Cyprus Kouklia - 9th November 2016

9^th November

We changed from our original idea to visit Ayis Minas over Polis way, as we seem in the last week, to be driving all over the island in an effort to find a reasonable number of birds to catch in the extremely dry conditions – and not always very successfully. We opted for one of our favoured spring sites and went to Kouklia, expecting the catch to be limited to Cetti’s Warblers and Sardinian Warblers with a total haul somewhere in the region of 20, if we were lucky.

We set up two 18m nets near the car with a further two across the dry river bed. A first check of the first net left us wondering whether we had enough bags. There were clearly a lot of Chiffchaffs around, possibly leaving their roost. Over the course of the morning we caught 66! The weights varied between 5.5g and 12g.

Chiffchaff aged 3

 There were also two re-trapped Sardinian Warblers as well as our first Song Thrush of the visit.

Song Thrush aged 3. These birds are a much hunted species

on Cyprus and birds are very nervous and rarely break cover.

At first glance this site looked less than promising.

We haven't seen this small blue plant before. 

It was growing in clumps amongst the dried grasses.

Total: 97 (2)

Robin – 3
Stonechat - 4
Song Thrush – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 2
Fan-tailed Warbler - 1
Sardinian Warbler – 10 (2)
Blackcap – 7
Willow Warbler - 3
Chiffchaff - 66

Cyprus Anarita Park and Arminou Dam - 8th November 2016

8^th November

This morning was spent at Anarita Park, where it wasn’t long before the wind got up and made the nets far too visible in the bright light. We had only just set four singles when a herd of goats came through, sending us dashing to nets and pushing them up before they came to any harm.

We managed a very modest catch of nine birds, over half being Sardinian Warblers, with a couple of Spectacled Warblers and one Cyprus Warbler. We were surprised to catch a Whitethroat, not only because it had not moved on, but also for the large amount of fat that it was carrying giving a weight of 20g. Several Woodlark were present,  as was a Sparrowhawk and two Finsch’s  Wheatear.

Anarita Park

3M Spectacled Warbler

 3M Sardinian Warbler showing moult limits

 Whitethroat

 3F Spectacled Warbler

 3F Cyprus Warbler

Total: 9

Sardinian Warbler – 5
Cyprus Warbler - 1
Spectacled Warbler – 2
Whitethroat – 1

In the afternoon we took a run up to Arminou Dam, hoping to find water in the stream bed, beside the track, below the dam. It was wet but we didn’t catch particularly well. In fact, a female Blackcap was the most memorable bird with a fat score of seven, weighing in at 29.5g. A flock of finches further along the track may tempt us back for another try, although they may not be there next time we go.

A Blackbird was seen along the track and a Water Rail gave very good views.

Water Rail

Total: 5

Cetti’s Warbler – 1
Blackcap – 2
Serin – 2

Cyprus - November 6th & 7th 2016

6th November

Today we dropped our original plans to do Evretou dam due to moderate gusts and switched instead to P2, a river bed offering some shelter from the wind. We set up the five singles as usual and hoped to catch something while shotguns could be heard from all directions. Anyone who knows Cyprus well and visits in the hunting season will know that the official days are Sunday and Wednesday.

It was very quiet in terms of birds, and we even photographed the only bird from the nets on the first round, just in case there wasn’t anything else.

 Robin aged 3

 Blackcap male

 Cetti’s Warbler female aged 3

 Sardinian Warbler female

We continued until 11am but only struggled up to 11 birds. A Penduline Tit was heard and seen, briefly.

Total – 11

Robin – 1
Cetti’s Warbler – 1
Sardinian Warbler – 2
Blackcap – 5
Serin - 2

Afterwards, we checked out the fire damage in the reedbed. It was clear that there had also been extensive use of a bulldozer – disturbing the natural course of the river and extending some existing fields. It looks quite likely that this was a deliberate attempt to extend agriculture and ruin the small pools nature project.

