Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond

A better morning than recently at Lower Moor Farm and, for once, I got to do a decent amount of ringing. When I have two or more of my team out, I tend to scribe and ensure that the data I am being given is correct. If it is a large catch then I will join in the actual processing. This session I was joined by Ellie, and she had to leave at 10:30, so I spent the last couple of hours working and packing up solo. That was the quietest part of the morning, as the birds took shelter from the sun. We met at 5:30 and set the usual nets. The benefit of this site is that the rides are never in full sun and, apart from one ride, relatively wind proof, as well as having a decent amount of biodiversity.

We started catching straight away, and had a pretty reasonable set of net rounds. The best catch time was between 8:00 and 10:30, when Ellie left. After that I caught another seven birds. Annoyingly, the two rounds where I was closing the nets before taking down, the one at 12:00 produced two birds, who flew in as I was closing the nets they flew into, and a Robin, at 12:30, flew in after I had closed that net ride and actually whilst I was taking those nets down. Always great fun. Despite the potential for difficulty, he hadn’t grabbed too much net and came out very easily.

My favourite catch of the day was the unfairly much maligned Magpie:

This is only the second Magpie to be caught and ringed at this site. The first was caught 11 years ago, and was a juvenile. Ours was a second Calendar Year female undergoing her post-breeding moult. Just a note for the Magpie haters: there are just over 500k breeding pairs of Magpie in the UK, they have one brood per year normally of six chicks and the mortality rate of their chicks is estimated, from BTO data, at 80% over the first six months from fledging. There are at least 10 times as many breeding pairs of Blackbird, they can have up to four broods per year of, usually, four young. Their first six month mortality rate is 40%. It puts so-called Magpie nest predation into a different context, given that, in my opinion, over the course of a lifetime each pair of Blackbirds only needs to produce a total of four young to ensure population stability and some growth. Any data on this can be gleaned from the BTO’s BirdFacts database, which is free for the general public to use.

The list for the session was: Magpie 1; Blue Tit [4]; Great Tit [2]; Wren [3](1); Dunnock [3]; Robin [5]; Blackbird [1]; Blackcap [14]; Garden Warbler [6]; Whitethroat [2]; Chiffchaff [1]; Bullfinch (1). Totals: 1 adult ringed, 41 juveniles ringed from 11 species and 2 retraps from 2 species, making 44 birds processed from 12 species.

It has been our best year since 2021 for Garden Warbler. Their numbers fell off the cliff after that, with only three caught in each of 2024 and 2025. Our July catch of seven, so far, is the best we have had since July 2017. From 2020 until 2025 inclusive, we caught 2, 3, 3, 1,1,1 in the respective July totals. All seven caught this month have been juveniles: the best return since 16 in 2017. It will be interesting to see what next month brings, as we caught just one in 2022 and no juveniles since then and just one adult in 2025, none in the other years.

Equally, it has also been our best month for ringing Blackcaps since 2019, when we ringed 36, against 21 this month. Unsurprisingly, we ringed the highest total of juveniles in that year (34), with 16 ringed this month.

After Ellie left, I spent quite a lot of time showing children, and their parents, and a few passing, but interested, grown-ups, birds close up and explaining about the ringing scheme and the results it produces.

Unfortunately, dog-walkers were out in force, only a couple of them had their dogs under control. One couple, an elderly woman and, probably, her daughter, had a spaniel that decided to have a swim in Mallard Lake. I heard the ducks making a lot of alarming and said to them “this is a nature reserve, not a park, and your dog should be on a lead”. She shouted at me that she’d put it on a lead as soon as she got it back. Like it was my fault. She then spent 10 full minutes shouting at the beast, whilst it continued to disturb the birds, before it came back. So much for keeping it under close control. I don’t blame the dog, but the law needs to change so that dogs are only allowed off leads in the owner’s garden or in designated dog friendly places. Another couple came down, similar make up to the previous two, but this dog belonged to the younger woman. She was reading from the reserve leaflet, and they stopped by me, and she was talking about which way to go now according to the leaflet. I asked, very politely “Does that leaflet say anything about keeping you dog on a lead?”. To be fair, she was clearly embarrassed, apologised and put the dog on the lead. At least hers had been fully under control!

