On Friday early morning Brendan and I went ringing again at Alba Marshes. The site still looks like pollution is entering it but let’s hope the Bahrain authorities act to stop this. The weather was a bit damp with spots of rain when we arrived but we put up seven nets to see what we could catch. Whilst erecting the nets it was apparent that there were not as many birds about as a couple of weeks ago although both Clamorous Reed Warbler and Water Rail were happily calling. As normal at the site the most common bird seen was Water Pipit of which we caught five birds. Having said that the first pipit we caught was not a Water Pipit but a Buff-bellied Pipit and was a new ringing species for me (see ysterdays post) and a new species for Bahrain if accepted by the Bahrain Rare Birds Committee. The next most numerous bird seen was Bluethroat of which we caught three birds two of which were re-traps ringed at the same site in November. Graceful Prinia is another common bird here and we caught four birds including two in a new ride we cut at the back of the marsh.
The other birds caught were a Common Snipe (see previous post), White Wagtail and Chiffchaff. The Common Chiffchaff is the first warbler trapped this year and is, hopefully, a sign of things to come as migration is picking up now. We saw Common House Martin, Barn Swallow and Chiffchaff, all of which were probably migrants as well as Jack Snipe and Marsh Harrier.