As regular readers will know, on the seventh of this month we held a ringing demonstration for the Swindon Wildlife Group. If it hadn’t been for the three lovely Whinchat that turned up late in the session, it would have been a very disappointing morning for the paying public. Unfortunately, the Stonechats that bred on site this year, whilst making an appearance sitting on top of the net poles, failed to hit any of the nets and Meadow Pipits were conspicuous by their absence, apart from one that flew across the plateau before any of the public arrived.
Last week’s midweek session had to be cancelled due to my back problems, so I was looking for an opportunity to get out early this week and today was perfect. What is more, the weather forecasts all said that it would be dry, with a low base wind until about 11:00, whereupon it would get somewhat windy, with the wind coming from the north. Having invited my team to join me, if they could make it, I worked solo this morning. Something that I haven’t done for an age, except for the occasional garden session. Being mindful of my physical state, I only set the following nets initially:
I worked with these nets until 11:00 when the breeze became too strong, and I had to close them. As I wasn’t ready to pack up then, I set a row of three 18m 5-Shelf nets along the perimeter track hedgerow. With the wind coming from the north, they were well sheltered and, having closed the other nets, easy for me to manage:
Although immediately adjacent to the ringing station, I had wanted to go for the potential Meadow Pipit catch and the potential for Whinchat and Stone chat.
The first round produced two birds: a Wren and our fourth Redstart of the autumn: three at Blakehill Farm and one at Lower Moor Farm! This is my team’s best catch of Redstart ever. We have only ever caught 11 since I started working these sites in August 2012: nine of them at Blakehill Farm, two at Lower Moor Farm. Walking back with these two bagged up I found my first two Meadow Pipits of the autumn in the Mipit triangle.
Juvenile Meadow Pipit, Anthus pratensis. Note the pale edges to the median coverts with dark points infiltrating the pale edge. These are classic age identifiers for this species. I am pleased to say that I caught a couple of them in nearly every round, ending with a total of 13.
There was a decidedly small fall of Chiffchaffs, with six in round two and five in round three, ending up with the same total of Chiffchaff as I did with Meadow Pipit. The fourth round threw up one of the species missing from two weeks ago plus another that I really wasn’t expecting:
Juvenile male Stonechat, Saxicola rubicola. Only the two innermost greater coverts are white. In the adult this would be three or four at this time of year.
Followed by:
Juvenile Sedge Warbler, Acrocephalus schoenobaenus. This is only the fifth that we have caught at Blakehill: the first was in August 2019. We have then caught one on autumn passage in each year since, except for 2023. It has never been more than one in any year though, and none on spring passage.
The catch for the session was: Blue Tit [4]; Great Tit [1]; Long-tailed Tit {1}*; Wren 1[1](1); Dunnock [1]; Meadow Pipit 1[12]; Stonechat [2]; Redstart 1; Sedge Warbler [1]; Blackcap [1]; Chiffchaff [13]; Reed Bunting [3]. Totals: 1 bird unaged*, 3 adults ringed from 3 species, 39 juveniles ringed from 10 species and 1 juvenile retrapped, making 44 birds processed from 12 species.
* unaged because both adult and juvenile Long-tailed Tits, along with Nuthatch and House Sparrow, moult into identical plumage in the autumn. This bird had completed its moult so impossible to say whether adult or juvenile. The eye-ring colour varies between red and orange but is not a reliable indicator of age.
I started taking down the nets at 11:00, finishing with the final three at about 12:30. It was a lovely session. Mind you, this time the cattle were extremely nosey and I had to chase them away from the nets on several occasions. No damage, thankfully, but I wonder what they were thinking when this idiot came running towards them waving his arms and shouting at them to go away (not quite as politely as that might read). It is a lot easier to manage when there are more of you to keep them away. I will be back there the very next time the weather allows.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 