Anyway, I finally got everything packed away by 1:30 and headed home. As often happens, as I was packing away, the wind really got up. Fortunately, all of the nets had been closed by then, so I didn’t have to spend time extracting them from the Blackthorn and the brambles!

A small session this morning, but a first for the site and a very nice second for the site. I was joined for the session by Laura, Adam and Pete. We met at 5:30, but Pete was leaving at 9:45 for a business meeting and Laura at 10:30 for an orchestra practice, leaving me and Adam for the rest of the session. We set the usual nets in the pond area but, given the size of the crew, didn’t set nets in the field. With the drought conditions, the causeway was uncovered.

It was a very slow session and we didn’t catch too many birds. However, halfway through the session we caught only our second ever juvenile Reed Warblers. The structure of the site has changed and there is now a small reed bed in the larger pond. Potentially, given the moult stage of these two birds, they fledged from here. I will have a look for the nest once I am certain breeding is over.

As well as these two, we also had a first for the site.

We don’t catch many outside of my garden, and have only caught four in the main wood: but none there since three in 2012. There has definitely been an upturn in the numbers coming into my garden, I ring about 10 a year on average, but that is largely dependent upon how many sessions I manage, which is very variable. My biggest catch was 39 in 13 sessions in 2015. Unsurprisingly, 2020 was my second biggest catch, at 31 from 15 sessions. The total is 130 ringed in the eight years I have caught them in the garden, so an average of just over 16 per year. Most of that is due to feeding them – and there has been no sign of Trichomoniasis in any of them for over 10 years! Cleanliness is everything but, also, they don’t come in huge flocks, just two or three at a time, so the danger of disease spreading is very low.

Another nice catch was a male Reed Bunting: we catch the bulk of these at Blakehill Farm in the autumn and winter (248 in 10 years), In that time we have caught just seven in Ravensroost Meadows, until we added one today. The birds caught in the Meadows have all been adults, so no actual sign of breeding there. One lives in hope.

Anyway, our small catch ended up on: Blue Tit 1[1]; Great Tit 1[4]; Dunnock 1[2]; Robin 1[2](2); Blackbird 1[2]; Reed Warbler [2]; Blackcap [2]; Chiffchaff [2]; Willow Warbler [1]; Greenfinch 1; Reed Bunting 1. Totals: 7 adults ringed from 7 species, 18 juveniles ringed from 9 species and 2 birds retrapped from 1 species, making 27 birds processed from 11 species.

Adam and I started taking down at 12:30, having caught a few extra birds as we were trying to close the nets, and we were off site by just after 1:00. I drove him home as his usual chauffeuse, Laura, had left for her practice and then concert, doing a French Horn solo Wednesday evening.

With the heatwave abating somewhat, and the forecast being for light basal winds with gusts at 14mph, we decided we could get a session in at Blakehill Farm West. We set up our usual nets, plus a few more, and I also set up three walk-in Potter traps, seeded with mealworms, in the yard where we usually see plenty of Pied Wagtails.

Net rides 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are 5-shelf Ecotone; ride 4 = 4-shelf North Ronaldsay 1 = 1x 9m + 1 x 12m; 2 = 1 x 12m; 3 = 2 x 18m; 4 = 2 x 18m; 5 = 3 x 18m; 6 = 1 x 18m + 1 x 9m + 1 x 12m. PT = Potter Traps; RS = Ringing Station

I was joined for the morning by Laura, Adam, Pete, Ellie and, until she had to leave to manage her volunteer group at 9:00, Rosie.

We met at 5:00 and had the nets set up by 6:00. We did a lot of rounds, each one only catching a couple of birds, and we ended up with a total of 37 birds! I thought that this was not vert good, until I looked at previous records for the Braydon Forest in July. The average catch, in July between 2013 and 2025, is 25.1 birds, 37 is the best catch we have had since 2018, and only another two years: 2015 and 2017.

There were several highlights of the catch. The first was at 7:50: our third Magpie of the year. Our previous catch was at Blakehill Farm West on the 24th May, when we caught two. Rosie hadn’t ringed one previously, so she was given the privilege of being attacked by it. Obviously they come in twos at this site: we caught the second at 9:30. This time Ellie did the “honours”. Adam was offered the opportunity but declined as he thought his hands would be too small. However, he did get the opportunity to handle and release the bird, to practice!

