With the extremely dry conditions after the heatwave, and our small catch on Saturday at Somerford Common, I thought that I would try to organise sessions at sites where we can catch autumn migrants and where there is a source of water. For today I agreed with the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust that I could change my scheduled session to the meadow pond area in the Ravensroost complex. They happily agreed. The only downside was that, when we arrived, all of the ponds had dried out. Anyway, we gave it a go, and I am so pleased that we did. It was a small catch but the quality was first rate, and included two species new to this particular site, more of which later.
I was joined for the session by Miranda, Ellie, Sarah, Pete and Dorothy. We set rather more nets than usual, as I wanted to try out a new net position:
Rides 1 and 2 were the new set up. It delivered a single bird, a very nice Chiffchaff, but it also took as 40 minutes to take it down at the end of the session as the wind got up, came from the direct opposite direction to that which was forecast, and which had prevailed for the rest of the morning. We had left a good distance between the nets and the barbed wire top of the fence, but it wasn’t enough! Deep joy!
Anyway, the first bird out of the nets this morning was:
This is our first ever capture of the species at this site, our second of the year, after the one at the Firs a few weeks ago, and our eleventh in any of my sites. Sarah is the only one of the team who hadn’t processed a Spotted Flycatcher, so we gave her the bird to process.
Round 1 was the only round to produce a reasonable number of birds, with eight. Subsequently we had 3 x 4 bird rounds and one each of 3, 2 and 1 birds, and several with no birds at all.
Our next good bird was our third Lesser Whitethroat of 2026. The first was in May at Ravensroost Meadows, the second was at Blakehill Farm a month ago. None at Lower Moor Farm yet – which used to be a stronghold, Fingers crossed!
The next round produced our third Ravensroost Meadows Reed Warbler of the year, our third juvenile. This was a juvenile that had completed its post-fledging moult.
The first bird out of the net was a really nice surprise. The penultimate was, for us, an absolute stonker of a bird. Sarah gave me a shout and said she was having trouble getting a bird out: it had twisted in the net, like a large Wren. I went to help and recognised it straight away:
Fortunately, as a trainee, back in 2011, I spent a week at the Icklesham reserve in East Sussex, near Rye Bay. One morning I spent an hour on the Grasshopper Warbler processing line and ringed eight of them in that period. This is only the third we have ever caught at any of my sites. The first was at Blakehill in 2015, the second at the same place in 2022. Today’s was the first for Ravensroost Meadows. I love the colouration of the species but, particularly, the detail of the undertail coverts:
A super bird.
The catch for the session was: Blue Tit [1]; Great Tit [1]; Wren [2](1); Spotted Flycatcher 1; Robin [4]; Song Thrush [1]; Blackbird 1[2]; Grasshopper Warbler [1]; Reed Warbler [1]; Blackcap 1[1]; Whitethroat [2](2); Lesser Whitethroat [1]; Chiffchaff 2[1]. Totals: 5 adults ringed from 4 species, 18 juveniles from 12 species and 3 retraps from 2 species, making 26 birds processed from 13 species.
We packed up and took down at 11:30, taking out the leaves, brambles and barbed wire. Everything was sorted by 12:30 and we were off site soon after. Well, once I jump started my car with my portable battery booster, I was off site. I love the car but it is insane that opening the rear hatch actually drains the battery! (Mazda CX-30, in case you are thinking of getting one.)
So, not a big catch, but 13 species in just 26 birds! Two new species for the site, and one just our third ever Grasshopper Warbler, and the other just our eleventh Spotted Flycatcher in the 13, nearly 14 years, I have been ringing in the Braydon Forest and Lower Moor Farm.