Meisen Wood: July Swiftly

Nets: 120m

Weather: hot

Ringers: CS and EB

Species	New Adult	New Juv	Re-trap Adult	Re-trap Juv	Total
Blackbird		1			1
Blackcap		4	2		6
Blue Tit		5		6	11
Coal Tit		1			1
Dunnock			1		1
Firecrest		1			1
G S Woodpecker		1			1
Goldcrest	1	5		1	7
Great Tit	1	12	2	12	27
Marsh Tit		2			2
Nuthatch		2			2
Pied Flycatcher	2				2
Robin	1	4			5
Short T Treecreeper		1			1
Willow Warbler	2	1			3
Wren		5			5
Total	7	45	5	19	76

With CS away auk ringing in Scotland at the start of the month, July’s efforts have been much reduced.  Nonetheless the two sessions have been pleasingly productive and interesting.  Unsurprisingly 54% of captures have been of Meisen Wood’s eponymous birds, a much better figure than last year.  There were also some surprises in the captures; the highlights are:

1.                  Of the re-trap Great Tit and Blue Tit juveniles 22% were originally ringed as pulli.

2.                  A re-trapped adult male Blackcap was originally ringed in late spring 2016 and has been  captured at least once a year since.

3.                  Sadly Song Thrush are absent from the list despite several singing/calling in the now much diminished dawn chorus.  They arrived late and we have only caught 2 adults so far this year.

4.                  Blackbird and Robin juveniles are notable by their near absence.  Many male Blackbirds are flying around neurotically clucking but have not been observed carrying food.

5.                  The three Willow Warblers was a pleasant surprise; that number is almost equal to a typical year’s total.  Willow Warblers are heard during the spring passage but, for whatever reason, they don’t seem to hang out here for the breeding season.

6.                  The two adult Pied Flycatchers took us by surprise!  Previously we had never caught Pied Flycatchers after the local breeders have departed; occasionally a few may be seen in late August.  These two had nearly completed their moult: with the male having a moult score of 42, and the female’s was 43 and her brood patch (assuming she had, had one) was completely feathered over.

 Pied Flycatcher

Moving swiftly aside, in July we often indulge in going out for breakfast in our local town.  There a cobbled market/church square is surrounded by a variety of shops, a church, a row of cafes, corbelled in the Dutch style, all with tables arranged outside below a magnificent line of mature linden trees.  One of these cafes offers, at a reasonable price, an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet.  And the church is home, for the summer, to a colony of Swifts.

Thus while we gourmands gorged, we delighted in watching and listening to the Swifts’ deft aerial antics.  In watching a band of 15 to 20 Swifts speeding and shrieking at breakneck speed close to the linden trees, then with inertia-less grace tightly turning, as a unit, narrowly missing the church’s roof it is nigh on impossible to avoid making anthropomorphisms.  This, sometimes, can be positive for they can provoke questions that delve into the beautiful mysteries of life: how many family units are in a flock of twenty; is their shrieking a form of communication, of commands, or is it simply an expression of joy?  How much incest, if any, exists within the colony? Are these tight, twisting Swift groups playing, an essential component in animal learning, such that these juveniles gain the flying agility necessary for their survival?  Paying the bill we watched the Swifts knowing they will soon be gone; their departure, by months’ end, a herald to the closing of summer.

Chris

Meisen Wood: Red June

Nets: 120m plus nest boxes

Weather: hot

Ringers: CS and EB

Species	Ringed	Re-trapped	Pulli	Total
Blackbird	3	5	1	9
Blackcap	6	1		7
Blue Tit	15	14	5	34
Bullfinch		1		1
Chaffinch	1			1
Coal Tit	1			1
Dunnock		3		3
Firecrest		1		1
G S Woodpecker	2			2
Goldcrest		2		2
Great Tit	52	8		60
Hawfinch	1			1
Marsh Tit	5	4		9
Nuthatch	5			5
Pied Flycatcher	6	4	29	39
Redstart	2	3	3	8
Robin	5	6		11
Short T Treecreeper	1	1		2
Song Thrush	2	1		3
Spotted Flycatcher	1			1
Wren	1	3		4
Total	109	57	38	204

Our ringing results for June were very pleasing at several levels.  Usually a good summer ringing session yields fifteen birds; not this year where the totals are notably up and illustrate the value of long term ringing and monitoring.  A key aim of a constant ringing effort is to elucidate and evaluate population patterns and trends which are not always obvious from a single, or a few years’ data. The satisfying components of June’s ringing were:

Redstart:

-          A male’s hip-po-po was frequently heard in early May.  A female with a brood patch 3 was caught in early June and observed using a Nuthatch nest box where she was brooding four eggs.

-          All four eggs hatched and three pulli were ringed.

-          The three ringed pulli fledged.

-          At ringing the nest box contained a leathery, dessicated chick; cause of death unknown.

-          Previously Redstart have been heard in spring and a couple captured on Autumn passage.

-          This was the first breeding record for Meisen Wood; hopefully some nest site fidelity will develop if the adults and young survive.

Redstart chick 

Pied Flycatcher:

-          The 29 pulli ringed brings the total for 2018 to 39 pulli ringed which is the best total to date; as was 12 occupied nest boxes.

-          More pulli would have been ringed if we had not been on holiday in England.

-          These figures indicate a continuing upward trend since the project started in 2015.

-          This positive trend is possibly a consequence of our nest-box saturation policy combined with adults and several of the offspring demonstrating nest site fidelity; several re-traps were adults and fledglings from previous years.

-          Of note is the fact that upon fledging the youngsters and adults immediately depart.  This differs from literature citations for other parts Germany were they are reported to stay in the vicinity for up to two weeks post fledging.

-          Three nests were definitely of secondary females which had normal sized clutches but had low fledging success – 2, 2, and 3; the females struggled to feed the young. Also these fledglings were smaller and lighter than those of the primary females.

Great Tit and Blue Tit

-          Good numbers for both species, particularly after last year’s poor breeding season.

-          Forty-seven of the fifty-two new Great Tits were this year’s birds and six of the retraps were pulli ringed earlier.

-          Similar proportions apply to the Blue Tit data.

The new ringed figures for Robin, Blackbird and Song Thrush were all juveniles but these numbers are below average.  These species all started breeding later than normal so, possibly, July’s figures will show an upward correction.

The number of nest boxes occupied was the highest yet.  Two of the failures were assumed failures as the nest box entrances were surrounded by legions of fleas which deterred our inspection effort.

Box Condition	Numbers
Empty	36
Birds	37
Wasps	7
Failed	3
Total	83

Other observations for Meisen Wood this May were:

-          a female Goshawk was seen twice flying over the meadow carrying prey which looked like Jackdaw.  Nest not found but they are known to breed in the area and their display flights were witnessed in late March.

-          a substantial increase in the number of bees visiting the meadow, at last.

-          fourteen species of butterfly were recorded on various meadow plants.

-          at the end of the month on most evenings hummingbird moths were observed visiting various flowers.

And by months’ end the crickets had attained their adult form and their stridulations had become one of those pleasing summer sounds.

Redstart female

Redstart male