At 10:15 I extracted two Goldfinch and our second juvenile House Sparrow of the year – the previous was in my garden on the 9th July. This one was a bit more advanced than my one:

These were followed by a nice catch of two Whitethroat and our second Lesser Whitethroat of the year.

We could tell it was a female, it had a well-developed brood patch that had started feathering over.

Our Potter traps were a complete failure: clearly the Pied Wagtails have pushed off, probably following the cattle for insects on their dung! They have been very successful in my garden, catching Starlings, so I loaned one to Laura so that she could try in her garden. She sent me this photo in the evening:

Having learned that he could safely handle a Magpie, Laura, having successfully caught one in the Potter trap, called Adam out to process it!

The list for the session was: Magpie 2; Treecreeper [2]; Blue Tit [1]; Great Tit [1]; Long-tailed Tit [2]; Wren 1[2]; Dunnock 1[1]; Robin [5](1); Whitethroat 1[1]; Lesser Whitethroat 1; Chiffchaff 2[2]; Goldcrest [1]; Goldfinch 3[1]; House Sparrow [1]. Totals: 14 adults from species, 21 juveniles from 13 species and 2 retraps from 2 species: making 37 birds from 15 species. It is the first time we have caught three in one day!

We packed up a little after midday and left site soon after.

This heatwave is proving to be quite schizophrenic: the morning started cool at 4:30. It was overcast and very grey. The sun didn’t even begin to peep through until after we had packed up. I was joined for the morning, at 5:00, by Laura, Pete and Ellie. Ellie is just back from her three-month volunteer stint on Skokholm. I suspect that a few birds in a typical woodland doesn’t compare to ringing Manx Shearwater, Storm Petrel and Puffin! She is heading back at the end of August for the autumn migration.

We set the usual nets, and added on an extra 36m along the main drag. Our catches in Red Lodge in July have not been great: between 2015 and 2020 they averaged 30 birds per July session. Between 2021 and 2025 the average catch was just six per July session: four ringed and two retraps per session. That’s why we set the extra nets. The fact is that we did have a better than average catch. Still just the two retrapped birds: Nuthatch 1; Treecreeper [1]; Great Tit 1[2](1); Wren [3]; Robin [8](1); Blackbird 1[1]; Chiffchaff [1]. Totals: 3 birds ringed from 3 species, 16 juveniles ringed from 6 species and 2 birds retrapped from 2 species, making 21 birds processed from 7 species.

We are helping with a bio-blitz at Lower Moor Farm on Saturday, moth trapping Friday night for analysis Saturday morning. Hopefully we will have a better more interesting catch this weekend.

One very pleasant interlude, we met one Jon Beresford who was on-site doing a butterfly survey. Apparently the first one in Red Lodge for five years, as the previous surveyor had retired and nobody had taken it on until now. Like us, when we met he hadn’t had the best of luck, unlike our fabulous White Admirals and Silver-Washed Fritillaries at Webb’s Wood last Thursday. However, his fortunes did improve later in his walk when he managed to get this fabulous photograph:

The Braydon Forest is pretty good for butterflies and moths, my back garden, in the middle of Purton, also within the Forest boundaries, has delivered 467 species, including, at the time, a first for Wiltshire:

They were eradicated as a pest species in the early 20^th century, last recorded in 1907, and not seen again until the 1950’s, with accidental reintroductions and some possible migrants from mainland Europe. Since then they have spread along southern coastal areas but, since my discovery of them in August 2012, they are now found quite regularly in Wiltshire. You used to have to notify their existence to MAFF, initially, and now DEFRA, but appreantly that is no longer the case.

Anyway, we shut the nets at 11:30 and took down and left site about 12:15. Always nice to have a good chat and catch up with Ellie about what she had seen and done on Skokholm. One good thing for her, not an opportunity much of the team get, she is now licensed to work with adult and pullus Manx Shearwater and Storm Petrel! She is one up on her trainer, although I have no species restriction on pulli of cliff-nesting or colony nesting seabirds, I don’t have the same for adults!

