Sibe Chiffs meet nesting Dippers

Well apparently yesterday was the last day of winter, so it was fitting that we had a day out that saw us cooing over the remnants of winter along with looking forward to the summer.

Whilst failing to put up a couple of Dipper nestboxes, we peered over the fence at one of our local sewage works (Constantine) to find the bushes there heaving with small stuff. At any one time there were at least 25 Chiffchaffs buzzing round fly-catching, and in amongst them were at least five Firecrest and two Siberian 'tristis' Chiffchaffs.

So that was the last gasp of winter, and the first signs of spring came in the form of a nest-building Dipper (where we were trying to put a box!) and also 39 Cormorants sat on nests on Mullion Island. Once again they've moved location, this time preferring the landward side of the island. There were also some signs of spring at Rinsey, with several Shags starting to nest-build and the first Kittiwakes also back on ledges, including CA (below), ringed as an adult in 2013.

Another Stormie falls prey to a French cat

The weather continues to put a damper on any real mist-netting plans, but there's stil the occasional interesting bird to keep us happy. We were glad to hear last week that a Short-eared Owl that had been picked up in November with a badly-injured wing was almost ready for release, having been cared for by the guys at the Screech Owl Sanctuary. So this female was ringed before release, along with a Barn Owl and two Tawny Owls, so here's hoping we meet them again in happier circumstances!

We also received news today of a couple of our Lizard-ringed Storm Petrels that had been found in France. A bird we ringed on 17th June 2015 was recaught by French ringers just two days later on Ile de Bannec, 173km from Cornwall. Sadly though, a bird ringed in August 2013 was killed by a cat on Ile de Molene, which lies very close to Ile de Bannec. This is the third of our Storm Petrels killed by a cat on the island, so it is rather worrying to think how many other birds are being killed!

We asked Bernard Cadiou in France for some extra info on the problem and he replied: "In 1999 only 18 corpses have been found, but predation increase since 2007 with less than 100 birds killed per year, and since 2013 with about 300 birds killed per year!

The total is now around 1500 petrels killed by cats, mainly wandering prebreeders.

A first campaign of cat control with sterilization was launched in 2011 by the Iroise Natural Marine Park, but unfortunately nothing else was done since then."

Gunwalloe Swallow in Spain

We tend to ring a lot of Swallows at the roost at Gunwalloe, but the 'return' on these birds is rather small, with very few ever being found or recaught again. In fact, of the 2,007 Swallows ringed in the reedbed, four have been recaught in the reedbed within the same autumn, five have been caught a year after ringing and two have been recaught two years after ringing. Just one has been found dead (in Helston a year after ringing) and we've had two longer-distance movements.

One of these was a bird we ringed in August last year that then headed north, being recaught in Devon 26 days later! A rather more conventional movement has only just come to us via BTO, which was a bird ringed in July 2014 that was then recaught on southward passage in September in Guadalajara, central Spain. This is over 1,000km from Gunwalloe, but this bird obviously had a lot further still to go!

Ringing group report 2015

With all the ringing and resighting data in, we've just finalised the group report for 2015. This details some of the projects we ran through the year and also some of the more interesting movements of birds reported. You can download and view the report here:

Belgian-ringed Water Rail resurfaces

Way back in September 2012, group ringers covering the autumn migration period at Marazion Marsh caught a Water Rail wearing a ring from the Belgian ringing scheme. This was quite exciting, as whilst Water Rails are known winter migrants into the UK, we really don't catch enough to know much about their movements. But it was only this week that we finally got the original ringing details back from the Belgian scheme, showing the bird had been ringed 52 days previously at Mechelen in northern Belgium. This is the sixth foreign-ringed Water Rail to be found in Cornwall, with others (all found dead) coming from Germany (four) and The Netherlands (two).

Others reports that came in this week included confirmation of the sad demise of one of our colour-ringed Peregrines. This had been ringed as a chick near Porthtowan in May 2014, but was found with a badly injured wing near Cornwood, Devon, back in March 2015. Unfortunately its injuries were too sever for it to be rehabilitated, so it had to be euthanased two days after being admitted to the vets.

Slightly cheerier news also came in confirmation of the ringing details of several rings and colour rings read recently. Some of these were well-known local birds, but it's always nice to receive the records back. This time, we had received details of a Dutch Curlew, a Great Black-backed Gull from Guernsey, two Mediterranean Gulls from France and Black-headed Gulls from Poland (two) and Belgium.

Great day for a diver!

Finally the wind let up long enough to get some mist-nets up, so we decided to get onto some of our farmland sites for the first time this winter! Sadly they weren't quite as productive as we'd hoped, with just 28 birds at Predannack (including three Skylark and five Song Thrush) and 32 birds at St Allen (including a rather smart male Yellowhammer).

The maize cover crop alongside the feed crop at St Allen

Just as we were leaving St Allen, we had a call from a couple of the group's ringers who were birding at Carnsew Basin, Hayle. They'd found an illegally set net across one corner of the pool which had managed to catch and entangle the regular wintering Great Northern Diver, so a rapid rescue mission was launched. With a kayak on hand just in case it was needed, we managed to safely bring the net ashore and untangle the bird (along with a few fish and crabs). After fitting a ring (a carefully-shaped L ring to fit its extremely flattened leg) it was released back onto the pool and seemed happy to go about its business. Enquiries are now underway by the local police to find out who had set the net last night.

Just 12 Great Northern Divers have ever been ringed in the UK,
the last being in Scotland in 2010

Ring-reading weather

Well 2016 seems to be getting off on the same foot as the back end of 2015, with yet more wind and rain meaning there's not a lot of mist-netting to be done. But there are still gulls to catch and, just as importantly, rings to read.

So a few of us have been out staring at gulls and waders again, catching up with some old colour-ringed friends, and the last week has seen birds from all over Europe resighted. We've seen Black-headed Gulls from Belgium and Poland (no fewer than three!) and also a 20-year-old bird ringed locally, Med Gulls from Belgium, Ireland and France, a Herring Gull from the Channel Islands (seen previously at Dungeness, Kent), a Black-tailed Godwit from Hampshire and a Curlew from The Netherlands.

Sadly none of my photos are any good, but a couple of the Polish Black-headed Gulls at Par Beach Pool were also photographed by Allan and Iain Stewart, so thanks to them for these.

Record year at Nanjizal

With the nets now down at Nanjizal for the season, it's a good time to reflect on what was a record year for the site. The final total of 7,898 birds ringed was exceptional, with the top 10 species ringed for the year being:

1. Blackcap - 1936
2. Sedge Warbler - 1364
3. Chiffchaff - 1126
4. Willow Warbler - 469
5. Goldcrest - 438
6. Robin - 284
7. Swallow - 271
8. Whitethroat - 248
9. Reed Warbler - 205
10. Chaffinch - 181

But totals of several other species were also notable:

• Hoopoe - 2 (none ringed nationally in 2014)
• Wryneck - 5
• Tree Pipit - 7
• Song Thrush - 81
• Grasshopper Warbler - 87
• Yellow-browed Warbler - 22
• Firecrest - 114 (only 402 ringed nationally in 2014)
• Little Bunting - 2

Add to that singles of  Nightjar, Blyth's Reed Warbler (the first record for Cornwall), Melodious Warbler, Dartford Warbler, Subalpine Warbler, Pallas's Warbler and Common Rosefinch and it really has been a year to be remembered!

Cornwall's first ever Blyth's Reed Warbler

A small amount of preparatory habitat work was done during the winter, but on the whole the site looked ready for the season. Around six years ago, the field margin had been sown with maize, but with the ground becoming too waterlogged, the area was left to fallow. It soon filled in with willowherb and other native species and became excellent habitat for Sedge Warblers, but unfortunately, was cut and sown with rye grass in mid-September. This will obviously have an impact on the breeding birds, but maybe not so on passage birds. It just shows how quickly good, low maintenance breeding habitat can be created in a short space of time.

Spring was a bit hit and miss and there weren't any high numbers of common migrants passing through. I can only remember one notable day when a good number of Grasshopper Warblers appeared. Garden Warblers increased again and reared young for the first time in a few years and Dunnocks had a good, early breeding season. A few unusual birds turned up in spring and two were patch ticks; Squacco Heron and Little Bittern. From photos, the Squacco was different to the bird at Creen Bottom.

The breeding season seemed to be quite reasonable and it was nice to see the Sedge Warblers rear a good number of young, quite different to the national picture. Other species also seemed to have reasonable season, with notable increases in species such as Coal Tit, Redpoll, Siskin and Goldcrest. Once autumn passage commenced, the still and favourable weather, along with increased ringing hours, helped the annual totals considerably, with just under 8,000 birds ringed! The increased coverage was mainly due to the efforts of the ringing group, although two other ringing groups from up-country did visit for an intensive week's ringing.

Record numbers of Sedge Warbler and Blackcap were trapped in the still weather during August and September. A species that seems to have done well everywhere is Firecrest, with 114 ringed on site. Other species that broke any previous annual total by a considerable margin were Cetti's Warbler, Kingfisher, Reed Warbler and Yellow-browed Warbler. Presumably this was due to a good breeding season and possibly an expanding range of the latter. The autumn passage of Willow Warbler was far more noteworthy than the spring and Whitethroats didn't seem to be as abundant as last year and totals were down. September through to December saw a good passage of Chiffchaffs in the southwest and this year seemed to be quite a normal year, although local breeding birds didn't seem to be very successful.

This late-autumn Willow Warbler is surely a good candidate for a northern acredula bird

Late-autumn also provided the chance to see Yellow-browed and Pallas's Warblers
together on a couple of mornings

The totals show a good number of unusual birds were also caught, which are always nice to see, although unfortunately they always seemed to appear on busy days when you don't have much time to appreciate them! The most noticeable catch was Cornwall's first Blyth's Reed Warbler, but a Dartford Warbler was a welcome and overdue addition to the site ringing list.

As for controls (birds ringed elsewhere), fewer British Blackcaps than last year were controlled, even though the numbers were higher, and the site saw its first continental Goldcrest in the form of a Dutch-ringed bird. One of the many early dispersing September Robins made its way to Wendover, Bucks, and we also caught our first Sedge Warbler from Shetland. Also of note was a Yellow-browed Warbler recaught just five days after being ringed at Gibraltar Point Bird Observatory in Lincolnshire!

So all in all, 2015 has been an excellent year, with many thanks to all the ringers involved and if you're tempted to visit in 2016 then check out the details on the website.

Peregrine update

We blogged at the weekend about the unfortunate Cornish Peregrine found in Portugal, so thought a short update was in order. Thanks to the sterling efforts of the Wildlife Rescue Centre at the University of Trás-Os-Montes e Alto Douro (UTAD), this bird was operated on and is now doing well. But what did transpire during the surgery was that it had actually been shot originally, as evidenced by the pre-op x-ray.

Here's hoping all their hard work pays off and MV will recover...

Portuguese Peregrine and a few old friends

We have recently received a report via BTO of one of our Peregrines ringed this year. GR80973 was one of two chicks ringed near Morvah in July and was sadly found with a broken wing in northern Portugal at the end of November. It is currently in care and we'll post an update as soon as we know anything more...

This is an especially notable movement, as can be seen from the map below of Peregrine movements from the BTO's Online Ringing Report. In fact, this is just the second report of a BTO-ringed Peregrine in Portugal (following one from Co Louth found dead there in 1981), with only one other bird further south; a bird from Northumberland found dead on Lanzarote in 1998.

There's not much other ringing news to report, what with the weather being so poor! But we've been out reading a few rings (coloured and otherwise), catching up with a few old friends. From east to west...

• Black-headed Gull ES72115 remains at Par Beach Pool. Ringed as an adult in November 1995 it's getting to a good old age now, but still has a way to go to beat the UK longevity record of 32 years!
• The Black-tailed Godwit flock on the Truro River is now at 65 birds, including at least two colour-ringed birds. One was a male bird ringed at Farlington Marshes, Hampshire, in September 2005 and has been seen most autumns since in Hampshire (July to October) and in spring in Kent (March to April), but rarely in the winter months. It was seen twice on the Exe estuary, Devon, in November 2009 but not since, but has now become a regular on the Truro River, having been seen in December 2012, November 2014 and twice this month. The other was also a male, ringed in July 2010 in Iceland, and has been seen at Devoran and the Truro River in four different winters and also back in Iceland every summer since. Interestingly it has also been seen at Frampton Marsh and Welney on migration.

