Author: Braydon Forest & Beyond

Today we were scheduled to carry out a ringing demonstration for the Swindon Wildlife Group at Blakehill Farm. This was a rescheduling of the previously postponed session scheduled for the 5th October. That was postponed because of wet and windy weather. We turned up at 7:00 ready to set up only to find that the wind was blowing hard across the plateau, so we had no choice but to cancel that session. I contacted Mark Clayborough, the Swindon Wildlife Group contact for today. At least it gave plenty of time for them to contact the potential attendees and save them wasted journeys, as they were not due to arrive until 8:30.

As we were already up and out, I had a chat with the team, and we decided that we would try out Somerford Common, to see if the woodland would provide better protection. Laura, Adam, David and I headed off – I had to make a detour to home to pick up the 18m nets. It was still blowy, so we were restricted as to which nets we could set. In the end we just set up seven nets:

We had the nets open just after 8:00 and sat and looked at empty nets for 20 minutes, but then we started to catch. The first catch comprised of one each of Blue Tit, Chiffchaff and Goldcrest. We didn’t really do rounds today because we could see along the nets. Mind you, we had to identify the birds from the leaves: looking for a little bit of voluntary movement! Every time a bird was identified one of the team would go off and extract it. We did have a couple of multi-bird rounds: two of five, three of three and two of two. However, we did have 16 catch events during the session. Catching was between 8:30 and 11:45, closing the nets in stages: ride 3 at 11:15 (removing two birds from that ride that flew in as it was being closed) and then rides 1 and 2 at 11:30 (again, removing a Blue Tit that flew in as the nets were being closed).

It was a satisfying, if not busy, session. Given that we had a late start, and the lures were set up for a session on agricultural grassland and hedgerows, I was happy with a catch that comprised: Blue Tit 4(1); Great Tit 4(1); Long-tailed Tit 3(1); Dunnock 1; Robin (2); Blackcap 1; Chiffchaff 6; Goldcrest 8. Totals: 27 birds ringed from 7 species and 5 birds ringed from 4 species, making 32 birds processed from 8 species.

Obviously, I would have preferred that we had managed to go ahead with the ringing demonstration. I couldn’t invite them to join us at Somerford Common for two reasons: firstly, we didn’t know whether we would find enough cover to set up there, nor what sort of catch we would make, and I would have hated to waste their time; secondly, there wouldn’t have been enough parking available.

With the rather decent catches we have had recently in the Firs and Webb’s Wood, and realising that I hadn’t been to Red Lodge for quite a long time, we decided to give it a go this morning. Unfortunately, recent catches have not been as good as I would have liked, but hoped that we might catch the odd feeding flock of titmice, an earl Redwing or add another Redpoll or two.

I was joined by Miranda, Ellie and, after the school run, Laura and we set the usual summer nets. Whilst the forecast was for it to be cloudy but dry, it was horribly damp, with patches of mizzle. We had a brief discussion and agreed that we would continue with the session. It was weird for the first two hours or so: it would dry up for 30 minutes, interspersed with 10 minutes of mizzle. It finally dried up but then we had the trees dropping the water from their foliage.

Unfortunately, I think the weather put the birds off, and it was horribly quiet, There were very few birds flying around and very little calling. A couple of calls from a Great Spotted Woodpecker whilst we were setting up the nets, but that was all we saw or heard of it all morning.

The catching was very slow and, frustratingly, we had half-a-dozen birds bounce off the nets, or manage to extract themselves before we could get to them. Ellie had to leave at 9:45 to get to work, having had the chance to process just a Chiffchaff and a Great Tit. Our rounds were: 1, 2, 1, 3, 3, 1: just 11 birds caught between 9:00 and 11:00, when we decided enough was enough and decided to pack up.

We did have an interesting Goldcrest: I knew from the ring number that it was an adult but its tail feathers (rectrices) contained a number of pointed feathers, hard to know if they were retained juvenile feathers or worn adult feathers, but there was no sign of moult anywhere:

One final moment that brightened the morning: as we started taking down the last net set our third Redpoll of the autumn flew in and Laura got to ring it: her first of the year. Only fair: Miranda and Ellie got to ring the two we caught last week at Webb’s Wood.

The list for the session was Blue Tit 2; Great Tit 1; Coal Tit 2; Marsh Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit 1; Wren 1; Chiffchaff 1; Goldcrest (1); Redpoll 1. Totals: 9 birds ringed from 7 species and two birds retrapped from 2 species, making 11 birds processed from 9 species.

