Farlington Marshes 12/04/15

 

This weekend looked to be a complete wash out with Saturday looking like a miserable start and Sunday being very bright and windy.

Saturday delivered on its promise of rain but Sundays forecast seemed to change. With the wind looking like it would be favorable in the morning we arranged to meet at the Marshes gates at 05:45. Migrants at the Marshes are still few and far between, with the occasional Blackcap and Chiff singing and a few Mipits flitting about and certainly far too early to start trying for Reed Warblers in the outstanding reed bed at Farlington, therefore we decided to try the Point field again.


Map of Farlington and key areas

 It was crystal clear and very bright but flat calm when we arrived. Gorse is all in flower and the marsh is coming alive.

View from our ringing station

Gorse Flower

View across the marshes towards the Deeps

We set 4 nets in total, 2 in our normal rides and 2 in rides created by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trusts management of the scrub in the field. As we were setting our final net we heard our first Sedge Warbler of 2015 in the adjacent scrub. We retreated to our Ringing station and waited a while before doing a net round. The first round produced a single female Blackcap, again a first for 2015 and certainly a sign that spring is starting to come although a bit later than last year. After processing she was released back to continue her journey, assuming as we did that this bird was indeed a migrant.








Female Blackcap

The next round brought the Sedge Warbler to our nets. First one on Farlington this year so far and more than likely the Male we heard singing as we put the nets up. The bird was quite light and had a very low fat/muscle score, so had probably dropped in very recently. The tail feathers were clearly abraded but a cracking little bird and one of my personal favourites. We never get quite the numbers through the Marshes as we do in Titchfield, but in Spring/Summer they are a staple of ringing. A male Linnet was also in the Sedge Warbler net, Linnets are very much an under appreciated bird. Fantastic russet brown backs pale fronts and lovely red breast and head feathers on males. There are good numbers of Linnet down on the Marsh and they appear to be pairing up and scouting for nest sites. Some are even carrying nest material around so it shouldn't be too long until we can expect to see Juv birds in the hand as well.

Male Linnet

Sedge Warbler

 Unfortunately at this point the wind started to pick up, this coupled with the fine weather meant that the billowing nets were very easily seen by the birds. Just one more was added before the nets were closed and packed away and that was a cracking Male Greenfinch. Easily identified as a male by checking the primaries. If the yellow/green streak reaches the shaft of the feather then the bird is a male, if it does not then it is female. With the colouration of the bird and the diagnostic primaries the bird was confidently ID'd, ringed processed and then released again, not before posing for a quick snap.

Male Greenfinch

4 birds....... my least amount ringed in a session ever, however 4 cracking birds and the signs of spring, fingers crossed the migrants are coming in now. 24 hours later I walked through Victoria park in central Portsmouth and for the first time this year there are Blackcaps everywhere. feasting on the berries and singing away.

Better Luck this week!







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Troglodytes Troglodytes

I was always told of the abundance of Wrens as a young birder. However only seeing the odd one or two, owing to their skulking and secretive nature never convinced me. As a naïve young lad I assumed that Blackbirds, Starlings or House Sparrows were far more abundant than ol' Jenny.

Over the past two years I have begun to take my birding a little more (I hate the phrase) seriously. I have been using the ever present Geoff Sample to learn bird song as well as taking up ringing. This has helped me get my ears and eyes in and my repertoire is increasing constantly. One of the first songs I learned was that of the Wren. Its percussive Sten gun like rattle halfway through the song giving it away. Since learning the Wrens song I have been amazed at how many birds are about. My back garden, which to me was devoid of birdlife other than a Collared Dove and some very noisy Starlings has suddenly come alive, Blue Tits, Goldfinches, Med Gulls flying over with their distinctive cry, and of course the subject of todays ramblings.... a Wren.

I have been extremely tied for any spare time recently. Preparing to welcome my second offspring into the world, new job, looking to move house and an 18 month old all taking their much deserved attention. Birding therefore has suffered as a result. This has led me to use my commute to bird a little.

Each morning takes me through Victoria Park in Portsmouth and apart from the Feral Pigeons and caged exotics there is a surprising amount of Avifauna to be found. I have so far discovered 3 Blackbird territories, a sizeable Wood Pigeon roost, a plethora of Laridae species, many 1cy birds which have been helping me with moult in juv Gulls and their many variances, Chiffchaffs on migration, blackcaps etc. but the main thing that has struck me is the abundance of Wren territories around the park. In the short walk from the bus stop for the park and ride to the Guildhall cenotaph alone there are 5 different singing males at present. As you venture round the park the song bursts from every patch of cover.

