A pretty decent month July 2023 for the group as a whole, despite some awful weather impacting on activities on and off throughout the period. I know that I had to miss a number of sessions and suspect that catch levels were impacted: I mean, 6 birds in 4 hours in 180 metres of net at Red Lodge was a real low for me. There were some significant activities and catches though. Two Corn Bunting were ringed at New Zealand Farm this month. Since the beginning of 2013 we had caught just two of this species: both at the site on the Imber Ranges area of SPTA, one in January 2021 and the other in October last year. Catching two more on SPTA is certainly interesting. I don’t know what their range is on Salisbury Plain but, to see them coming onto sites where they haven’t been caught before, does imply that their numbers might be increasing if they are genuinely spreading to new areas.
Jonny also continues to expand his activity: having taken on a host of Tree Sparrow nest boxes, they are certainly producing the goods. That one of the Tree Sparrow sites is also hosting a number of Swallow nests has also helped increase the number of pulli being ringed by the group. My contribution to the pulli this month were the four Barn Owl chicks. Two were in a box at a site that I only got access to this year. What was interesting is that the box was on the north side of the tree and one of the adults was roosting in a natural hole on the south side of the tree. There were three pulli in the box but one was too small to ring. Given the way the weather went, and what we found with intra-brood cannibalism in June, I decided to leave it for another couple of weeks before ringing it: wouldn’t want to give its siblings indigestion if push comes to shove. The results for July, compared to 2022, are:
The Imber Ranges site produced the Redstart, Grasshopper Warblers and a Tree Pipit: it would seem like some early migration is underway – trying to get away from this weather possibly?
Surprisingly, we did actually get in quite a few more sessions than we did last year, so the numbers processed per session are down, but the number of species processed, 47 compared to 39, with 10 more species ringed than July 2022, is interesting. This year we added Barn Owl (an adult plus 4 pulli), Buzzard (thanks to my work with RSPCA Oak & Furrows), Coal Tit, Corn Bunting, Grasshopper Warbler, Jackdaw (both adults mist netted in my garden), Marsh Tit, Nuthatch (one of the 6 birds caught in the abysmal session at Red Lodge), Redstart, Stonechat, Swallow (all pulli), Tawny Owl (Oak & Furrows again), Tree Pipit and Tree Sparrow. Birds processed last July but not caught this year were: Green Woodpecker, Icterine Warbler (unsurprisingly), Jay, Meadow Pipit, Siskin and Spotted Flycatcher.
All in all, a pretty decent return, despite the weather.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 