The Hampshire godwit at Boscawen Park in November 2014 (John St Ledger)

The Icelandic godwit at Devoran in December 2012 (John St Ledger)

• Down at Devoran, the two regular colour-ringed Curlews remain, ringed in August 2015 in Powys (the first from that project to be seen elsewhere) and in June 2013 in The Netherlands.
• On Gillan Creek, the roosting gulls haven't received the attention they deserve of late, but it's nice to now that the regular Green R16X is still with us, ringed in France in June 2009 and seen on the Helford and down at Coverack every winter since.

Boardwalk removals

Yesterday we finally managed to get a few people together to start the process of getting some boardwalk into the CES net rides at Gunwalloe. These are sections that were replaced by South West Lake trust at College Reservoir, so we'd offered to 'remove them' for the trust. The down side being that these 4m sections are pretty heavy and cumbersome and required a few strong arms and a trolley for the day.

But finally we managed to get a total of 13 long sections and three short sections out to the road, so part two of the plan will be to borrow a low-loader to get them down to Gunwalloe and then out into the reedbed. Hopefully by next CES season we won't be wading around up to our thighs in thick mud...

A catch up with some colour-ringed regulars

With the weather once again too windy for mist-netting, it was a good time to get out and catch up with a few old colour-ringed friends. One of the most interesting birds is 23D8, which we've blogged about several times before (here and here)! It had been seen yet again coming through the Camel estuary earlier in the autumn, but we hadn't managed to see it yet at Helston Boating Lake. But all in good time, it reappeared this week (22nd), back on its usual rail.

The gulls at the boating lake are always very obliging,
lining up on the railings to have their legs checked
(23D8 is actually the closest bird)

It was then on to Men-aver beach, where there's always a good selection of Med Gulls to look through. But with neap tides refusing to drop, there were only 40 birds here. Three of these had just metal rings, and only one colour-ringed bird. Red PLP2 is a Polish-ringed bird, ringed as a chick in June 2012, and has been seen in March 2013 and March 2014 at Pett Level, Sussex, and later at Ferrybridge, Dorset, in January 2015. This is the first time it's been reported from Cornwall though, so it'll be interesting to see if it stays.

Last but not least, a brief high-tide stop at Devoran produced one of our regular Curlews, again one we've blogged about before (here). 'SA was ringed in The Netherlands in June 2013 and is a regular wintering bird on the estuary.

So if we get the chance, get out and look for some colour-ringed birds of your won, as their histories can get rather addictive!

Busy Nanjizal week and more Skylarks

The last five days have seen daily ringing at Nanjizal, with 493 birds ringed, including 171 Blackcap, 74 Chiffchaff, 22 Firecrest (60 ringed so far this autumn), three more Yellow-browed Warblers (15 so far this month!) and a Little Bunting (one of two present). Also of note were late Reed Warbler, Garden Warbler and the six Siskin (unusual for the site).

Away from the Penwith valley, the rest of us headed out to Predannack (National Trust farm near Mullion) this morning to try for our first Skylarks of the winter. The fields were pretty quiet, so it's perhaps a bit early in the season, and pre-dawn drag-netting saw three birds slip under the net. We were slightly more successful mist-netting, though nine nets did still only produce four birds!

A rather grainy dawn photo, but the colour difference in these birds is hopefully still apparent,
with two rather grey birds (left)

While we were there we took the opportunity to turn the 'Skylark H' into a 'mipit triangle', but the presence of various raptors kept the majority of birds away from the nets. Some hedgerow nets did catch a single Linnet, in amongst a plethora of Dunnocks...

This bird was an interesting aside though, as it had hints of pinky-colour coming through on the breast (suggesting a male), but an incredibly dull, grey head. So we might presume that this was a winter-plumage male, but the moulting wing, and in particular the worn state of the unmoulted inner secondaries (and very dull head), suggested this was an adult part-way through moult. So quite why an adult male Linnet would look quite so shabby is a mystery, but we presume this is a second-year bird, having had a dull first-summer plumage and, so far, a delayed moult of its head feathers.

Note the newly-growing outer primary and the wear on the unmoulted inner secondaries

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.

More Mipits on the marsh

With the forecast suggesting no wind today, we took the opportunity to get the triangle out and catch some more Meadow Pipits at Gunwalloe. Unfortunately it wasn't quite as calm as predicted, but we still managed a respectable 61 pipits, along with a scattering of other species.

Highlight for some was a rather fine adult Moorhen, sexed as a female on biometrics.