Author: Braydon Forest & Beyond

Unlike the first lockdown, the BTO have allowed us to continue ringing at local sites, either solo or on the government’s 1 + 1 allowance. To be fair, this is how we have been working on Wildlife Trust and Forestry England sites since the first lockdown was lifted anyway. Fortunately, both the Trust and Forestry England have adopted the same strategy.

I had planned to go to Webb’s Wood yesterday but when I woke at 6:00 it was raining, so I went back to bed and tried again this morning. It was dull and overcast all morning with a slight breeze. There were a few drops of very light rain from time to time but this morning’s real issue I will discuss later.

I only set 6 x 18m nets in 3 rides, as I was working solo. I haven’t set up feeding stations yet, so the catch can be hit or miss. It started with a couple of Great Tits but then the regular trickle of Goldcrests that I seem to be getting at my woodland sites started up and by the end of the session they were, once again, the commonest bird in the catch.

My highlight of the session was a really well marked male Lesser Redpoll:

One of the more difficult bird species to age is the Coal Tit. It is done on differences in the greater coverts. The adult variety are darker and greyer than the juvenile feathers and are fringed grey, whereas the juvenile feathers are fringed a sort of yellow brown colour. It is not always easy to distinguish the difference (particularly for male ringers apparently). So it was good to catch one with a very obvious break between the adult and juvenile feathers:

The fringing colour difference is not obvious but the break between different generations of feathers and the difference between base colours is very obvious.

The list for the session was: Treecreeper (1); Blue Tit 4(3); Great Tit 2(1); Coal Tit 1; Wren 1; Robin 1(1); Redwing 1; Goldcrest 7(4); Lesser Redpoll 1. Totals: 18 birds ringed from 8 species and 10 birds retrapped from 5 species, making 28 birds processed from 9 species.

All in all, a decent session. However, it all went very badly wrong from about 2 hours in. Recommendation: avoid deciduous woodlands in the autumn until they have completed abscission. After weeks of high winds you would have thought it would have removed all of the leaves from the trees but, no, it chose today to drop them. Worse than that, although it is mainly a beech wood, it has a lot of oak in it. Their leaves seem to be specially designed to stick in mist nets and to stick mist net shelves together. At times the nets were in a brown blizzard, as leaves poured down and into the nets. I started taking down at 11:30. By 13:30 I had managed to clear 2 nets! I gave up: the rest have been loosely bundled up to be emptied at a later date: this weekend when it is chucking it down!

So my new resolution: leave the woods alone until the leaves have left the wood alone.

The irony: two weeks of dreadful weather finally clears and lockdown looms. At least this time the government are encouraging people to engage in outdoor recreational activities, either solo or plus one which, in theory, should allow for bird ringing to continue. That will, of course, depend upon how the BTO and the landowners interpret that information. The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and the Forestry Commission have already banned any volunteer activities, including ringing, on their land for the duration of lockdown. The irony being that I can go wandering around their nature reserves and sites with my telescope and binoculars, looking at wildlife for as long as I like, I just cannot put my nets up to catch any birds to ring: no matter how private the site. I am going to get very bored! My garden it will have to be.

As there were a couple of good days between the end of October and the onset of lockdown several of us managed to get out and do some ringing. Andrew Bray opened a net in his garden and got in a session at Lacock Abbey Allotments. Jonny Cooper managed to get in a session at his new site, Biss Wood WWT Nature Reserve, and at Bailey’s Farm and I managed to get in a session at Blakehill Farm. These are the reports on each of these sessions:

Andrew Bray: Garden Ringing, 3rd November 2020

Today I put out my 6m net in the garden for 51/2 hours.  It was a slow day as it was very cold first thing; there was even ice on the bottom part of the pole. My first two birds were ringed: Robin and Blue Tit so I was expecting a lot more of them to turn up but in total 15 birds were processed which were: Blue Tit 3(2); Great Tit 6(3); Robin (1).

Andrew Bray: Lacock Abbey Allotments, 4th November 2020

Even though the Lacock gardens were open I was the only one in the allotment.  It was very cold and the fog did not burn off until I had finished ringing at midday.  My feet did not defrost until I was home. My fingers were sore from being pecked. 

It was a good session but no Nuthatches.  Instead I had a Great Spotted Woodpecker which I had ringed previously and a new Goldcrest that was very small. I do not think he will survive the winter. He was a bit fluffed up so I put him down my front to warm him up. He then flew off okay once I had finished warming him. 

I had a total of 46 which were Great Spotted Woodpecker (1); Blue Tit 19(5); Great Tit 4(7); Coal Tit 1(2); Dunnock 2(2); Robin (1); Goldcrest 1; Chaffinch 1.  Totals: 28 birds ringed from 6 species, 18 birds retrapped from 6 species, making 46 birds processed from 8 species.

23 were fledged this year, with the others being born previously : a 50:50 split which is the first time I have had that.  As you can see there were lots of tits – hence the pecked fingers!

Jonny Cooper: Biss Wood, 3rd November 2020

Biss Wood is a 21 Ha Wiltshire Wildlife Trust Reserve located to the east of Trowbridge. The site was originally a plantation from the 1940’s and 50’s. Ringing will be used as a tool for monitoring birds using the site during the winter months. I have been providing food for the birds within the wood for a couple of weeks. With a second lockdown looming I decided to do a taster session for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

The plan was for a relatively quiet session to get a feel for whether the birds had found the feeders and what species were present. I arrived on site and set up three 18m nets by 2pm; birds started hitting the nets immediately. This pace carried on for the nest couple of hours.

The catch for the afternoon was: Treecreeper 2, Blue Tit 85, Great Tit 28, Coal Tit 6, Marsh Tit 2, Long-tailed Tit 11, Wren 1, Blackbird 1, Goldcrest 2(1), and Chaffinch 3. Giving a total of 141 birds from 10 species and 1 re-trap from 1 species. 

As was to be expected the catch was dominated by Blue and Great Tits. But it was nice to catch two Marsh tits showing that this red listed species is still present on site.

The highlight was the re-trap Goldcrest. This bird was originally ringed at Spurn Bird Observatory, Yorkshire, in October 2019. A nice movement across the U.K for a bird that almost certainly breeds in Scandinavia.

A fantastic first session for the site showing the number of birds that are present within the woodland. It will be interesting to monitor the site going forward.

Jonny Cooper: Bailey’s Farm, 4th November 2020

Following on from the successful session at Biss Wood I decided to take advantage of the break in the weather before lockdown to undertake a session at Bailey’s Farm. Unfortunately, the session corresponded with the first real frost of the Autumn and a very cold fog. The low temperature stopped a lot of the bird movement first thing, meaning the session got off to a slow start. However once things warmed up birds started moving around.

The catch for the day was: Blue Tit 11(7), Great Tit 9(1), Long-tailed Tit 1(1), Wren 1, Dunnock 3(1), Meadow Pipit 7, Chaffinch 4, Goldfinch 5 and Yellowhammer 1. Giving a total of 42 birds from 9 species and 10 re-traps from 4 species, making 51 birds processed from 9 species. 

A quieter session compared to the last few I have had at the site but nice, nonetheless. After the busyness of the day before it was nice to be able to ring at a more relaxed pace.

Simon Tucker: Blakehill Farm, 4th November 2020

I was joined for this session by Lucy, my most recent recruit. After a very disappointing session in Red Lodge on the 28th October in between rain storms, I wanted to see if the rain had had a similar impact on the more open terrain at Blakehill Farm. The Red Lodge session delivered just 10 birds in the morning, at a time where last year alone October delivered two catches in excess of 60 birds from 11 species. I can only presume that the torrential rain and high winds had driven the birds off elsewhere in search of food and more substantial shelter.