I will be setting up feeders there in November, so the catches will improve. One of the regular dog walkers, David, with his fabulous Black Labrador, Denver, who loves women and goes a bit mad around them, wanting their attention (Denver, not David) came along whilst we were setting the nets and he did say that the birdlife in the wood had been very much missing this year. He asked if I was going to set up the feeders, and when I answered in the affirmative he offered to strim the rides and cut back the overgrowth: what a nice man! Naturally, I said “Yes please!”.

Things did not start well: we arrived on site by the Whitworth Building at Blakehill Farm to find two bulls in our usual field. Fortunately, the next field along was bull free and the adjoining gate shut, so we decided to set the nets in that next field. We had tried a couple of nets in there before, with little success, so I wasn’t too hopeful.

Anyway, I was joined by Laura, Adam, David, Ellie and Mark came along to help with the setting up and taking down. We met at 7:00 and set the following nets:

I extracted a Wren from ride 1 as the first bird out, as usual, whilst I was putting out the lures. The lures really had an instant impact, with rides 2 and, in particular, ride 3. A nice little catch of Long-tailed Tit, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Robin, Great Tit and Blue Tit.

Then disaster, we finished processing these birds and got to the end of the AA string. I went to my ring box: no AA rings! I cannot believe that I had made such an egregious error! What did it cost our catch: five Chiffchaff, one Goldcrest, six Long-tailed Tit, one Treecreeper and two Wrens: 15 birds from 5 species.

Despite that, we did end up with a reasonable catch, with one memorable highlight:

Apologies for the quality of the next photo, as my phone camera decided to focus on my rucksack and not the bird. However, it shows clearly how we could identify that this bird is a juvenile:

The feathers P1 and P2 have a dull, dark grey border. In the adult they are equivalent in colour to P3, and the extent of the white extends much further down the feather towards the tip.

That was pretty much the end of the catching for the morning. The next two rounds, at 10:50 and 11:10 were both empty, so we decided to close up and take down.

The list for the day was: Magpie 1; Blue Tit 11(1); Great Tit 3; Long-tailed Tit 8; Dunnock 1; Wren 1; Robin 2; Chiffchaff 2; Goldcrest 3. Totals: 32 birds ringed from 9 species and 1 retrap, making 33 birds processed from 9 species.

Of course, without my incompetence that would have been 47 birds processed from 10 species. Anyway, it wasn’t a bad catch, we were off-site just after midday and, now, I am off to order some more rings!!

We had to postpone our session from yesterday because of rain. Fortunately my mid-week team of Laura, Miranda and Ellie could all make this morning and I think we are all pretty pleased that we did. We met at 7:00 and went back to our usual feeding station area. That was mainly because the entrance gate is broken open and Miranda beat me to site and, because she hasn’t been with us at the recently used rides, she went to the area she knew. In the event it was very fortunate!

We set the following nets:

We had the nets open by 8:00 and started extracting straight away. The obligatory Wren flew into net 2 before it was open! They really are the most frequently caught bird in the nets before they are opened, followed by Robin.

It was nice to have a regular flow of birds. The first round proper produced six birds: a Blackcap, Coal Tit, two Goldcrest, a Great Tit and our 22^nd Marsh Tit of the year! Looking good for them this year! Next round was a single Coal Tit, but the next three rounds produced 14, 14 and 20 respectively. The third of those produced another two Marsh Tit juveniles: up to 24, really hoping for 30+ this year. The make up of those catches was interesting: in the first round of 14 we caught eight Long-tailed Tits and three Goldcrests. Our next round of 14 was bulked out by another five Goldcrest and the round of 20 was down to 10 Blue Tits and 5 Great Tits.

Two rounds later, with no disrespect to our Marsh Tits, we caught the highlights of the session:

October is the earliest that we have ever caught Redpoll in Webb’s Wood. Across the Braydon Forest, apart from two juveniles caught in Ravensroost Meadows in August 2016, October is the earliest month in which we catch them.

The list for the session was: Blue Tit 21(2); Great Tit 10(1); Coal Tit 5; Marsh Tit 3; Long-tailed Tit 8; Wren 3; Robin 2; Blackbird 1; Blackcap 1; Chiffchaff 2; Goldcrest 13; Redpoll 2. Totals: 71 birds ringed from 12 species and 3 birds retrapped from 2 species, making 74 birds processed from 12 species. This is our largest catch in Webb’s Wood, with or without a feeding station in place, since August 2018. Prior to that we did have two sessions that were larger, but they were due to the provision of supplementary feed. I haven’t set any feeding stations yet this year as the weather is decent and there is still plenty of wild food available.

