Today’s session was at Ravensroost Wood, at long last. The last three times I have tried to get there it has had to be cancelled, either through bad weather or illness. Today I was scheduled to be at Blakehill Farm but decided to get to Ravensroost instead, with the weather forecast being absolutely perfect. We arranged to meet at 6:30, but the first thing I noticed, as I got out of my pit, was that it was already very light. So, that will be 5:30 starts for the next couple of months. Lovely! The other thing I noted was the temperature: 0oC. Back inside to get a jumper!
There was a birdsong walk organised for the day with Robin Griffiths, the warden for Ravensroost, later in the morning, so he had kindly agreed to allow us to go ahead. In the event. They arrived at 9:00 and enjoyed getting to see some of what they had been listening to.
I was joined for the morning by David, Pete and Claire and with Rosie calling in for an hour at 8:00 before heading off to Blakehill Farm to organise a volunteer work party. We set the following nets:
Rides 1 & 4 = 2 x 18m 5-Shelf nets; rides 2 & 3 = 2 x 18m 4-Shelf nets and ride 5 = 2 x 18m + 1 x 12m 5-Shelf nets.
The catch was quiet all morning, just a few birds each round, but it was a lovely session. We were surrounded by birds flying around and about our ringing station. They were all in the tree tops or criss-crossing the main path where, of course, we don’t set nets. Particularly, lovely Long-tailed Tit activity right above our heads. Certainly the birdsong walk would have plenty to listen to.
We did catch though, and it started with a Willow Warbler that flew into net ride 5 as the first net was still being taken out of the bag! The catches were interesting: we kept catching “pairs” close together in the net. First pair were a male and female Blackcap: he was well endowed in the cloacal protuberance section and she had a fully developed brood patch and, from the weight of her, 21 grams, I would suggest she was carrying eggs!
Second pair were Nuthatch: he was well-developed and she had a fully defeathered brood patch, but not yet veined or wrinkly. We held them back until both were processed and released them simultaneously. They actually flew off together so pretty certain they were a pair.
The third pair were my absolute favourites of the morning:
The female was the first we have ringed this year, the male was a retrap, but not on our rings. It was a UK ring but it will be good to find out where it was actually ringed. One of the other good things about this was that the birdsong group had arrived and were full of how happy they were to have heard Garden Warbler as Claire arrived back with the two Garden Warblers. Some of them were using the dreaded Merlin to help identify some of the birdsongs they were hearing. We didn’t bother looking for the American Yellow Warbler it told them was on the site!
This was the list from the session: Nuthatch 1(1); Great Tit (3); Marsh Tit (1); Wren (1); Robin 2(3); Song Thrush 1; Blackbird 1; Blackcap 6(2); Garden Warbler 1(1); Chiffchaff(1); Willow Warbler 3. Totals: 15 birds ringed from 7 species and 13 birds retrapped from 8 species, making 28 birds processed from 11 species.
One of the retrapped Blackcaps is also not one ringed by our group. Again, it will be good to see where it was originally ringed.
With the temperature rising and the birds disappearing, we did a final round and started taking down the nets and packing away the ringing equipment at 11:20, leaving site by 12:15. It was a lovely morning, a lovely bunch of woodland warblers, no Blue Tits, and lots of lovely people who were interested in what we were doing and why: all very friendly.
One footnote: I got a WhatsApp from Rosie. Whilst carrying out their repair work at Blakehill Farm they had the pleasure of watching a Short-eared Owl quartering the plateau no doubt looking for food!
Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond 