North Wilts Group

With the summer migrants now long gone I thought it was time to catch up with the team totals which are correct up to the end of October.

The 2 group CES totals were down on last years numbers with warbler species seemingly having only an average breeding season in Wiltshire. However, the totals of migrants caught on our Salisbury Plain sites remained very high so breeding must have been good elsewhere which continues to prove that this area must be the best inland migration hot-spot in the country.

Along with everyone else we've been catching Goldcrest's in large numbers during the last month and one team managed to catch a Norwegian ringed Goldcrest last weekend which is pretty good going since we're at least 200 miles away from the east coast migration points.  It also looks like Lesser Redpoll's are on the move in big numbers after last years no show. Winter thrushes seem to be a bit slow coming in but we've managed a few Fieldfare and around 100 Redwing so far for the Autumn and are hoping for a lot more.

I fancied a little session on my own for a change and I wanted to target Redwings and Goldcrests. I don't normally ring on the Salisbury Plain at this time of year but thought as I was on my own that I would give it a bash. It was a completely windless day though it was quite foggy. I wanted to experiment with Skylark and that net came up trumps with two ringed. Skylarks are a very common bird but there are only a hundred or so ringed each year so I would like to see how we can up the national totals, over the past 15 years we have ringed 51 but I would like to ring that number each year.

I put up a set of three nets for Redwings and that produced 18 Redwings, a Fieldfare and a Song Thrush and that is about as many thrushes as I saw all morning. This shows just how effective the recording is that we use, especially when nets are sited in the correct location.

I set three nets for crests and ringed a pretty creditable 36 with two retraps from previous weeks and then one with a very shiny slightly larger ring. As soon as you see this you know you have a foreign control and this one turned out to be from Norway. There has been a big movement of Goldcrests through Scandinavia and this bird is a real life example of that migration. I emailed my friend Nigel who I trained and now rings in Norway but we were not that lucky and it wasn't one that he had ringed which is a shame. Even so, it is our second international control of Goldcrest with the other bird being one from Sweden.

This tracks of this part of the Salisbury Plain are open to the public and the clientele are a bit different to other places so in addition to the usual dog walkers and cyclists, I also saw three teams of dog sleds pulled by huskies and today the army were pretty active and there were several tanks driving around.

All in all this was a very pleasing little session at a time of year when many ringers are scratching around in woodlands for a few Blue Tits. MP

Skylark 2, Goldcrest 36 (3), Wren 6, Robin 5, Blackbird 1, Fieldfare 1, Song Thrush 1, Redwing 18, Long Tailed Tit 3, Marsh Tit 1, Coal Tit 2 (1), Blue Tit 9 (1), Great Tit 3, Treecreeper 1 (1), Chaffinch 2, Bullfinch 4

After a few recent sessions at this site I decided to give it a full days effort. Having caught a good few Redwing and over 50 Lesser Redpoll this month I was hoping for more of the same.

Redpolls seem to have bounced back after last years total absence on this site when I didn't even hear or see one flying over all winter. They were certainly bird of the day with 51 ringed. I also managed a single Siskin which will be my one and only for a year  here since this is a location with no conifers.

There were good numbers of Reed Bunting in the tiny reedbed with 17 caught during the day, all new birds.

The number of Redwing caught first things in the morning and the evening roost was rather low but it is still early in the season so there's plenty of time to get more.

Great Spotted Woodpecker 2(1), Wren 1, Dunnock 2, Robin 1, Blackbird 1, Redwing 16, Blackcap 1, Goldcrest 4(1), Blue Tit 8(12), Great Tit 5(12), Chaffinch 9(1), Greenfinch 16, Goldfinch 2(1), Siskin 1, Lesser Redpoll 51, Bullfinch 1, Reed Bunting 17

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE)

While I'm visiting friends near Bergen, Norway for a weeks ringing (Barred Warbler the highlight so far) it was left to my Dad, Olly and Mike from the West Wilts group to get an October session in on this site.

There were still good numbers of Blackcap and Chiffchaff around as there always are in early October but with a big 84 Meadow Pipit's caught, including an unsual occurance of a retrap from last week there were obviously still plenty passing through on passage. Another 9 new Goldcrest's means that we've now ringed over 150 in the last month so at least this species appears to have had a good breeding season.

This could now well be the last session at this site this year depending on the weather. As it stands this site has given us 3562 new birds this year including 1322 Blackcap, 81 Garden Warbler, 256 Whitethroat, 538 Chiffchaff, 137 Willow Warbler, 67 Sedge Warbler, 103 Swallow, 236 Meadow Pipit and 26 Whinchat. An awesome total but over 1000 birds down on last years massive haul.

239 new, 11 retraps (PD, OF, MH)

Meadow Pipit 83(1), Blackbird 1(1), Song Thrush 4(1), Wren 1(1), Dunnock 3(2), Robin 6(1), Blackcap 62(5), Chiffchaff 52, Goldcrest 9(3), Blue Tit 1(2), Great Tit 2, Long Tailed Tit 12(2), Yellowhammer 3

As a result of no photos being taken on the day I make no excuses for adding a photo of the Barred Warbler caught at Herdlavaer, Norway, the 4th of the year caught at this site.

