Tedworth House: Thursday, 13th September 2018

As Dave Turner was scheduled to be involved in a team building exercise with the Help4Heroes crew at Tedworth House today, I was fully expecting to do this one solo. It was a very pleasant surprise when he rolled up just after 6:00 to help me get set up. A good man. Furthermore, it meant that my monthly bacon sarnie was also back on the menu, before he met up with the “team” for their building exercise at 8:30. The hash brown was a bonus!

Unlike last month’s session, this one started brightly: the first round delivering 11 birds: two more than the entirety of August’s. In those 11 birds were 2 each of Goldfinch, Greenfinch and Blackcap plus a Chiffchaff and a Dunnock and the obligatory Blue Tits (3 thereof).

Round two delivered another 9 birds and I was hopeful of a good sized catch by the end of the session – and then it just died off. The day was rescued by the last catch: a juvenile female Sparrowhawk. We don’t catch many: this is the second caught at the site in 5 years of working there and only the sixth that I have processed in my 9 year ringing career to date. Unfortunately, there is no photograph, as I was working alone. I was able to show the bird to one family who were visiting the site, and they were absolutely delighted to see such a stunning bird close up.

The list for the day was: Sparrowhawk 1; Blue Tit 4(1); Dunnock 1(1); Robin (2); Blackbird 1(1); Blackcap 4(2); Chiffchaff 1; Goldfinch 2; Greenfinch 2. Totals: 16 birds ringed from 8 species; 7 birds recaptured from 5 species, making 23 birds processed from 9 species. Of these, all bar 4 were juvenile birds. The adults were the retrapped Blackbird and one of the retrapped Blackcaps, plus one each of the Goldfinch and Greenfinch.

I did spend some time looking at the absolute carpets of fungi covering the lawn leading up from the House to the Reflection Pond. A few photos. I have no idea what species they are except for one that I think might be Coprinus comatus: the Shaggy Cap or Lawyer’s Wig: