SMLBirder

Net rides in yellow. Ringing table in red.

Yesterday. Steady passage of migrants. 90 birds, 13 species. Quite enough for a lone ringer! 4 Blackcap, 4 Blue Tit, 1 Cetti’s Warbler, 1 Chaffinch, 27 Chiffchaff, 4 Firecrest, 16 Goldcrest, 2 Great Tit, 1 Grey Wagtail, 22 Meadow Pipit, 2 Robin, 2 Song Thrush, 4 Wren. #birdringing #ukbirding

South Milton Ley Nature Reserve, Devon, our first ever Firecrest control: Ringed here on the 28-Sep-2024, and controlled almost a year later on 24-Sep-2025 at Coppet Hill, Dorset, UK. 361 days since ringed, 92km movement. #birdringing #ukbirding

Male Firecrest at South Milton Ley

Tuesday 23rd. A beautiful autumnal day at SML with a steady trickle of migrants. 56 ringed, dominated by Chiffchaffs and Meadow Pipits with a supporting cast of Blackcaps, a late Reed Warbler and the first Goldcrest and Firecrest of the autumn. #birdringing #ukbirding

Yesterday was the first ringing opportunity for two weeks. Some hirundine and pipit passage overhead but only 12 migrants caught out of 35 birds. The remainder were resident species and re-traps. A close-up of a meadow pipit hind claw is attached for those interested! #birdringing #ukbirding

Candolleomyces candolleanus, Pale Brittlestem. Photo: Juan Carlos Poveda Molero

Friday 5th Sept. A welcome break in the weather saw 45 birds processed, half being passage warblers. No visible passage of pipits or hirundines. The other half were mostly local Tits and Robins. Bonus: another new fungus for the reserve list Candolleomyces candolleanus. #birdringing #ukbirding

Tail of a young Chiffchaff with a terminal fault line.

The warblers breeding within SML seem to have had their most successful season for years, with only brief periods of wet weather to interrupt the food supply, so it was a surprise to catch a Chiffchaff with a fault across the end of its tail. Who knows where it hatched! #birdringing #ukbirding

A view of the back and rump of a female Kingfisher.

This female Kingfisher was the star bird yesterday, on what was the quietest day of the autumn so far. Just 43 birds processed. A bit of a slog in the sultry heat! #birdringing #ukbirding

Male Cirl Bunting - August 2025

Another 71 birds were processed yesterday, including this male Cirl Bunting. The incessant high-pitched, squealing calls of juvenile Water Rails has formed the background sound to all my recent visits to South Milton Ley. #birdringing #ukbirding

I live near to Plymouth Argyle so only a brief spell at SML today so I could park at home! Caught 71 birds: 2 Blackbird, 1 Blue Tit, 1 Bullfinch, 1 Cetti’s, 1 Garden, 12 Reed, 6 Sedge and 23 Willow W. plus 1 Chaffinch, 14 Chiffs, 1 Dunnock, 3 Great Tit, 1 Robin, and 4 Wren. #birdringing #ukbirding

Moth trap beside the reedbed

Webb's Wainscott. Photo © Phil Barden

The moth boys were busy again at SML on July 25th, adding another 10 species to the list. Best of the bunch – Webb’s Wainscott, a notable B species, which is spreading along the coasts of southern England. It favours fens, marshes, and brackish ditches so not unexpected at SML. #ukmoths #DevonMoths

Garden Warbler 31st July 2025

Birds had deserted the reedbed at SML prior to yesterday’s heavy showers. Nothing caught there all day. The perimeter compensated, yielding 79 birds of 12 species, including 34 Chiffchaffs, 27 Willow Warblers and the first Garden Warbler of the autumn. #birdringing #ukbirding

Flaking scales on a passerine's leg - photo from North American Bird Bander

I learnt something this week. I ringed a Great Tit with flaking scales on its tarsii. Initially I feared disease. I hadn’t realised that the "podotheca", the scaly skin covering birds’ feet and legs, has a periodic shedding and replacement process. Not a lot about it in the literature. #birdringing

Willow net ride in 2023

Willow net ride during the works

Willow net ride on 24th July 2025

After 16 months disruption and 4 months late, SW Water have completed their works at South Milton STW. Multiple trees and 20m of bramble and scrub were destroyed in the process but fencing and damaged ground has been reinstated. It was great to finally get the net ride back. #birdringing #ukbirding

Busiest day's ringing this year! I closed the most distant net to catch up with the processing. 94 birds trapped: 1 Blackbird, 5 Blackcap, 6 Blue Tit, 46 Chiffchaff, 2 Dunnock, 1 Goldfinch, 2 Great Tit, 9 Reed Warbler, 3 Robin, 3 Sedge Warbler, 8 Willow Warbler and 8 Wren. #birdringing #ukbirding