SAVERNAKE

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE) SATURDAY 19th

After some pretty dismal catches on my Salisbury Plain site this Autumn with catches down as much as 70% on the 10 year average the site decided to make up for it all in one go. The day started with thick fog but this was at ground level only as all the stars were on view so this may have helped drop the birds in on the lures we had playing. Soon after dawn it got really foggy again but all the birds seemed to be in the area and just moving around. 

Catching remained steady all morning until 1100 when the sun finally broke through upon which all bird movement ceased. The morning finished with 428 new, 4 retraps and one control including Spotted Flycatcher, 2 Tree Pipit, 40 Meadow Pipit, 4 Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, 252 Blackcap, 96 Chiffchaff. The team was rather limited in number but coped well with the lack of a proper coffee break.

Several of the Blackcap's had the head pattern on the bird in the photo. When the crown feathers were raised and examined it turned out that only the tips were brown.

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE) SUNDAY 20th

After the massive catch yesterday we were again a team limited in numbers as there were now only 2 of us rather than the 4 we did have the day before. This rather limited the number of nets we could have up so had to settle for just 9 nets rather than the usual 18 including 3 nets set for Meadow Pipits.

The morning was once again extemely foggy only this time it was not just at ground level and gave the nets a good soaking. Bird numbers were however still pretty good but it was Meadow Pipit that was top bird of the day with 58 ringed.

Weekend totals 595 new, 13 retraps, 2 controls: Sparrowhawk 1, Swallow 1, Meadow Pipit 98, Tree Pipit 2, Wren 3, Dunnock 4, Robin 8, Blackbird 2(2), Song Thrush 2, Sedge Warbler 2, Whitethroat 4, Garden Warbler 1, Blackcap 305(10, 2 controls), Chiffchaff 138, Goldcrest 10(3), Spotted Flycatcher 1, Long Tailed Tit 2, Blue Tit 1, Great Tit 3, Goldfinch 2, Chaffinch 1, Greenfinch 1, Linnet 1, Yellowhammer 1

SALISBURY PLAIN (EAST) SUNDAY 20th

For the final CES session we had a bit of a personnel crisis as we were down to just 3 of us which included a trainee and as I wanted to put up the most productive non-CES nets on the site for the last time before the Blackcap season starts I hoped that we weren't going to be inundated with too many birds. As it was it turned out to be yet another session that fell way below average for an August visit.

Things started out looking fairly good as all 18 nets were up well before daylight which gave us a chance to listen to what was calling. There were quite a few Tawny Owl's, a Barn Owl and a Nightingale giving its craoking alarm call right by the cars. As we waited for daylight a Nightjar flew low over the scrub and managed to cunningly avoid the nets.

The first net round showed that since our last visit last weekend the make-up of warbler species had changed somewhat. Willow, Sedge and Whitethroat we still around but in much reduced numbers but to counter this Blackcap number had gone through the roof.

Frustratingly we could hear several Redstart's calling which during the early net rounds stayed well away from the nets but by the end we managed to catch 2 young females.

It was Blackcap's that somewhat stole the show as we ended up with 74 new along with a few retraps and yet another control.

The session ended with 157 new and 8 retraps but this was 110 fewer birds than the corresponding visit last year so either this years breeding season has been way less productive that last years or the migrants have just slipped us by this year. GD, OF, AB

Swallow 1, Tree Pipit 8, Wren 1(1), Dunnock 1, Robin 7(2), Redstart 2, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 3, Sedge Warbler 7, Reed Warbler 4, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat 12(1), Garden Warbler 2, Blackcap 74(4), Chiffchaff 15, Willow Warbler 5, Goldcrest 2, Blue Tit 1, Goldfinch 1, Linnet 2, Bullfinch 4, Yellowhammer 1, Reed Bunting 2

With only two of us available to run the CES session we were lucky to be able to get one of Matt's young trainees Noah to join along with his parents who were happy to do the scribing which helped us speed things along.

I had arrived on site super early 2 hours before daylight to set some nets for migrant Nightjar's but none appeared for the second session running.

The first net round produced a record 9 Whinchat's out of the 'chat' net and this was followed up with 7 new tree Pipit's along with one retrap from last week, the fist retrap of this species we're ever caught at this site.

Good numbers of the common warbler species were the main feature of the morning but we still only got one Lesser Whitethroat, no Redstart's and the only Grasshopper Warbler was one that sang briefly at dawn but avoided the nets. Normally we would be catching good numbers of all these species but this year they are virtually absent.

The best bird of the morning came from the chat net in the form of a Wheatear which is something we only average one of every other year.

A reasonably busy morning with 166 new and 21 retraps was a good morning but well below average for the time of year. GD, PD, NW

Stock Dove 1 pulli, Green Woodpecker (1), Swallow 6 pulli, Tree Pipit 7(1), Wren 3(1), Dunnock 3(1), Robin 10, Whinchat 10, Wheatear 1, Blackbird 5(1), Sedge Warbler 9, Reed Warbler 3, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Whitethroat 38(4), Garden Warbler 11(3), Blackcap 23(4), Chiffchaff 6(1), Willow Warbler 18(1), Blue Tit 1(1), Great Tit 2, Bullfincg 4(2), Yellowhammer 2, Reed Warbler 2