Ringing In The Braydon Forest & Beyond

The point of a Constant Effort Site (CES) is to allow direct comparisons across the years. This is done by setting the same nets in the same places for the same length of time for 12 sessions, approximately 10 days apart, between the beginning of May to the end of August / first week of September. I started my CES at Lower Moor Farm in 2015 and, it is entirely possible, 2023 might well be the last. By committing to a CES invariably reduces the time available for my other sites. It all depends upon how Spring 2024 shapes up. I think that this graph shows exactly what the issue is:

Every single trend is downwards and, without the anomalous and exceptional year of 2019, the downward trend would be considerably worse. What is also significant is the decline in the number of species. This would indicate a reduction in suitable habitat for some of those species. I have had discussions with the Wildlife Trust to try and identify whether this is the result of habitat change or a genuine reduction of bird numbers in the area. There will be further discussion on habitat in part 3.

In this first part of my assessment I have had a look at the species that are my key reason for carrying out the CES at Lower Moor Farm: summer visiting warblers. In the next part I will look at the trends in resident species.

There are no active reed beds at Lower Moor Farm: the ponds and lake are ex-gravel extraction pits. Mallard Lake, until it became polluted by fertiliser run-off from other farms, was a marl lake. It now has a couple of thin reed fringes but not sufficient to support breeding Reed or Sedge Warblers. Unsurprisingly, the commonest warbler species are Blackcap and Chiffchaff.

As you can see, the retrap rate for Blackcap is relatively consistent, the numbers ringed have declined significantly. Interestingly, CES 11 and CES 12 this year each produced 17 Blackcaps, and those are the best catches of this species in any CES period. That just shows how poor the rest of the sessions have been for this species. Chiffchaff decline is precipitous and a considerable cause for concern. However, if that is bad, the situation with the less common warbler species is even worse. It used to be my best site for Garden Warbler but, again, their numbers have declined dramatically:

Similarly, the fall off in Willow Warbler numbers is significant:

If this is bad, then what has happened with Common Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat is catastrophic. Common Whitethroat were not significant in the catch for the first three years but, between 2018 and 2021, we had some hopeful signs, only for them to be dashed in 2022 and non-existent in 2023:

Lesser Whitethroat was even more disappointing as they were a solid contributor between 2015 and 2019 and then nothing since!

Obviously, with migrant warblers there can be many factors affecting numbers: primarily weather conditions. Certainly the last few years have been much less stable than we have been used to but it has not been bad enough to severely affect the CES sessions themselves, with only one being missed as a result of bad weather (session 3 in 2022).

I do have some ideas. For example, Garden Warbler and Blackcap have overlapping habitat requirements, with Garden Warbler preferring lower level vegetation for foraging, Blackcaps taller level vegetation, and they compete, with Blackcap seemingly outcompeting Garden Warblers. It is why when I can use lures I use Garden Warbler and it works for both species.

Part 2 will follow as soon as I can get it done.

I really don’t like leaving things to the last minute but this was the absolute latest date that I could run the final CES of this year. I was joined for the session by David at 6:00, and we had the nets set up and open by 7:00. The weather was rather concerning: it was like being inside a cloud of mist – mizzle. It wasn’t enough for us to shut the nets but it wasn’t very pleasant for sitting around in. Ironically, the nets were actually well protected by the overhanging vegetation. In between rounds we sat in my car to stay out of it. We were joined by Claire and her two children at just after 8:00. I had texted her and given them the choice, given the unpleasant weather, but the children were apparently insistent on coming.

We didn’t actually catch any birds until 8:00. I suspect that they were also sheltering from the miserable weather! The weather finally relented and dried up at about 9:00 and, by 10:00, the sun peeped out, and by 11:00 it was positively warm and bright. The catch was an underwhelming 19 birds in CES 12 2022 and I was hoping that we would see some improvement. It started promisingly, with four birds in the first round, but that went up to ten in round two, and another nine in round three. After that, however, it all died away, with just another five birds caught in the next two hours before we shut the nets at 11:30.

