What can I say: our best ever August and our second best ever monthly catch, behind September 2023. That is not to say that there weren’t a couple of surprising omissions.
There are so many points of interest this month, it really has been a good set – even for those of us not landing large catches. In my case, it has definitely been quality over quantity.
New to the list, compared to 2024, were Firecrest, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Kestrel, Magpie, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Swift, Whinchat and Yellow Wagtail. Somewhat surprisingly missing from the catch were Meadow Pipit, Reed Bunting and Starling! Not so surprising was the lack of Hobby in the list this year.
In my opinion, the most remarkable catch of the month were the 11 Redstart! To start with, this is our best ever year for the species: with 14 so far. It is also our best ever monthly catch. What’s behind it? Well, no one site dominated: evenly spread across Salisbury Plain, farmland to the east of Chippenham and, to my absolute delight, for the first time ever, three of them at Ravensroost Meadows! With the news that the Wildlife Trust, after just 15 years of nagging by me, have budgeted to reconstitute the largest pond and clean out around the causeway ponds, I am actually getting excited about the potential for this site next year. If we can get it back to the situation I encountered when I first started birding there: with breeding Sedge and Reed Warblers plus Moorhen, and Swallows and House Martins buzzing the causeway ponds, I will be delighted.
The Firecrest was a pleasant surprise in an otherwise disappointing session at Ravensroost Wood. It is only the second caught there and the fifth in the Braydon Forest, the others being caught two in Red Lodge and one on Somerford Common. Being in the right place at the right time: Miranda got to ring her second, and a family of four got a really interesting close up view of an uncommon bird.
Even more exciting though was Jonny’s first Yellow Wagtail:
This is only the third caught by the current group since my two at Brown’s Farm back in 2021 and last July.
As for Ian and Andy: the Nightjar hauls just keep getting better. Ian has given me the secret of his success, which I plan to test out at Blakehill Farm this coming week. It is the nearest area I have in habitat to the Salisbury Plain sites. Just have a look at the video, filmed by Ian, and be enchanted.
The suggestion is that the autumn migration has started early this year. Just looking at some of our warbler numbers would seem to support that contention: a 40% increase in the number of Blackcaps, a 200% increase in the number of Lesser Whitethroat and a 100% increase in the number of Whitethroat caught this month compared to last. The Whitethroat catch is our second best ever for July. As seems to be the same for a lot of species, the best July was in 2020, after lockdown. Our Lesser Whitethroat catch is the best ever for August, following our best ever July for the species. Ironically, someone who likes to speak for the whole of Wiltshire, was on Facebook bemoaning what a terrible year it has been for Lesser Whitethroat. Well, with September and October to go, we are on 80 individuals: a 157% increase on last year, which was, itself, our best year to date for the species. To be fair, August is always our best month for Lesser Whitethroat. However, the 33 this year is 83% higher than the previous best, August in 2022.
Alongside these, it was surprising to catch four Whinchat on Blakehill, in an otherwise quiet session (okay, we also had four Lesser Whitethroat and a couple of Willow Warblers, so hard to complain). September is the key month for the species on Blakehill. This is only the third time we have caught them there in August: seven back in my first autumn at Blakehill in 2015, and two in 2020. We actually caught none at all on the site in 2022 and 2023, so I am always happy when we catch a few more. The fifth for the month was on the Imber Ranges.
Although Stonechat are a regular catch on the Salisbury Plain sites, this is only the second time that we have caught them in August on Blakehill. September to November are usually our best months for them there.
So, an excellent month. Let’s hope September lives up to its usual good catch. For one, I am hoping that our Meadow Pipits, instead of hopping up on the fence posts and tops of the various bushes, will start hitting the nets. They were just taking the mickey this month: teasing us and avoiding the nets.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 