Tag: birds

Despite some foul weather this February we did manage to get out for 20 full sessions, but also there were several aborted sessions. The overall resulting figures were similar but there were a lot of differences in the make up of the figures:

Given how close the overall numbers are, we actually ringed 50 more birds this February and recaptured 43 fewer. Also, although the total number of species were very similar, with just one more species recaptured than last year, the total number of species processed in the two periods was 38. Andy and I both tried out new sites: although our first catches weren’t huge, both look promising for the future.

Added to the list this year were: Bullfinch, House Sparrow, Kingfisher, Pied Wagtail, Snipe and Treecreeper. Missing from the list were Cetti’s Warbler, Green Woodpecker, Jay, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Sparrowhawk and Stonechat.

There were plenty of ups and downs in the numbers of the species caught in both years. Although the Blue and Great Tit numbers overall were quite similar we actually ringed far more of both species than we did last year. With Blue Tits, as I noted in one of my recent posts, plenty of ringers have been bemoaning the lack of juvenile / second calendar year (2CY) birds this winter, but the West Wilts Group does seem to have bucked the trend, in February at least: 39 adults and 139 2CY Blue Tits ringed: 23% adults vs 77% 2CY.

Not surprising that we didn’t catch any Meadow Pipits: 21 of last year’s 22 were caught in a single session at Blakehill Farm. That was also where we caught the two Stonechat. Unfortunately, it has just been far too windy for me to run sessions there. The Skylark was caught at East Hill Farm but, similarly, no session there this February. Not worried about the lack of Jays: after three in January.

There were a couple of highlights: Jonny caught his first Snipe at any of his sites.

It isn’t the first Snipe he has ever ringed, but his only other was six years ago at Blakehill Farm. I must have another go for them at Blakehill in the next couple of weeks.

My highlight was the second Pied Wagtail for my garden:

I know I have done loads as a trainee, but in your own garden it is rather special. A shame the one in Laura’s garden yesterday managed to avoid the net.

Hopefully the weather will improve for March! I, for one, am sick of constantly tramping through mud and my equipment being constantly filthy.

Back to the muddiest site that we have this winter. I keep going back in the hope that we might catch a Redpoll, Siskin, Brambling or two. Once again, we were disappointed on that. However, it was a very enjoyable session. I was joined from the start by Rosie, Laura and Adam, plus new potential team member, Ellie, coming along for her first taster session. It was a very cold, very foggy start. Nevertheless, the forecast was for it to lift and for the sun to break through, so I was happy to get set up and run the session. The sun didn’t break through until 9:30 but, after that, the fog cleared quickly and the sun was very welcome and very warming.

We started setting the usual nets. I then got a distress call from Justine and Mark, from the Salisbury Plain Raptor Group, who were also scheduled to join us for the morning. They had got lost in the fog! I told them to find a landmark and let me know what it was: not easy when the mobile signals in rural Wiltshire as so, so bad! Anyway, they let me know where they were and I went to their rescue and led them to site, whilst the rest of the team continued to set our nets:

We had the nets open before 8:00 but it seems that the birds don’t like moving around much in freezing fog any more than people do! It took a while to get going, but eventually we started to catch. The start was promising: first birds out of the nets was a new female Nuthatch, two retrapped Robins and a new male Blackbird. Rosie got to ring the Nuthatch and process one of the Robins before heading off to work.

Naturally, we started catching at the feeding station area, net rides 1 to 4, first. Rides 5 and 6, which used to be such busy nets were, yet again, very, very quiet. They produced the two Long-tailed Tits that we processed but, apart from them, just a Wren that decided to get itself trapped again after we had just finished processing it for the first time.

There was good variety in the catch and the list for the session was: Nuthatch 1(2); Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit 4(4); Great Tit 2(2); Coal Tit 1(2); Marsh Tit (2); Long-tailed Tit 1(1); Wren 1; Robin 1(3); Blackbird 1; Chiffchaff 1; Goldcrest 1; Chaffinch 3. Totals:18 birds ringed from 12 species and 16 birds retrapped from 7 species, making 34 birds processed from 13 species.