The bird of the morning was our first juvenile Bullfinch of the year:

Juvenile Bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula

The list for the day was: Blue Tit (1); Wren [1](1); Dunnock (1); Robin [1](1); Blackbird [1]; Blackcap [17]; Chiffchaff [2]; Willow Warbler [1]; Bullfinch [1]. Totals: 24 juveniles ringed from 7 species and 4 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 28 birds processed from 9 species. Every bird, except for the retrapped Blue Tit, was a juvenile.

During the morning we were treated to some excellent views of a Great White Egret on the opposite bank of Mallard Lake. Apparently the Otters were also being very busy on the lake, but we didn’t get to see them as they were around the corner from our ringing station and nets.

David’s dad, Trevor, arrived to help us take down, and we were all packed up and ready to leave by about 12:20.

A very interesting month.  The catch was down on August 2022 by just under 300 birds, but last year’s August was exceptional for us.  This August is our second best.  We did process 44 species against 40 last year, even if one of those additional species was a Red Kite from the RSPCA Oak & Furrows project that I am currently working on.

The highlight has to be that Jonny ringed the first Mute Swan at any of our sites for over a decade: his one was caught and ringed at Langford Lakes. Interestingly, the first that we have a record for in the online database (DemOn) was also at Langford Lakes: on the 25th August 1990, almost exactly 33 years ago!

This year we had Marsh Tit, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Tawny Owl and Tree Sparrow, as well as the Red Kite, that were not caught in 2022. Missing from last year were Linnet, Nightjar, Reed Bunting, Stone-curlew and Whinchat.  The Kestrel and Peregrine processed in August last year were birds being rehabilitated at the Mere Falconry Centre, so if we only count wild court birds that is 43 species in 2023 to 38 in 2022.

The key declines in numbers were in some of our summer visiting warblers: Blackcap down from 195 to 131; Reed Warbler down from 100 to 35; Sedge Warbler from 89 to 28 and Willow Warbler 107 to 65.   Chiffchaff were 176 down from 193 but that was a decline in the number retrapped: the number ringed was 169 in both years.  Garden Warbler numbers were stable at 13 and 14 respectively.  Swallow numbers were boosted by my team carrying out a number of nest visits and ringing nestlings.  Tree Sparrows by Jonny’s taking over a number of Tree Sparrow nest boxes this summer.

There were conflicting results amongst some of our resident species. Blue Tit numbers were up to 144 from 84 and Long-tailed Tit 57 vs 18.  Whilst Great Tit numbers look reasonably similar, we ringed 78 vs 34 last year but only retrapped 16 vs 47. Blackbird (13 vs 27); Dunnock (31 vs 59); House Sparrow (19 vs 35) showed significant decreases in numbers caught and ringed. 

Next month should be a bit of a similar challenge: with 1,400 or so caught last year.

A slight departure from my usual blogging activities this time: augmenting the ringing report posted on Saturday, 19th August. Bio-blitzes are a pretty good way of finding out what is to be found on a site. This Saturday’s was arranged, at fairly short notice, with half-a-dozen enthusiastic volunteers, organised by Rosie and another Trust staffer. My participation was to run my bird-ringing session first thing in the morning, and a moth-trapping session from 20:00 that evening.

The group went off on their surveying, and spent the next 5 hours or so looking at whatever they could see and identifying as much of those as they can. The list they produced was extensive, with a minimum of 183 species seen, and over 175 fully identified. This split down into, at least: 76 plant species; 5 fungi and lichen species; 39 butterfly and moth species; 26 other insect species; 12 other invertebrate species; 5 mammal species and 21 bird species. The lists that follow are a work in progress, with a number of species yet to be identified from photographs taken at the time.

