Brackenhurst, Sunday 8 April

Always interesting to ring at this time of year, with wintering birds packing their bags to go home and putting on fat, whilst residents are getting ready to breed and the spring warblers are arriving.

Duncan, Tom and I had a lovely morning at Brack yesterday with calm, overcast weather, and a steady flow of birds. We handled 66 birds of 13 species. Highlights were:

• A female Blackcap control (i.e. ringed elsewhere). The Blackcaps had been eating berries, we think Ivy, (see picture). This is something usually associated with autumn birds.
• Our first Swallow of the year sighted.
• Half the catch was our target species, Yellowhammer. Most of the adult males were developing cloacal protuberances.
• A ‘pair’ of Treecreepers. These can be aged by the size of the white spots on the their primary coverts (see picture). The one with the large spots is a juvenile-type Treecreeper born last year, and the other with small spots an adult-type bird.

Species totals: 66 birds processed (33 new/33 retrap), comprising: Goldcrest 1/0, Blue Tit 0/1, Great Tit 1/5, Long-tailed Tit 0/1, Chiffchaff 1/0, Willow Warbler 1/0, Blackcap 4/1, Treecreeper 1/1, Wren 1/0, Dunnock 1/0, Chaffinch 3/5, Yellowhammer 16/15, Reed Bunting 2/5.

The oldest retrap was a Chaffinch from 2014. The Willow Warbler was the fifth for the site and the first since 2011. Only three Blackcaps have been caught previously, one of which had been wintering. Lastly, we rather unexpectedly flushed a pair of Mallard in the copse and the female only narrowly evaded capture when she bounced out of the net.

Jim

 Blackcap, with a hint of breakfast...
(J. Lennon)

 

Treecreeper wings (J. Lennon)