With yesterday being very wet first thing, this weekend a washout, and my car in for repairs next Monday to Wednesday, I was very keen to get out this morning. It was a little daunting at 7:00 this morning when I started the car: time to get the frost covers out! Leaving home it was -3oC, by the time I got to the ringing site it was -5oC, by the time we had the nets up and open it was a balmy (or is that “barmy”?) 0oC.
Anyway, I was joined for the morning at 7:30 by Laura and Ellie, as well as Claire, back with us for the first time for an age, having been working away for 18 months, and Ellie’s friend Kayleigh, a C-permit holder from the Newbury Ringing Group.
I had set up a feeding station on Monday morning, in the usual place: two 1 litre seed feeders and two 75cl peanut feeders. On arrival, it was clear that it hadn’t been found by many of the local birds yet. The feeders were still, basically, full. We set the following nets:
The nets were open by 8:30 and we started catching straight away. The obligatory Blue Tit, a retrap, obviously. It was a pleasant session, despite the cold. No huge rounds, but enough to keep us occupied, and enough not to leave the birds in the nets, in the cold, for any length of time.
As expected at this time of year, the majority of the catch were Blue Tits but, surprisingly, we had fewer Great Tits than we had Redpoll this morning. The second largest part of the catch were Long-tailed Tit, followed by Goldcrest.
The list for the session was: Blue Tit 12(6); Great Tit 1(1); Coal Tit 2(1); Long-tailed Tit 10; Robin 1(1); Goldcrest 6; Chaffinch 2(1); Redpoll 3. Totals: 37 birds ringed from 8 species and 10 birds retrapped from 5 species, making 47 birds processed from 8 species.
The forecast wind did not get up until 11:00, but didn’t start affecting the nets much until we reached the previously agreed pack up time of 11:30. It was just as well, because we caught one bird in each of the 11:15 and 11:30 rounds. Too cold to be sitting around with nothing to do. Everybody had an enjoyable time, Kayleigh is a delight and is welcome any time.
The Redpoll are always a delight. Numbers caught in Webb’s went up significantly after the Beech wood was thinned in 2019. We had great catches in 2020 to 2023 inclusive, dropped off in 2024, but that was because we didn’t get to the site until late December, for whatever reason. I hopeful we will get a 2023 type catch this year!
Similarly, the number of Chaffinch that we have caught across the Braydon Forest this year is heading towards one of our best. It isn’t the catching of them, it is being able to ring them. Anecdotally, I would suggest that we are finding far fewer with Fringilla papillomavirus or mite infections on the legs than we have for at least 5 years.
It is hard to be unhappy with a session that includes 10 Lottis! everybody loves them:
This one of the three species we catch that cannot be aged by this time of year. Both adults and juveniles have undergone a complete moult into adult plumage over the summer and autumn. The other two species that do the same are Nuthatch and House Sparrow.
One last, nice anecdote, to finish: Laura was telling me that when it was her turn for taking the children to school this week Teresa, the student mentioned in Saturday’s Firs blog, was chatting away to her fellow German student, in German, which Laura is fluent in. She was enthusing about her time out with us and will look to find out about how she can do it when she goes home. Teresa also said that, if she couldn’t find a way in Germany, she would move here: brave for a 13 year old!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 