UEARG ringing report 2019

Another successful year of ringing for UEARG with a couple of standout records and a good number of birds processed.

2019 saw us process a total of 5,788 birds across 54 species (pending any unentered records). A large part of our ringing is at feeding stations in the winter months, this is in part a result of being a University ringing group where summer is often when our members are on field work or not around. As a result of the large amount of feeder ringing we do, recaptures make up a large proportion of our catch (45%) but still left us with a total of 3,221 birds ringed in 2019. This is up there with some of the highest year totals for the group according to DemOn (the online data repository for BTO bird ringing data).

It will come as no surprise with our feeder dominated catching that Blue Tits and Great Tits topped the captures list this year, incredibly accounting for 55% of our catch. However, the flip side of this was record numbers for the group of other feeder associated species, such as finches, and blackbirds.

Here’s 2019 by the numbers:

Species	New	Retraps	Total
Blue Tit	915	974	1889
Great Tit	512	787	1299
Coal Tit	126	292	418
Robin	129	126	255
Chaffinch	165	31	196
Long-tailed Tit	90	100	190
Reed Warbler	180	3	183
Blackbird	136	45	181
Dunnock	79	89	168
Greenfinch	128	11	139
Goldfinch	113	15	128
Goldcrest	116	9	125
Swallow	76	0	76
Sedge Warbler	56	1	57
Wren	44	9	53
Reed Bunting	45	1	46
Redwing	43	0	43
Bearded Tit	28	8	36
Jay	17	9	26
Collared Dove	22	1	23
House Sparrow	20	2	22
Mute Swan	7	14	21
Woodpigeon	15	6	21
Starling	20	0	20
Chiffchaff	19	1	20
Blackcap	19	0	19
Whitethroat	14	3	17
Great Spotted Woodpecker	8	9	17
Siskin	11	0	11
Nuthatch	5	6	11
Treecreeper	7	3	10
Bullfinch	7	0	7
Marsh Tit	2	5	7
Song Thrush	6	1	7
Lesser Redpoll	7	0	7
Black-headed Gull	5	1	6
Brambling	4	1	5
Willow Warbler	3	0	3
Sparrowhawk	3	0	3
Snipe	3	0	3
Cetti's Warbler	2	0	2
Egyptian Goose	1	1	2
Magpie	2	0	2
Moorhen	2	0	2
Barnacle Goose	1	1	2
Lesser Whitethroat	2	0	2
Garden Warbler	1	0	1
Woodcock	1	0	1
Jackdaw	1	0	1
Canada Goose	0	1	1
Greylag Goose	0	1	1
Redstart	1	0	1
Skylark	1	0	1
Mallard	1	0	1
Grand Total	3221	2567	5788

Notes on 2019:

• ·      Two cracking foreign controls came to us this year, the first a Reed Warbler ringed in The Gambia and the second a Norwegian ringed Robin.
• ·      We had a handful of old retraps this year, but no record breakers. This included Marsh, Long-Tailed, Coal and Blue Tits all hailing from 2014 and going strong 5 years later.
• ·      We ringed at 15 different sites this year. This included woodland, scrubland, gardens, grassland, marsh, reedbed, and coastal scrub.
• ·      Greenfinches have continued their slow recovery in the local area this year, and this was reflected in our catch of 128 which is a good total for the group.
• ·      Permit upgrades were achieved by four members of the group: Josie Hewitt achieved her ‘A’ permit, Alex Starace achieved his ‘C’ permit, Stephen Vickers achieved his ‘A’, and Emma Buck received her American banding permit.
• ·      We ran our yearly ringing demo at Wheatfen Nature Reserve, a successful day with plenty of eager visitors.  
• ·      At least 21 of us ringed some birds this year, a big thanks to them all for their help
• ·      2019 saw the group regain access to one of our best reedbed sites, and whilst we only had a handful of sessions there this year (reflected in the numbers ringed of reedbed species), we hope to increase our reed bed monitoring in 2020.
• ·      Just the one new species for the group this year, a (feral) Barnacle Goose that turned up at one of our long-standing wildfowl monitoring sites.
• ·      No scarcities for the group this year, however should the pattern of us catching at least one Yellow-Browed Warbler every other year continue (that pattern goes back to 2012), 2020 should see at least one. 

A big thanks to all those who made UEARG activities possible this year, particularly Dr. Iain Barr and James Cracknell.

Reed Buntings were present in reasonable numbers at our reedbed site this year, including a winter roost but we have only managed limited visits.

Our Norwegian ringed Robin. We haven't got the original ringing data back yet, but it was a first-year bird.

Our only new species this year, a (feral) Barnacle Goose. Regardless of it's origin, it will be interesting to see what happens to this first-year bird in the years to come.