We are having a really good start to the year for Nuthatch at Somerford Common: eight processed already. The most we have ever processed there in an entire year is 12. We look to be well on course to surpass that. Since I started working at Somerford, back in 2012, we have only processed more than that in four of the 11 full years. It is our best site for the species, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of the year develops.

It was nice not to be overwhelmed by Blue and Great Tits, and to get 13 species at this time of year is very pleasing. We did have the first Somerford Chiffchaff of the year, but no sign yet of any other summer species.

We had been joined part way through the session by Mark, Laura’s husband, and their friend, Alex, so when we decided to pack up at 11:45 it took very little time for us to clear away and get off site, which we managed by 12:20. I am pleased to say that Ellie enjoyed her first taster session and will be joining me again very soon.

So that is three early morning starts in a row for me this week: tomorrow I have scheduled a long lie-in!

New sites are always worth exploring. However, it is a good idea to have a reconnaissance visit beforehand: to see where the birds are, how they access the site and, therefore, the best places to set the nets. Laura has been asking me to carry out a session at her property for quite a while now. With the weather scuppering all previous attempts, but looking fine for this morning, we agreed to try it out today. However, that, having not visited the site before, meant that I (we) was trusting to luck with my net setting.

I arrived on site at 7:30 and we set the following nets:

The first bird out of the nets was a Goldfinch: encouraging. Unfortunately, that was the only one we caught this morning. However, that was down to how I placed the nets. There were plenty of them around but they just flew around or over the net. I have already decided what changes to make to make it less easy for them to avoid being caught.

Unsurprisingly, the major part of the catch comprised Blue Tits. Equally unsurprising, there were no retrapped birds. The list for the morning was: Blue Tit 11: Great Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 1; Dunnock 2; Robin 1; Blackbird 1; Goldfinch 1. Total: 18 birds ringed and processed from 7 species.

There were plenty of bounce outs and a couple of other near misses: most frustratingly was a Pied Wagtail that flew up to the net, had a look, and flew away. There was plenty coming in and out of the garden: including a couple each of Great Spotted Woodpecker and Woodpigeon.

During the quiet times I showed Laura my method for net-mending: one of those tedious, never-ending tasks but, with new 18m nets costing close to £140, it is pretty essential to try and keep them going for as long as possible. Laura has volunteered to help me out, and I am very grateful.

I think that the site will be very productive: I know where to set my nets now to maximise the catch and, having coffee and bacon butties on hand, it is an absolute must for repeat sessions!

We closed the nets at midday reasonably satisfied with the result, but looking forward to having another go now I have a better idea of where to set the nets.

After yesterday’s high winds and torrential rain, it was rather nice to get out this morning. I had been out on Monday afternoon to top up the feeders, so was hopeful of a reasonable catch.

I was joined by Miranda for the morning and we met at 7:00. Because there was only the two of us, I restricted the nets to just those adjacent to the feeders:

We had the nets open by 7:30 and started catching straight away. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the catch comprised Blue and Great Tits. It is what I was expecting. What I wasn’t expecting was how many were unringed. We caught 20 Blue Tits in total: 18 unringed and just two retrapped. The two retraps were ringed one year and two years ago. Then 17 Great Tits: 12 unringed and five retrapped. The oldest from just two years ago.

Also, given the number of people commenting on how few juvenile Blue Tits they are catching, it was, once again, good to see the ratio of Adult : Juvenile birds. In February, my team has ringed 84 Blue Tits at a ratio of 16 adults : 68 juveniles. 20% to 80%. Today’s session produced 3 adults to 15 juveniles: 17% adults and 83% juveniles.

What I am finding this year is how early both Blue and Great Tits are coming into breeding condition. If it wasn’t for Ellie mentioning it several weeks ago, having found a Blue Tit and a Great Tit developing brood patches, I wouldn’t have thought to look. Now that I am looking, it is surprising how many I am finding. I suppose with males setting up territories, Great Tit males seem to be singing all over the place, their testosterone levels must be elevated and that, no doubt, has resulted in the number sporting quite obvious cloacal protuberances. Somewhat more surprising, to me at least, are the number of females that we have caught that are clearly already developing brood patches. According to the BTO BirdFacts database, both Blue Tit and Great Tit first clutches are usually laid towards the end of April, with the earliest record for Blue Tit being 12th April, and for Great Tit, 10th April.

