I always look forward to the eruption of the Tipulidae (Crane-flies to the unpretentious out there) in September, as it heralds the arrival of the over-wintering Meadow Pipits at Blakehill. On the last visit, on the 28th August, there was not a Meadow Pipit to be seen. This visit I was hopeful that they would have started to arrive, as mid-September is the prime time for them at the site.
This morning, with temperatures forecast to reach 30oC by 11:00, I decided to be very cautious with the net setting: I wanted no opportunity for heat stress on either the birds or the people. I was joined by my newest trainee, Teresa, and her partner, Andy. I also thought that it would give more time to guide Teresa through her first ringing experience. She has accompanied me at quite a few sessions, primarily photographing the catches, and the next thing I knew she had applied to be a trainee. Normally I would have expected her to have a few taster sessions before signing up, but I have no wish to curb enthusiasm. Besides which, Andy is a star at helping set up and take down. Because of the planned early closure, I got on site at 6:00 and spent 15 minutes playing with my new toy: an electric brush cutter, opening up the few rides I was planning to use, so we could get set up ready to go early on. It was, in fact, very misty and nothing started moving until gone 7:00.
I only set nets on the plateau area and didn’t set any along the perimeter track hedgerow, as follows:
The 2-Shelf nets were set along low level bramble bushes. The 5-Shelf nets were between or alongside bramble and blackthorn at a height of 2.5m. Lures were put on for a mix of possible migrant species at nets 3 and 4 and in between nets 5 and 6. The Mipit triangle had a lure purely for Meadow Pipit.
As I said, it was misty and a very slow start: a Whitethroat was caught in a net at 7:15 and a Dunnock at 8:25. Things improved after that somewhat, although several rounds were empty, the round at 9:15 produced eight birds, 10:15 five birds and the last round at 10:55 six birds.
Surprisingly, the biggest part of the catch were Blue Tits in nets 5 and 6, with a total of eight caught. Seven were dispersing youngsters, one was a retrap ringed at Blakehill in December last year.
The list for the day was: Blue Tit 7(1); Dunnock 2; Meadow Pipit 7; Blackcap 1; Whitethroat 1; Reed Bunting 2. Totals: 20 juveniles ringed from 6 species and 1 retrap, making 21 birds processed from 6 species.
The highlight was the arrival of the Meadow Pipits: all caught in the triangle. For those who don’t know why a Mipit triangle is set, the reason is that the birds are slow fliers and, as a result, they see the nets and can avoid them. You most commonly know they have arrived as you can see them sitting on the tops of the support poles and the top string of the nets. So, the lure attracts them into the middle of the triangle and, as the ringers approach the nets, they look to make a quick escape which is when they end up in the nets, as they take less care at that point, being focused on avoiding the people and forgetting about the nets. It works well and this is the result:
Juvenile Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis
This photo shows beautifully the characteristic pale fringing to the median and greater coverts that identifies this bird clearly as a juvenile. Both photos were taken by Teresa.
We shut the nets and took down at 11:00. The misty start to the morning had delayed the temperature rise but we had everything down and packed away by just after 11:30, just as the temperature was becoming an issue. Teresa finished her first ringing session with nine birds ringed from five species. I am sure that she will get to grips with it quickly.
It is still a little disappointing not to have caught any Whinchat or Stonechat at Blakehill yet. I plan to be back on the plateau 10 days time so, hopefully, we will get them at that point.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 