Date: December 2018
Ringers: CS and EB
After Lynne and
Johne’s enjoyable visit in early November little ringing was done until
December. This is usual in November when
we typically lose two or three sessions because of The Fall – a wonderfully apt
Americanism. If we were to ring during
this period the majority of the time would be consumed with the tedium of
extracting gorgeously coloured leaves from the nets.
Despite the dearth of
ringing, Meisen Wood is a delightful place to be during this period. The meadow
is briefly quilted with rich yellow, gold, brown and scarlet leaves. The upper woodland paths become thickly
carpeted with a plush layer of golden-brown larch needles. While on the frequent damp, overcast days, the
incandescent blotches of golds and reds from the trees not yet stripped of
their leaves is accentuated. This is
also a fungally rich time with earthstar constellations, dripping inkcaps,
scarlet agarics, rich red-brown boleti and various sulphur coloured toadstools. Meanwhile the red squirrels are actively
burying seeds, nuts and acorns in the meadow; and increasingly birds are coming
to the feeders.
Above all this obvious
avian migration continues: with skeins of White-fronted Geese and noisy flocks
of Cranes winging their way towards their wintering grounds. And this year we have observed a major
movement of Brambling, on one morning more than two thousand flew over. Two ringing
sessions at November’s end, few leaves needed extracting, and the figures (not shown)
reflected this Brambling movement with 36 ringed. The final November session was notable as
being the first since early September when the number of re-trapped Great Tits
outnumbered new Great Tits.
This autumn we have
ringed 413 new Great Tits, such a large number being a consequence, in part, of
serendipity. Inexplicably one of our
sound systems slipped to playing Great Tit calls and with the adjacent net
containing many of those tits a change in tactics ensued.
The Great Tit captures
are intriguing at several levels. Most
Autumns, for two or three weeks, we capture males with notably longer wing
lengths of 81 to 83mm compared to the normal 78 – 79mm range; this cohort contained
some of the larger winged males. Thus,
according to Bergman’s Rule, these individuals could potentially be migrants
from more northerly latitudes. An
intruding caveat to this theory is 63% of the captures were juvenile females
which the scientific literature indicates as being dispersal: males stay on
territory and unpaired females disperse.
Though many Baltic Ringing Stations this autumn ringed large numbers of
Great Tits, therefore do these captures indicate a migratory or an irruptive
movement?
Given the literature’s
somewhat equivocal stance and Nature’s delightful capacity to not be easily
categorised, the numbers probably reflect a mixture of migration, dispersal and
irruption. Further the Devil’s
Advocate’s hand would state: there has always been a Great Tit passage through
Meisen Wood but because you did not play the appropriate sound lures you were
oblivious to its intensity! Um, a good
point, to be examined in future years!
By Advent we have
normally resumed our standardised ringing effort and this year was no
exception, December’s totals are shown in the table below:
Species
|
Ringed
|
Re-trapped
|
Control
|
Total
|
Blackbird
|
3
|
3
|
|
6
|
Blue
Tit
|
59
|
36
|
1
|
96
|
Brambling
|
58
|
6
|
|
64
|
Chaffinch
|
23
|
4
|
|
27
|
Coal
Tit
|
12
|
9
|
|
21
|
Crested
Tit
|
|
2
|
|
2
|
Goldcrest
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
Great
Tit
|
19
|
81
|
|
100
|
Greenfinch
|
44
|
4
|
|
48
|
Long-tailed
Tit
|
1
|
|
|
1
|
Marsh
Tit
|
1
|
20
|
|
21
|
Nuthatch
|
2
|
2
|
|
4
|
Robin
|
1
|
2
|
|
3
|
Treecreeper
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
Willow
Tit
|
|
1
|
|
1
|
Total
|
223
|
172
|
1
|
396
|
Good numbers of
Brambling, Chaffinch and Greenfinch acquired rings. Normally throughout the winter we catch a
dribble of Chaffinch, a smattering of Greenfinch and it is noteworthy if we see
a Brambling before March. Various
sources report a Brambling invasion this winter which is reflected in our
catches and observations. And,
superficially at least, it would appear that there has been a good movement ot
the other two finch species too.
Entering the year’s
final data into the Heligoland data system allows for reflection on some of the
data we have collected; or not as the case maybe.
With 3636 newly ringed
birds this has been, for us an outstanding year’s ringing; that figure is more
than double our yearly average. Within
that figure it was pleasing to note that we ringed a good number of Blue Tits
this year, who unlike in 2017, seem to have had a good breeding season. A situation reflected across much of northern
Europe with high numbers of Blue Tits being ringed in Scandinavia and in the
Baltic States; one of which, wearing a Lithuanian ring, we caught in the year’s
penultimate session. The German Ringing
Atlas shows many Blue Tits originating from the Courish Spit (shared by Russia and Lithuania)
migrating to western Germany
and the neighbouring Netherlands.
Sadly our figures show
some apparent breeding failures. During
2018 we hardly ringed any Wrens, Dunnocks or Chiffchaffs! Within Meisen Woods we found two predated
Wren nests. Despite two Chiffchaffs
chiff – chaffing all spring and summer we captured no females or juveniles
during the breeding period. At the time
we commented on how long the two males were singing; did they both fail to
attract mates?
The 3636th
bird was, appropriately, a resplendent male Brambling whose head feathers were
already wearing away to their stunning dark head plumage of summer. Now with each day getting fractionally longer
this Brambling, hopefully, augers well for a good ringing year ahead.
Happy New Year!
