Kevin finally gets the JYNX off his back!!

I was just brewing a mid morning cuppa yesterday when I got a What's App message from Kev. It consisted of only one word.....BOOM! He had clearly had caught a special bird but being a tease he wasn't letting on straight away. I was so delighted a couple of minutes later when he informed the world that he had just caught a WRYNECK. The scientific name is Jynx torquilla--hence the title of this post. I'll leave Kevin to talk you through his fabulous catch which he has been dreaming about ever since he became a ringer:-

After a fairly modest ringing session at Wolverhampton Racecourse on Monday, I was back there again Thursday morning. Things began quietly once more, but soon escalated rapidly!

Having caught just seven birds, which did include a Reed Warbler, two Chiffchaff and three Blackcap, I started to take down the nets. On reaching the last two, five birds had been caught - the best round of the morning - had I decided to pack up too soon?

As I began extracting a Greenfinch, I noticed that a bird at the very end of the last net was at least as bulky, but it wasn't green! It looked brown, but was too small to be a thrush - what was it? Overcome by curiosity, I went to have a look.

As I looked down, a cryptically patterned brown, grey and black bird looked up at me - it was a Wryneck! Shaking, I carefully removed and bagged all of the birds and began the process of ringing them. I broadcast news of the Wryneck and six local birders arrived in time to see it released shortly afterwards. 

Wryneck is a scarce spring and autumn visitor to Britain, mostly round the coast, though one or two are seen across the Midlands most years. A couple of hundred or more are recorded annually, with about 50 noted in the past fortnight alone. However, the last record in the West Midlands county was a brief garden visitor in 2013.

Wrynecks are far more rarely caught, with fewer than 2,500 ringed across Britain from 1909 to 2019, with an average of 24 birds in each of the last ten years.

None appear to have been caught in the West Midlands county before, though at least a couple have been in adjacent Worcestershire.

It's also the first Wryneck to be ringed by members of Belvide Ringing Group in Britain. It goes to show what's about, as the Wryneck would likely have never been seen had it not been caught. 

I've just about stopped shaking with excitement--what a bird !!

So what's all the fuss about--it's just a medium sized brown bird, right? Here's a picture of Kev holding the bird....

It's a member of the woodpecker family--now no longer a breeder in Britain but reasonably common across Europe. The wonderful cryptic plumage makes them almost invisible against the bark of many mature trees. Their name derives from a curious habit of squirming their necks when handled--it's possibly a defense mechanism to either puzzle a predator or perhaps mimic the movements of the head of a snake.They really are a superb bird and a great reward for the effort that Kev puts in.

Elsewhere, Ben and Simon were putting in the hard yards in their Witch's Oak site with another splendid catch of 63 new birds, mainly mixed warblers. Great effort again guys. We are going over on Friday evening to help prepare more of the site for nets, and to try again at the hirundine roost. 

Saturday is very busy for the group, with Pete at Chillington, Paul running a demo at Brewood Park Farm and the rest of the team at Belvide. I'll report on all these and Witch's Oak roost sometime over the weekend.