Sedge Warbler recovery

Received some more ringing data, this time regarding the ringed Sedge Warbler at Staines Moor back in May. This bird was ringed as a 1st year (ring number confirmed as 3N46271) on 4 August 2013 (time unknown) at Ria de Villaviciosa, Asturias in north-west Spain (DMS 43.28.00N -5.-25.00W), by the Madrid (Icona) ringing scheme. Presumably the bird was on it's first southbound migration to west Africa at the time? The sex was unknown when it was ringed so it is good to have been able to establish that.

Many thanks to the BTO for providing the information.

Ringed male Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus, Staines Moor, 22 May 2016. This bird was ringed 959 km away in
north-west Spain in 2013.

Bar-tailed Godwit recovery

Received some data on the ringed female Bar-tailed Gotwit at Staines Moor on 12 May. The bird was ringed as an adult on 11 May 2006 (metal ring number 1473844, colour code R1YYRR), ten years and a day before the Staines Moor sighting, at Polder bij Lies on the island of Terschelling in the western Wadden Sea, Netherlands. It has been observed on eight occasions since, each sighting in May in the Dutch Wadden Sea, the most recent being on 7 May 2015 at De Schorren, Texel. Therefore, the Staines Moor sighting is the first observation outside of the Netherlands.

Many thanks to Job ten Horn of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) for providing the data.

Female colour ringed Bar-tailed Godwit Limosa lapponica (left), Staines Moor, 12 May 2016

Staines Moor: 22 May

Not quite sure what happened to spring, but just like that it is now summer, with a few very quiet hours at Staines Moor today producing naff all passage migrants.

A Lesser Whitethroat flicking between bushes in the SE corner (my first ever on this part of the moor), 1 Red Kite over N, 1 Common Swift E and a Barn Swallow W could all have possibly be moving through rather than local birds, but no other movement was evident.

Other 'highlights' were 2 Gadwall (flew onto the Colne), c.200 Eurasian Starling (mainly adults but some juveniles in tow, with many towards the southern end of Bonehead woodland, around the livestock and in NW corner), 2 (1m, 1f) Common Shelduck E, 2 Egyptian Geese W, 2 Redshank (Colne and east pool), 1+ Hobby, 1 Common Buzzard (local bird), 3 Common Tern (Colne), 1+ Little Egret (Colne), 5 Sedge Warbler (2 pairs and a lone ringed male in the swamp - see below), 5H Common Whitethroat, 2H Common Chiffchaff, 2 (1m, 1H) Blackcap, c12 Common Pheasant (1 very tame male torquatus, and 1 female with c.10 very young chicks in the swamp, a couple of which I almost trod on!), 7 Reed Bunting (6m, 1f), 1 Grey Heron, several Linnet and lots of Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

No sign of the Grasshopper Warbler or the pair of Stonechat, and still no Common Cuckoo - the first year of absence that I can remember and I really hope we haven't lost them as a regular breeding species.

Ringed and unpaired male Sedge Warbler singing in the swamp today (coordinates/grid reference of recovery: 51.442805,
-0.512438/TQ 03482 72584). I think I've managed to piece together the ring number from photos - 3N46271, and the pic bottom
right seems to say MADRID and the word AVES above it, so perhaps this bird was ringed in Spain by the San Sebastian/Aranzadi
(Spain) ESA scheme. Hopefully I'll find out some history soon. Many thanks to the Lakes and Pennines, the BTO and Lee Barber
on Twitter for their feedback (right-click on image and open in a new tab to enlarge).

A Roe Deer spooked in Bonehead woodland was my first daylight sighting at the patch, 1 Downlooker Snipe-fly Rhagio scolopacea was my first this year, and plenty of Yellow Iris Iris pseudacorus are now in flower. 12 horses are now out to graze.

1 of about 10 Common Pheasant chicks with a hen, encountered in long grass in the swamp today. This bird and another were frozen
to the spot right by my feet.

Downlooker Snipe-fly Rhagio scolopacea in the swamp today (taken with a Samsung Note 4)

Weather: Sunny (2 oktas in morning) becoming cloudy early afternoon (4 oktas by 13:00 and 8 oktas by 14:00), very light SW wind, damp early morning.

Staines Moor: 12 May

For me, birding is all about finding my own birds. I have little interest in seeing birds that others have found, even on the patch. This spring I've been determined to find a good bird at Staines Moor, especially as last spring was so piss poor on the patch. Over the last week alone I've been up before dawn three times and spent no fewer than 29 hours traipsing around covering every millimetre of the patch, with one eye fixed on the sky. While seemingly every other London site has been awash with Arctic Terns, Little Terns, Black Terns, Sanderlings, Wood Sandpipers, flocks of tundra Ringed Plovers, Grey Plovers and Wood Warblers, Staines Moor has yielded nothing!

But with a good passage of waders through London over the last few days I was hoping today would produce a Wood Sandpiper or some other wader along the Colne. Imagine then how I felt when soon after arriving on site this morning, another birder arrives, walks past me, then comes back a few minutes later and tells me there are two Bar-tailed Godwits along the Colne! Now maybe I am being greedy and ungrateful (and well done to the birder who found them as this is a great patch record), but really, FOR FUCK'S SAKE!