We emptied and closed the nets at 11:45. Processed the last seven birds and then we had everything packed away and were off site by 12:30 after a very satisfying session.

Just our best month ever.  Prior to this month our best ever single month was in September 2023, with 1,802 birds processed.  This month we have broken the 2,000 mark. As usual. most of this is down to Jonny’s efforts.  He does seem to have discovered some seriously productive new sites: particularly two sites just to the west of New Zealand (a village in Wiltshire, he hasn’t emigrated)!  One is a highly productive woodland, the other is a boggy patch surrounded by hedgerows and trees.  Mind, it seems every site he discovers turns out to be highly productive.  Unfortunately, my contribution this month was considerably lower than I wanted, with five sessions cancelled for a variety of reasons. 

This was the catch for the month:

Added to the list compared to this time last year were Firecrest, Garden Warbler, Kestrel, Magpie, Mallard, Skylark and Woodpigeon.  Missing from the list this year were: any pulli, House Martin, Linnet, Moorhen, Pied Wagtail, Stock Dove and Tree Pipit.  The complete lack of Swallow, after 182 ringed and 4 retrapped last year, was perhaps the most surprising.  There were also significant falls in the numbers of Goldfinch and Reed Bunting.  The number of Meadow Pipits were also much lower than usual.  That is almost all down to our failure to catch them at our normal levels at Blakehill Farm with just two caught in the month. Not that there weren’t plenty around: we saw plenty, sitting on the top strands of the net or on the poles, but not coming down to the ground to get caught.

Where there was a huge increase was in both Blue and Great Tits, Blackcaps and the astonishing catch of 530 Chiffchaff: over 200 more than in any other single month, and we are already at over 1,200 for the year. Last year, our previous best year, was over 200 fewer than we have caught so far this year, with the chance to add another 200 or so before the end of the year.

Smaller numbers but nice increases in Greenfinch, Whitethroat and Willow Warbler.  Jonny added two more Skylark to our list: taking the total to just 14 since 2013.  Actually, we only started to catch any since 2019, and have had between 1 and 4 every year since, except 2022. 

The Kestrel catches were nice: since 2015 we have caught one fledged Kestrel per year, with 2019 missing out but, so far this year, we have caught 3.  My team’s was, predictably, at Blakehill Farm, Jonny’s was at the same farm near Hilmarton where he caught one last month.

Three Firecrest in one month is our best ever catch. Although we have had a total of 18, it is usually one per year, with two in 2015, until last year when we caught three: one in April and two in October. So far this year we have caught five: one in April, one last month and three this month! (Little bit of egotism: my sites have produced 11 of the 18 the group have caught, although Jonny caught all three of this month’s cohort, each in a different site.)

A quite brilliant month all round.

Not a spelling mistake: not what I had planned for this morning. To the context, this morning was a ringing demonstration for the Malmesbury & District Natural History Society. We had the choice of Ravensroost Wood or Blakehill Farm. Our last visit to Blakehill was 19 days ago, with 32 birds from 11 species. That included a nice mix of autumn migrants and the one species we missed out on was Meadow Pipit. We saw that they were there but they avoided the Mipit triangle. I wondered if the issue was that the lure wasn’t loud enough. Perhaps with a better lure we might catch a decent number, so that’s what we decided to go for. With the weather forecast for it not to be too windy, after discussion with the organisers, we decided to go for Blakehill Farm. That had always been their preference.

I was joined at 6:30 by Miranda, Ellie and Adam and we set the same nets that we have done in the last few sessions. As I went out to set up the various lures at the nets I extracted our first bird of the morning: a juvenile Whitethroat. The first group of visitors arrived at 7:30, in time to see the Whitethroat. Unfortunately, the catch was slow and very light. The Whitethroat was followed by our first Chiffchaff of the session and our first Meadow Pipit of the autumn:

You can identify that it is a juvenile from the pale fringing with the dark spike on the median coverts. We also had our first Reed Bunting of the autumn. Despite the name, they are very much a farmland bird outside of the breeding season. September and October are our best months for catching them.

For group one, we did catch another three Chiffchaff. Despite my disappointment at such a small catch for the attendees, they were very happy. In particular the young lad who got to hold and release the Whitethroat, and the two older participants who got to release the Reed Bunting and the Meadow Pipit. I was also asked by two of the attendees from the first group about training to become ringers! One of them was actually once a C-permit holder, but that was decades ago.

Group two arrived for 9:30. They, unfortunately, got to see just three birds processed: Chiffchaff, Wren and Meadow Pipit number two. We did recapture the original Whitethroat ringed first thing this morning, which we could show to them before letting it fly off again.