The bird ringing produced 8 species, which was augmented considerably by the survey. The full bird list was: Grey Heron; Buzzard; Sparrowhawk; Barn Owl; Tawny Owl; Kestrel; Woodpigeon; Green Woodpecker; Blue Tit; Great Tit; Wren; Dunnock; Robin; Redstart; Lesser Whitethroat; Chiffchaff; Carrion Crow; Magpie; Jay; Goldfinch; Wheatear; Starling. We decided not to count the Peacock that we could hear calling across the back of the fields!

Outside of the butterflies and the moth caterpillars reported on in the ringing post, the mothing session went well. Rosie, Lynn (one of the volunteer crew) and I met at 20:00, set up my moth trap and sat and waited to see what we would get. Pretty quickly there were a lot of grass moths around: Rosie used her sweep net to catch those flying around and we were able to identify Agriphila tristella, Agriphila geniculea and Chrysoteuchia culmella. There were lots more flying around and plenty went into the traps: including a couple of European Hornets that seemed absolutely transfixed by the light: crawling over the actual bulb at times. I took the trap home, so it could be analysed the next day for additional species identification. Amongst the many moths in the trap we had this beauty:

Angle Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa

The commonest macro moth we found was the Six-Striped Rustic:

Six-striped Rustic, Xestia sexstrigata

My favourite, though, was a Cloaked Minor:

Cloaked Minor, Mesoligia furuncula

Or perhaps this:

Orange Swift, Hepialus sylvina

The moth list was: Orange Swift; Willow Ermine; Eudonia mercurella; Garden Grass Veneer; Agriphila tristella; Agriphila geniculea; Privet Hawkmoth caterpillar; Hummingbird Hawkmoth; Blood-vein; Shaded Broad-bar; Yellow Shell; Magpie Moth; Straw Dot; Dingy Footman; Cinnabar Moth caterpillar; Mother Shipton caterpillar; Vine’s Rustic; Straw Underwing; Angle Shades; Cloaked Minor; Lesser Common Rustic; Striped Wainscot; Common Wainscot; White-point; Flame Shoulder; Large Yellow Underwing; Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing; Square-spot Rustic; Six-striped Rustic; Setaceous Hebrew Character.

The butterfly list was: Small Copper; Common Blue; Gatekeeper; Brown Argus; Meadow Brown; Large White; Small Skipper.

Naturally the moth trap attracted in a lot of other insects. One of the most often encountered, pretty much everywhere in this area, is this Caddis Fly:

Mystacides longicornis

The other insects found were: Mystacides longicornis; other Caddis Fly spp; Robber Fly; Hoverfly spp; Long Hoverfly; Dronefly; Ground Beetle spp; Pterostichus madidus; Pterostichus versicolor; Amara spp; Rove Beetle spp; 7-Spot Ladybird; 22-Spot Ladybird; Leafhopper spp; Common Fly spp; Small Blackfly; Common Carder Bee; Buff-tailed Bumble Bee – worker; Red-tailed Bumble Bee – male; Honey Bee; European Hornet; Darter dragonfly spp; Black Ant spp; Red Ant spp; Grasshopper spp; Roesel’s Bush-cricket.

The last has some quite striking markings:

Roesel’s Bush Cricket, Roeseliana roeselli

The other invertebrates were: Brown-lipped Snail; Unidentified Snail spp; Small Black & White shelled Snail; Small Stone White “Helix” Snail; Slug: Arion vulgaris “Davies”; Tent Spider spp; Wolf Spider; Harvestman spp; Woodlouse spp; Rough Woodlouse; Centipede; Earthworm spp.

The mammals identified were: Roe Deer, Muntjac; Fox; Badger; Rabbit.