Spring is very much in the air around the park and I am sure it will not be long before we are seeing downy young birds with the tell tale yellow gape, and pin feathers. I have never before looked forward to a spring so much nor enjoyed the bird song as this year. I genuinely believe that schools should be teaching basic bird song to kids, maybe this could begin to arrest the reliance on modern convenience and put people back in touch or even foster a real appreciation for what nature is all about.  

First migrants

Sunday I ventured out to Farlington marshes for the first ringing I have done since November. Duncan (my trainer) and I had arranged a meet time of 05:55 at the gates, and we were joined by Amy and Jason.

Duncan is looking at doing an RAS(Re-trapping for Adult Survival) project on the Reed Warblers at Farlington, however it is a bit early to start trying for them just yet so we headed for the point field. Traditionally our efforts in the Point Field have been focused on Meadow Pipits (Anthus pratensis) however with the storms during the winter 2013/2014 the point field remained flooded for much of the spring/early summer last year making the habitat unsuitable for the birds nests. It was therefore very pleasant to see at least 4 territories established already with males singing atop the scrub. As well as a plethora of Linnet, territorial Blackbirds and a very vocal Chiffchaff.

We erected 5 nets in total and then waited for the magic to happen. the first net round brought a re-trap Dunnock and a Linnet followed by a couple of Reed Bunting and some more Linnets in the next round. We then had the first Meadow Pipit of 2015, the hind claw was measured to ensure it was indeed a Meadow and not a confusion species such as Tree Pipits which are typically also moving at this time of year.

Meadow Pipit being processed

Meadow Pipit before release.

A little later in the session we bagged the singing Chiffchaff, it was fitted with its shiny new 'AA' ring had all its vitals taken, including a check on the Primary emarginations to rule out Willow Warbler, and then was released. Jason suggested it was a very newly arrived bird owing to the fact he was out in the point field the night before and heard no Chiffchaff song. The bird could have come in towards last light and found the Marsh a suitable place to rest and feed before perhaps moving on.

Chiffchaff

Next round as well as a pair of Reed Buntings which were ringed and then released at the same time, were two further Mippits. Interestingly one of them was a retrap from last year, this meant we could reliably age this as an age code 6 due to it being aged as a 4 the year before. However this is something the BTO's IMPR system will not allow.

During the session a good number of Med Gulls passed overhead. The real surprise was the lack of Blackcaps on the reserve with just a single bird heard singing close to the car park. We would usually expect birds to have hit the nets by now, however it is still early in the season so we should see them soon.


Meadow Pipits being compared for accurate ageing.



 

   

Ringing Season

With my passion for all things conservation renewed after Whalefest and with the reports starting to flood in of Black Redstarts, Chiffys, Sand Martins, Wheatears and other Passerine Migrants, I am greatly looking forward to getting out ringing again. This winter has been incredibly slow for me on the ringing front and I am chomping at the bit to get back out in the field.

Whether or not anything can top last years Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler at Titchfield Haven I don't know nor am I really that concerned because much as it was a very exciting bird and I felt very privileged to see it first hand, the main reason I ring is not for the rarities but for the data we can provide on long term population trends.

Pallas' Grasshopper Warbler

At Titchfield last summer we ringed in total 4619 birds across 50 different species. Nearly 500 birds more than the year before. I should add that my input was minimal to these figures and the real credit should go to Barry Duffin and Trevor Codlin whose dedication to that site is unparalleled.

Sedge Warbler

At the end of the day it is the 'run of the mill' species that I am really passionate for. When you think that a Sedge Warbler of around 12g, makes a UK to sub-Saharan Africa migration each year of its life, travelling in the region of 5000km each way, that is a staggering distance and that's what fascinates me. Sedge Warblers were the most numerous bird we trapped at Titchfield last year, with 1225 new birds caught and ringed and that trend seems to be consistent with previous years. To put that into perspective the amount of kilometers travelled by all the Sedge Warblers we ringed last year at Titchfield, would be an incredible 6,125,000km from the UK to Africa in a single year! That is the equivalent of Earth to the Moon and back 16 times! And what makes this even more incredible is that's a single species and a single migration journey from one UK site.

What will this year hold? Will there be any suprises? How will the spring fair for all the breeders? With a good spring forecast and record breeding years for several UK breeders last year, will we see increases in some of our species numbers this year? Well only time will, so in the meantime please enjoy some of the picture highlights below of my first year of ringing.