As for the Meadow Pipits, they responded extremely well to the lure. Unfortunately, apart from the two that we ringed, we must have seen at least 50 of them: mainly sitting on the tops of the net poles or the top strand of the nets or hopping around the path: anything but getting into the nets.

We all agreed at 11:00 that, as the wind was beginning to get up, we were unlikely to catch any more birds, so we closed up and took down. The members of group two were every bit as happy as those of group one, particularly the young lad who got to release Meadow Pipit two! His mum was pretty happy as well. Ironically, as we were closing the nets, I found another Chiffchaff in one of them.

The concern is that, although the attendees did enjoy themselves, I have another demonstration scheduled there for the 5th October, for the Swindon Wildlife Group. I think I might have to seed the area with some dried mealworms over the next couple of weeks and keep my fingers crossed.

The list for the morning was: Wren (1); Meadow Pipit 2; Whitethroat 1; Chiffchaff 5; Reed Bunting 1. Totals: 9 birds ringed from 4 species and 1 bird retrapped, making 10 birds processed from 5 species. All of the birds, including the retrapped Wren, were juveniles.

After yesterday’s excellent session at the Firs, today was our standard scheduled session, with Lower Moor Farm next on the agenda. I was quite happy that we would not be setting a lot of net and was not expecting a huge catch. So far this year, the largest catch has been 29 and the average catch size was just 21 birds.

I was joined for the session by Laura and Ellie again, plus Miranda from my team. We were also playing host to Mariana, for the Zoological Society of London, continuing her sample collection for the investigation of mosquito-borne diseases from migratory birds, primarily Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

We met at 7:00 and set the usual nets:

We had the nets open by just past 8:30 and started catching almost immediately. At 8:45 we took a nice introductory catch of eight birds from five species. Not a bad start compared to our usual recent sessions there. We were not expecting what happened next. At 10:30 on our net check we found 32 birds from seven species. Key to the size of this catch were two components: 11 Long-tailed Tits and 10 Blackcaps. There were also four each of Blue Tit and Chiffchaff.

This catch coincided with the arrival of several of the children and helpers / teachers from the care farm. We were so busy processing these birds, and swamping Mariana with samples to take, that we didn’t have a lot of time to spend with them at first. As we got further through the catch, we did take some time out to let the children get more involved, appreciated by them, as ever.

The next couple of rounds were a lot quieter, until we decided that we would make the 11:15 round our last, whereupon we caught another 10 birds from five species.

The list for the session was: Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit 5(2); Great Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 8(4); Wren 1; Dunnock 1; Robin 1(2); Blackbird 1; Blackcap 22; Chiffchaff 14; Goldcrest 3. Totals: 58 birds ringed from 11 species and 8 birds retrapped from 3 species, making 66 birds processed from 11 species.

Of those both ringed and retrapped, those we could age, only one of the Blackcaps ringed, and the Treecreeper and one of the retrapped Robins were adults. All of the Long-tailed Tits had completed their moult, with just a couple still having a little bit of body-moult, so it is now impossible to differentiate between adults and juveniles in the hand at this time of the year.

It has been far and away our best catch at Lower Moor Farm since 25th September 2021! Mind, when you compare it with the best ever catch there: 157 birds from 16 species, that’s pretty poor, but that is far and away the best I have ever had. The reason for raising this is that all of those birds were caught in the three nets that comprise ride 1. Today, only one of the birds was caught in that ride: the Wren! What I would give to be able to have that ride returned to its former glory! It would take a lot of work to bring it back to that state: a lot of tree thinning and topping for a start.

Just to wind it up even further, this was the list from that session: Kingfisher 1; Blue Tit 20; Great Tit 20; Long-tailed Tit 21; Dunnock 1; Robin 4; Song Thrush 1; Reed Warbler 2; Blackcap 36; Garden Warbler 8; Whitethroat 2; Lesser Whitethroat 7; Chiffchaff 26; Willow Warbler 5; Bullfinch 1.

Anyway, with the nets closed today just after 11:45, we cracked on and got everything packed away by 12:15 and off site soon after. A very good session: two in a row. Let’s hope that Saturday’s session for the Malmesbury Natural History Group goes as well as these last two.

One thing I do need to mention: last time we were having a session at Lower Moor Farm I was eulogising over seeing the Great Crested Grebe humbugs for the first time ever. Now, for the first time, I saw the youngsters swimming for themselves, still hassling their parents for food. It was wonderful.