The list of plants was, somewhat unsurprisingly, the longest: Pedunculate Oak; Ash; Field Maple; Crack / Grey Willow; Hawthorn; Blackthorn / Sloe; other Prunus spp; Crab Apple; Hazel; Elder; Spindle; Poppy; Bramble; Dogwood; Common Ragwort; Hoary Ragwort; Guelder-rose; Hawkbit spp; Cinquefoil; Dog Rose; Bulbous Buttercup; Fat-hen; Honeysuckle; Hop Trefoil; Bird’s-foot Trefoil (?); Dandelion; Ladies’ Bedstraw; Horseshoe Vetch; (Feather) Moss; Mallow; Common Agrimony; Sneezewort; Stinging Nettle; Horsetail; Common Yarrow / Field Horsetail; Biting Stonecrop; White Clover; Stitchwort / Mousey; Scabious spp; Knapweed; Red Dead-nettle; White Dead-nettle; Thistle spp; Crown Thistle (?); Teasel; Common Vetch; Black Medic; Thyme-leaved Sandwort; Ox-eye Daisy; Robin’s Pin-cushion; Musk Mallow; Cut-leaved Cranesbill; Briony; Groundsel / Chickweed; Willowherb (Hoary?); Wild Carrot; Tussock Grass; Ribbed Plantain; Meadow Vetchling; St John’s Wort; Germander Speedwell; Common Bindweed; Bittersweet Nightshade; Burdock; Hogweed; Ivy; Dock; Geranium; Broad-leaved Plantain; Lords & Ladies; Cornflower; Meadow Buttercup; Sorrel; Native Water-lily; Water Forget-Me-Not; Hedge Mustard.

Common Fleabane, Pulicaria dysenterica

Creeping Cinquefoil, Potentilla reptans

Fungi & Lichens: Lichen spp; Jelly Fungus; Field Mushroom; Under Tree Mushroom; Chalara Ash Die-back (Hymenoscyphus fraxineus)

Given that the group are primarily a small group of enthusiastic amateurs, this is quite a colossal achievement in such a short period of time.

The best laid plans and all that…..

With my car scheduled for a service on my usual Wednesday session I decided to get a session in today. When I checked the weather forecast (Meteo and the Met Office) both said it would be dry all day but, far more importantly, that there would be very low wind speeds until lunchtime when a weather front would roll in and we could expect wind and rain. As I had agreed with Jonathan, the Wildlife Trust’s (excellent) farms manager, that I could resume ringing activities on the plateau area this week, as the cattle would have been moved off the area of the plateau that is left fallow all year round onto the areas that had recently been cut and baled for hay. I don’t have access to the plateau during the breeding season, to avoid any possible disturbance to the Curlew and Skylarks that nest in the area.

Having agreed to meet Miranda at 6:00, but waking earlier than expected, I was on site by 5:30 and started setting the plateau nets. Miranda joined me at 6:00 and, as we were putting the finishing touches to the third net she said “cattle”! Sure enough, a small herd of some 30 heifers came trotting across the plateau towards us and the nets. Fortunately, one look at the pair of us and they sped up and ran off into the northern area of the plateau and we didn’t see them again this morning. We must be very scary! I texted Jonathan, who apologised profusely. I mean, how dare his crew actually take advantage of the same bank holiday weekend the rest of us did, having worked all the hours available cutting, turning, baling and collecting the bales for the last couple of weeks! No harm done anyway.

I decided to see if any Meadow Pipits had arrived yet and set up a Mipit triangle net set. If I had checked my records beforehand I probably wouldn’t have bothered: I have never caught a Meadow Pipit at Blakehill Farm in August – and I still haven’t!

The nets we set were:

Now that we are out of the breeding season and, in this case, focusing on migrating birds, I set lures for Meadow Pipit (A); Stonechat (B); Whinchat (C,E); Blackcap (D) and Willow Warbler (E). True to form, the only lure that actually worked was that for the Blackcap. Whether the lure was instrumental in attracting in the few we caught is arguable.

We were pleasantly surprised to catch two Whitethroat, two Lesser Whitethroat and the obligatory first round Wren at about 7:30. Unfortunately, that was about it for the plateau nets. The wind got up much earlier than was forecast and the nets just stopped catching. Our Meadow Pipit net caught absolutely nothing until, at 10:30, with the wind so strong that we had to shut the plateau nets and the Mipit triangle, it produced a juvenile Great Tit.

