Having scheduled a first session of the year for Ravensroost Meadows and ponds for today, yesterday afternoon I went to have a look to see what work had been carried out, as I was told that there would be some significant changes made to the site. Goodness me: all I could say when I saw it was “Wow!” followed by “Awesome!”. The job that has been done is phenomenal: the tree cover encroaching on the pond, and the Reed Mace that was taking it over, has been cleared. The pond is now large and open and my net ride areas have never been so clear.
I was joined for the session by Laura and Adam, Pete, Sarah and Dorothy, for her second experience of bird ringing. We met at 6:30 and set the following nets:
We started catching straight away and one of the first birds out of the net was this:
Our first Whitethroat of the year. It was a retrapped bird, ringed as a juvenile at this site in July 2023. Later on we caught a second, this time an unringed bird.
Hot on the heels of this was:
First one of the year again, so we had to be careful that we had correctly identified the species, so we took a photo of the wing to show the tell-tale sixth primary with no emargination:
We then caught our first Reed Bunting of the year! A second calendar year female, not showing any sign of coming into breeding condition. It was the only bird caught this morning which wasn’t gearing up to breed.
The catch died off very quickly, it was a lovely variety for just 21 birds caught: Blue Tit 5; Great Tit 2; Dunnock 2; Blackcap 5; Whitethroat 1(1); Chiffchaff 2; Willow Warbler 2; Reed Warbler 1. Totals: 20 birds ringed from 8 species and 1 bird retrapped, making 21 birds processed from 8 species.
We did have a Wren escape from the net whilst being extracted and a Blackbird bounce off the net as well. With it not being hugely busy it gave us some opportunities to do other things. Firstly, I had time to train Dorothy, 12 years young, in ringing birds: she did a Blackcap for her first bird and then a Great Tit for her second. She handled both very well: and wasn’t the one that let their bird escape whilst trying to weigh it, nor was she the one who managed to lose the ring they had been given for one of their birds!
Secondly, we had some fabulous bird watching. Absolute top of the list has to be the first ever record for Osprey at the site. It flew across the meadow and then across Ravensroost Wood heading towards the Cotswold Water Park. It will be interesting to see if it is noticed over there. We were treated to a Sparrowhawk displaying over the meadow and then the wood: flap. flap, glide, and repeat! It was lovely. Later that was followed by a very pale Buzzard:
It flew around and about for about 10 minutes before disappearing. There was also a Red Kite that flew over the meadow, and gave us lovely views of its pristine plumage.
In addition to that we saw a rather large thrush fly up into a tree and then down into the middle of the meadow. Which thrush does that? This one:
They aren’t an easy bird to catch for ringing: they seem to inhabit the tops of trees and the centre of fields, with little opportunity for catching them in between. The group has only ringed 44 in the last 24 years! I have been lucky enough to have ringed four of them, but the last was in 2017! Joining it out in the field were a couple of Skylark. It is years since I have seen Skylark in the fields around the Ravensroost complex, so it was a very welcome sighting. Then two benefits of the clearance work done on the pond area: three Mallard was a nice to see but the real beauty was a pair (that is probably accurate) of Grey Wagtail. I have never seen them there before and I have been visiting this site, first as a birder and subsequently as a ringer, since 1998.
Apart from that, we heard both Green and Great Spotted Woodpecker on multiple occasions during the morning.
Anyway, we packed up the nets at 11:00, having seen our first Swallow of the year hunting over the meadow. It didn’t take long to pack away and we were away from site before midday. Not many caught but a very enjoyable session.
Thanks to Sarah for all of the photographs. The Buzzard and the Mistle Thrush were a long way away and, hand holding a camera and 500mm lens, it is pretty impressive how sharp she has managed to get those two photos.
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 