Happy Birding

Starling

Cettis Warbler

Reed Bunting

Kingfisher



Titchfield Havens first ever Cuckoo fledglings

Net Ride at Farlington Marshes Hants Wildlife Trust



Linnet



Garden Warbler

Whitethroat



Redstart

Yellow Wagtail



Male Bearded Tit/Reedling

Coal Tit

Stonechat

Wood Warbler

 

   

Whale of a time

Saturday was Whalefest2015, and as you may have gathered from my previous post I was a tad excited! Despite working until 03:00 in the morning, after a couple of hours sleep I was at the train station from my 0705 train to Brighton!

On the way the wife and I planned our day from the schedule I had printed off, and I realized that if I had my way we would literally be in lecture halls all day! As in any good marriage compromise was the way forward so with our plan in place we walked down the hill from the station along West Street to the international centre.


Map showing route from the station to Whalefest2015

 

We queued for a very short time, being some of the first visitors of the day and we were in. We were immediately faced with a life-size inflatable Orca... We naturally had our picture taken with the model and moved on around the venue to look at some of the stands before our first talk started at 10am. We stood and watched a Pirate band for a while who were excellent in every aspect, great delivery, great musicianship and great dedication.

Life size inflatable Orca, with human size comparison!

There was a vast number of travel operators with stands and knowing where to start was a little daunting. Kay and I were drawn to a Hebridean Cetacean Cruise operator as we are looking to visit Scotland and figured tying it in with Whale and Dolphin(and pelagic birds) seemed a cracking idea. Hebridean Whale Cruises were extremely helpful and run some amazing looking tours, we entered their contest to win a holiday and a cuddly Puffin and moved on.

I bumped in to my friend Trevor Codlin who was volunteering for the weekend and he gave us some great advice for handling the book signing crowds. We headed up to watch Steve Backshalls' opening talk which was rammed. I wanted to see the talk after his so found a seat and waited, everyone else poured out of the theatre hall after Steve had finished and headed to the stalls. Lucky I waited as Steve came out and was chatting to a few people, so I took my opportunity to beat the queues later and get my book signed then!


Steve Backshall and I at Whalefest2015





Steves' Signature in my copy of his book

After this coup we watched John Hargrove, former Orca trainer at SeaWorld and one of the guys who contributed to Blackfish. During Johns talk there was a small protest from 2 American women followed by 3 American women making wild accusations about Johns' work at SeaWorld.... the fact that there were 5 Women in total all of American origin lead many audience members and indeed many staff to believe this may have been a set up by SeaWorld, in a vain attempt to discredit John Hargrove.

 

After Johns talk we decided to look around some more of the stands, I came across Monty Halls signing Books and DVDs and snaffled myself his new DVD box set and had him sign it for me. The series I really remember Monty for is the BBC series 'Great Barrier Reef' which, if you haven't already, I suggest you go and get! 

Meeting Monty Halls

 

We then headed back to catch Will Travers OBE. Will is the director of the Born Free Foundation, and a vocal advocate of the 'Empty the Tanks' movement. Wills' speech was unfortunately interrupted by Technical issues but was none the less extremely moving and very interesting.

 

My friend Dan had asked me to get his son Lewis a Deadly 60 book and try and get Steve Backshall to sign it too, so after half of Steves next talk we went and queued up for the book signing, lucky we did as it was limited to 70 places (of which we were #40) and many people were disappointed. Steve remembered me from earlier in the day and we had another brief conversation as he signed Lewis' book and my own son Bradleys' book.

 

We wandered round a few more stands and then headed back to the Discovery lounge, we caught the end of Donal Macintyres debate with local MP's and then watched Monty Halls and James Brickell. This was awesome, I love Monty Halls he is just a genuine guy(and played Rugby!) and I really enjoyed hearing about the making of 'The Great Barrier Reef' from him and James(series producer).

 

After Monty came what I was really keen to see, Gordon Buchannan and Steve Backshall sat having a chat on stage. Gordon is a real hero of mine as is Steve so to have them chatting about one of my all time favourite documentaries 'Lost Land of the....' was a real treat.

 

After this Kay and I had a final wander around the stands, chatting to some lovely people and enjoying the atmosphere of the event. We rounded the day off on the Beach looking at the Cetacean Graveyard art installation which is quite simply breathtaking and extremely troubling at the same time! Each cross representing a cetacean that has died in Captivity, it was carried on inside the venue as well with over 3000 crosses being erected in total!

 

    

All in all, an amazing day! Next year I will be doing both days and partying in Brighton in the evening!!!