Although the nets on the perimeter track were largely protected from the westerly wind, there was still quite a lot of billowing. With no sheer forces to endanger the birds, we left the perimeter nets open and I was pleased that we did, as two of these beauties flew into the nets at 10:00:

juvenile female Redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus

The central tail feathers on the Redstart are dark, those on the Nightingale are uniform across the tail, which is a handy identification point if you just catch a glimpse of a red-tailed bird. I had only caught five Redstart at my sites before today, and I had never caught more than one on any occasion.

We are certain that the wind was the key factor in the low numbers caught but, never mind the width, feel the quality! The list for the day was: Great Tit [1]; Wren [2]; Redstart [2]; Blackcap [2]; Whitethroat [3]; Lesser Whitethroat [3]. Totals: 13 juveniles ringed from 7 species. Definitely not my biggest catch but a nice selection of birds.

Once we had finished taking down I had an appointment with the RSPCA Oak & Furrows Rehabilitation Centre to ring this fabulous bird:

Red Kite, Milvus milvus

It is an adult male and is scheduled to be released back into the wild by the end of the week. He has made quite astonishing progress, if his weight is anything to go by: on the 20th August he was weighed at 750g. We weighed him again today, nine days later, and he weighed in at 1,040g. That is a staggering weight gain: nearly a 40% increase in just 9 days! Given its diet, it brings a whole new meaning to the term “chickenfeed”!

Whilst I was there I was asked to look at a juvenile Sparrowhawk that someone had brought in. It is already ringed so I have taken the details and did all of the usual biometrics and entered the data into the central database. Unfortunately, whomsoever ringed it has not yet entered the capture details into the database, so I haven’t had any feedback on it yet. I almost always enter my data on the same day, if not I do it the next day. It is an online system and, if used properly, it is fast and efficient. Not everybody does.

All in all, a very satisfying morning, despite the weather and the cattle!

The last time I went to Red Lodge, on the 9th July, I caught just six birds in 180 metres of net in four hours, so it was with some trepidation that I returned to the site. David and I were on site for 6:30, with Teresa and Andy joining us soon after. Finally, we were joined by Claire and her children at about 8:00.

I didn’t set quite so much net this time, as one of the rides had become extremely enclosed by the canopy having become heavily weighed down.

Things did not start auspiciously: we had to wait over an hour for the first birds to get caught in the net. When they did it was pleasing to start with two juvenile Marsh Tits:

Juvenile Marsh Tit, Poecile palustris

It is shaping up to be a good year for this species in the Braydon Forest. They were accompanied by a couple of Wrens and Blackcaps. That was the best round. Apart from that it was just ones and twos until we reached the grand total of 18 birds from nine species. I suppose a 300% increase on last time is something to be pleased with.

Actually, there was a lot to be pleased with, primarily this:

Juvenile male Sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus (photo courtesy of Teresa Farr)

It was very obliging: it hit the net at speed, struggled and escaped, but had the good graces to try again. This time we were ready for it, and I managed to extract it without damage (especially to me, these birds are not exactly docile). The plumage was very fresh and the colouration stunning. Its very pale yellow eye colour is typical of a juvenile Sparrowhawk. The plumage colouration and biometrics (wing length and weight) were perfect for juvenile male.

The final bird out of the nets was an adult female Nuthatch. She was undergoing her post-breeding moult of wings and tail and had almost completely feathered over her brood patch. Another month and we will find it almost impossible to distinguish between adults and juveniles as both undergo a full moult into adult plumage post-fledging or post-breeding.

The list for the day was: Sparrowhawk [1]; Nuthatch 1; Blue Tit [1]; Great Tit [2](1); Marsh Tit [2]; Wren [3]; Robin [2]; Blackbird [2]; Blackcap [3]. Totals 1 adult ringed, 16 juveniles ringed from 8 species and 1 retrap, making 18 birds processed from 9 species.

There was an extremely sharp shower at just after 11:00, just as we were thinking about closing up, to help make our minds up and we started taking down. Many hands make light work, and everything was packed away pretty quickly. Fortunately, the rain stopped and we managed to dry most things off before putting them in the car. We were off site just after midday.

With the wind forecast for Wednesday being flat calm, I decided that I would try to get to Brown’s Farm (something I had planned for last Wednesday but illness put paid to that), as I have not been able to get anywhere near at all so far this year, because it is just so susceptible to the wind. As a result, I decided to bring forward CES session 11 to today.

Yesterday, Miranda and I went to Waterhay Farm to check on the breeding Swallows at the site. We found a dozen or so nests. There were a whole bunch of newly fledged Swallows sitting on the telephone wires outside the farm, and we did find several empty nests. However, we found two nests with more-or-less naked young, with their wing feathers emerged but completely in pin; one nest with the young feathered and their flight feathers one-third grown / emerged but, as surprising as it was when we found two nests with warm eggs at Clattinger Farm last Monday, we also found a nest here with five warm eggs. Say what you like, I think that this is beautiful:

Swallow pullus, Hirundo rustica (photo courtesy of Miranda)

So to this morning, Miranda joined me at 6:00 and we got the usual nets set up and open by 7:00. Unfortunately, she began to feel unwell and, at just after 9:00, had to leave the session. It was a shame, as we were having a decent catch (for once). What was a little surprising was the influx of Blackcaps. Having been scarce all summer, today we were taking one or two out each round.

The catch was: Treecreeper (1); Blue Tit [10](1); Wren [1](1); Dunnock 1(1); Robin [1]; Blackcap [17]; Chiffchaff [2]. Totals: 1 adult ringed, 31 juveniles ringed from 5 species and 4 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 36 birds processed from 7 species. Numerically that compares favourably last year, when only 29 birds were processed: 19 ringed and 10 retrapped, but that catch did have 12 species, so greater variety. On the positive side: 17 Blackcap is 10 more than any other catch of them at my sites this year. In fact, it is my second best catch of them at any of my sites. The best was actually at Lower Moor Farm on the 25th September last year. Hopefully this is a good omen for next month!

A couple of juvenile Chiffchaff were welcome but, again, the complete absence of Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat was a disappointment.

Unfortunately, at about 11:00 an unforecast wind started to get up. Although the rides here are pretty well sheltered from westerlies but by 11:30 it was blowing out the net pockets, and I had to shut the nets 30 minutes earlier than planned. With my last round and the nets closed but before I started taking down, I did spend quite a lot of time with a young family, introducing them to bird ringing, and was able to show them a few birds up close. I am not sure the baby will remember much, no matter how smiley he was, but hopefully their four-year old daughter will grow up to be interested.

After chatting and then packing up I left site at just after 13:00. A satisfying session at last!

I don’t think I have ever previously ringed the same site within 5 days of the previous session, until today. It was a bit of a mistake to be honest: but it turned out to be a pleasing one. We (this was a joint mistake) overlooked the fact that a bio-blitz was scheduled at Blakehill Farm on Saturday when we went ringing on Tuesday. Two good things came out of that (apart from our first two Lesser Whitethroat of the year): a net ride that had previously produced very little caught all bar one of our birds on Tuesday and the net rides that I would usually have set caught absolutely nothing. Mind, the wind forecast made those empty nets unusable anyway. As a result, I decided to set the net ride that had caught for this session again, and set another two net sets in the field on the opposite side of the track:

With the weather forecast threatening rain until 6:00 we agreed to meet at 6:30. I was joined by David and Rosie. Rosie would be running the bio-blitz volunteers, who were arriving at 10:00, and so managed to get a bit more ringing done than usual, which turned out to be fortuitous for her.

