With the heatwave abating somewhat, and the forecast being for light basal winds with gusts at 14mph, we decided we could get a session in at Blakehill Farm West. We set up our usual nets, plus a few more, and I also set up three walk-in Potter traps, seeded with mealworms, in the yard where we usually see plenty of Pied Wagtails.
Net rides 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are 5-shelf Ecotone; ride 4 = 4-shelf North Ronaldsay 1 = 1x 9m + 1 x 12m; 2 = 1 x 12m; 3 = 2 x 18m; 4 = 2 x 18m; 5 = 3 x 18m; 6 = 1 x 18m + 1 x 9m + 1 x 12m. PT = Potter Traps; RS = Ringing Station
I was joined for the morning by Laura, Adam, Pete, Ellie and, until she had to leave to manage her volunteer group at 9:00, Rosie.
We met at 5:00 and had the nets set up by 6:00. We did a lot of rounds, each one only catching a couple of birds, and we ended up with a total of 37 birds! I thought that this was not vert good, until I looked at previous records for the Braydon Forest in July. The average catch, in July between 2013 and 2025, is 25.1 birds, 37 is the best catch we have had since 2018, and only another two years: 2015 and 2017.
There were several highlights of the catch. The first was at 7:50: our third Magpie of the year. Our previous catch was at Blakehill Farm West on the 24th May, when we caught two. Rosie hadn’t ringed one previously, so she was given the privilege of being attacked by it. Obviously they come in twos at this site: we caught the second at 9:30. This time Ellie did the “honours”. Adam was offered the opportunity but declined as he thought his hands would be too small. However, he did get the opportunity to handle and release the bird, to practice!
At 10:15 I extracted two Goldfinch and our second juvenile House Sparrow of the year – the previous was in my garden on the 9th July. This one was a bit more advanced than my one:
These were followed by a nice catch of two Whitethroat and our second Lesser Whitethroat of the year.
We could tell it was a female, it had a well-developed brood patch that had started feathering over.
Our Potter traps were a complete failure: clearly the Pied Wagtails have pushed off, probably following the cattle for insects on their dung! They have been very successful in my garden, catching Starlings, so I loaned one to Laura so that she could try in her garden. She sent me this photo in the evening:
Having learned that he could safely handle a Magpie, Laura, having successfully caught one in the Potter trap, called Adam out to process it!
The list for the session was: Magpie 2; Treecreeper [2]; Blue Tit [1]; Great Tit [1]; Long-tailed Tit [2]; Wren 1[2]; Dunnock 1[1]; Robin [5](1); Whitethroat 1[1]; Lesser Whitethroat 1; Chiffchaff 2[2]; Goldcrest [1]; Goldfinch 3[1]; House Sparrow [1]. Totals: 14 adults from species, 21 juveniles from 13 species and 2 retraps from 2 species: making 37 birds from 15 species. It is the first time we have caught three in one day!
We packed up a little after midday and left site soon after.