As a wee prelude: for the first time for an age, the forecast for Tuesday was reasonably calm in the village, so I set and furled a couple of nets Monday night and opened them early Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, what a surprise, they got it wrong, the wind got up and I had to shut them again before 8:00, but at least I caught three of these beauties:
Having taken my nets down I drove over to Webb’s Wood to top up the bird feeders. Have I mentioned how much I dislike Grey Squirrels, Sciurus carolinensis? I wish the idiots that introduced them to the UK had left them in the Carolinas! Both seed feeders had been dismantled by them. One I managed to repair on site, the other I had to take home and sort out before bringing it back this morning.
So to this morning at Webb’s Wood. The forecast had been for it to rain overnight with it drying out by 7:00. In fact, it was dry as I left the house at 6:00. I was joined for the morning by Miranda, Laura and Pete at 6:30. Miranda had texted me to say it was rather windy at her place near Malmesbury, but Purton was not so bad. When we arrived on site the wind was not too bad, very little base wind with the occasional gust. This was forecast to be the weather for the rest of the morning, with the wind getting stronger and more blustery, plus some rain, from midday onwards. We set the usual nets and started catching at about 7:30. It was pretty much standard fare at this time of the year with a feeding station set up, but it was very quiet. When I topped up the feeders yesterday there had to have been a fall of Chiffchaff. because the males were “chiffing” all over the place. This morning we only heard one and caught none.
Unfortunately, at just gone 9:30 the wind really got up, and it was clear that we were going to have to close up and take down. The thing is, disappointing though that was, we really cannot complain too much. At 9:00 Laura came with a bird in a bag and a very coy, very excited smile on her face. This is why:
My team has ringed 10 0f them. This one was Laura’s first and also the first for Webb’s Wood. The total in the Braydon Forest so far is two each in Ravensroost Wood and Red Lodge and one each in Webb’s Wood and Somerford Common West.
The list for the session was: Blue Tit 5(2); Great Tit 4(1); Coal Tit 1(3); Marsh Tit (2); Long-tailed Tit 3; Wren 2; Robin 1(1); Blackbird 1; Firecrest 1. Totals: 18 birds ringed from 8 species, 9 birds recaptured from 5 species, making 27 birds processed from 9 species.
Anyway, with the wind getting stronger all of the time we took down and were off-site soon after 11:00. Quite maddening!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 