The first round that actually produced any birds, at 8:30, whilst I was getting close to tearing out what little hair I have left at the lack of any birds, delivered this beauty:

Second-year Male Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis (photo: Rosie Wilson)

It was in the net set that was successful on Tuesday. This is the first Green Woodpecker caught and ringed at this site, and was the first Green Woodpecker that Rosie has had the chance to process. The other birds in the round were more usual fare: a Blue Tit and two Dunnock. As we split off to do the next round Rosie went to check the nets where I had extracted the Green Woodpecker. Immediately I could hear the familiar calls:

Juvenile Green Woodpecker, Picus viridis (photo: Rosie Wilson)

So Rosie ringed and extracted her first Green Woodpeckers in consecutive net rounds!

The first bio-blitz volunteer arrived at 9:00 and the rest around about 10:00, which brought an end to Rosie’s involvement in the ringing this morning. In the interim we had a decent round of 11 birds, including our third Lesser Whitethroat of the week at the site (and of the year at any of my sites), and from the same net as the previous two. The list for the day was: Green Woodpecker 1[1]; Blue Tit 1[2]; Great Tit 1; Wren [2]; Dunnock [4]; Robin [4]; Lesser Whitethroat 1; Chiffchaff [4]. Totals: 4 adults ringed from 4 species and 17 juveniles ringed from 6 species, making 21 birds processed from 8 species. Once again, no retrapped birds.

I carried out a brief ringing demonstration to the bio-blitz volunteers, who were very keen to find out more about it and enjoyed seeing some birds close up. They then departed to start their blitzing. Immediately I was called over by them to see this beauty that they had found in the hedgerow:

Privet Hawkmoth Caterpillar, Sphinx ligustri

Soon after David and I had sat back down at the ringing station I noticed this crawling across the path:

I have been told that this is the caterpillar of a Mother Shipton moth, Callistege mi

With the wind getting stronger from 11:00, we started to shut the nets at 11:30. For once there were no last minute birds. David’s dad, Trevor, joined us and helped make the process of taking down so much quicker. We were packed up and ready to go by 12:15.

As an aside, I will be heading back there for the evening with my moth trap, to provide some sort of finale for the bio-blitz.

I had a quick trip to Clattinger Farm yesterday, to meet up with Rosie, check on some Swallow nests, and then ring a brood of five Swallows, all done under licence and as part of the BTO Nest Record Scheme. Interestingly, two of the nests contained four eggs in each. They were warm, so clearly being brooded. By my estimation they will be fledging towards the end of September (15 days incubation, 22 more days to fledging, according to the BTO Nest Record data). The birds we ringed will almost certainly fledge within the next two weeks, as their feathers were two-thirds grown.

This morning I planned to carry out a session at Blakehill Farm in the fields behind the Whitworth Building. I was joined by Rosie and Miranda for the session and we all met at 6:00. Driving round the perimeter track to the Whitworth Building I firstly had a Kestrel take off from a post just in front of me and had lovely views as it flew away into the mist. This was then followed by a Wheatear that post-hopped along the track in front of me for about 200m, giving me brilliant views of the bird. My first of the autumn. We set the following nets:

To explain this diagram: 1 was 2 x 18m nets + 1 x 12m net; 2 was 2 x 18m nets; 3 was 2 x 18m + 1 x 12m net and 4 was 1 x 18m net. Net rides 1 to 3 were the nets we actually set for the start of the session, and used until 10:30. However, rides 1 and 2, set along the tree line produced just one bird: a Wren, right at the start of the session. The breeze got up, they were billowing and getting stuck in the trees and the brambles, so we closed them and took them down. Needless to say, as soon as we started to close them they caught another bird. However, it was the Wren that we had originally caught and ringed, so I just extracted it and released it. Net number 4 was set up subsequent to closing nets 1 and 2, just to test the position. It failed and didn’t catch a single bird.

As usual, Rosie had to leave for work soon after 9:00, having just had the opportunity to ring two birds. To the catch itself: it was not big but I am not going to complain. All birds, apart from the previously mentioned Wren, were caught in the 2 x 18m + 12m line along the hedgerow / path. There were no adults and no retrapped birds. The list was: Great Tit [2]; Wren [1]; Robin [2]; Whitethroat [1]; Lesser Whitethroat [2]; Chiffchaff [1]; Willow Warbler [1]; House Sparrow [2]. Total: 12 juvenile birds ringed from 8 species.

