An excellent December, our best yet, beating the previous best, 2020, by 12 birds! That year’s came from 30 species. This year’s total came from only 27 species. This is the comparison with last December:
Added to our list this year were Corn Bunting, Starling, Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer. Missing from the list were Bullfinch, House Sparrow, Jay, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Redpoll and Siskin.
The key differences are a 43% increase in the number of birds ringed and a 46% increase in retrapped birds, albeit from two species fewer ringed and four species fewer retrapped.
It is pretty clear what the main difference is: Blue Tits have clearly had a tremendously good month. That split into 264 juveniles vs 60 adults ringed. Compare with 2024: 107 juveniles to 72 adults ringed. More informative is the ratio of adults to juveniles. In 2025 the ratio is 18.5% to 81.5%, whereas in 2024 it was 40.2% to 59.8%. It looks like it was a good breeding season for Blue Tits this year. The annual results will show more.
Great Tits showed an identical number of retrapped birds but 29 more ringed. That comprised 18 adults and 65 juveniles, as opposed to 9 adults and 45 juveniles in December 2024. The ratios are 21.7% to 78.3% in 2025 compared to 16.7% to 83.3% adults to juveniles in 2024. So it looks as though Great Tits had done a bit better in 2024 than this year. I will do full year comparisons in the next couple of weeks: I have a number of records to come in yet for earlier in the year.
Marsh Tits, with three ringed compared to one last December and 19 retrapped compared with just four last December underlines what an excellent year the species had in 2025. In the whole of 2024 we ringed four adults and 16 juveniles. In 2025 we have ringed 14 adults and 39 juveniles. This is our group’s best ever year for the species. To put it into perspective, last year 44 Marsh Tits were ringed in the whole of Wiltshire, and we ringed 19 of them. We have ringed nine more than were ringed in the entire county last year. My catch has more than doubled, from 19 ringed in the Braydon Forest in 2024 to 39 ringed in 2024, adding to the catch this year are Jonny’s sites at Biss Wood and Green Lane Wood and his new site at Catcomb Wood.
Although Robin totals were close, the majority this December were ringed: 3 adults to 13 juveniles, compared with just seven last December: 2 adults to 5 juveniles. Ratios again: 18.8% to 81.2% in 2025; compared with 28.6% to 71.4%. It will be interesting to see how that works out over the course of the year. My thought is that smaller insectivorous birds have had a much better breeding season than larger carnivorous / omnivorous species.
Last piece from me: Jonny caught a single Corn Bunting at a farmland site near Hilmarton back in January 2024. He has caught no more until this December when he caught five in one session. Lovely and the first bird I ever ringed!
Anyway, an excellent December, even if we have all been pecked to pieces by Blue Tits. All the details are there.
Happy New Year everybody
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 