For the second time this week my first choice site became unavailable and so I had to go for an alternate. The plan had been to go back to Blakehill Farm for another clutch of Meadow Pipits plus testing the numbers of Redwing at what is one of our prime sites for them. At the beginning of the week it looked good but by Friday winds that were too high for the wide open spaces of Blakehill were forecast, so I decided to go to the western side of Somerford Common. News that Siskin and Lesser Redpoll numbers were increasing and that Common Crossbill have been seen at the site did influence my decision.
I was joined for the session by an unusually large team: ringers David, Adam and Teresa; helpers Laura, Andy and Mark plus Claire: also a ringer who has just moved into the area and is looking for opportunities to carry on her ringing activities. This was her first time out with us and a bit of an eye-opener as previously she has just worked alongside her trainer. She brought a lovely selection of chocolate biscuits / cakes, much appreciated by all of us. It was the largest group I have had out with me for ages: a shame that there wasn’t a proportionate response in the catch!
We met at 7:00 and set the following nets:
I set various lures: for Redwing and Lesser Redpoll on net 1; Redwing and Siskin on net 2 and Goldcrest, Lesser Redpoll and Siskin on net 3. Net 3 because, whilst like the others it is mixed woodland, this one is in an area with quite a high density of conifers.
Having set up the nets we went to set up the ringing station, only to find that I had left the ringing table at home. I decided to pop home and get it but my car stalled and refused to start again, so we had to make do with using my net boxes as a temporary solution. We started catching birds at 8:30, and caught a couple each round for the rest of the morning, until we packed up at 11:30. All nets caught, but net 3 caught most, mainly because the largest catch was of Goldcrest and that was as expected. Unfortunately, no sign of any Lesser Redpoll or Siskin in the catch. I wasn’t expecting to catch Crossbill. I have been told that the way to catch Crossbill is to watch where they go to drink and to set nets around that water source. Otherwise they are in the tops of the trees, way away from standard mist nets.
The catch for the morning was: Great Tit 3; Coal Tit 2; Wren 1; Robin 3, Redwing 1; Blackbird 1; Goldcrest 9(1). Totals: 20 birds ringed from 7 species and 1 retrap. I will be setting up supplementary feeding stations in the next couple of weeks, so expect to see a fairly substantial increase in catch numbers. Certainly not the biggest catch we have ever had but, to be honest, we had a really fun morning chatting in between rounds. I am lucky enough to have a good group to work with.
With so many hands, taking down was very light work and we were ready to leave site before midday. Everybody else left but my car decided still not to start, so I left site, with my car on the back of a lorry, at 14:30! All good fun!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 