Teal - October 2013
With the lack of ducks on site Mike has still been putting his time and effort into catching passerines, and following a good sample of warblers caught this autumn (130 Reed Warbler, 210 Sedge Warbler, 25 Garden Warbler and 110 Blackcap), lately he has now been catching Reed Buntings, with a massive total of over 300 caught.
Sedge Warbler - August 2014
Reed Buntings have been present in good numbers recently at Wheldrake Ings, however they can be found throughout the valley occurring in most fields with suitable habitat, although sites like Wheldrake Ings, North Duffield Carrs and the Pocklington Canal attract the largest concentrations. Although they can be more widespread and found in different habitats during the winter, they often form large winter roosts next to water and two such roosts can be found in the Lower Derwent Valley – in the reedbed upstream of Church Bridge at Melbourne where up to 100-150 birds can be present in the winter, and at Wheldrake Ings where up to 200/300 have been counted in recent years.
Reed Bunting - September 2014
Breeding birds from northern Britain move south in
autumn/winter when birds also move from higher altitudes to the relatively
warmer lowlands. We also get continental birds arriving into Britain in the
autumn as they move westwards to escape colder eastern winters – but perhaps
for such a common bird we don’t really know that much about the movements of
this species. Over the last couple of years we’ve noticed a large movement of birds
through the Lower Derwent Valley in September, and last month a large influx took place into the valley (around 20th September) when over 250 were counted
throughout the site - presumably many more were present but remained
uncounted. At the same time, regular ringing surveys also revealed large
numbers of birds as being present at a site in the LDV and at Skipwith Common
with 200 birds ringed during the last week of the month between those two sites
– with 20-30 birds caught each day and no ringed birds re-trapped, suggesting a
regular and continued passage through the site. Hopefully some of those will be
controlled elsewhere in the winter and help establish where these birds were
coming from and going to.
Last week in the early hours of Wednesday morning along with a sample of buntings a nice surprise was found in one of the mist net rides, in the form of a Cetti's Warbler - amazingly coming out the same net that produced a Barred Warbler earlier in the autumn. This represents the 12th record of the species in the valley with Wheldrake Ings accounting for 9 of them, and the 5th to be ringed on the site. Winter records (late October to March/April) seem to be the norm and the species has now been annual in the valley during the last four years.
Cetti's Warbler - October 2014
Cetti’s Warblers are best described as a skulking bird that
inhabits dense/overgrown vegetation near water, and can often prove very
difficult to see. They usually make their presence known with loud bursts of
song and explosive metallic clanging notes, the first glimpse will probably be
of a dark, rather stocky warbler diving for cover, with short wings and a full rounded tail. Cetti’s are one of the UK's most recent colonists, first breeding
in the country in 1973 and since having increased to around 2000 singing
males/pairs but largely confined south of a line between the Wash and the Severn
estuaries. Only a handful of birds are recorded in Yorkshire each year although
they are increasing and have bred in the county in recent years – so one to
look for (or at least listen out for!).
Another 'mega' bird for the Ings recently have been up to 12 Bearded Tits, which have been showing well in the reedbed by Swantail Hide. Several weekends ago this fine male (one of a pair) was photographed there by Duncan - through the fog!
Bearded Tit - October 2014
In the UK Bearded Tits (also known as ‘Bearded Reedlings’)
are confined to large extensive reed beds in the breeding season, mainly on the
east and south coasts but with outlying populations in Lancashire and along the
River Tay in Scotland. The species is resident throughout the year but they do
disperse during the autumn, sometimes undertaking regular ‘eruptions’ -
these are marked by flocks of birds rising out of their breeding reed beds and
taking high towering flights with lots of
excited calling – small groups then peel off and disperse. It is these
birds that turn up at this time of year away from their usual haunts making it
a good time to look out for them in suitable habitat in our area – areas with
reed beds such as Wheldrake Ings, along the Pocklington Canal and Skipwith
Common are worth checking. Although they are often difficult to see as they
feed in and amongst the reeds, they are sociable and noisy birds, their
‘pinging’ calls often being the first indication of their presence, usually
between late September and late November.
Looking somewhat similar in shape and size to a Long-tailed Tit, both sexes are fawn brown in colour with only the males having a grey head and black ‘moustache’. Although it is tempting to assume that these birds have come from the nearest breeding populations on the Humber, ringing recoveries and re-sightings of colour-ringed birds seen in the valley in the past indicates a wide-ranging origin to these birds, including Suffolk and Lancashire.
Looking somewhat similar in shape and size to a Long-tailed Tit, both sexes are fawn brown in colour with only the males having a grey head and black ‘moustache’. Although it is tempting to assume that these birds have come from the nearest breeding populations on the Humber, ringing recoveries and re-sightings of colour-ringed birds seen in the valley in the past indicates a wide-ranging origin to these birds, including Suffolk and Lancashire.
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