As luck would have it, and as Jonny noted above, it coincided with the first hard frost of the year. On days like that you appreciate having a heated windscreen in your car, so I wasn’t held up for long defrosting the vehicle. Arriving on site at 6:30 we set our usual nets around the bushes on the plateau edge and moved our Mipit triangle back to its normal position, as opposed to the position for the last session. The ground around that position was very uneven and risked turning an ankle if you ran at the setup. Where we usually set it is actually across the concrete track that heads out to the middle of the plateau: much easier for chasing them into the net. We also set just 2 x 18m nets on the perimeter track, by the tallest tree on there, which is always a magnet for winter thrushes, and put on the lure for Redwing. There were not hundreds about but there were some.

It was a slow start, because of the cold, and it wasn’t the biggest catch, but it was a very enjoyable session, and certainly worthwhile for Lucy who added three new species to her ringing list: Meadow Pipit, Redwing and Reed Bunting.

The catch for the day was: Blue Tit (2); Great Tit 1(2); Long-tailed Tit (2); Wren 4; Meadow Pipit 12(1); Robin (1); Redwing 7; Blackbird 1; Reed Bunting 1. Totals: 26 birds ringed from 5 species and 8 birds retrapped from 5 species, making 34 birds processed from 9 species.

The only slight downside: when checking the site on Tuesday prior to our session I had seen several Stonechat about. I had hoped that we might catch one for Lucy to add to her experience, because there are lots of variables to take into account when ageing and sexing either Stonechat or Whinchat but it was not to be. Throughout the morning we had a Buzzard moving around the site, often sitting on top of the perimeter hedge 100m or so away from our ringing station, so we had really good views. Shame we couldn’t persuade it to visit our nets!

For a month so seriously affected by the weather, we didn’t do badly, with our second best October. I only managed to get one session in between the 19th and the 31st of the month, in between rainstorms, on the 28th, and it would have been better if the crew had stayed at home: only 10 birds in Red Lodge at a time when last year we processed 158 individuals in two sessions: one at the beginning and one at the end of the month.  Despite that the group managed to process over 1,000 birds in October:

It is pretty clear where the reductions are, compared with last year: Blue, Great, Coal, Marsh and Long-tailed Tits, Robin, Treecreeper, Yellowhammer, House Sparrow and Greenfinch numbers all down significantly, Goldcrest numbers also depressed.  

On the plus side, the Meadow Pipit catch was phenomenal.  Could the two situations be related?  Possibly not, as the vast bulk (about 290) of them were caught at Jonny’s sites at Bailey’s and Meadow Farms, where last year he had the majority of the Greenfinch catch. Similarly, the vast bulk of last year’s Yellowhammer catch was in 4 sessions on Salisbury Plain and all of them this year were caught in 3 sessions at the same place, so the numbers are definitely down.

I compared the number of woodland sessions this October with what I did last year, as I thought that might have some bearing on it, but I did 6 last October and 6 this.  However, last year I processed 80 more Blue Tits in those same 6 sessions as I did this.  One bonus for me was that the Wildlife Trust have allowed me to work in Ravensroost Woods again and to put up No Entry signs at either end of my net rides to keep the general public out, and avoid any potential repeat of the issues in July. This I did on the 15th October and had a good 45 bird catch in just 4 nets.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as though we will be able to test out the missing resident species for the next month or so, with the imminent reinstatement of lockdown.  That said, with the government saying that outdoor leisure activities will be allowed on a 1 + 1 basis, it will be interesting to see what the BTO guidance will be, and how the various landowners interpret that.

This is a blog post by Jonny Cooper:

The site at East Tytherton was my first proper solo ringing site after achieving my C-permit. Since I first started ringing there it has proven itself to be a good site for wintering flocks of finches and other farmland birds. With the weather feeling more autumnal I decided to undertake a session to see how things are progressing this year.

Recently I have become slightly obsessed with catching Meadow Pipits so, in addition to my normal nets, I set a Mipit triangle in one of the fields. The first round delivered around 20 birds, including 11 Meadow Pipits. For the next couple of hours things continued at this sort of pace. However, I noticed some large flocks of Gold and Greenfinch flying around.