With this heatwave I am reluctant to cause any disruption to the birds coping out in our woods and farmland. However, those that are costing me a fortune feeding in my garden I thought are fair game, provided I packed up before the heat properly set in. I did decide, though, that once the temperature hit 23^oC I would close the nets: so they were open from just 5:30 until 8:00, by which time it was baking hot, although there was a reasonable breeze The other reason I chose to make it a garden session was that, it was going to be short and I didn’t think it fair to bring the team in from Cirencester and Malmesbury for a very short session.

I set the nets the night before: 2 x 6m and 1 x 3m nets set in a squared off U-shape around the feeders and alongside the pond. I was going to do a map showing the net positions, but both OS Maps and Google Maps are rubbish at high resolution when using their aerial shots. Quick diagram:

A and C are the 6m nets and B is the 3m. FS = Feeding Stations. The foliage marked is 1: dwarf cherry; 2: apple tree; 3: plum tree; 4: dwarf crab apple; 5: two conifers; 6: a variety of shrubs, both wild and cultivated. Not shown is that the garden has recently been lightly strimmed after no mow October to June! There is also, quince, holly, hawthorn, pear, more plum and a large aspen in the top of the garden. This probably explains why I have trapped over 450 species of moth in the garden!

Anyway, it was a fairly typical garden session for this time of year. The only surprise was an adult female Blackcap. It is only the fifth that I have caught in my garden. It is the first adult I have caught for 6 years. The most recent was a juvenile in July 2024.

Another nice feature of the catch were three Greenfinch: two males and a females. There should have been a fourth, my first juvenile of the year, but Mr Incompetent lost control of it getting it out of the bag. It spent the rest of the session flying around the garage – even though I had the door wide open so its escape would be very easy. It finally left about 11:30!

The list for the morning was: Blue Tit 2[9](1); Great Tit [1]; Dunnock [1](1); Blackbird (1); Blackcap 1; Greenfinch 3; House Sparrow 1. Totals: 6 adults ringed from 4 species, 11 juveniles ringed from 3 species and 3 birds retrapped from 3 species, making 21 birds processed from 7 species.

It could have been better but I had a Stock Dove escape the net before I could get to it, ditto a juvenile Blackbird and another juvenile Dunnock. Surprisingly, no Goldfinch put in an appearance. There were plenty in the garden yesterday! I wonder who warned them? Completely absent from the garden now, since my last session, are the Starlings! Not one seen for a few days. I have my Potter traps out, loaded with mealworms, in case the Starlings decide to drop in or the Jackdaws decide they want a feed. We had an adult in the garden yesterday being pestered by two newly fledged juveniles. Fingers crossed.

Laura did a similar thing yesterday but had a much more interesting catch: Green Woodpecker 1; Great Spotted Woodpecker [1]; Blue Tit [1]; Great Tit [1]; Dunnock [1](1); Robin [1]; Blackbird 2[2]. Totals: 3 adults ringed from 2 species; 7 juveniles from 6 species and 1 retrap, making 11 birds from 7 species.

The thing is, just like my garden, Laura’s is usually full of Goldfinch and one would expect them to have figured in both hauls. Definitely a bit perplexing.

Having had such excellent hauls in the Firs in June, it was time to have a go in Webb’s Wood. It is exactly 680m due south from the ringing station in the Firs to that in Webb’s Wood. I was hopeful that we would find a similar result in Webb’s. Unfortunately, hopes were not fulfilled. It was just a very ordinary session. However, it was almost exactly our average number for sessions carried in July in Webb’s Wood.

I was joined by Pete, Rosie and Ella. Rosie was my regular trainee until she changed job and started working for the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust. However, she still does occasional sessions for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust volunteers, and this morning was running a pond dipping session for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s children’s Watch Group at 9:30. When she does that she brings her friend Ella with her and comes along to help us set up and stays. Ella has been out with us once before and is great company: which is just as well as we had plenty of time to chat during the morning. We all met at 5:00. Fortunately, the weather wasn’t too hot and, even more fortunately, most of the boggy area had dried out. We set the following nets:

I didn’t overdo the nets because Rosie was going to be leaving at 9:00, which would leave just me and Pete to look after them as Ella had never extracted Passerines before, nor ringed any before today. when started I training her to do so.

