A slightly unusual month for us this November. We just did not get the sessions in that we would normally expect. No doubt the weather had a large part to play. Also, my car deciding to break down regularly, leaving me stranded in the middle of Somerford Common and Lower Moor Farm on separate occasions, and then being off the road for a week whilst it was sorted out, didn’t help.
On the face of it we processed over 300 birds fewer than in November last year. However, we did nine fewer sessions than last year. So our average catch was two birds higher, and that was because the average retrapped was a couple of birds higher. On the face of it, one key difference this year, in my neck of the woods at least, is that I have only one feeding station set up (at Somerford Common, for consistency in the winter CES) whereas last year I had three set up in October. That said, my catch this year (310 birds processed in 7 sessions) was only 48 fewer than last year (358 in 9 sessions) – and averages out at 44 birds per session as opposed to 38: perhaps I need to rethink my feeding strategy!
We did have slightly less diversity in the catch this year: 30 species processed versus 33. Missing from the catch this year were Blackcap, Great Spotted Woodpecker (somewhat surprisingly), Green Woodpecker, Stonechat and, (totally unsurprisingly) the Merlin that Jonny caught this time last year. We did, however, add Cetti’s Warbler and Sparrowhawk to the list compared with last year.
Notable differences are: the huge reduction in Redwing caught this year compared to last, and the increase in Lesser Redpoll this year compared to last. All Lesser Redpoll, so far, have been caught in the Braydon Forest.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 