My car was in the garage yesterday, costing me just the £860 for a service, two new tyres and windscreen wipers plus its MOT, so I put off the midweek ringing session to today. (Add in the £370 for insurance makes this an expensive month – good job I don’t need to order any rings or nets!)
The first thing to say: it seems to have got lighter a lot earlier over the last week. Last Wednesday, when we last got out, it was still pre-dawn darkish at 7:00, this morning it was full daylight by then. Oh well! It will be 6:30 starts for a few weeks now!
Anyway, I was joined by Miranda and Laura for the morning. We met at 7:30. Knowing that there were only the three of us, and that Laura had to leave at 10:30, we didn’t set too many nets:
We had the nets open by about 8:15 and started catching at about 8:30. This was our first visit to Lower Moor Farm this year and I probably will not be back for another month. This site has no feeding stations set up and the catch is usually low this early in the month, with the exception of 2021 when we had 40. Today lived up to the average: with just 18 birds caught from eight species: Great Tit (2); Long-tailed Tit 4; Wren 1(1); Dunnock 2; Robin (1); Redwing 1; Chiffchaff 1(1); Goldcrest 3(1)). Totals: 12 birds ringed from 6 species and 6 birds retrapped from 6 species, making 18 birds processed from 8 species.
The Redwing capture is our first at the site this winter. When I started ringing at Lower Moor Farm we would catch good numbers over the winter. However, since 2018 their numbers have plummeted at this site, and this catch size has become the norm rather than the exception. I cannot think of any particular reason why: there have been no management changes that would explain this.
With the numbers having just drained away by 10:30, Miranda and I packed up at 11:00. Again, we had some nice interactions with reserve visitors and some of the Care Farm team and their charges. For once, apart from the first person we encountered when driving onto the reserve, all of the dog owners had their dogs on their leads: especially Miranda’s son, Eliot, when he arrived with her spaniel Percy. He was very excited to see her (the dog, Eliot knew she would be there) but after 10 minutes made it clear he wanted to continue his walk!
We were off site just before midday. Despite the low number it was a very pleasant morning spent at one of my favourite sites. Whilst waiting to do our net rounds we had plenty of time to enjoy the Great Crested Grebes and Tufted Ducks on Mallard Lake, and the Grey Herons nesting in the trees between Cottage Lake and Swallow Pool, and flying down to feed on Mallard Lake.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 