Meisen Wood: Expectations – some you get and some you don’t!

Date: 7^th April 2019

Nets: 130m

Sound: Goldcrest, Chiffchaff & Blackcap

Weather: 8C rising to 19C

Ringers:  CS and EB

One of the joys of bird ringing is putting up the nets in pre-dawn’s half-light accompanied by a clamorous dawn chorus.  During the last week, or so, this avian symphony has been increasing in intensity though it is still shy of certain members from the warbler section. This pleasant start to the day is accentuated on warm mornings, such as today, when the sun’s warmth rapidly disperses the ephemeral mist and the first bright light rays create a hatched shadow pattern across the woodland floor.

Another component of bird ringing is expectation.  After several years ringing at a site anticipation is an integral part of the experience that shifts with the seasons. Today we anticipated catching Goldcrests and Firecrests (the crests); Blackcaps and Pied Flycatchers.  Each spring we monitor a small passage of the diminutive Crests through the woods, several of which remain to breed.  And, typically in previous years’ equivalent session we have captured the first Blackcaps and Pied Flycatchers.  Given that during the week we had heard the strident “whisperings” of Crests and the incomplete song of Blackcaps our music choice for the day was easily determined.

Our catch was:

Species	Ringed	Re-trapped	Total
Blackbird		2	2
Blackcap	3		3
Blue Tit	1	2	3
Chaffinch	5	1	6
Firecrest	5		5
G S Woodpecker		3	3
Goldcrest	1		1
Great Tit	3	4	7
Greenfinch	3	2	5
Hawfinch	1		1
Marsh Tit		1	1
Nuthatch		2	2
Robin	3	2	5
Wren	3	2	5
Total	28	21	49

The first round did not disappoint with Goldcrest, Firecrest and a Blackcap among the birds we processed.  Our session ultimately produced five new Firecrests, two of which we found quite challenging.  Normally ageing and sexing Firecrests is straight-forward, unambiguous affair.  Today we had two Firecrest left unsexed; their crown feathers were a dark yellow with some orange feathers too, but insufficient to convince us of their masculinity. Unfortunately their wing lengths were smack in the middle of the overlap zone.

Sexuality and particularly breeding status became one of the morning’s themes.  Both re-trap Blackbirds were females with brood patches starting to develop.  Meanwhile half the Chaffinches had high fat and muscle scores and thus are unlikely to be our guests for the summer.  The remaining Chaffinchs (two females and a male) weighed substantially less and had zero fat scores.  The two females had brood patches scores of one and the male had a “stonker” of a cloacal protuberance; EB’s adoption of colloquial English is quite delightful.  Spring was definitely in the air with Great Tit and Blue Tit flying around in pairs – this is possibly the males escorting the females in an effort to stop extra-pair copulations.  And the male Hawfinch was testosterone charged: as when he was being held in the photographers grip he gave CS a few unpleasant nips.   

The five Wrens showed similar breeding preparations.  Already CS has found three Wrens nests on-site but he did the same last year and they all failed; indeed last year we ringed no juvenile Wrens.  One of the re-trap Wrens was a female originally ringed as an adult in 2016.  She was not caught at all in 2018 and today she had a brood patch score of one. 

So a fine session of forty-nine birds, twenty – eight new and twenty-one re-traps, average figures for early April.  But no expected Pied Flycatchers!  Were we disappointed?  Not really, not yet anyway.  The previous week’s strong north-easterly winds have probably not assisted migration; or have they?

Ironically, after taking the nets down, as we sat in the warm sun drinking coffee and eating a very fine apple, walnut and cinnamon cake (yes several slices) a male Pied Flycatcher appeared at the old fountain.  Yes it had got the expected date right but not the nets; yet!