With the forecast being for it to be a bit breezy I decided to try something a bit different at Somerford Common. I warned the crew that it might not work, but David, Laura, Adam and Daniel joined me regardless. We met at 5:30 and went to the winter feeding station / CES area and put up a rather different set of nets:
We had the nets open quickly and then waited for some birds to arrive. The first birds hit the nets at 6:45: two Chiffchaff and a Willow Warbler. The next round produced another three birds: two Willow Warblers and our first Garden Warbler at Somerford Common for three years at this site. Whilst we were processing these, the moisture that had made its way into the air turned into a fairly heavy rain shower, so we shut the nets and sat in the cars until it stopped.
Once we reopened the nets the birds had really just disappeared: plenty of song, not a lot of movement. Between 8:15, when we reopened the nets and 10:00, when we shut them again, we only caught another six birds. The list from the day was: Garden Warbler 1; Chiffchaff 4; Willow Warbler 5(2). Totals: 10 birds ringed from 3 species and 2 birds retrapped from one species, making 12 birds processed from 3 species.
What was pleasing about this small catch was that three of the Willow Warblers were females: looking forward to finding some youngsters in due course. Unfortunately, just before 10:00 the rain started to fall again. This time it was heavier and the sky overhead was looking threatening so we decided to shut the nets and take down. Naturally, there were a final couple of birds in the nets, so they were processed by Adam and Daniel, whilst Laura and David started taking in the nets.
The last bird out of the net, LXL255, is a Willow Warbler male but, not on our rings. It will be interesting to see where it was originally ringed.
We were off-site by 10:30: just as the rain stopped, the clouds broke and the sun came out again. Too late!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 