It wasn’t busy but it was a very pleasant morning with some lovely birds. We were pleased to get yet another juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker, our fifth of the year to date. This is our best year to date catch of juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers since we started the Braydon Forest project in late 2012.

Another nice addition to the list was the catch of three Willow Warblers: two males and one female. All three were adults undergoing their post-breeding moult, with the females brood patch just starting to feather over. The wings were very definitely in full moult:

The list for the session was: Great Spotted Woodpecker [1]; Blue Tit [3]; Great Tit [8]; Dunnock [1]; Robin 1[6](2); Song Thrush 1; Blackbird [1](1); Blackcap [2]; Chiffchaff 1; Willow Warbler 3. Totals: 6 adults from 4 species, 22 juveniles from 7 species and 3 retrapped birds from 2 species, making 31 birds processed from 10 species.

The juvenile Blackbird did give as a bit of concern: it had a nasty looking, scabby, almost lichen like, area in its lower abdomen, close to the cloaca. I have not seen anything like it before. If anybody recognises what it is I would grateful to know!

As well as a reasonable catch, we did have a lovely morning watching butterflies. Best was a White Admiral, we saw a couple but one spent a good few minutes flying around us at the ringing station. At one point it looked as if it was going to land on me. Alongside that was Silver-washed Fritillary, lots of Gatekeeper, a Marbled White and the obligatory Meadow Browns.

We closed the nets at 11:45 and took down. Rosie was back at 12:00 to pick up Ella and get her back to Hereford for the choir concert she was taking part in Saturday evening.

A quite fantastic month all round: some fabulous nestlings ringed and a phenomenal month for catching and ringing.  Let’s start with the summary:

1) We were 9 birds short of last year’s ringing total; 2) 65 more recaptures than last year’s total and 3) 43 more nestlings ringed than last June in 5 fewer ringing sessions than last June.

 Processed this month but not last June were: Jackdaw, Kestrel, Little Ringed Plover, Redstart, Reed Bunting, Stone-curlew, Stonechat, Swift, Woodpigeon and Yellowhammer. Missing from last June’s list were: Canada Goose, Carrion Crow and Spotted Flycatcher.  I was disappointed with not getting the Spotted Flycatcher in the Firs again. In two sessions in the wood we processed an astonishing 190 birds from 17 species, but missed out on our site speciality. 

Of course, the mega species in that list is another of Jonny’s Little Ringed Plover chicks. This one at one one of his sites near Catcomb.  He has branched out onto Stone-curlew as well.  These birds are not Salisbury Plain birds, which is fantastic.  I know that the RSPB reserve on the Winterbourne Downs were also hopeful of them breeding there this year as well.

Ian’s access to Swift boxes on a military base on the Plain continues to yield dividends.  This time he took Justine and Mark along to get their first experience in handling Swifts and Swiftlets.  Justine sent me a few photos:

She also sent me a picture of this:

A big beastie, compared to the host: it is about the size of the finger nail on your smallest finger.

Another excellent month for Barn Owl chicks, especially when you compare it to this time last year.  They have bred so early I would be surprised if we don’t get a number of second broods.  In May and June this year we have ringed 85 Barn Owl chicks and 5 adults. In the same period last year we ringed just the 8 chicks and 3 adults in June, none in May.

The Redstarts are definitely worth a mention: these five are the first we have ever caught in June of any year. They were caught in several different sites: one on the Imber ranges, on the Salisbury Plain training area; one on farmland near Hilmarton and three on farmland near Alderton. We catch most of ours on Autumn migration in August and September.

One other thing to mention: an excellent increase in the number of Whitethroat that we have caught compared to last year.  In fact, each month of April, May and June this year has each seen the best haul of this species across any of the previous years from 2013 to this year.  The 16 in April were twice as much as the next best, which was 8 in 2021.  The 45 in May was just about 50% higher than the 31 last year, and the 75 this June is just awesome: the previous best was 30 in 2020.  The average June catch, excluding this year is just under 13 birds!   So we have caught just under six times as many as the previous average (5.77 to be accurate to within two decimal places).