One thing it has meant is that I have been able to show Miranda what she should be looking for over the next few months as we catch more birds.

In our second round we caught a female Chaffinch: unfortunately she was suffering from Fringilla papillomavirus, so we released her unringed, thinking that was likely to be it for the day. However, at 9:40 we caught another two, then next round we caught another and, in our last round at 11:45, we caught yet another. That brings our total in Red Lodge for this month to six. Equalling our best monthly total for the site. To put it in perspective, our average catch of them is 2 per month.

So, of the five we actually caught, the only female was the only one we couldn’t process.

Another interesting catch was our sixth Marsh Tit ringed in 2025. That is the best start to the year that we have ever had! Previously we have had four, in 2020 and 2023, but the majority, unsurprisingly, are ringed in July through September, as the breeding season progresses. As for Red Lodge, we hadn’t ringed any in January and February until 2019. Since then we have had just one ringed in each year during January and February, so this is this year’s contribution to the new tradition (which was missed last year).

If you happen to be walking in Red Lodge and see a Marsh Tit with a brown ring over a pale blue ring on its right leg, it was the bird ringed today and is ring number BEH0597. Drop me a line if you see it, let me know where when, and I will be eternally grateful.

The list for today was: Great Spotted Woodpecker (1); Blue Tit 18(2); Great Tit 12(5); Coal Tit 1; Marsh Tit 1; Long-tailed Tit 1(1); Chaffinch 4. Totals: 37 birds ringed from 6 species and 9 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 46 birds processed from 7 species.

With the breeze starting to get up at 11:00 and, despite the intermittent bouts of warm sun, we were getting pretty cold, the number of birds had fallen away so we did one last round, which produced a decent round of eight birds. By the time we had processed them another five had hit the nets, so we closed them as we extracted the birds, processed them and then took down. Fortunately, with just four nets to take down, it didn’t take long to pack away, and we were off site soon after midday.

We arrived on site at 7:00 this morning: David, Laura , Daniel and myself started to set up the nets. First we set them along the Heronry Ride and then headed down to the Wildlife Refuge to set the nets there. We were greeted by some very familiar faces on the other side of the gate: what looked like Herdwick sheep. I thought that the sheep they had were mules but these certainly didn’t look like them. It was too late to change our plans, so our first task was to move them out of the netting area and erect a temporary barrier to keep them away from the nets. Unfortunately, their presence meant that I could not set all of the nets I had planned, another two rides, another 75 metres of net, and the catch suffered accordingly.

We set the following nets:

Ride 3 cut short so we could block off access to the sheep. The first round was entirely misleading, as we had quite a reasonable haul. Adam and Mark arrived at about 9:00, Adam having felt unwell at 6:00 in the morning! I know how he feels – every time at 6:00 in the morning! I wonder how he will feel when it gets to 4:30am or earlier?

It was a very similar session to the last one that David and I did at Lower Moor on the first day of this month. The catch was: Blue Tit 1(1); Great Tit 1(1); Long-tailed Tit 2(1); Dunnock 1(1); Robin 1(1); Song Thrush 1; Chiffchaff 1(1); Goldcrest 3; Chaffinch (1); Bullfinch (1). Totals: 11 birds ringed from 8 species and 8 birds retrapped from 8 species, making 19 birds processed from 10 species.

I am running these early sessions to see how the site is shaping up for the year ahead. It is my Constant Effort Site, which means the same nets are positioned in the same places for each session and open for a consistent period of time. I have committed to the project since 2015. However, the catches have declined by some 40% over the last four years. It is a big commitment: 12 sessions, roughly every 10 days, between the beginning of May / end of August, sometimes first week of September. This reduces availability for working other sites and I have to decide if it is worth continuing.