The two Lesser Whitethroats are actually my first two of the year. It has been a stunningly disappointing year for this species at my sites. They have been declining since 2020, coinciding with the overall declines in catches at Lower Moor Farm and Ravensroost Meadows, so to catch two today was very pleasing:

juvenile Lesser Whitethroat, Curruca curruca

The first one was accompanied by a juvenile Whitethroat. Their numbers at my sites have crashed since 2021. This was our first juvenile of the year:

juvenile Whitethroat, Curruca communis

Although we have ringed some House Sparrow pulli this year we had not caught any fledged juveniles until the two today:

juvenile House Sparrow, Passer domesticus

The House Sparrow is one of the few Passerine species in the UK where the adults and juveniles both go through a full post-breeding / post fledging moult into full adult plumage, making it impossible to age them accurately as the autumn progresses. Others that have this moult strategy are the Nuthatch and Long-tailed Tit. This one was already able to be sexed: its head was developing grey feathers and its wing was developing the dark chestnut feathers typical of the male’s plumage:

Unfair on the juvenile Robins, Great Tits and Wren that don’t make the picture gallery, but we did catch a very striking juvenile Willow Warbler:

juvenile Willow Warbler, Phylloscopus trochilus

With the wind picking up, and the catch having died off completely, Miranda and I shut the nets at 11:30 and took down. We were off site by 12:15.

After another rainy day on Tuesday it was a relief to wake up to a dry day.  It started misty but the sun came through and burnt off the mist by 8:00. The moon, at about one-third full, was present in the north-western sky throughout the morning session: that always seems a bit weird. I was joined for the morning by Miranda plus Laura with Daniel and Adam at 6:00. With everybody pitching in, and with me being able to find the first few pole holes without having to re-establish them, we had the first nets open by 6:15 and the rest open by 7:00 and, like Monday, caught the first bird before the last net was opened.

It was a very pleasant session but, like almost all of them this year, the numbers were well down. In fact, they were exactly 50% of the same session last year! Indeed, both the number ringed and the number retrapped were both 50% of the equivalent number last year. We were taking birds out of the nets every other round, i.e. every 40 minutes we would have something to process. One of the benefits of not being rushed by larger numbers of birds is that there is time for personal development. Laura isn’t currently interested in actually ringing the birds but does want to be able to extract them. So we could take some time this morning to start her on that path. I am pleased to say that she got the hang of it quickly and has now extracted her first couple of birds.

Once again the catch was devoid of Chiffchaff. We could hear them all around us but only one came near the nets but managed to extract itself whilst I was extracting a Cetti’s Warbler.  We had a couple of those again this morning: as well as the Chiffchaff there was a Dunnock and a Wren. Unusually, these were in the Merlin nets, which are generally deeper pocketed than the Ecotones I use in more open area and, therefore, less likely to allow birds to escape.  The Cetti’s Warbler was our second juvenile of the year.

Juvenile Cetti’s Warbler, Cettia cetti

The list for the day was: Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit 1(3); Great Tit [1]; Wren 1[3]; Dunnock [2](1); Robin [2]; Cetti’s Warbler [1]; Blackcap [2]. Totals 3 adults ringed from 3 species, 11 juveniles ringed from 6 species and 4 birds retrapped from 2 species, making 18 birds processed from 8 species. That compares to 28 birds ringed and 8 birds retrapped from 14 species in the equivalent session last year. The catches have been declining for the fourth year in a row. This year perhaps it has been exacerbated by the bad weather but it is still a worrying trend.

As ever, there were squadrons of dragonflies and damsel flies around the area, including this lovely Common Darter:

Immature female Common Darter, Sympetrum striolatum

The Brown Hawkers and Emperors wouldn’t settle long enough for a decent photo, probably because this time I took my macro lens on the camera! With the session time coming to an end and five of us to take down, we were cleared away very quickly and off site by 12:30.