Today saw our second Up Close with the Birds of Rye Meads event and we were truly spoilt. We started with a Sedge Warbler and Alan from the Rye Meads Ringing Group talked about the difference between a Sedge and Reed Warbler’s strategy for migration (luckily we also saw a Reed Warbler or two so we could see the difference). The Sedge Warbler takes more of a ‘eat now and get there as soon as possible’ approach to feeding for migration. They generally build up their weight whilst they are in this country and then fly straight back to Africa, stopping at places to rest but not feed. Reed Warbler’s take a bit more of a relaxed approach and take in the sights as they go. They tend to build up some weight before they leave and then stop at various places as they head back to Africa to eat.
Sedge Warbler Reed Warbler
Then we saw not 1 but 2 elusive Cetti’s Warblers (one slightly more bedraggled than the other, almost looking like a Wren) which you will have almost definitely heard whilst walking around Rye Meads. We found out that there are 15 singing males at Rye Meads, so when you hear one it will be one of them. Alan also spoke about a harsh winter that caused their numbers to plummet and in the first year after the harsh winter we had 1 singing male at Rye Meads which managed to get caught in the ringers nets 3 times in different places, showing that this particular one had a large territory. He also told us that male Cetti’s are polygamous, meaning they have more than 1 partner, so whilst we know there are 15 singing males it’s difficult to know how many females there are.
Cetti's Warbler
We walked with the Rye Meads Ringing Group team to check on one of their nets to see if anything was in there and to say there was a lot is an understatement! There must have been between 6 and 8 birds that were in their nets including a Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Blackcap and, as Alan put it, the ringers ‘favourite’ a very bitey Blue Tit to name a few. Having a Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler meant that Alan could speak to us about how to tell the difference between the two with leg colouration being one way, but not always 100%. He spoke about the emargination on the wings and showed the difference between them on the Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Another way to tell is the Chiffchaff bobs it’s tail a lot more than the Willow Warbler. The Chiffchaff also took quite a liking to Alan as it didn't want to leave his hand!
Chiffchaff refusing to leave
Reed Warbler
Blue Tit
We were also very lucky because we saw a couple of Blackcaps, a male and a female. Alan spoke about how to identify the difference between the male and female with males having a black cap and females having more of a chestnut brown cap. The two that we saw were this years brood as Alan explained that they are all born with the chestnut brown cap and then they moult their feathers. Males will moult the brown cap and the black cap will come in, but they keep some brown feathers at the front of their cap which they won’t moult until next year.
Female Blackcap
Male Blackcap
Some more highlights have to be a Long Tailed Tit that was, as you can imagine, quite popular with everyone (there may have been a few ‘awwwws’ and ‘ahhhhs’ coming from everyone although mainly the staff) and a Goldfinch that we, unfortunately, couldn’t get a good picture of. Alan told us how to tell the difference between a male and a female Goldfinch, which is… the nose hair! Males have black nasal hairs whereas females have grey and the red on a male extends behind the eyes, so next time you see a Goldfinch have a good look at their nose hairs!
Long Tailed Tit
We would like to thank everyone who came to both of our Up Close with the Birds of Rye Meads events and Alan and the team at the Rye Meads Ringing Group for teaching us all about the birds we found today. If you would like to find out more about them, head to https://www.rmrg.org.uk/.