Staines Moor records today: 2 Bar-tailed Godwit ((1m and 1f in summer plumage, seen feeding and resting beside the Colne where they appeared to be catching a lot of food, and also on the east pool. The female was ringed and flagged - I'll try and find out where it was ringed), 20 Common Swift (mainly N), 2 Barn Swallow N, 1 Grasshopper Warbler (heard several times and probably glimpsed in flight), 3 Hobby (hunting together over the NW corner), 3 Redshank (2 Colne, 1 east pool), 1m Gadwall (Colne), 1+ Common Tern (Colne), 4 Common Whitethroat, 4 (1m, 3H) Blackcap, 4 (3H) Sedge Warbler, 3H Chiffchaff, 10 Reed Bunting (8m, 2f), 1 Little Egret (Colne), 4-7 Red Kite (1 high W and the others presumably local birds), 2 Stock Dove (Bonehead Ditch), 1m Kestrel, 1 Pied Wagtail W, 2 Common Buzzard (including 1 pale phase NW), 1+ Grey Heron, 1 juv. Robin, and plenty of Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Linnet. No sign of the Stonechats today in a brief search, and still no Cuckoos!

Today's pair of summer plumage Bar-tailed Godwit - check out the size different between the male and female. Still present
beside the Colne at 13:39 when I left.

The female was ringed as follows - left leg: pink flag top, 2 yellow rings bottom; right leg: metal ring top, 2 red rings bottom. Can't make out
much on the metal ring - perhaps 147..? I've reported it to the BTO so maybe they can shed some light.

Found some Yellow Meadow Ants Lasius flavus on an anthill on the west side - only my second ever sighting at Staines Moor (or anywhere for that matter) as the workers rarely stray above ground. The hairless lower sections of the antennae and the tibiae, which are diagnostic of this species, could be seen on the terrible photos I took with the Samsung Note 4. Butterflies today included my first Green-veined White of the year and a Small Copper.


Stanwell Moor added 1 Reed Warbler and 1 Little Egret W.

So I think I am done with this spring and with the patch for a while - it's all far far far far far far far too much effort for little reward and I'm desperately trying to remember why I keep bothering. Who knows though, maybe I can muster enough energy and motivation for one more day this spring of finding bugger all?

Weather: Sunny with some thin cloud, freshening NE wind, rain previous night.

Siskin recovery

Got some recovery data back from the BTO today about the ringed male Siskin I photographed last Friday. Although I didn't manage to record the complete ring number (there was one digit is missing), the BTO found just three Siskins that have ring numbers that could be a match. Two of these are females, leaving just one male - ringed on 6 October 2012 at Easter Inch Moss in Lothian, Scotland. The BTO don't have all the data in their system yet and could be missing some birds, so I need to check again in April to be certain. Many thanks to Lee Barber from the BTO for searching the database.

Ringed adult male Siskin, Stanwell Moor Village, 7 February 2012

Details
Metal ring number: Y68875 (one digit missing, probably between the Y and 6)
Location: Stanwell Moor Village
Coordinates/grid reference: 51°27'29.37"N,0°30'16.20"W
Date: 07/02/2013

Stanwell Moor Siskins

Very quiet at the patch this morning, but the sun did give a spring-like feel and a few birds are now singing, notably Song Thrush and Great Tit. Highlights were 1 Short-eared Owl hunting distantly first thing, 8 Common Snipe on the southern flood, 3 (2m, 1f) Stonechat, 1 Grey Wagtail on the Colne, 1-2 Little Egret (along the Colne and River Wraysbury), 1 Cetti's Warbler H (same part of the Colne as last time), 4 Song Thrush feeding along the Colne, 2 Skylark N, 4 Little Grebe and 8 Mute Swan (4 on the Colne and 4 over), 18+ Black-headed Gull on the Colne and 1 Cormorant on the Colne early morning.

Little Egret shortly after dawn

On Stanwell Moor 1m Reed Bunting, 2-3 Goldcrest, a pair of Tufted Duck, c15 Common Teal, 2 Pied Wagtail N and 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker (1 over N) were noted. Spent a bit of time watching a flock of c.20 Siskins on Stanwell Moor that showed well feeding in Alders with a few Goldfinches along the Colne Valley Way and in Stanwell Moor Village. The light was rather poor but I did manage a few half decent images. Rob Innes has reported at least 80 in the area. I might try for some better pics if they hang around. Also had 2 Red Kites over the M25 just north of M3 junction at 13:40.

Adult male

Female

Male feeding on Alder Alnus glutinosa seeds

Check out how much this bird has twisted its head to get at the seeds

This bird is ringed - see below

I think the ring number is Y68875. I'll report this to the BTO to see if they can
shed some light on where this bird was ringed.

Weather: Sunny (2 oktas in morning) becoming cloudy early afternoon (7 oktas), very light but cold W wind.

Ringing at REGUA

Spent the day on the Waterfall Trail at REGUA assisting a group from Rio University mist netting for hummingbirds. The aim of the study is to determine hummingbird diversity at different altitudes in the Atlantic Forest and this was the first day of ringing. Saw-billed Hermits and Violet-capped Woodnymphs were the most common species caught, a Scale-throated Hermit was processed before I arrived (a very low altitude record for this species), but best of all was a Dusky-throated Hermit (first photo). This tiny hummer can be very tricky to catch up with and was a new bird for me. Other birds ending up in the nets included Plain-winged Woodcreeper (second photo), Grey-hooded Flycatcher, Blue Manakin and several Black-goggled Tanagers. We even had a recovery - a pair of Star-throated Antwren (third photo). It will be very interesting to see what else turns up in the nets during the course of this study.

Other birds seen on the Waterfall Trail today included Brown Tinamou, Scaled Antbird, Black-cheeked Gnateater, Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant, White-thighed Swallow and Red-crowned Ant-Tanager.