Juvenile Barred Warbler
Juvenile Barred Warbler wing and tail.
1 of 5 juvenile Bearded Tits
This morning, Craig and Heather went to Öby Kulle, leaving the three of us ringing at Vallen. They caught a total of 38 new birds including 2 Wood Warbler and 13 Tree Pipit. I am slightly 'gripped' by the Wood Warbler as I've wanted to see one of these in the hand for a while now!
It didn't matter to me know, because we caught a bird that could well go down as the highlight of my trip! A juvenile Barred Warbler was caught on the 2nd net round. I walked up to the net and thought to myself 'That's a big Garden Warbler...'. It then made a crazy noise reminiscent of Great Reed Warbler. I grabbed the bird and it felt massive! I saw the 'barring' on the rump and undertail coverts and it suddenly clicked what I was holding. I was amazed by how impressive this bird was, as I'm used to a lot of people being quite nonchalant when a Barred Warbler turns up as they aren't as 'pretty' as the leaf warblers etc. This bird however was massive, taking the same ring as a Great Reed Warbler! I had no idea they were so big. I have only ever seen one before and that was a scope view at Spurn back in 2007. A truly awesome bird.
We also managed to catch 5 of a flock of 9 juvenile Bearded Tits which is always really nice. Especially the orange billed males.
Totals for the ringing at Vallen were: (retraps in brackets)
Reed Warbler - 18 (2)
Sedge Warbler - 21
Willow Warbler - 1 (1)
Garden Warbler - 1
Barred Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 2
Whitethroat - 1
Lesser Whitethroat - 1
Blue Tit - 6 (2)
Great Tit - 1
Bearded Tit - 5
Reed Bunting - 8 (2)
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