Good numbers of Bearded Tit breed at our reedbed site, and 28 new birds reflect this.

Only 5 Bramblings, each one is a treat but we would have expected more considering the sites and net effort this year. 

3 Sparrowhawks this year, all of them males. Always a welcome addition to a ringing session.

Great to retrap our resident Marsh Tits again this year, however only two new individuals is fewer than we would have hoped for this red listed species.

A great year for Greenfinch for the group, reflecting the continued local recovery.

Just 3 snipe this year, a poor return compared to the numbers on the marsh site. The exceedingly wet end to the year has hampered any catching efforts so far this season. 

43 Redwing was pretty good going compared to other years, and was largely thanks to targeted effort by Alex.

A great year for Jays, reflecting increased use of potter traps in the group. We hope to start colour ringing them in 2020.

The 183 Reed Warblers we caught at our reedbed site was a reasonable number, but we expect to catch in excess of 500 with a a full season of effort (this year we only monitored the site at the latter end of the season).

Into the reeds: reedbed passerines and a Gambian surprise

This week we gathered a team to clear net rides in the reed bed of one of our most productive sites, situated in the Yare Valley. Over the weekend we had our first sessions on site since clearing the net rides, and was the first sessions on site this year. The site has a long history of bird ringing activity, and enables us to monitor populations of your typical reed bed passerines, and a few stars of the show. With plenty of eager helpers in the group, we're hoping for a bumper year of ringing on site this season.

We ran two ringing sessions this weekend, one on late Saturday afternoon leading into an evening Swallow roost catch and a second session the following morning. We caught 232 birds over the two sessions across 9 species. 75 these birds were Swallows caught into roost and all were this year’s juvenile birds. This can probably be attributed to most adults currently tending to their second broods, rather than roosting in the reed bed. Surprisingly the roost catch didn’t produce any wagtails, despite hearing Yellow Wagtails in the reed bed earlier in the evening. This may be an indication that the larger roosting numbers are yet to build this year.

The most exciting surprise of the weekend came in the shape of a Reed Warbler sporting a shiny blue British Museum ring. A quick check of DemOn told us it was ringed on the 9th January this year, our interests peaked and a phone call later, we realised we were looking at a Gambian control! Of course every adult reed warbler we handle has made a trip from Sub-Saharan Africa, but one sporting a Gambian ring is something special. The bird was ringed at Kartong Bird Observatory as part of a BTO supported project that targets ringing of Western Palearctic migrants. When you consider the far lower density of ringers in Africa compared to what we are accustomed to in Europe, the huge numbers of individuals that undertake these journeys, and the massive spatial scale, it's a pretty exciting control!

Figure 1. Roughly 4,600km from The Gambia to Norwich, it's a long flight for a ~12g bird

Whilst they are an expected catch on most sessions on site, Bearded Tits are always a welcome catch and were a particular treat for those in the group that haven’t experienced the species before. With 22 caught, numbers on site at first impression seem healthy and with 13 of the 22 individuals being juveniles it seems like another successful breeding season.  Other highlights included singles of Garden Warbler, Whitethroat, and Greenfinch. The latter a species both trainers in the group, who have ringed this site for many years, couldn’t recall being caught here before. Being a juvenile male, it is perhaps a dispersing individual.

Diurnal passerine numbers in the reed bed seemed in good stead in general, and hopes are high for many more productive sessions at the site over the coming months.

Table 1. Capture over two sessions 3-4^th August 2019. Number of juveniles in brackets.

Species	New	Retraps	Total
Bearded tit	22 (13)	0	22
Garden Warbler	1 (1)	0	1
Greenfinch	1 (1)	0	1
Reed Bunting	9 (5)	0	9
Reed Warbler	97 (65)	2 (0)	99
Sedge Warbler	21 (21)	1 (1)	22
Swallow	76 (76)	0	76
Whitethroat	1 (1)	0	1
Wren	1 (0)	0	1
Total	229	3	232

A cracking adult male Bearded Tit sporting its characteristic full ‘moustache’. An expected catch on site, but no less special for it.

This juvenile female Bearded Tit was just one of 13 juveniles caught across the two sessions. Like most of the juveniles she was undergoing a complete moult (hence why it she’s a little scruffy), one of the relatively few British passerines that do so.

The most abundant reed bed passerine on site, the Reed Warbler. The two sessions saw us catch 99 individuals.

The star of the show, a Gambian ringed Reed Warbler. The blue anodised metal rings were originally used in the UK for a House Martin project that aimed to increase recovery rates, but remaining rings after the project ended were given to the Gambian ringing scheme.

A juvenile Sedge Warbler, showing the ‘necklace’ of black spots seen in juveniles.