Despite this month apparently being the wettest February on record, we did have a pretty decent month. For those who are religious or superstitious, look away now: we processed 666 birds: the number of the feathery beast!
So, despite the rain we did manage to fit in a couple more sessions than last year, and it was our second best February, with last year’s being our best. We ringed fewer birds from the same number of species as in 2023, and retrapped more birds from the same number of species than we did in 2023, but we managed to process two more species than we did in 2023. How did that work out? The following species were caught and processed this year but not in 2023: Jay, Meadow Pipit, Siskin, Skylark, Starling, Stonechat, Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer. Missing from the catch this year were Barn Owl and Buzzard – but they were ringed in the Oak & Furrows Rehabilitation Centre, Blackcap, Kingfisher and Treecreeper.
Highlights of the month have to be the Skylark: Andy spent four hours at his new site and caught one bird: but it was a Skylark! I admire his patience: I packed up after seven birds in three hours on Wednesday! Mind, we weren’t catching anything as good as that and it did start to rain as I finished putting stuff in the car. I have just circulated the recovery report on Ian’s Lesser Redpoll recovery: a great garden find. I would love to catch eight Lesser Redpoll in my garden! In fact, I would love to catch one: I have caught Siskin but never Lesser Redpoll in my garden. My garden did deliver this month’s Starlings: one of which was a bird ringed as an adult six years ago. The real highlights for me this month was the session held at Blakehill Farm on the 10th of the month: 22 Meadow Pipit and 2 Stonechat. These are the only two Stonechat ever caught by the group in February. A nice catch of Yellowhammer: our second best ever February for them, the best being on 2018. Particularly nice about it is that the bulk of them came from three new sites.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 