We took a walk up the Avakas Gorge, seeing a rather small Chameleon. We have always known that they occur here, but we’ve never managed to see one before. We also saw a rare endemic plant, the Centaurea Akamontis that only occurs in two gorges in Cyprus.

 

Centaurea Akamontis

Chameleon

Avakas Gorge

As usual, Chris pushed on through the gorge while I waited just before it gets really narrow. During this time, I observed the Chiffchaffs in the area and noticed a very brown individual with creamy white underside with darker colouration along the flanks. The supercillium was very long and thick and it had a stronger, slightly shorter but more explosive call. We saw Mountain Chiffchaff in Azerbaijan in the summer, and this was a Mountain Chiffchaff. We have also seen them in the hand, twice, but the observations in the field were more useful in this instance. Chris managed to get a look after his scramble back through the gorge.

7^th November

We finally returned to Evretou, hoping to target pipits and wagtails. We set up nets with open area species in mind, then set a few singles in the weedy area. We had some Stonechats and Chiffchaffs, but there was no sign of pipits or wagtails all morning.  We had a rethink and changed some of the nets to achieve our highest total so far.  It was only 42 birds but it’s more than we might have expected considering the conditions. There were also a few Willow Warblers, some Sardinian Warblers and a couple of surprises in the form of a Sedge Warbler and a Bluethroat.

Fan-tailed Warbler

Stonechat male aged 3

Sedge Warbler aged 3

3F Bluethroat

There weren’t too many other sightings although we did almost catch a Sparrowhawk, but it escaped the net faster than we could get there and a Kestrel and Common Buzzard were seen. Seven Water Pipits were observed by the water’s edge – and the one White Wagtail that we did catch was carrying a good deal of fat so it’s highly likely that most of the birds seen on Friday were just passing through.

Total: 42

White Wagtail – 1
Bluethroat – 1
Stonechat - 2
Fan-tailed Warbler – 2
Sedge Warbler – 1
Sardinian Warbler – 7
Chiffchaff – 24
Willow Warbler – 3
Serin - 1

Cyprus November 4th - 5th 2016

We arrived late on the 3rd and drove the length of the southern coast from Larnaca to Pafos, seeing nothing but the road in our headlights. When we went out on the 4th to have a look around before doing any sessions, it became very clear that it had been a very long, dry summer, and the temperatures at about 20 degrees and the beautiful, clear sky with sunshine seemed to indicate that all is well as summer lingers on. But for us, there has been a major change to being in Cyprus. It was our usual routine to meet up with Alan Crabtree, the ringing officer, on our first day to catch up, restock rings and often arrange some joint ringing days. He passed away in September and it just doesn't seem the same without him. Last time we saw him he was considering a pulli ringing project on Spur-winged Plovers, possibly with colour rings. We never imagined that he may not be around when we next visited.

November 4

We have always worked the Pafos area as no-one else rings here, this is where our house is and Alan was very happy for us to cover some different habitat, ringing species that appear on the Cyprus ringed list less frequently. So, we checked out Achelea, Anarita Park and  Agia Varvara in the Pafos area, all very dry with no flowing water despite heavy rain in the night a few days ago, before shooting off to Evretou dam and some Polis sites on our way to get a few more rings from a ringer who also dips in and out of Cypriot ringing and is holding the stock until firm arrangements are made and a new ringing officer appointed.

Evretou was extremely low, but full of wagtails and pipits. Polis had suffered a fire in the reedbed and again the riverbed was completely dry. There were some birds around including a Reed Warbler that Chris saw, as well as a few Blackcaps, Chaffinches and Serins. The rides needed some maintenance but nothing too major.

Next day, we decided to try a cut alfalfa field for our first morning out since there had been birds there on the previous day and we know how quickly such fields lose their allure. We put up 5 nets, including one through the weedy margins where Willow Warblers had been seen. Catching was quite slow but we captured birds broadly representative of what was present. We were particularly pleased with Red-throated Pipit, Water Pipit, Willow Warbler and Sky Lark. A Laughing Dove was also seen.

