Wednesday 22 April 2015

It is easy to get blaze about both the conditions and number of birds around at the moment. However, it was a truly glorious day, with clear blue skies, a light easterly wind, and warm temperatures. Migrants continued to stream through the island, and surprisingly Blackcaps continued to prove one of the most numerous warbler, with 103 recorded during the day. This compares to four Grasshopper Warblers, one Sedge Warbler, three Whitethroats, 49 Willow Warblers and 43 Chiffchaffs. A more pronounced movement of hirundines produced 52 Swallows, 29 House Martins and eight Sand Martins, whilst the day's Wheatear count amounted to an impressive 112 birds, most of which were individuals of the greenland-race. Somewhat scarcer passerine migrants comprised a single Tree Pipit, a stunning male Black Redstart, a Ring Ouzel, a Song Thrush at Cristin, and the Blue-headed Wagtail from yesterday. In terms of non-passerines, the Little Egret continued to hang around The Narrows, along with a Snipe, five Whimbrels, a Curlew, and three Common Sandpipers.


Ringing activities continued from morning to late afternoon, and once again a rather ridiculous number of Blackcaps were added to the year's growing total for this species. A further 60 were ringed today, which takes the total for APRIL alone to 431 birds. The previous annual ringing record on the island is 280, so 2015 looks set to be a truly exceptional year for this species.

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Blackcap madness!

Other ringing highlights from the day:

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A Chiffchaff was trapped wearing a Belgium ring, which is the first phylloscopus control we have had so far this year

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A Willow Warbler wearing a control ring from the UK scheme turned out to have been ringed in Nanjizal, Cornwall, last year

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Sedge Warbler

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Grasshopper Warbler

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