One of the key contributions that the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust makes, outside of owning and managing their nature reserves, is the amount of their activities that focus on people. From their Watch groups, enabling children to become involved in nature, to their care farms, providing educational and nature involvement for children with challenges, physical, mental and behavioural, plus enhancing the mental health of vulnerable adults. I have been involved in these activities whenever they ask me to be, both my bird ringing and, more recently, mothing. Sometimes that means stepping outside of my usual Wednesday / Saturday scheduling. Hence, my most recent foray to the Firs for the Marlborough Men’s Mental Health Group, back on Monday, 8th September. Today it was the turn of the Swindon Well-being Group, again, at the Firs.
I was joined for the morning by Ellie and Laura at 7:00 and we set the following nets:
With the nets open by 8:00 we hoped for a good catch, but not too early, as the Swindon Well-being Group arrive at 11:00. That said, we were just a bit worried at how the catch started off: with no birds caught until 8:45 and just 1, 3, 1 and 5 birds being caught in the first four rounds. However, at 10:30, just before the group arrived, we had a decent round of 10 birds from five species. That looked healthier, starting with 20 birds from eight species in the first 2.5 hours (we have had worse !). Whilst Laura and Ellie were extracting that last little lot the group arrived.
I did my usual spiel on the ringing scheme, how it works, what information it can provide and the benefits that derives for our birdlife. I was beginning to get a bit concerned about what was holding Laura and Ellie up, when they turned the corner at the bottom of the hill, with the first good haul of the morning. Unusually, today I let the team do all of the processing, restricting myself to scribing, checking, and pointing out salient points on moult, ageing, sexing etc. That also gave the two of them the chance to develop their demonstration skills, important for their future development.
As usual, the attending group were a lovely bunch. Very interested in everything, keen to get photos and, eventually, persuaded to learn how to safely hold and release birds – and how much Blue Tits can hurt when they get that beak into your fingers! Basically, all but one of the attendees took the plunge (and she promised she would next time!).
It took a wee while to get everything processed, so I sent my collection team straight off to check the nets again. They came back with another six birds. It was nice to add some variety to the catch, with our first Blackcap and Long-tailed Tits of the morning. We processed them and off they went to check the nets again. After 10 minutes, as I was just wondering whether I needed to go help out, I got a telephone call from Laura: they had run out of bags and needed some more. Several of the attendees volunteered to take the bags down and I wandered down to see if I could be of use: they didn’t need me. It was taking time because they had 24 birds to extract, including this beauty:
The list for the days was: Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit: 12(4); Great Tit 4(1); Coal Tit 2; Marsh Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit 8; Wren (1); Dunnock 1; Blackcap 2; Robin 1(2); Chiffchaff 4; Goldcrest 5(1). Totals: 40 birds ringed from 10 species and 10 birds retrapped from 6 species, making 50 birds processed from 12 species.
We closed the nets whilst extracting this last batch, and took them down once we had completed processing. Anyway, our guests were very happy with what they experienced. We left them having their lunch, getting away by 13:00.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 