (all apparently collybita) and a very smart Yellow-browed Warbler; our first of the winter.

These aren't always easy to age, but this bird showed a nice hint of a central crown stripe, which is apparently more frequent in juveniles. This, combined with a rather pointed tail (if a bit fresh-looking), suggested this was a first-winter bird.

Halimodendri, blythi and margelenica - and rare warblers galore

Below Kester writes a quick summary of a reasonable autumn in Penwith:
 
As the mornings get ever more chilly and bird numbers start to dry up, thoughts of packing up the nets at Nanjizal for the winter pop into my head. The late autumn movements of thrushes and finches didn't seem to happen this year, with very low numbers flying over in the first few hours of light. Using a Redwing recording has boosted catches in the last few weeks, but Blackbirds that are usually so numerous in November are altogether missing. Chiffchaff catches remain low, as have Goldcrest and Firecrest, but one warbler caught in higher numbers than usual, mirroring the massive UK arrival, was Yellow-browed Warbler. Up until today, 15 birds have been caught, including an impressive five on 10th November alone! Other birds of note recently were a Dusky Warbler caught on 7th November and a very good candidate for a halimodendri Lesser Whitethroat on 13th November.

Dusky Warbler

Halimodendri Lesser Whitethroat

Tailt moult such as this in first-year halimodendri is actually rather common.

Interestingly, the DNA from this Lesser Whitethroat trapped in early October at Nanijzal came back as being of the race blythi.

Blythi Lesser Whitethroat

And just to add to the mix, going back to 20th October 2000, the bird below was caught. Unfortunately, a feather for DNA analysis doesn't exist, so we may never know what it really was. However, whilst its warm upperparts may suggest blythi, this was a big bird, with a tail length of 65mm, and a very 'blunt' wing. Birds from Mongolia very much resembling this bird have been DNA-tested and identified as being of the race margelenica.

Margelenica Lesser Whitethroat?

Some interesting controls from the autumn were:

• Juvenile Chiffchaff ringed at Nanjizal on 14/7/20113, recaught at Squire's Down (Dorset) on 21/9/2013
• Young male Firecrest ringed on St Agnes (Isles of Scilly) on 21/10/2012, recaught at Nanjizal on 5/10/2013
• Young Sedge Warbler ringed at Nanjizal on 3/9/2013, found dead the next day at St Ives 

So with nets now down for the autumn, some of the notable ringing totals include a top five of:

• Chiffchaff - 701
• Blackcap - 588
• Sedge Warbler - 538
• Chaffinch - 244
• Willow Warbler - 165

impressive totals of:

• Grasshopper Warbler - 54
• Yellow-browed Warbler - 15
• Firecrest - 10

and some rarities:

• Subalpine Warbler - 2
• Wryneck
• Aquatic Warbler
• Marsh Warbler
• Dusky Warbler
• Cirl Bunting