Cetti's to the Conquest of Northumberland

The last decades have seen a change in the distribution of many species as a result of climate warming. If you read the abstract of this recent article you will see this affecting many different terrestrial organisms. In the bird world, a typical example of range shift towards the north is that of the Cetti's Warbler. Some years ago, the species featured in headlines like "Mediterranean Songbird Spreads", but today the Cetti's Warbler is no longer just a bird of the Mediterranean, but British in its own right - resident in many of the Southern counties of England. Cetti's Warblers are slowly (or rapidly, depending on your timescale) advancing north as can be seen in the sequenced maps from the old Breeding Atlases here.

On 2nd of October 2011 ringers from the Natural History Society of Northumbria Ringing Group controlled a Cetti's Warbler. This is, as far as we are aware, the first time that a Cetti's Wabler has been captured by ringers in this county. The bird in question GBT X586751 had been ringed as a 3J the 26 June 2010 by Tees Ringing Group, just a few kilometres south in Billingham, Cleveland. This ringing event is important because it could be the first evidence from ringing of the species moving north and conquering a new county. Perhaps in a few years the Cetti's Warbler will be an established BIRD OF NORTHUMBERLAND! We can't wait to find out from the next Atlas just how far Cetti's Warblers has spread.

To read an article about Cetti's Warbler and ringing data go here.

(Photo of a Cetti's Wabler in the hand by Dawn Balmer)

Cetti leaves Cheshire!

As a follow up to our post on 'Cetti reaches Cheshire' we have heard of one going the other way. A female Cetti's Warbler that was ringed by the Merseyside Ringing Group at Woolston Eyes, Cheshire on 31 October 2009 was caught by the NOA Ringing Group at Thornham, Norfolk on 06 July 2010! A distance of 213km.


View Cetti leaves cheshire in a larger map

On a different note, for all those ringers who ring lots of aggressive Blue Tits. Lista Bird Observatory on the southern tip of Norway ringed 601 birds yesterday. These included 528 Blue Tits, 22 Great Tits, 15 Coal Tits and a Willow Tit (566 tits). So keep a look out for those turning up in a garden in the UK soon.

Cetti reaches Cheshire!

While ringing at Rostherne Mere, Cheshire, Malcolm Calvert from South Manchester Ringing Group, was amazed to catch a Cetti's Warbler! This species has been moving steadily north over the past few years but is still considered very scarce in Cheshire.

V297794 was ringed at Upton Warren, Worcestershire as a juvenile female by Wychavon Ringing Group on 18/07/2009 and when Malcolm caught it it had a fully developed brood patch and then on the 2nd July he caught a recently fledged chick. This is a very valuable breeding record for this species for the Bird Atlas. This is the second breeding record for the county!


This bird was part of a colour ringing project which is used to monitor the movements of birds without having to catch the bird, so people that don't ring birds can play a part in this monitoring.

The map below clearly shows the northward movement of this bird.



View Cetti control in a larger map

Thanks to Malcolm Calvert for letting us know and also the photo.

Cetti's on the move

The weekend saw a min influx of Cetti's Warblers into Lincolnshire, where this is still a very uncommon bird. On Sunday one was caught at Gibraltar Point Bird Observatory, near Skegness - only the fifth ever at the site.

Two days previously, though, two birds were caught at Marston Sewage Works in South Lincolnshire - the first ever records for the site. One was ringed (V888617) and it turns out this was ringed as a very young juvenile at Rye Meads, Hertforshire, in July 2009.


Apparently Cetti's have had a good year at Rye Meads (with 20 juveniles ringed this autumn) after only recolonising the site again in 2008.

Named in memory of the Italian zoologist Francesco Cetti, this is a relatively new colonist to Britain, with birds first breeding in 1973.

Thanks to Keith Bowden for letting us know about the bird, Chris Dee for the prompt supply of ringing details and iain Livingstone for the photo (admittedly of a Spanish bird!).