Another factor is providing enough birds, from enough species, to give my trainees the experience they need to progress. If you take today’s results: my three T-permit holders got just six birds each. I want them to have between 15 and 20 birds each in a session, but would settle for 12 or 13. The Wildlife Trust have carried out a number of habitat management changes that I suggested, and I am extremely grateful that they have done so. In return, it is only right that I do enough to evaluate the impact of their efforts. Hence there will be a minimum of one visit per month.

Anyway, with the catch dying off by 11:00, we started packing up at 11:15, had everything down and packed away quite quickly and I was home by just after midday for once. It was really enjoyable session, because I work with really nice people and we filled the gaps in the catches with a great deal of chat and laughter!

* A little codicil to yesterday’s report: at the same time as we were catching our 19 birds, Ellie was catching and ringing in the farmhouse garden at the same time. She caught 21 birds: Blue Tit 9(7); Great Tit 2(2) and Long-tailed Tit (1): I think that I am happier with our catch!!

What happens when you put the wrong date in your diary? The Swindon Wellbeing group, run by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, meets on a Tuesday. Having entertained them at Somerford Common on the 15^th January, I was asked if I could arrange some other Tuesday sessions and opted for Ravensroost Wood in February and Lower Moor Farm in March. Unfortunately, I transposed the dates and went to Ravensroost Wood this morning, expecting them to turn up. It was only when the expected arrival time passed and there was no sign of them that I checked my emails to find I had got there a week early! Oh well: I will be back there next Tuesday, but will choose a different part of the wood: a part I have been meaning to try out for some time but haven’t got around to.

I was joined for the morning by Laura and we set a variant of the usual nets for the feeding station area, as there was just the two of us:

It was a fairly predictable session: lots of Blue Tits, a few Great Tits and not a lot else. One of the interesting things about Blue Tits in our last couple of catches has been ratio of adult to first winter birds ringed. Prior to this month there has been quite a lot of discussion amongst ringers on the closed Facebook group about how different the adult to first winter ratio had become compared to what we are used to. Normally one expects the number of first winter birds to far exceed the number of adults but it certainly wasn’t the case for a lot of ringers. Many reporting that adults were outnumbering juveniles. It wasn’t quite so drastic in the Braydon Forest woodlands. Between the 1st November and the 31st January we ringed 124 Blue Tits of which 43 were adult and 81 were first winter: one third adult to two-thirds first winter birds. However, come February and things have certainly changed significantly: we have ringed 42 Blue Tits, 8 adults and 34 first winter birds. Under one-fifth are adults.

It really has been a winter without finches in the woodlands: we had five Lesser Redpoll before Christmas but none so far this year, nor have we had any Siskin either before or since Christmas. Even Chaffinch we have only had six this winter. Last winter we had 35, and the average over the last 12 winters is 39 of them. Perhaps we will get 33 in the next six weeks! It is most unusual.

We were joined for a couple of hours by Rob. He came along to a few taster sessions in 2022 but work got in the way and he couldn’t take it any further. With a little more time on his hands nowadays, he has managed to fit in a couple of visits, and today ringed a bird: the only Robin we managed to catch today.

Today’s list was: Blue Tit 13(3); Great Tit 3(3); Coal Tit (1); Marsh Tit (1); Robin 1; Song Thrush 1; Goldcrest 1. Totals: 19 birds ringed from 5 species and 8 birds retrapped from 4 species, making 27 birds processed from 7 species.

It wasn’t the most exciting session we have had, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. There were quite a few people dog walking today, and every single one had their pooches on leads. Astonishing! I suspect they were just trying to keep them out of the mud, which was horrendous.

At 11:00 a cloud rather decided to drop in on our ringing station, and it got a bit damp, so we closed the nets, extracted and processed the last few birds, and then took down, leaving site at about 12:15. Absent from our list this morning was Nuthatch: one of which was flying around our ringing area, calling for all it was worth, whist we were taking the nets down. I think it was taunting us!

This week’s session was planned for Red Lodge. I set up a feeding station there on Tuesday morning for the first time this winter. Our last session at Red Lodge, without a feeding station, produced just 21 birds from six species, with just four Blue Tits and two Great Tits. It rather begged the question: is it the feeding station that is attracting those two species into the catching area? So, today could provide an indication of the impact.

