The last time I had a ringing session in the Firs was on the 9th October 2022. Later that month the reserve was closed for Ash die-back mitigation work, carried out on the insistence of and by the preferred contractors of the site owners: the Hills Group. The site is managed on their behalf by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust. It was originally going to be closed for six weeks whilst the contractors removed all of the Ash and a number of the mature Oak trees. The latter were by way of part payment for the work carried out. Unfortunately, the work dragged on, and the contractors left site, leaving the work unfinished and the site in an unsafe condition. As this was unexpected, the Trust had not budgeted for making the site safe, as it was not expected that they would have to do so. With the Trust having so many other projects on the go, the reserve was left in an unsafe condition and, therefore, remained closed. To date the reserve remains closed to the public. However, last Friday I got permission to restart ringing sessions in the Firs.
So, old friend? It was the first Braydon Forest site that I was given access to after achieving my C-permit. The Firs has been my most regular site for seeing Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, not that I have managed to catch any to put a ring on, but seeing them is special. The Firs was the first site in the Braydon Forest where we caught Spotted Flycatcher: two juveniles in August 2016 and a potential breeding pair in June 2019. Subsequently we have caught them in all of the Braydon Forest sites except Webb’s Wood. Any site that allows me to work with stunning birds like that is definitely a friend!
Why foe? It is known as the Braydon Bog: the wettest site for the longest time in most years. However, the real issue is the hill! It seems like such a gentle slope, but it is deceptive. Working the Firs is absolutely the hardest work of any of my sites: a dozen trips up and down that slope, at 500m per round trip, is hard work for someone of my advanced years and arthritic ankle!
Anyway, despite those drawbacks it is a reliable site and I live in hope of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker ending up in my nets one day! So this morning I was joined by Miranda, Teresa and Andy for a session. We met at 6:00 and set 5 x 18m 5-Shelf nets and 2 x 12m 5-Shelf nets along the central glade, in 2 rides from the bottom of the hill. No photographic diagram: neither Ordnance Survey nor Google Maps show the current state of the wood.
We started catching as soon as the nets were open and caught fairly regularly throughout the morning. We did have to call a halt to proceedings due to a passing shower between 10:00 and 10:30, so missed out on one round. However, there were no birds in the nets in the round after the shower, so no harm done.
The catch for the day was: Blue Tit 2(1); Great Tit 2; Coal Tit 2; Long-tailed Tit 3; Wren 3; Dunnock 1; Robin 2(1); Song Thrush 2; Blackbird 1(1); Blackcap 6; Chiffchaff 5. Totals 29 birds ringed from 11 species and 3 birds retrapped from 3 species, making 32 species processed from 11 species.
For comparison, the average catch size in this wood during April is 22.4 and the highest was 33 back in 2016. Interestingly, that session comprised 30 ringed and 3 retrapped from 11 species. We were one bird off: the Blackbird that disentangled itself before Miranda could get to it!
After a satisfactory session, we closed the nets and took down at 11:30 and left site by midday.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 