Despite the awful weather we did manage to get 19 full sessions in during the month. I was particularly affected, only making four of eight scheduled sessions and only 102 birds processed by my team. Last year I managed seven April sessions. Fortunately, others took up the slack so we ended up with the 19 full sessions, compared to 21 in April 2023.
The session numbers were reasonably similar, the main differences being in the number of birds retrapped: 2.5 more per session last year that this and the fact that we ringed more birds than last year, albeit from fewer species.
Although it shows that there was one species more processed last April, two of those species, Barn Owl and Buzzard, were processed at the RSPCA Oak & Furrows Rehab Centre, so weren’t wild caught.
Caught this April but not last were: Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Marsh Tit, Meadow Pipit and Skylark. Missing from last year, apart for the rehab birds, were Bullfinch and Garden Warbler.
The star bird surely has to be the Skylark: the twelfth that we have caught since 2019 but, prior to that, we hadn’t caught any since the group split at the beginning of 2013. Most seem to be shared between Andy’s Imber Ranges site or Jonny’s East Tytherton site. The Meadow Pipits were also caught on Andy’s Imber site. Spring catches are unusual for us with this species: this is only the third April catch we have had: two birds in 2021 at Imber and four in 2015 at Blakehill Farm. I need to mention the three Nuthatches processed: one was in the Wildlife Trust reserve at Green Lane Wood, the other was at Lower Moor Farm. This is only the sixth Nuthatch caught there. It is not surprising, it is not a woodland, but reconstructed gravel extraction pits.
Interestingly, whilst Blackcap numbers were over double the figures reached last April, all of the other summer visitor numbers were down on last year. The slowness of arrival of summer migrants this year has been flagged up on the BTO’s BirdTrack reports: particularly Wheatear and Swallow, although we do seem to have plenty of them around in the Cotswold Water Park and environs.
One final event in April: I took on five more trainees. They are all C-permit holders from the Salisbury Plain Raptor Study Group. Their permits are restricted to ringing the pulli of Barn Owl, Tawny Owl, Little Owl and Kestrel, and they have all of the appropriate permissions from the BTO and Natural England.. They were the trainees of the legend that is Nigel Lewis. At the age of 88 (88! – I do not expect to be climbing ladders at age 80, let alone any older) he has retired from the world of bird ringing, leaving a massive legacy and huge body of work, but also leaving a team without a trainer. There are a number of other A-ringers in the group but no trainers, so I have stepped up and taken them on so they can continue to carry out their excellent work. I don’t expect to do much work with them, as I have plenty to do up north in the county, but will enjoy the odd trip out on Salisbury Plain.
Let’s hope that we have better weather this month and can get some good sessions in!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 