This time of year is a very productive one for ringers with many new fledged birds about. Migration is well underway and our coastal ringing site at Durlston has kept us busy.
I made visits on the 7th, 9th, 10th, 13th and 15th which ave ringing totals of 49, 11, 246, 117 and 27 respectively showing how much migration varies from day to day. By far the best day was the 10th which was also the date of a public ringing demonstration as part of the Durlston Bioblitz weekend; there was a huge pulse of migrants, mainly Willow Warblers, between 0630 and 0730 which kept us very busy and forced us to close some nets, but we managed to ring about 200 birds before the public demonstration at 0800 by which time things had returned to normal. I must stress that we don’t take on commitments like showing ringing to the public unless we have enough experienced ringers available to cope with all eventualities, nor erect more nets than the ringers present can cope with in the event of a fall of migrants.
Below is a selection of some of the birds we have been ringing. The highlight of the period the Melodious Warbler trapped on 13th but I have already posted photos of this bird on a previous post.
We have only ringed five Lesser Whitethroats this year.
Grasshopper Warblers have also been in short supply both at Lytchett Bay and Durlston, where just this one bird has been ringed.
On the contrary Garden Warblers have been quite common, 37 have been ringed already compared with just 48 for the whole of last year, 22 were ringed on the 13th alone. Whether this represents a very good breeding season or just that a fluke of the weather brought them to Dorset remains to be seen. This bird has been gorging on blackberries hence the stained throat and breast.
We have ringed quite a few Sedge Warblers at our reed bed site at Lytchett Bay but they have also been unusually plentiful at our Durlston and Fleets Corner sites.
On the 15th a visitor told us of a ‘swallow’ he had found on the ground which he had picked up and placed in his car. It proved not to be a Swallow but a recently fledged Swift, probably disorientated by the low cloud and mist. We tried to release it but it flopped to the ground. Simon took it into care and fed it meal worms and was able to successfully release it in the afternoon.
Note the scaly appearance of a juvenile caused by the presence of pale tips to the flight feathers, coverts and head.
We have also started autumn ringing at our site at Fleets Lane Corner. Here Paul brings arctic Norwegian birder Tormud Amundson (R) along. Tormud is working with members of the Sound Approach on some interesting projects in the Poole area.
Ringing at Fleets Lane Corner has mainly involved recently fledged and moulting adult Dunnocks, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps but a few arriving migrants have been present including Willow and Garden Warblers and most notably this first year Common Redstart.
Poole Borough Council cuts have forced head of Environmental Services, Shaun Robson, to pick curbside litter in his spare time!
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