With Saturday forecast to be drizzly and miserable, but Sunday looking dry and miserable, we decided to be miserable on Sunday! Unfortunately, that meant that several of the team couldn’t make it. However, Rosie joined us for an hour-and-a-half before heading off to work, and I had the family Childs with me for the whole session.

On arrival at the site, at 7:30, it was damp, misty and cold. However, there was very little wind to disturb the nets. We set the following:

The two seed feeders and one of the two peanut feeders, the one adjacent to ride 3, had been emptied, and the other peanut feeder, adjacent to ride 1, was half full still.

One of the nice things about Red Lodge: for the first time for what seems like an age, we were not wading through mud. The tracks in Red Lodge are all pretty solid, with either chalk or rubble bases under a top layer of soil and vegetation. It does make a bit more of an effort to get the holes in place for the poles, but it is worth it! Another nice thing about it: with the feeding stations in place it is a compact area we work in, the nets are all easily visible and we can go and extract birds as they arrive, rather than having regimented rounds that may, or may not, produce any birds!

We started catching straight away, which meant that Rosie got to process a few birds before heading off to work, and the first round was reasonably varied: Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Great Tit and Marsh Tit. However, thereafter it was Blue Tit city, interspersed with a few additional species, mainly Great Tit, but it was a decent haul and an enjoyable session. We caught regularly all morning.

The list for the session was: Nuthatch (1); Blue Tit 22(3); Great Tit 8(1); Coal Tit 3; Marsh Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit 1(1); Dunnock 1; Robin (1); Chaffinch 2. Totals: 37 birds ringed from 6 species and 8 birds retrapped from 6 species, making 45 birds processed from 9 species.

So, clearly, if we take this as able to be extrapolated to all sessions, the feeders are a big attractant to the Blue and Great Tits, but also improve diversity by attracting in other species.

Nice to catch a couple of Chaffinch that we could put a ring on. Unfortunately, we also had one that we couldn’t ring due to the beginnings of Fringilla papillomavirus on its legs. It seems to me that it is becoming less common in our local Chaffinch population. Hopefully that is the case.

It is always nice to catch a bird that has exceeded the typical lifespan for the species. That was the case with the female Nuthatch that we retrapped. It was five years since she was ringed as a bird of unknown age. According to the BTO’s BirdFacts, based on masses of survey data, their typical lifespan is just two years, although the oldest known from ringing recoveries is a couple of days over 11 years!

Female Nuthatch, Sitta europaea

With us all getting quite cold I announced we would shut the nets and start taking down at 11:30 so, naturally, we took another 11 birds out of the net whilst trying to get them shut. I swear that if I announced after each round that the next would be the last before we packed up, I would end up with much larger catches! Anyway, we started packing away just before midday and left site by 12:30 after a cold but enjoyable session.

It seems that we share Somerford Common with some rather unsavoury characters. We continually find shotgun cartridges all over the site. Nobody has a licence to shoot wildlife on the site, outside of the deer management team. Whilst topping up the bird feeders yesterday I was approached by a local resident who asked if I knew anything about the tree felling going on. There is none scheduled, so this is clearly illegal. She explained that she had seen lights and the sound of chainsaws at night time over the weekend. When she went to check the next morning, she found several stumps and someone cutting up some of the wood. He got aggressive when asked why he was cutting down Forestry Commission wood. His response was that he was removing dead wood, but it isn’t, it is green oak wood. The presence of his chainsaw and his manner made her decide not to pursue it. She chose not to call the police, presumably worried as she is very local to the site, and they were nowhere to be seen today.

In recent years I have found several Fox carcasses dumped adjacent to our ringing site, and a dead Buzzard outside the stable just over the other side of Queen Street, that runs along the north edge of the wood. This morning, whilst carrying out our session at Somerford Common, I was approached by a young man out walking his lurcher and black Labrador. He asked if I was aware of the dumped Foxes and Buzzards along the by-way that runs through the western part of Somerford Common. They must have been there a while, as he told me that the bodies are now too decomposed for meaningful examination. He forwarded me some photos of one of the dead birds:

He said Buzzard but, with that colouration, it could equally be Red Kite. I did go to try and find the dump site after we had finished our ringing session, to confirm, but was unable to find it. I know that things die of natural causes, but rarely do they do so in a communal area. They look to have been killed elsewhere and then dumped. That looks to me like foul play.