One of the key contributions that the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust makes, outside of owning and managing their nature reserves, is the amount of their activities that focus on people. From their Watch groups, enabling children to become involved in nature, to their care farms, providing educational and nature involvement for children with challenges, physical, mental and behavioural, plus enhancing the mental health of vulnerable adults. I have been involved in these activities whenever they ask me to be, both my bird ringing and, more recently, mothing. Sometimes that means stepping outside of my usual Wednesday / Saturday scheduling. Hence, my most recent foray to the Firs for the Marlborough Men’s Mental Health Group, back on Monday, 8th September. Today it was the turn of the Swindon Well-being Group, again, at the Firs.

I was joined for the morning by Ellie and Laura at 7:00 and we set the following nets:

With the nets open by 8:00 we hoped for a good catch, but not too early, as the Swindon Well-being Group arrive at 11:00. That said, we were just a bit worried at how the catch started off: with no birds caught until 8:45 and just 1, 3, 1 and 5 birds being caught in the first four rounds. However, at 10:30, just before the group arrived, we had a decent round of 10 birds from five species. That looked healthier, starting with 20 birds from eight species in the first 2.5 hours (we have had worse !). Whilst Laura and Ellie were extracting that last little lot the group arrived.

I did my usual spiel on the ringing scheme, how it works, what information it can provide and the benefits that derives for our birdlife. I was beginning to get a bit concerned about what was holding Laura and Ellie up, when they turned the corner at the bottom of the hill, with the first good haul of the morning. Unusually, today I let the team do all of the processing, restricting myself to scribing, checking, and pointing out salient points on moult, ageing, sexing etc. That also gave the two of them the chance to develop their demonstration skills, important for their future development.

As usual, the attending group were a lovely bunch. Very interested in everything, keen to get photos and, eventually, persuaded to learn how to safely hold and release birds – and how much Blue Tits can hurt when they get that beak into your fingers! Basically, all but one of the attendees took the plunge (and she promised she would next time!).

It took a wee while to get everything processed, so I sent my collection team straight off to check the nets again. They came back with another six birds. It was nice to add some variety to the catch, with our first Blackcap and Long-tailed Tits of the morning. We processed them and off they went to check the nets again. After 10 minutes, as I was just wondering whether I needed to go help out, I got a telephone call from Laura: they had run out of bags and needed some more. Several of the attendees volunteered to take the bags down and I wandered down to see if I could be of use: they didn’t need me. It was taking time because they had 24 birds to extract, including this beauty:

The list for the days was: Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit: 12(4); Great Tit 4(1); Coal Tit 2; Marsh Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit 8; Wren (1); Dunnock 1; Blackcap 2; Robin 1(2); Chiffchaff 4; Goldcrest 5(1). Totals: 40 birds ringed from 10 species and 10 birds retrapped from 6 species, making 50 birds processed from 12 species.

We closed the nets whilst extracting this last batch, and took them down once we had completed processing. Anyway, our guests were very happy with what they experienced. We left them having their lunch, getting away by 13:00.

I cannot remember the last time that I went so long between sessions: a combination of ill health and abysmal weather has led to an eleven day hiatus. I did try to get out to the Meadows on Tuesday but the wind was just too ferocious to safely set nets. So, after an early start, I had a very early finish. Unfortunately, being doped up on painkillers and anti-spasm pills, I probably shouldn’t have been driving, underlined by the fact that I misjudged the entrance to my driveway when I got home and am now waiting for my friendly local mechanic to quote on the repair work! This morning I decided to put up with whatever my body threw at me and left the pills in the box. Pleased to say, there were no incidents to report.

So, we arrived on site at 7:00. It immediately became clear that we would not be able to set all of the nets that I wanted. Although the wind wasn’t as bad as Tuesday, it was still quite fierce and so we set very few nets. As a result, we caught very few birds.

They were all juveniles and they were all unringed, but there were only 11 of them: Great Tit 1; Wren 1; Robin 2; Blackcap 5; Chiffchaff 2. Totals: 11 juveniles ringed and processed from 5 species.

Not the most exciting session, but it was enjoyable. We did have lots of time to watch the large number of Swallows streaming around the meadow. I would have set a net, but I am pretty sure that a net wouldn’t do well with the attention of a dozen Belted Galloway steers. I must find a way of blocking their access to that part of the meadow next time I plan to run a session there!

Apart from that, we had several Magpies fly over, a juvenile Jay making an awful lot of noise behind one of the nets: it actually sounded like it was caught in the net, but it wasn’t.

There was a lovely display of Dragonflies this morning, fabulous Emperors:

plus Common Darter and Southern Darter.

We packed up at 11:45, with not a lot to take down, we were away by 12:30.