 

    

Whalefest 2015

Last year I saw through a friend, Trevor Codlin, about Whalefest. At the time it was far too late notice for me to get tickets but my interest certainly piqued! So it was with great excitement that I saw the adverts released for this years programme of events in Brighton.

'In 2011 Ian Rowlands and Dylan Walker had a dream: to create the biggest, most popular event of its kind and touch the hearts and minds of a huge audience, inspiring them to be an army of ambassadors to defend whales, dolphins, marine life and oceans.' In a very brief paragraph taken from the official site That’s WhaleFest.

My ramblings tend to be very ornithologically orientated, however I am a passionate advocate of pretty much anything Ecological or Conservational. With the prevalence of films such as Blackfish and The Cove and the televised work of Sea Sheppard in Whale Wars, Whale Fest is a natural progression in engaging with Naturalists and general public in highlighting the plight of some of the worlds most enigmatic, charismatic and endangered animals.

Cetaceans are apex predators in their eco system, Apex predators play a major role keeping their ecosystems in check, known as ‘trophic dynamics.’ On land, or in the ocean, studies have shown that their removal can have a dramatic impact on the ecosystem and results in much larger problems. Reduction in the numbers of Apex predators results in an increase in meso-predators which causes a decline in prey populations. This is known as the ‘Top Down trophic cascade.’ Apex predators keep meso-predators at a reasonable number and ensure abundant prey populations.In short they are essential to ensuring a healthy and sustainable marine eco system.

Whalefests line up this year is nothing short of spectacular. Guest speakers include; Steve Backshall (Lost Land Series and Deadly 60), Gordon Buchanen(Natural History Film-maker) Monty Halls(Broadcaster) and Michaela Strachan(Spring/Winterwatch).

I have tickets for the Saturday for all the talks and I am very much looking forward to hearing from Gordon Buchanan and Steve Backshall who were both involved in one of my favourite documentary series Lost Land of..... 

Lost Land of the Jaguar

    

New Year, New list

Happy New Year, 2015 is here and I met it with a trip to Farlington Marshes, and a blank notebook.




As I left the house I saw my first birds of the New year. 1: Wood Pigeon, 2: House Sparrow, 3: Starling. Nothing to set the world on fire but birds none the less. Considering the considerable decline in House Sparrows, I am glad to say there is a thriving population around my area, owing to the Terraces my neighbours and I have up for them. The Starlings too have an impressive roost nearby.




Arriving at the Marshes there were a lot of families walking along the seawall so I opted to go the reverse route around. I walked across the field where a Jack Snipe flushed from next to the path and along the stream where I picked up the usual suspects; Blackbird, Greenfinch, Linnet, Wren, Stonechat, Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Black Tailed Godwit, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Mute Swan etc....




In every field were small to medium flocks of Brent Geese, knowing that a few Black Brants winter in the Harbour, I scanned each flock for the tell tale characteristics, however there was no sign of one amongst the birds present.


At the hut, I scanned the reeds and picked out Bearded Tits pinging across the reed bed. As I did the entire avifauna around the reeds exploded into the air, after a couple of seconds of feverish scanning I picked out a cracking adult male Marsh Harrier Quartering the reeds, no doubt after the Bearded Tits I had just been enjoying.




On the East wall of the Marshes, I had Red Breasted Merganser, Slav Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Cormorant and two Med Gulls. Headed towards the Deeps I watched a Peregrine dive into the Starling flock in the fields sending them the Brents and the Canada Geese skywards.




At the deeps there were Shoveler, Wigeon, Mallard, Teal, Little Grebe, Reed Bunting and Buzzard, Carrion Crows, Magpies in the adjoining fields.




The point field was fairly quiet with a Cetti's Warbler, Linnet, Greenfinches and the resident Blackbirds all in attendance.




I wandered round to the Lake where a Spoonbill dropped in for 20 minutes before taking flight out across the harbour. On the lake were a decent head of Pintail, Water Rail, Moorhen, Coot, Dunlin, Redshank, Snipe, Black Tailed Godwit, Grey Heron with Grey Plover, Curlew, Little Egret all out on the mudflats in the Harbour.




Walking back along the seawall, I saw a Robin flitting on a fencepost until a female Kestrel flew over and spooked it.




Back at the car a flock of Redwing flew over towards the North field which was a nice way to round off the first birding outing of 2015




56 Species on day one :D and probably the best day birding at Farlington I have ever had.


http://www.hiwwt.org.uk/reserves/farlington-marshes