I always look forward to our first juvenile birds of the year and today was the day! Miranda, Laura and I met at Lower Moor Farm for 6:00 to set our nets. We were joined for the morning by Mariana. Mariana is from ZSL and is collecting samples from several species of migratory bird. These are being investigated for signs of exotic mosquito borne viruses, such as West Nile Fever and, the scourge of Blackbirds, Usutu virus, which has had such a huge effect on the population in London. Thankfully, I have seen no sign of it locally. These viruses are spreading north, no doubt due to climate change. Hence the need to monitor susceptible species to find out if or when these and other diseases arrive on these shores. Humans are also susceptible to West Nile Fever and it causes a wide range of unpleasant symptoms. She helped us get set up, provided cookies and savouries during the session, and helped us take down at the end: she is welcome to return any time she likes!
We set the following nets:
It was clear and cold, with a breeze coming in from a north-easterly direction. We hoped that the nets would be shielded for most of the morning and, for most of the time, it was okay. There was a period at about 9:30 when I considered shutting the nets because it was blowing hard but, fortunately, it didn’t last too long (and we didn’t catch any birds in that period).
We caught slowly, as seems to be the case at the moment, until at 8:45 we had the catch that prompted the title: it was a lovely family group of these beauties:
We took two adults and nine juveniles out of the nets: all close together. The one in the photo was the first bird processed and definitely the least well-developed: its wing length was 2mm below the BTO expected length for a fully grown bird. Anyway, as we processed each bird we put them back into their bag so that we could release them all together, which we did and they could all fly off in their family group. The first of many, I hope.
The rest of the morning after that was a wash out, with just two further birds caught, and we started closing nets at just after 10:00. Without the Long-tailed Tits it would have been a very poor catch. The list for the session was: Great Tit (1); Dunnock (1); Robin (2); Long-tailed Tit 10(2); Blackcap 2(1); Chiffchaff 2(1). 14 birds ringed from 3 species and 8 birds retrapped from 6 species, making 22 birds processed from 6 species.
Not a huge catch but in three sessions there in May 2024 we caught 17, 17 and 25, with the 25 being at the end of the month, so perhaps I should be grateful. Mariana got six samples from the Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, which she was happy with, and will be coming out with us again.
There were a lot of other things going on. The Mute Swans have three cygnets that are at a good size now. I don’t know how many they started with but I am pretty sure that our last session at Lower Moor Farm, almost exactly one month ago, they did not have any on the water with them.
An unusual sighting was three pairs of Greylag Goose. We get the odd one or two in the winter but I have never seen more than two at Lower Moor Farm before. They flew in as a six and then split into three groups of two, hence my assumption that they were pairs. Naturally, the male Mute Swan had to go and show then who is boss! Lots of wing arching and spreading, neck stretching and running across the water towards them. He settled down again when they moved to the other side of the lake.
As the air warmed up the damselflies put in an appearance: lots of Common Blue and Large Red, several already copulating. There was a decent show of dragonflies as well. From the early emergence, i.e. mid-May, they are almost certainly the Hairy Dragonfly, Brachytron pratense.
There was a lovely interlude when Miranda’s son arrived with her eight month old puppy, Percy. He was taking him for his walk and, when he saw Miranda, he became incredibly excited, clearly very surprised and not understanding why she was there. It was a very enjoyable 10 minutes.
Anyway, we took the nets down in stages, packed away and left by 11:00. It was better than it could have been, thanks to the Long-tailed Tits, but not as good as I would have liked. Ride one produced just two birds: the retrapped Robins, so I think I am going to give it a miss for a while and move further into the wildlife refuge area, beyond where we have been setting the nets to date.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 