Red-throated Pipit, not always as their name describes.

Heavily marked on the back with pale lines on back.

Undertail coverts.

 Age 3 Water Pipit.

Water Pipit – differentiated from Rock Pipit by brown rather

 than grey cast to colouring and black legs.

Possibly only the second Skylark ringed in Cyprus.

Willow Warbler.

Total- 17

Sky Lark - 1
Water Pipit -1
Red-throated Pipit - 2
Meadow Pipit - 10
Stonechat -1
Sardinian Warbler – 1
Willow Warbler - 1

After a midday break we had a look around Mandria, Xeros Potamos, the desalination plant and Kouklia. There were a few promising options (although as usual, there is no potential for large number catches here) and a Hen Harrier quartering the fields was an added bonus. At the end of the day we tried a couple of nets where some birds had found a little water and another eight birds were processed with Water Rail, Jack Snipe and Bluethroat seen.

3 male Linnet

Total – 8

White Wagtail – 1

Red-throated Pipit – 1

Stonechat - 1
Chiffchaff – 2
Linnet – 2
Serin - 1

Stanwell Moor GP - 30th October 2016

There was virtually no wind this morning, but it was misty and cold. We set up in the reedbed, by the river and on the mound in hope of getting some Meadow Pipits.

We decided to switch from 18m to 12m nets to form the open ended box, thinking that with less space, they may not fly over the nets so easily. Once it was complete, with two 18m nets behind to try for the birds that inevitably wander around outside the box, we went off to check other nets.

Chiffchaff

There were very few birds in evidence and none of the nets caught particularly well. We did, however, do okay for Chiffchaff, a species that overwinters at this site, and catch four of the few Meadow Pipits that were seen, so perhaps the reduced size mipit box will work well - when there are more Meadow Pipits around to catch.

 Meadow Pipit nets

Meadow Pipit aged 3

Total: 20 (2)

Meadow Pipit - 4
Robin - 1
Cetti's Warbler - 1
Chiffchaff - 9 (2)
Goldcrest - 5

Chobham Common - 29th October 2016

We returned to the site of our busy session on the 22nd, accompanied by WA and LON, hoping for a repeat of the high numbers of Lesser Redpoll and Redwing. We erected a total of eight nets in the misty conditions, noting that there were far fewer calls of Redwing overhead. There was no sign of the large flocks, of the previous week, all day.

As the morning progressed we rarely saw flocks of Redpoll until a flock of 100+ or so came across from the railway line. They would not be tempted down to the nets, so our captures failed to reach anywhere close to the three figure mark.

We still managed a very respectable 75 birds with rather more diversity on the record sheet this time providing plenty of learning opportunities for the trainees who both gained experience of some new species. LON had a rather surreal session, ringing no less than six species for the first time. Her new species on the day were Redwing, Lesser Redpoll, Reed Bunting, Coal Tit, Meadow Pipit and Jay.

The second of two Jays.

His'n'Hers Jays

3M Coal Tit

Lesser Redpoll

Total: 72 (3)

Meadow Pipit - 16  (2)

Redwing - 9

Wren - 6

Robin - 3

Dunnock - 1

Chiffchaff - 1

Goldcrest - 12

Long-tailed Tit -  1 (1)

Coal Tit - 1

Blue Tit - 6

Lesser Redpoll - 11

Jay - 2

Reed Bunting - 3

Wraysbury GP - 28th October 2016

A second session with very little caught and not much more seen or heard. After 5 hours with seven nets up we only managed nine birds, and that was with sound recordings to help things along.
Two female Blackcaps were quite interesting, an adult building its fat score (3) and a juvenile that had no fat (0).

Song Thrush aged 3

Total: 9

Redwing - 1

Song Thrush - 1

Robin - 2

Blackcap - 2

Goldcrest - 2

Long-tailed Tit - 1