Typically, if I see finch flocks on site I tend to catch good numbers of them late morning so, when I went to check the nets just after 10am, I was bracing myself. I was right, over the next two hours I caught almost 80 birds: mostly finches.

The list for the day was: Blue Tit 17(3), Great Tit 9(4), Long-tailed Tit (1), Dunnock 1(1), Meadow Pipit 41, Redwing 6, Goldcrest 2, House Sparrow 1, Chaffinch 5(1), Greenfinch 20, Goldfinch 28 & Yellowhammer 1. 131 birds ringed from 11 species and 10 re-traps from 5 species, giving a total of 141 birds processed from 12 species.

41 Meadow Pipits is a great catch, as well as good numbers of Greenfinch and Goldfinch. Half a dozen Redwing also gave the morning the distinct feel of Autumn and, of course, Yellowhammers are always a joy to see up close.

I have mentioned this before, but this farmland is brilliant for birds. The land is managed in a very sympathetic way for wildlife and it is really paying dividends.

A fantastic session and it has left my very excited to see what the rest of autumn and this coming winter has in store.

With the weather forecast showing it would be a virtually windless day I decided to head for Blakehill Farm. I was joined for the day by Ellie, who just happens to be the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s manager for the site, as well as being one of my C-permit holders.

We were on-site for 6:30 and as dawn began to break it revealed that we were sharing the plateau with 30+ cows with their calves. It is often the case that they are on the plateau when we are, but they have never shown any sort of interest in the past. I spent the next hour and a half trying to divert them away from where we were setting the nets. There was a group of nine of them that just kept coming back, no matter how far I moved them away. After an hour, out of the gloom, another cow came wandering down the path from the centre. It seems that these nine were looking to join up with their friend and, once they had done so, they wandered off and left us in peace. Unfortunately, this meant that we were very much behind in setting up, and so we decided to forget about setting nets along the perimeter track and just focus on the plateau nets. We also set up a bit differently to recent times, moving the Mipit Triangle alongside the other nets on the plateau bushes. We also set a dog-leg around a very square, solid bush on the other side of the path from our normal layout:

We didn’t get to do our first round until 9:00 and in all only had 3 productive rounds, between 9:00 and 10:30. Thereafter the catch died right away and we started to pack up at 11:30.

It was a frustrating start but we had a very pleasant morning with a decent haul of birds: not many species and mainly Meadow Pipits, but a good looking juvenile male Stonechat and a lovely haul of Reed Bunting:

The list for the day was: Wren 1(1); Meadow Pipit 36; Stonechat 1; Reed Bunting 14(1). Totals: 52 birds ringed from 4 species and 2 birds retrapped from 2 species.

In amongst the Meadow Pipits there were a couple showing abnormal swellings around where the claw joins the foot. They didn’t look like pox pustules but it would be interesting to find out what causes it. One of them had an outer primary feather that looked in poor condition and it, too, had a growth where the feather erupts from the limb:

This was my fourth outing of the week: Friday was spent cleaning out Barn Owl boxes with Lucy & Steph. It is astonishing just how deep the layers of pellets and muck can get very quickly. Clearly, from the number of skulls we found, the last couple of years have been good vole years in our area. We collected a good number of pellets for the children of the Wildlife Trust’s Watch group to dissect.

This week there has been lots of sightings of Redwing around the area. On Thursday at Ravensroost we tried luring for them but with no sign of them. Today we were at Somerford Common looking to try again. I was joined by Alice and David for the morning and I decided to keep it simple. We set just 6 nets:

We set the track ride up first and put on a lure for Redwing whilst we set up the other nets. Part way through I went back to check on the nets and took out 2 Wrens and our first Redwing of this autumn / winter.

10 minutes later I sent David back to check again: another Redwing plus a Long-tailed Tit, some Blue Tits and Goldcrests plus a new Marsh Tit.

