Ty Rhyg

I'm not as good as the Teifi team at keeping the blog up to date, so just thought I'd do a quick summary of the bird ringing at Ty Rhyg this summer. Like the Cilgerran marshes, it has been registered as a constant effort site (CES) with the BTO to contribute towards monitoring productivity of some of our breeding bird species, and 12 equally spaced visits are carried out between May and August.

At Ty Rhyg the main species ringed so far this year are willow warbler(192), chiffchaff(149), blackcap(80) and redpoll(85), which account for 60% of the total catch of 860. Altogether 33 species were ringed and it was really pleasing to discover at least 16 differerent juv willow tits were using the site though only 2 adults were caught. Other more interesting species ringed have been : spotted flycatcher(2), pied flycatcher(1), redstart(2), tree pipit(2) and grasshopper warbler(10).

One of the most noticeable features resulting from the regular mist netting sessions is the turnover of birds during July and August. It was very unusual to catch the same individual on consecutive visits, implying that the majority of birds were only using the site for a short time before moving on. It would be interesting to follow this up in more detail as post-fledging behaviour and survival strategy even in some of our common birds is not well understood, and finding out more may well uncover factors influencing population trends. -Just need more time!

Ty Rhyg is a good site to see species which have declined recently including spotted flycatcher, which breed in the open mature conifers. A walk round in late May revealed two or three pairs, but in early August there were clearly more like ten pairs feeding young. John Morgan noticed at least 20 birds one day, fairly close together. Redstarts also bred in the conifers and are still around now. Up to ten Crossbills have been around since May but they move around a lot and almost certainly commute back and forth to Coed Glynaeron or that direction at least.