July Second Week - more Deformed Bills

Saturday 9th

With the weather forecast predicting 9 mph winds with 26 mph gusts from 0400 hrs, we thought of cancelling the proposed ringing session but decided to meet at the usual time of 0430 hrs anyway. Just as well we did - with only a slight breeze all morning five of us covered the “reserve” area of Blowers Lodge Bay and had a rewarding morning’s ringing with 79 new and 61 retraps with Whitethroats and Tree Sparrows still much in evidence -  thanks to Dawn,  Adam, Mike H and Ed.                                                                                                               

                                                                      Ringed        Retraps         Total 
          Wren                                                         2                 0                 2 
          Dunnock                                                   1                 0                 1 
          Robin                                                        2                 3                 5 
          Song Thrush                                             2                 0                 2 
          Sedge Warbler                                          3               11               14 
          Reed Warbler                                            0                1                 1 
          Whitethroat                                              17              13               30 
          Garden Warbler                                         4                7               11 
          Blackcap                                                    8                4               12 
          Chiffchaff                                                  10                2               12 
          Willow Warbler                                           3                2                 5 
          Great Tit                                                     1                4                 5 
          Treecreeper                                                1                0                1  
          Tree Sparrow                                            13                6              19 
          Chaffinch                                                    3                 2                5 
          Linnet                                                          6                1                7  
          Bullfinch                                                      0                1                1 
          Reed Bunting                                              3                4                7 

                                                Total:                   79               61             140

 Yet another bird with a deformed bill: –

3J Garden Warbler

There was also time for some other photography:

Common Blue Damselfly

Pellucid Hoverfly

Tuesday 12th

MJT, MDH and I covered the area from the Draw-off Tower to “The Orchard” on what was supposed to be a calm morning with occasional sunshine.  However, the chilly morning got progressively windy and we packed up around 0930 hrs having mist netted 56 new birds and 17 retraps (including the Garden Warbler with the deformed bill from Saturday) and looked to see if it was sheltered enough to ring below the dam – it wasn’t but we were rewarded with the ringing of three 1J Swallows superbly plucked from their perch by Masai Mick.

The totals from the morning were:                                                                    

                                                                      Ringed      Retraps         Total

          Swallow                                                        3                 0                 3 

          Dunnock                                                       2                 0                 2

          Robin                                                            1                 0                 1

          Blackbird                                                      1                 0                  1

          Sedge Warbler                                            23                 6                29

          Reed Warbler                                                5                 2                 7

          Lesser Whitethroat                                        1                 0                 1

          Whitethroat                                                    2                 2                 4

          Garden Warbler                                             0                 2                 2

          Blackcap                                                      10                 2                12

          Chiffchaff                                                        1                 0                 1

          Willow Warbler                                               5                 1                 6

          Linnet                                                             1                 1                 2

          Reed Bunting                                                 4                 1                 5

                                                Total:                      59               17                76

Thursday 14th

A relatively warm morning greeted Masai Mick and me at Stanford today and we actually saw some blue sky for a while – well it is supposed to be summer isn’t it? The morning’s catch tailed off rather quickly but we did manage 87 new birds with 42 retraps.

                                                                             Ringed      Retraps          Total

          Woodpigeon                                                 1                 0                 1

          Wren                                                            1                 1                 2

          Dunnock                                                       2                 2                 4

          Robin                                                           1                 1                  2

          Grasshopper Warbler                                   1                 0                 1

          Sedge Warbler                                            12                 5                17

          Reed Warbler                                                1                 2                 3

          Whitethroat                                                  12                 9                21

          Garden Warbler                                             2                 3                 5

          Blackcap                                                       9                 1                10

          Chiffchaff                                                      7                 1                 8

          Willow Warbler                                              2                 2                 4

          Long-tailed Tit                                               3                 0                 3

          Marsh Tit                                                       1                 0                 1

          Great Tit                                                        2                 1                 3

          Tree Sparrow                                               16               10                26

          Chaffinch                                                       1                 0                 1

          Linnet                                                            4                 0                 4

          Reed Bunting                                                9                 4                13

                                                Total:                      87               42              129

The Marsh Tit is our third one this year and is encouraging as these are the first at Stanford since 2006

The Woodpigeon is a new species for the year’s ringing list and the Grasshopper Warbler is the first juvenile of the year from the two known breeding pairs that we have at the site.

We trapped a 1J Whitethroat with such a deformed bill that it might be more at home in the coniferous forests in Scotland than the scrub of Stanford. I cannot see how this bird can survive more than a day or so now that it has fledged.  In retrospect it might have been kinder to have put it out of its misery?

This is our 6^th bird with a bill deformity this year and as such we have now had more examples of these anomalies than in all the years combined from 1976. It is also the first year that we have found this to occur in warblers with two Sedge, a Garden and now our second Whitethroat being afflicted.