Team effort is ramping up

 Yesterday, was a sad day for the group, as we finally said goodbye to Glynn at his funeral. There was a great turnout reflecting how well his friends thought of him.

The day before, saw our first Belvide session of the season, sadly without Glynn; but I'm sure he would have been delighted with our total of 48 new birds, mostly migrant warblers. As is usual at this time of year the most numerous birds were Sedge and Reed Warblers--including many juveniles giving us a good idea of the success of the breeding season. Here is a picture of the throat of a fledgling Sedge Warbler showing how birders in the field can tell if they are looking at a juvenile of this species.....

On this bird you can clearly see the 'necklace' of brown spots--which in Sedgies is a clear sign of having recently left the nest. Not every bird has this so well developed. but most do have at least some speckles.

It's exciting when as well as birds you know will be around, something unusual turns up. We hope this juvenile Redstart sets the scene for other unusual birds this season.

We can tell it's a Redstart from the tail obviously, and it is too pale overall to be a Black Redstart. The pale buff edges and blotches over the back and wing feathers is a juvenile feature which are gradually replaced, The extent of these feathers leads us to believe that this bird has recently left the nest--but where from? The nearest breeding Redstarts that we are aware of are on Cannock Chase; but are there some nearer?

Away from Belvide, group members have been very active and as the season moves on I will try to keep up with their activities.......

Paul and Roy have been helping licenced Barn Owl ringer Roger, to check the boxes on two of our farms and they have had some great success, with 10 baby Barn Owls ringed between the two farms. They are pretty cool birds....

Together with Pete, they have also been having some good success with over 70 Sand Martins ringed at a new colony

Meanwhile, Gareth has had more success at his new site including a juvenile Reed Warbler--significant because this species doesn't breed at the site so this is a bird already wandering from it's breeding site.

Dad, Kev has enjoyed the frustration of watching lots of birds on his garden feeders before and after he set his nets......and Pat reports exactly the same situation from his garden in mid Wales. Keep on trying chaps......

Finally for now, Jenni caught a couple og Great Spotted Woodpeckers at her Kingswood site, and two of our new trainees report that they managed to catch and ring their first ever Storm Petrels on an expedition they have joined up in Scotland--I hope to have some pics when they return.