Anyway, onto nicer things. I was joined for the morning session by Laura and Miranda. We met at 7:30 and set the usual nets. We started catching birds as we were opening the nets and, although it wasn’t the biggest of catches, it was certainly interesting.

The first bird out of the net was a retrapped Marsh Tit, the first of four recaptured this morning. The rest of the morning panned out pretty much as expected, although a haul of eight Robins was the best we have had since 28^th May 2017, when 10 Robins were part of a catch of 47 birds. Mind, that catch was boosted by the addition of three newly fledged juveniles.

Apart from the Robins, the catch was primarily Paridae. Unfortunately, no sign of any finches! Hopefully we will get some Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Lesser Redpoll and Siskin and, if we are very lucky, some Brambling in the next couple of sessions.

The list for the session was: Nuthatch 1(1); Blue Tit 7(1); Great Tit 3(4); Coal Tit 1(4); Marsh Tit (4); Dunnock (1); Robin 2(6); Blackbird (1). Totals: 14 birds ringed from 5 species and 22 birds retrapped from 8 species, making 36 birds processed from 8 species.

We started closing up and taking down at 11:30, stopping to process the four birds that insisted on dropping in as we were trying to get things packed away. Things were finished by 12:30 and I went off to try and find some corpses.

I have seen enough mud to last me a lifetime so today I decided to have a session at Lower Moor Farm, knowing that it would be firm underfoot. Having spent the week with a stinking cold and a sick car, I was pleased to be able to get out: cold has more or less cleared and the car, with its new starter motor, is back on the road again. Mind, on my way to site, it was nearly off the road again, as I misjudged an S-bend, got into a mud skid and just managed to keep it out of the ditch. Not an auspicious start!

David joined me for the session. We met at 7:30 and set the following nets:

It was a slightly unusual session, starting with finding this when setting up ride 3:

We couldn’t think of what might have killed the deer. It is a long way from any roads, I suppose it could have died from illness or old age. Regardless, it has been stripped by the scavengers in the area. I contacted Jonathan, the farm manager, to find out if he knew anything about it. He was aware of it but had no idea how it had ended up, ironically, in the Wildlife Refuge! Nobody has noticed any White-tailed Eagles flying around!

Anyway, we did manage to catch a reasonable number of birds adjacent to the carcass: including our first two February Nuthatch at Lower Moor Farm. In over 10 years of ringing there we had only ringed eight at this site, and those were all caught in ride 1, adjacent to the woodland.

It wasn’t our biggest ever catch by a long way, but we seemed to be active constantly. A lot of it came from the fact that each round produced at least a couple of birds. We also had a lot of visitors interested in what we were doing, so I spent quite a lot of time explaining about ringing, why we do it, how we do it and the results and feedback we get from our activities.

The catch for the morning was: Great Spotted Woodpecker 1; Nuthatch 2; Blue Tit (1); Great Tit 4; Long-tailed Tit 1(3); Wren 2; Dunnock 1; Robin 1; Redwing 1; Goldcrest 1(1). Totals: 14 birds ringed from 9 species and 5 birds retrapped from 3 species, making 19 birds processed from 10 species. Not bad variety for just 19 birds.

The Redwing was the first that we have caught since 19th November: a very long time between catches for this species in the winter.

We have only caught seven Great Spotted Woodpeckers at this site before: the last in 2021, so it was good to catch another one. We should have caught more: I even noted an occupied nest site last breeding season. That was because you could hear the youngsters demanding to be fed. I might have tried to ring them if the nest hole hadn’t been facing over the stream that runs through the reserve.

Anyway, it was a nice, relaxed session. We closed the nets at 11:30, processing the last few birds, then took down and were off site just before 12:30.