This is the first time that I have managed to get to Brown’s Farm this year. It seems that every time I have planned to go either the weather has turned sour, the car has broken down or I have been ill. Weather has been the biggest barrier: despite excellent hedgerows, the site is at the top of Postern Hill, just south of Marlborough, and any wind and it is unworkable. Windy conditions seem to have been a dominating factor in our local weather for the last three years. Last night things looked like I might have to cancel, but a couple of Imodium Instants and I was ready to go – so to speak! Just as well really, as I was being joined by David plus Laura, Mark and their two boys for the session and I really didn’t want them to miss it. We met at 7:15 and set the following nets:
These are 4 sets of 2 x 18m 5-Shelf nets plus the Mipit triangle. To be honest, this was not where I had hoped to set my nets but the track down to the usual site, alongside the game cover, was impassable for our vehicles.
This time of year I expect to catch 35 or so birds at the site, irrespective of in which area I decide to set the nets (36 last October and 35 in November). We set the Mipit triangle more in hope than expectation. In the event we didn’t catch any. After the blank at Lower Moor Farm Friday before last, it rather looks as though they have moved on from this area.
The weather was cold when we arrived: bang on freezing point, so there wasn’t a lot of movement early on. As it began to warm up, after 9:00, we hoped that there would be an increase in avian traffic. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
Once the nets were set I tracked back to put the lures on the net rides: Meadow Pipit in the triangle and a mix of Yellowhammer, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Redwing and Brambling along the eight 18m nets. In the end net I extracted a juvenile male Yellowhammer. Unusually, I decided that I would process the bird: my first of the year. We ended up with four Yellowhammers, which meant that David, Adam and Daniel all got to process their very first Yellowhammers of their ringing careers.
Juvenile Female Yellowhammer, Emberiza citrinella
The second bird out of the net was a Redwing. Somewhat surprisingly, nowhere near the lure that is so often successful.
After a couple of hours of the Meadow Pipit lure proving fruitless I changed it to Linnet. Quite soon afterwards a small flock of Linnets arrived and started flying around the Mipit net set. We eventually caught three of them in the triangle and another in the hedgerow nets:
Juvenile female Linnet, Linaria cannabina
Unfortunately, that was it. No more birds until we decided to pack up, which we did at 11:00. It was an enjoyable session, despite the small catch. With three of the trainees each getting their first Yellowhammer and Adam also getting his first Linnet, it was certainly good for them. Also, it made my day to ring my first Yellowhammer of the year, but also to be able to spend time showing trainees the dark arts of ageing and sexing both Linnet and Yellowhammer.
There was also plenty of time for chatting, drinking coffee and eating cake and biscuits. We did get plenty of birding in as well: Pied Wagtails were busy around the farmyard, a Kestrel was on the hunt, and there were plenty of other birds flying around. If there was any frustration it was the number of birds that hit the nets and bounced off. It is hard to know why it was happening: the nets were certainly not over-taught but somehow they managed to avoid the pockets. Oh well! I will give it a couple of weeks for the track to dry out (fingers crossed) and then have a go by the game cover.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 