The woodland nets had another lure for Redwing, Lesser Redpoll and Marsh Tit (which usually brings in lots of other titmice as well). The woodland nets were very quiet: first round producing a solitary Goldcrest. That was it in there for the next couple of rounds and then I opted to go and check them whilst Alice and David took a few birds out of the other nets. I was delighted to find a couple of Lesser Redpoll in the net immediately adjacent to the lure:

That was pretty much it for those nets. We did catch another Lesser Redpoll, a Great Tit and a Wren but nothing else. No doubt that will change significantly once I set up the feeding station there next month!

Until about 10:30 we had quite a few Redwing flying around the site, sitting in the big old oak tree adjacent to our net ride but, in the main, avoiding the net. That said, we were happy with what we caught. At 10:30 I changed the lure from Redwing to Goldcrest. I am always mindful of not luring Goldcrest until later in the morning, and only if the weather is warm enough. I am pleased to say that all bar one of the Goldcrest caught this morning weighed in at more than 5g, with one actually scaling at 6g. These are good weights for Goldcrest in the Braydon Forest.

The list for the morning was: Blue Tit 3(1); Great Tit (1); Marsh Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 1; Wren 3(2); Redwing 5; Goldcrest 8(4); Lesser Redpoll 3; Bullfinch 1. Totals: 25 birds ringed from 8 species; 8 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 33 birds processed from 9 species.

It was a quiet and very relaxed morning and, despite not being inundated with birds, I have to admit, very enjoyable. We were accompanied all morning by a Robin (unringed) who spent the entire time hopping or flitting around our ringing station. When we arrived we saw that someone had spread some bird food on the granite blocks that Forestry England have used to replace the vandalised gateways, that they got fed up with replacing, and are pretty well convinced it had been done to benefit this Robin.

One of the beauties of not setting up masses of net is that taking down is a quick and easy task. The birds stopped moving by 11:00, we gave it another 30 minutes and started to take down. As the odd Goldcrest was still coming to the lure we left the ride on the path to last. I did have an ulterior motive: I only had 4 AA size rings left on that particular ring string and I wanted to catch enough to finish it off. By the time we had the woodland nets down, three Goldcrest had obligingly dropped into the remaining net ride. We processed them, resigned to having one left on the string. At midday David’s dad turned up to take him home. Almost immediately after he left, a very helpful Goldcrest flew into the net so we could tidy up that particular ring string. We closed those nets and took them down and were away from site by 12:30.

Anyone who read my blog post about the session on the 21st July will know that this is my first time back since then, in what in previous years has been one of my two main ringing sites. After the trouble on that occasion, I agreed with the Trust that it would be safest to stay away from public areas when working solo. Fortunately, as lockdown has eased, I am able to bring my trainees out with me and, with the Trust agreeing that I can close off specific areas from the public, using signage that they suggested (bigger, brighter than the BTO signs, much less easy to pretend you haven’t seen them) Lucy and I ventured out to Ravensroost Woods this morning. For those that know the Woods, we set just 6 nets: 4 x 18m along ride R28 and 2 x 189m along ride R38. For those who don’t know the wood, these are the first cross rides running west to east off the main path and tend to be the most productive rides. You can see where on the map of the site on the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s website.

https://www.wiltshirewildlife.org/ravensroost-wood-including-avis-distillery-and-warbler-meadows-malmesbury

As we weren’t setting much net, we had a late start, at 7:00, and started catching straight away. At 9:00 we had a large catch based around a mixed flock of titmice and Goldcrests. Thereafter the catch was slow: just 2 to 3 birds per round. Although it was a bright sunny day, the east wind dropped the temperature down and it never felt warm at all during the session. I suspect that this was a key reason why the movement was so slow. We did end up with a total of 45 birds, Lucy got to process her first Nuthatch, and we caught and processed a juvenile Marsh Tit, so it was a decent session. Once again, the largest portion of the catch was Goldcrests.

The list for the day was: Nuthatch 2; Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit 3(3); Great Tit 6(1); Coal Tit 1; Marsh Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 4(1); Wren 2; Robin 4(1); Blackbird 1; Chiffchaff 1; Goldcrest 12; Chaffinch 1. Totals: 39 birds ringed from 13 species and 6 birds retrapped from 5 species, making 45 birds processed from 13 species.

