With this being the first dry day, with tolerable wind speeds for mist netting, since our Boxing Day session, I decided to run a session at Webb’s Wood to celebrate the New Year. There was a good team turnout: Ellie (my longest serving / longest suffering C-permit holder), Teresa and Adam for ringing & extracting duties; Laura for extracting & scribing duties, Andy for scribing duties & Mark (to give me someone to talk to, because everybody else was doing all of the work). The whole team joined in with setting up and taking down the nets in what can only be described as a quagmire. Needless to say, the only person who managed to actually measure their length in the mud was yours truly: via a bramble tripwire! Fortunately, that was right at the end of the session, because I was very mucky afterwards.
We met at 7:30 and, despite a bit of messing around with the last two nets, with shelf strings breaking on both, one immediately retrievable thanks to Laura’s dexterity, the other having to be replaced, we had all nets open by 8:30 and were immediately catching birds for processing.
It wasn’t the most exciting catch: unfortunately there were no Lesser Redpoll to be seen this time, and neither did any Redwing put in an appearance. However, we did catch a decent number of birds, mainly Blue and Great Tits attracted in by the feeding station. Despite the lack of variety, Adam got to ring his first ever Chaffinch and Goldcrest and Teresa to ring her second ever Goldcrest, so I think they were happy with their morning’s work.
The list for the session was: Blue Tit 15(9); Great Tit 13(10); Coal Tit 3(2); Blackbird 1; Goldcrest 3; Chaffinch 1. Totals: 36 birds ringed from 6 species and 21 birds retrapped from 3 species, making 57 birds processed from 6 species.
Whilst the rest of the team were extracting birds at 9:30, Mark and I had the pleasure of watching a Raven circling around above our ringing site, calling constantly. It then perched in the top of one of the taller conifers left at the site and we had lovely views as it continued its calling from its perch. It then flew off and a few minutes later we had a pair of Ravens fly past: whether it had been calling for its mate and this was the result, or not, is open to conjecture. What we did see, a little later on, was a Raven flying through with what looked like nesting material in its beak. They nest early, so it is entirely feasible that what we saw this morning was all part of pair bonding and preparation for nesting.
At about 10:00 we were treated to an overflying Goshawk. We know that they arrived in the area a few years ago, and I am aware of two sites where they are thought to have nested last year. I am hoping to find the nests this year and see about monitoring them and their young (once I have filled out the appropriate paperwork for a Schedule 1 licence).
With the weather turning decidedly chilly, the wind increasing in strength and, perhaps more decisively, the catch numbers having died off, we decided to pack away the nets, carrying out the last round at 11:20. We had everything packed away and were off site by just before 12:30.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 