A light westerly wind and open skies made for good conditions for a ringing session.
The large number of juveniles around the site the previous week suggested it would be a big day at Oxwich, and we were not disappointed. The catch of 276 (after a few same day recaptures had been subtracted) broke down as follows:
|
Species Name
|
Ringed
|
Recaptured
|
Total
|
|
Blackbird
|
5
|
4
|
9
|
|
Blackcap
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
Blue Tit
|
19
|
11
|
30
|
|
Bullfinch
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
|
Cetti’s Warbler
|
2
|
1
|
3
|
|
Chaffinch
|
23
|
5
|
28
|
|
Chiffchaff
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Dunnock
|
7
|
16
|
23
|
|
Goldfinch
|
24
|
3
|
27
|
|
Grasshopper Warbler
|
1
|
|
1
|
|
Great Spotted Woodpecker
|
5
|
10
|
15
|
|
Great Tit
|
22
|
32
|
54
|
|
Greenfinch
|
4
|
1
|
5
|
|
Reed Bunting
|
7
|
4
|
11
|
|
Reed Warbler
|
10
|
5
|
15
|
|
Robin
|
9
|
5
|
14
|
|
Sedge Warbler
|
7
|
6
|
13
|
|
Siskin
|
6
|
5
|
11
|
|
Song Thrush
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
Willow Warbler
|
2
|
|
2
|
|
Wren
|
6
|
1
|
7
|
|
Grand Total
|
165
|
111
|
276
|
The highlights of the session were:
- A reed warbler ringed at the site as a juvenile by Barry Stewart in August 2010, and therefore almost 8 years old.
- A Cetti’s warbler ringed in June 2014, plus our first two young of the species for the year.
- Our first young grasshopper warbler of the year (the first was captured on 8 July in 2017)
- Our 24th newly-ringed great spotted woodpecker of the year. We know there are at least 40 individuals visiting the feeders on site based on the fact that we have also captured 16 birds ringed in previous years during 2018.
- The first fledged willow warbler and bullfinch of the year
- Another good day for great tits. We have ringed 123 new great tits in 2018 to date; we only ringed 107 in the whole of 2017. This suggests a very good year for the species.
Thanks to the team of Heather Coats, Keith Vaughton, Val Wilson, Joanne Conway, Alex McCubbin, Bethan Dalton, Edward O’Connor, Richard Dann and Martin Georgiev for company and assistance.
Owain Gabb
09/07/2018
 |
| Ringing under a gazebo to keep the birds in the shade (Richard Dann) |
 |
| Grasshopper warbler juvenile (Bethan Dalton) |
 |
| Grasshopper warbler juvenile (Bethan Dalton) |
 |
| Sedge warbler juvenile (Bethan Dalton) |
