More Willow Tit wanderings and other stuff too

I hadn't planned to do any ringing yesterday so I didn't even try and get up early. I got up at what might be considered a normal time and took my son to college like a dutiful dad. However, on getting home the light wind and the overcast conditions got the better of me so I decided to throw some gear in the car and have a walk around one of my ringing sites near Billinge. Initially I was only going to look for nests but then I decided to put up a 40ft net to test out a net ride that I had prepared on a previous visit.

I didn't expect to catch much as I am usually taking nets down by mid-morning rather than putting them up but with the help of an MP3 lure it proved to be a very productive session. The highlight was, without doubt, a catch of 5 Willow Tits (1 adult and 4 juvs). I had heard one in the distance so I played the 'chey' call on the MP3 player. I thought I may catch it if I was lucky but it was so far away I didn't know if it would even react to the play-back lure. To then catch 5 together was unexpected and certainly unprecedented in terms of number. The nearest potential nesting site is at least 1km away but breeding wasn't confirmed there so these birds could have travelled further.

Juvenile Willow Tit (Poecile montanus)

This site is just in Merseyside and on checking the BTO online Ringing Reports these are potentially the first Willow Tits to have been ringed in that county since 2009 when only 1 was ringed!  In fact only 287 were ringed in the whole of the UK in 2013 such is the scarcity of this species these days!

Willow Tits often rear in the region of 7 to 9 young so the 4 juvs caught probably only represent half of the brood. The remainder of the brood may have been in the area with the other adult as some species split the brood between the parents shortly after fledging. If they were nearby they certainly didn't make themselves known by calling. Alternatively the single adult and 4 juveniles caught could be all that has survived from a breeding attempt with the other adult and young having perished. I may never know but it will be interesting to see how many more Willow Tits I catch at this site over the coming weeks.

The wind dropped almost completely by mid-afternoon and it remained overcast so I relocated to a much more open part of the site to see if I could catch any of the Skylarks or Meadow Pipits that breed there. It seemed a bit of a long shot but I wanted to see if it was possible and to see how the birds reacted to a net. It soon proved to be worthwhile with a Skylark being caught almost immediately followed by 3 Meadow Pipits a little while later. It has been a long time since I have mist-netted adults of these species locally and this site clearly has potential for catching good numbers of both given the right conditions. I will certainly be back to find out, weather permitting of course.

Skylark (Alauda arvensis),
Skylarks are a bit of a handful and this one wasn't keen on being photographed.

Skylarks have an impressive hind claw.

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis).

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

Ringing totals for 17/06/14
Blackcap  2
Chiffchaff  4
Willow Warbler  2
Treecreeper  1
Willow Tit  5
Blue Tit  5
Great Tit  2
Coal Tit  1
Long-tailed Tit 15
Skylark  1
Meadow Pipit  3
Total 41