Returning Blackcap

[Madelinew]

How exciting! I just spotted something dipping to the side of my sight line, grabbed the bins and found a male blackcap in one of my trees. I love this time of year

[Jason Claxton]

Was the Blackcap in your garden then Madeline?,if so they love apples,nice spot

[Madelinew]

It was. I had 3 or 4 of them last year - 1 male and the rest females. Nothing gets a look in with the apples at the moment as the crows spend most of the day picking them to pieces and hiding the drier bits somewhere for later. In fact my clever crows were sitting in the apple tree today, picking up the hanging part of the feeders in their beaks, pulling them up to a height that they could pin them with their talons and then having a good look to see if there was anything worth taking.

The blackcap was eating the tiny white berries on my dragon palm. I hate the 2 dragon palm trees I have inherited with my garden BUT last year one housed a thrush nest and the little berries are really popular with all the tit family. In fact I thought the black cap was a tit with the dipping flight he made into the tree so I'm glad I checked.

[Cheryl]

That must have been a lovely sight Madeline I've had them in the garden feeding on the home made fat balls at this time of year but sadly not for a while now

I've no idea what a Dragon Palm is though so I'm off to google it - I may have to buy one

[simon taylor]

I go birdwatching every week without fail and havent managed to nail a Blackcap for around 5 months.

Hopefully that will change very shortly

[Picidae]

Quite possibly near continental winter migrants you're getting Madeline. Keep the fat ball feeders out for the winter!

[david156]

A lot of people class Blackcaps as a summer visitor but they are only a short distant migrant so a lot do hang around especially in the south of the country and if its not to cold there can be a lot of sightings generally. This can also happen to Chiffchaff's too, with the odd one or two staying about. I remember seeing one feeding in my garden in evergreen shrubs in January a few years ago. I was only about 3 feet away - best view of a chiffchaff i've ever had!

[Madelinew]

Mine are definitely winter visitors. What's annoying is that most bird books and even the RSPB website are woefully inadequate when it comes to bird movements. When you think of the hard work put in by some groups on ringing and recording birds (and which has been going on for years in some areas) you'd think the info would be more widely available. It's only in the last few years that I've discovered blackbirds are often migrants. Bird descriptions make a bland statement "UK resident Jan - Dec" but we're not always seeing the same birds. I have blackbirds all year round but in the winter, my population of around 4 can go as high as 15. Who's to say the orginal 4 are part of that 15? It may well be it's 15 entirely different birds. My grey wagtail only visits between Nov and January. I have goldcrests that visit at very specific times of year and the goldfinches vanished during the summer. There are certain birds I can identify confidently as individuals who stay in the area including my crow pair, the resident magpies and certain collared doves and pigeons with particular markings or feather patterns.

If someone could recommend somewhere I can go for records of bird movements I'd be very grateful.

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Madelinew

If someone could recommend somewhere I can go for records of bird movements I'd be very grateful.

Hi Madeline

As you rightly suggest, ringing data provides us with the most accurate movements of individual birds, especially the constant effort projects. Unfortunately, there's no way of telling for certainty, without ringing, specific movements of individual birds. The BTO is probably your first point of call given the second Atlas tetrad surveys that have been done since 2007, along with roving records, breeding bird surveys. The current Atlas is being compiled from nationwide winter and spring/breeding surveys so is probably the best source of info for you as far as relatively recent changes to bird movements vis a vis climate change etc. You can access most of the results online at the BTO website from the main page.

Bird Atlas home page

Blackcaps BTO BirdFacts - Blackcap

There can be some minor differences between some species wintering cf. to our breeding individuals. Continental Robins for example, tend to be a lot shyer than our resident Robins and also tend to have a more orangey/extensive breast colour. Migrant (Russian?) winter Starlings for example tend to develop their breeding plumage earlier than our resident ones prior to migration in late Feb/early March.

[Madelinew]

Thanks Picidae - I shall bookmark that site ready for good bit of anoracky study for later. [Rubs hands with glee]

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by david156

A lot of people class Blackcaps as a summer visitor but they are only a short distant migrant so a lot do hang around especially in the south of the country and if its not to cold there can be a lot of sightings generally. This can also happen to Chiffchaff's too, with the odd one or two staying about. I remember seeing one feeding in my garden in evergreen shrubs in January a few years ago. I was only about 3 feet away - best view of a chiffchaff i've ever had!

Hi David,

Wintering blackcaps in the UK come from Germany and eastern Europe, our own summer visitors still migrate to Spain, etc. in the autumn. This is a recent phenomenon, fifty years ago wintering blackcaps would have been rare in the UK.

Sylvia atricapilla (blackcap) breeds during the summer in Germany and, until recently, migrated to Spain or other Mediterranean areas for winter. However, studies show that 10% of blackcaps now migrate to the UK instead. To test whether this change is genetically determined or not (and, therefore, whether it could have developed by natural selection or not), eggs were collected from parents who had migrated to the UK in the previous winter and from parents who had migrated to Spain. The young were reared and the direction in which they set off, when the time for migration came, was recorded. Birds whose parents had migrated to the UK tended to fly west, wherever they had been reared, and birds whose parents had migrated to Spain tended to fly south-west. Despite not being able to follow their parents at the time of migration, all the birds tended to fly in the direction that would take them on the same migration route as their parents.

This and other evidence suggests that blackcaps are genetically programmed to respond to stimuli when they migrate so that they fly in a particular direction. The increase in the numbers of blackcaps migrating to the UK for the winter may be due to warmer winters and greater survival rates in the UK.

Cheers
Jonathan

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Hi David,


Sylvia atricapilla (blackcap) breeds during the summer in Germany and, until recently, migrated to Spain or other Mediterranean areas for winter. However, studies show that 10% of blackcaps now migrate to the UK instead. To test whether this change is genetically determined or not (and, therefore, whether it could have developed by natural selection or not), eggs were collected from parents who had migrated to the UK in the previous winter and from parents who had migrated to Spain. The young were reared and the direction in which they set off, when the time for migration came, was recorded. Birds whose parents had migrated to the UK tended to fly west, wherever they had been reared, and birds whose parents had migrated to Spain tended to fly south-west. Despite not being able to follow their parents at the time of migration, all the birds tended to fly in the direction that would take them on the same migration route as their parents.

This and other evidence suggests that blackcaps are genetically programmed to respond to stimuli when they migrate so that they fly in a particular direction. The increase in the numbers of blackcaps migrating to the UK for the winter may be due to warmer winters and greater survival rates in the UK.

Cheers
Jonathan

The full page/reference for the above is here if anyone wants a further read

Biology guide

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Picidae

The full page/reference for the above is here if anyone wants a further read

Biology guide

Eh? The rest of the page has nothing to do with blackcaps, has it? I italicised the text so it was obvious it was a quote, I didn't feel it neccessary to give a link to a page that is pretty much irrelevant to the subject under discussion!

Jonathan

[Picidae]

Originally Posted by Jonathan

Eh? The rest of the page has nothing to do with blackcaps, has it? I italicised the text so it was obvious it was a quote, I didn't feel it neccessary to give a link to a page that is pretty much irrelevant to the subject under discussion!

Jonathan

I was just providing the source of the info with a google link Jonathan. Sorry if it caused offence.

[Vincent86]

That was indeed a lovely site Madeline. I used to see some on my garden but this time of the year, they don't come often. Seen them very seldom.