So a great month, despite the heat interfering in the number of sessions we could carry out.  It doesn’t hurt when one of your sites produces 70 birds on the 10th of the month and 120 birds on the 28th of the month, when you have only managed 5 full sessions in the month, one of which was hugely disappointing, with just 9 processed and another was just a couple of hours in my garden, but we processed 320 birds from 26 species.

Anyway, there is a lot to look at, and it really was a remarkable month.

After a quite remarkable June, it was our first July outing, to Lower Moor Farm. I was approached by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Public Engagement team a couple of months ago and asked if I would be happy to do a short bird ringing demonstration for a group of secondary school pupils spending a work experience week with the Trust. Naturally, I was happy to help.

I was joined for the morning by Laura and Miranda at 5:00, and we set our usual nets. It was a dreadfully slow start to the morning and I was a bit worried that we wouldn’t have much to show them. Fortunately, it did pick up a bit and, when they arrived at 9:00, we had some birds to show them. Before they arrived we had caught and processed just 9 birds in 3.5 hours, after they arrived we did have 26 birds to show them.

It was a typical group of mid-teens: a dozen of them, a couple of real enthusiasts, plenty who became enthusiastic once we had birds to show them, and those who get very enthusiastic when given the opportunity to learn how to safely hold and release a bird, and, of course, getting their photo taken doing so, and a couple who were clearly thinking “what am I doing here when I could be at home playing on my iPad or phone!” whatever we did. In the end, all bar three were happy to actually hold and release a bird.

The list for the morning was: Treecreeper [2]; Blue Tit [2]; Great Tit [2]; Long-tailed Tit 1[1](1); Wren 2[1](1); Dunnock [2](3); Robin [4]; Blackbird 1[1]; Blackcap 5[2](2); Garden Warbler [1]; Chiffchaff 1. Totals: 10 adults ringed from 5 species, 18 juveniles ringed from 9 species and 7 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 35 birds processed from 11 species.

The juvenile Garden Warbler was so cute: unfortunately, both of my photos are rubbish. However, it had so many feathers in pin, including its very short tail and its primary flight feathers, that I was tempted, for the first time ever, to age it as a 1j. That is a youngster that has been forced to fledge too early. When I released it, it flew away strongly, so I gave it an age code of 3j, properly fledged juvenile bird from this breeding season, but its flying ability was the reason for that decision.

The last round of the day produced the best catch of the day. We had shut the nets and closed them at 11:30, processed a few more birds, but I knew nothing about this catch until Miranda and Laura sent me these photos:

The best birding moment of the morning was a pair of Great White Egret on the opposite side of Mallard Lake from our ringing station. It is the first time I have seen the species at this site. I have seen one at Coate Water, the other side of Swindon, apart from that it has just been on the Somerset Levels.

A nice session, I would have liked more birds, but there were some good moments to enjoy. We were off site by just after midday.

There has been a lot of activity in my garden this summer: lots of juvenile Blue Tits, even more juvenile Starlings, of which I caught a fair number earlier this month using my Potter Traps. With the wind forecast to be low enough to set some nets, I set up two 6m 5-shelf nets either side of the feeding station. To reiterate: I do still feed seed and peanuts, plus fat balls, mealworms etc. However, yesterday I put up freshly cleaned and sterilised feeders, and they will be empty by tonight. With no rain and no great flocks of Greenfinch, just a steady trickle throughout the day, I am quite comfortable with my feeding regime. That I haven’t seen a Tricho suffering Greenfinch or Chaffinch since I ditched the bird table speaks volumes.

Anyway, I have a very early start tomorrow, so thought that I would just open them when I awoke, which I did at 7:45. I caught my first birds at 8:00. A bunch of juvenile Blue Tits and these two:

This is the first juvenile Coal Tit my team has caught so far this year. That was followed by this:

If you look at the colour developing on the lesser coverts, I would hazard a guess that this is a male bird, but I wouldn’t hang my hat on it. Again, the first juvenile House Sparrow my team has had this year and, to be honest, they don’t know that I have got these either.

The other two new for the year were adult, and very healthy looking Greenfinch. I don’t currently have any arable farming sites, so miss out on quite a few finches unless they come to the garden.