Male Dark Bush Cricket on the ringing table

A scorching day yesterday. 49 birds trapped including 43 juveniles. Further evidence of a good breeding season. 27 warblers were caught and strangely, a party of 8 Chaffinches together in one of the reedbed nets. Finally, a pic of a Dark Bush Cricket on the ringing table. #birdringing #ukbirding

The ringing was a dull as the weather today with just 22 birds caught in 90m of nets over a six-hour session. The tedium of trying to monitor the breeding populations at SML was lifted briefly by this fine male Cirl Bunting. #birdringing #ukbirding

I've just received details of a Chiffchaff, ringed at South Milton Ley in February 2023 and re-trapped at Paper Court Marsh, Surrey on 25 May this year. Out of all the controls of SML wintering Chiffs this is the first record of a bird, which looks to be a UK breeder. #birdringing #ukbirding

Marsh Ride bridge October 2024

New Marsh Ride Bridge April 2025

Too windy for nets today, so I decided to replace the rotten bridge to Marsh Ride, unsafe since last October. 3 hours of effort with Nick Townsend, from Devon Birds and we are rather pleased with the result! A quick coat of non-toxic wood preservative will finish the job. #birdringing #ukbirding

Literature suggests that the vast majority of pollen (91.8%) is from eucalyptus spp. - not common in Cornwall or the Scillies! No records of pollen/nectar consumption in the UK but I cannot rule it out.

SWW have just extended their access agreement across neighbouring farmland to the beginning of June 2025.

Chiffchaff and Chironomid midges South Milton Sewage Works. Photo by Richard Moore

With the first, returning, summer Chiffchaff of the year yesterday, it is time to knock their winter survey on the head. 158 individuals were trapped and capture/recapture models suggest that the population visiting the sewage works was 284 birds +/- 80. #birdringing #ukbirding

In amongst the 50+ Chiffchaffs still wintering around the sewage works and despite a less-than-optimal net ride, I trapped one with a pollen horn. This must be a returning bird which had wintered around the Mediterranean. The earliest migrant Chiff I have ever trapped at SML. #birdringing #ukbirding

Willow net ride in 2023

Willow net ride now

Willow net ride in 2023 (2)

Willow net ride now (2)

Damage to my most productive winter net ride during Southwest Water’s improvements at the sewage works continues unabated! With 75% of the trees and shrubs now removed and the works overrunning by 3 months, a JCB has now ripped up the ground underfoot! Before and after photos. #birdringing

1st winter female Pied Wagtail. South Milton Ley, 11 Feb 2025.

Rain, gales and disturbance by engineering works meant just 7 birds were trapped at SML in January – the lowest number for years. Things picked up yesterday with 41 birds caught, including 29 Chiffchaffs and 3 Firecrests. This winter’s Chiffchaff total is now up to 144 birds. #birdringing #ukbirding

Mellinus arvensis - Field Digger Wasp

The ever-industrious Geoff Foale sent me a list of new insect species he recorded at SML during 2024. This prompted me to check the iRecord and NBN websites. It’s a good job I did, as I found an additional 30 species recorded by visitors. The arthropod total now stands at an impressive 1114 species!

One of yesterday’s Chiffchaffs, a first year bird, had an obvious fault bar across its tail. Hunger related stress when new feathers are growing can cause fault bars. The fact that all tail feathers were growing at the same time confirms the age as first year. #birdringing
#ukbirds

Friday 27th December 2024 – even more Chiffs!
Although the cold grey weather was not conducive to clouds of midges, a 4-hour session beside the sewage works still produced 68 birds, including 47 Chiffchaffs and another Siberian Chiff. This winter’s Chiffchaff total is already up to 119 individuals!

Siberian Chiffchaff, Phylloscopus collybita tristis, South Milton Ley

Friday 13th December 2024 – a Chiff fest!
The first wind-free day for over a week was dull, grey and cool. Despite this, a morning’s ringing beside the sewage works at South Milton Ley produced 57 birds including 38 Chiffchaffs, 2 Siberian Chiffchaffs and 3 Firecrests. #birdringing #ukbirds

South Milton Stream November 2021

South Milton Stream November 20023

South Milton Stream December 2024

Ill-conceived dredging at South Milton Ley during the late 1990’s significantly lowered the water table, but our efforts allowing natural sedimentation to restore the floodplain are beginning to bear fruit. Note the steady increase in winter water levels between November 2021 and December 2024.

A beautiful crisp Tuesday, marred only by the din of engineering at the neighbouring sewage works. Birds were very dispersed with just 30 caught in 4 hours, inc. 15 Chiffs and another 2 Firecrests. A refurbished field drain running past my shortest net ride has left me with a neat little bridge.