Although I did lure for them, there was no sign of any Redwing, Siskin or Lesser Redpoll this morning. Early days yet. though.

As to the previous incident, I can say more now. Not content with damaging a net that will cost me over £100 to replace, the vandals then made a malicious and vexatious complaint about me to the BTO. That is why I got the police involved: I was prepared to swallow the cost as an occupational hazard until they tried to attack my licence to practice. I am pleased to say that the police have taken the criminal damage seriously, have identified one of them, and are pursuing that person for restitution for the damage they caused. I did have independent witnesses to their activities (which they admitted to the BTO in their complaint, I have a copy of their email with their details redacted – but they lied, saying I had no signs up (how did they know to complain to the BTO if they hadn’t read it on my signs?)) and I bumped into the witnesses again this morning. I am delighted to say that they immediately agreed to make statements to the police supporting the facts of what happened. With their permission, I have passed their details on to the case officer.

I am not vindictive, and would have dropped it if they had not complained to the BTO, I would drop it now if they would pay to replace the net they damaged, which they told the BTO they would do, until they found out how expensive the equipment was that they damaged. The ramifications of their ignorant actions are significant. I have been running a project in Ravensroost Woods for over 8 years, providing data about the birdlife in the wood and charting how it has changed over time for the Trust and as part of a wider project covering the whole of the Braydon Forest for both the Trust and Forestry England. This year I have missed almost the entire breeding season’s data from Ravensroost Woods, thanks to Covid-19 and then their interference. Embedded within that is an important part of the monitoring project I am running across the whole of the Braydon Forest, studying the population of the red-listed and declining Marsh Tit, Poecile palustris. The Trust has been very supportive and helpful throughout, the police have been excellent and I am extremely grateful to both: unfortunately, I cannot say the same for all involved.

Things are beginning to return to some sort of normality (at last). Today I had my second session with Lucy and my first with Alice since the lockdown, as she has returned to the area to start her PhD.

Webb’s Wood was the next on the list for a session and, with wind being forecast, a woodland site made sense. We arrived on site at 6:30 and had the nets open by 7:30. The first birds arrived soon after, but it was very slow throughout the morning. Unfortunately, although the sun did keep putting in an appearance, the place just never really warmed up and the activity levels were very low. It seemed that each round delivered just two birds: one each for Alice and Lucy to process.

I put on lures for Chiffchaff and Blackcap, to see if there were any still around (they weren’t), and also for Redwing, to see if any had arrived yet (they haven’t). It wasn’t just wishful thinking: one has been caught on this date in the last two years, both at Somerford Common, and we can expect them to arrive in numbers during the course of this month.

The catch for the day was: Blue Tit 1; Great Tit 1; Coal Tit 2; Long-tailed Tit 1(1); Wren 2; Robin (1); Blackbird 1; Goldcrest 11(2). Totals: 19 birds ringed from 7 species and 4 birds retrapped from 3 species, making 23 birds processed from 8 species.

We had a good haul of Goldcrests again. I don’t lure for them until after 10:00, to give them time to forage and feed up after the night time. All bar one of them that we caught today weighed over 5g, so it looks as if most are on track to get to the weight they will need for the winter period.

The wind started to really get up at about 10:30, so we closed and took down the exposed nets first, finally leaving site just before midday. It is fairly typical of a session at this time of year: in between migrants, and no feeding stations set up yet. Still, an enjoyable session and very pleased with the skills and application of my two recent recruits.

This was my first taster session with my potential new trainee, Lucy Mortlock. Lucy has spent the last good few months in Northern Ireland, ringing mainly waders. It has been such a civilised experience that she had forgotten all of the joys of ringing titmice! Time for a reminder.