Anyway, the list for the morning was: Blue Tit 11; Great Tit 1; Coal Tit 1; Starling 1; House Sparrow 1; Greenfinch 2. Totals : 2 adults ringed from 1 species and 15 juveniles ringed from 5 species, making 17 birds processed from 6 species.

I shut the nets for two reasons: the wind was gusting much stronger and, secondly, I wanted breakfast. It got much stronger so I have not reopened them.

I was contacted by Andrew, one of the local farmers who have put up Barn Owl boxes. Andrew has two, one hasn’t had anything so far, the other has had Jackdaws in the second year. This year they had noticed a Barn Owl hunting over their fields near the box. The plan was to shut my nets between 10:30 and midday and pop out to check their owl boxes. I was on site at 11:15 and Andrew and I went to check. The box where they had seen the the owl flying around had this beauty roosting in it:

Its plumage was pristine and the wings and tail exceptionally clean and beautiful:

It was a beautiful, and very feisty, bird: I have a few spike holes in my fingers!

Anyway, a lovely morning and much better than I was expecting.

On the 10th June we ran a session for the Swindon Wellbeing Group at the Firs. It was a decent catch: 58 birds ringed and 12 birds retrapped from 16 species. I am not sure why I decided to go back there so quickly – something to do with the projected wind direction and speed. It was nice to know that the temperature was going to be bearable, with no chance of heat stress for the team or, more importantly, the birds.

I was joined by David, Laura, Adam and Pete at 5:00 and we set the usual nets down the central glade. To be fair, they set the usual nets. Unfortunately, I am having some serious mobility problems, so I set up the ringing station and stayed there for the session. Laura was team leader for the session.

The obligatory bird hit the nets just as were opening them, this time a juvenile Blue Tit. Over the next two and a half hours we caught another 37 birds: slightly better than usual, but not extraordinary. What happened next was remarkable for us in any of our sites in June, the next four rounds produced: 20, 18, 24 and 20 birds respectively. This number, 120 birds in the session, is nearly double any previous catch at any of our Braydon Forest sites and larger than our largest catch at Lower Moor Farm (109 birds processed).

The key to the catch was the number of juvenile Blue Tits, as you can see from the catch list: Great Spotted Woodpecker [2](1); Nuthatch 1(2); Treecreeper [5]; Blue Tit 2[48](5); Great Tit [6]; Marsh Tit [1](1); Long-tailed Tit 2[2]; Wren [3]; Dunnock [2](1); Robin 1[7]; Song Thrush 1; Blackbird 1; Blackcap 1[10](2); Garden Warbler [1](2); Chiffchaff 1[7]; Goldcrest [1]; Chaffinch (1). Totals: 10 adults ringed from 8 species, 95 juveniles ringed from 13 species and 15 birds retrapped from 8 species, making 120 birds processed from 17 species.

It is just remarkable across the board. Take the Blue Tit juvenile numbers: 65 ringed in June across the Forest. The next largest catch of juveniles in June is 25! The only times that monthly figure has been beaten is in October to December inclusive, when the feeding stations are operational, and then only eight times in 13 years to date.

Nice to add another juvenile Marsh Tit and a retrap, to improve the figures in my previous post. Other cracking catches: five juvenile Treecreepers! The most in any June, and equal to the total number of juveniles ringed last year.

This is another nice statistic:

This is the fourth juvenile we have ringed this month. To put that into perspective, we have never ringed more than four juvenile Great Spotted Woodpeckers in any one year. In fact, we have only matched this figure on two occasions: 2020 and 2025. We have only ever caught two single juveniles in June before: 2020 and 2025 again, and none any earlier.

We shut the nets on the last round at 11:30 and processed the last batch of birds. Much to Adam’s disappointment, as he was looking down the slope he saw a Sparrowhawk shooting along the net line! That would have topped the lot!

Anyway, we packed away and left site by 12:30 after a most astonishing session. Since the clearance work the Firs has just got better and better. The only thing, apart from the Sparrowhawk, that would have made the session complete, a Spotted Flycatcher. We have only caught nine since 2016 and five of those have been in the Firs: three of those in the Firs in the month of June.