We set just a few nets at the main crossroads in the northern woodland:

This area can be a bit variable, usually producing 30 to 40 birds but just occasionally producing close to 100. Things did not start too auspiciously. We had the nets open by 7:30 and first round delivered a Robin and a Goldcrest. The second round a new Marsh Tit and a Blue Tit. Next round another new Marsh Tit, Blue Tit and a Song Thrush. We then had the odd bird turn up: a few Goldcrests being the highlight. It really did look like it was going to be very slow session.

Steph arrived (with 18 month old Beatrice) at 9:15 after the school run, and we processed another few birds in the next few rounds. Just when I was ready to throw in the towel, at 10:45, a significant tit flock arrived, together with another bunch of Goldcrests. Lucy has certainly been well and truly initiated into the “delights” of extracting and ringing Blue Tits! Not only that but Beatrice was saying “Blue Tit” quite clearly by the time she and Steph had to leave at 11:30. Her first bird name!

The morning’s catch was: Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit 19(1); Great Tit 3(2); Coal Tit 6; Marsh Tit 2; Wren (1); Robin 1; Song Thrush 1; Blackbird (1); Goldcrest 10(1). Totals: 43 birds ringed from 8 species; 6 birds retrapped from 5 species, making 49 birds processed from 10 species.

As on Monday, lots of Nuthatch calling but not getting into the nets. Very enjoyable, and I am sure that Lucy will make a great addition to the team.

After nearly 3 days of often torrential rain, there was a weather window predicted for Monday morning, with the rain closing in again at lunchtime. It was forecast to be breezy from the west, so I chose a site in which the rides run north to south, with a good thick tree barrier to protect the nets from billowing. As I had already arranged to go to Red Lodge on Wednesday, it had to be the Firs, also known as the Braydon Bog!

I was rather interested to see what impact the rain had had on the underfoot conditions. All I can say is that the summer has clearly been exceptionally dry: the central glade just wasn’t muddy. I am told that the bottom of the site is reverting to type, so I am sure it won’t be long before we are sliding our way along the net rides.

As it was a spur of the moment decision, I worked solo. Just 7 nets: 6 x 18m and 1 x 12m set in two groups of 3 x 18m in one and the rest in the other, covers the whole of the lower part of the central glade.

It was very much typical of this time of year: a straggling summer migrant that might be staying over, a Chiffchaff, and no sign of any winter migrants yet. I played lures for Redwing, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll all to no avail!

Whilst I was setting up there were at least three Tawny Owls calling around the wood. The rest of the morning was punctuated by Nuthatches calling: an absolute, wonderful cacophony, only this time none made it into the nets!

It was good, reasonably busy, session absolutely dominated by Blue and Great Tits. I have spent a lot of time looking at moult in the last couple of years and Monday morning provided the first case of aberrant moult I have seen in a Blue Tit:

For those who aren’t ringers or know about moult, after breeding adults of most species undergo a moult. Some moult everything, others just do partial moult, but the one thing that virtually all of them do, is moult their flight feathers. They have been in place since the previous year and are pretty worn out by the time their young have fledged. Passerines generally have 10 primaries, the outer flight feathers, and they moult from the innermost outwards, as a general rule. This Blue Tit has moulted and renewed it outer 7 primary feathers before moulting the inner 3 primaries. One is actually missing, one is two-thirds grown and the other is three-quarters grown. Quite unusual.

The list for the day was: Blue Tit 15(3); Great Tit 13(1); Marsh Tit (2); Long-tailed Tit 2; Wren 1(1); Blackbird 4; Chiffchaff 1; Goldcrest 6; Chaffinch 1. Totals: 43 birds ringed from 8 species and 7 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 50 birds processed from 9 species.

In order to avoid the threatened rain, I started packing up at 11:30, even though the sky was clear and blue with just a few clouds. As I was just about finished a couple of the staff members from the Wildlife Trust’s Well-being group turned up, along with a minibus full of children from one of the local schools. A shame I had nothing left to show them, as it always gets a good response.

I left the site at 12:15 and, doubly unlucky for the schoolchildren, as I got home the promised rain arrived!