North Wilts Group

27th January 2015 - Pewsey Downs

30 January 2015

A friend of mine who has ringed with me a couple of times in Gambia had business in Wiltshire on 28th January and we are off on another foreign expedition on 30th so it seemed like a great excuse to get together and fit in a days ringing farmland birds and talk about our impending trip. Our best farmland bird site was prepared especially but the only problem was that none of my team could make a Tuesday so I enlisted the help of Mike Hamzij and Andrew Bray.

As we set nets in the dark it was breezier than forecast but as often happens at this site, the wind died down at dawn and we ringed in near perfect conditions. This is a stunning farmland site that still operates as a mixed farm and it is my largest Tree Sparrow colony and wintering site. We started the morning off by setting an eighteen foot net especially for a Little Owl and sure enough it worked, so Sam got to ring his first Little Owl. With the others doing the first net round I quickly rustled up a round of bacon sandwiches to get us energised for the morning.

Clouds of Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows swirled around and we were soon very busy. The net set especially for Linnets worked and we had a netful of them. A couple of Corn Buntings and a rare thing – a retrap Corn Bunting were good but it soon became clear that this was going to be a special day for Tree Sparrows. Surprise of the day was a rogue House Sparrow that had infiltrated the Tree Sparrow flock and the number of Reed Buntings was pretty remarkable.

231 new and 74 retraps made for a busy morning. The amount of Tree Sparrows present was remarkable and this was our second highest catch of Tree Sparrows. Most of the retraps were from the same site but there were over ten movements up to 5km and two movements of 8-10km.

Afterwards, Sam and went to a farm where the farmer had left me to load the grain myself...

We then fed three sites on the way home and bumped into a farmer who l had been meaning to meet so that we could look around his farm to agree where we could plant hedges to help farmland birds. So we had a tour of the estate in a UTV seeing places where other folks just can’t access. MP, MH, AB, SB

Little Owl 1, Tree Sparrow 38 (57), Yellowhammer 76 (8), Corn Bunting 2 (1), Reed Bunting 31 (2), Linnet 45, Chaffinch 12 (1), Goldfinch 2, House Sparrow 1, Dunnock 12 (2), Robin 6, Blackbird 1, Great Tit 1 (3), Blue Tit 1, Wren 2

25th January 2015 - Thames Valley

25 January 2015

Paul A and I have been feeding this site in the Thames Valley all winter waiting for good conditions in which to ring. The site is an absolute mess because contractors are on site constructing a huge solar farm, the farm is the wettest site that we have and the lorries have mashed it up into a quagmire and the disturbance has really diminished the number of birds that are in the game cover with only a handful being present where normally there are many hundreds. The nets in the copse kept us just about occupied all morning whilst still allowing time to take some good id photos for future training uses.

The number of Dunnocks was particularly impressive with 18 ringed and one retrapped from two years ago and we were glad that there are still Tree Sparrows present. 126 new and 10 retraps takes us back to a proper days ringing. Highlight of the day was a four year old Reed Bunting. MP, PA

Dunnock 18 (1), Robin 7 (2), Yellowhammer 23 (2), Tree Sparrow 4, House Sparrow 16 (1), Chaffinch 8 (1), Goldfinch 5 (1), Bullfinch 6 (1), Greenfinch 3 (1), Reed Bunting 0 (1), Great Tit 13, Blue Tit 16, Blackbird 6 (1), Song Thrush 1

24th January 2014 - Salisbury Plain (centre)

25 January 2015

After a little early morning session at Swindon STW the day before where we ringed 2 Snipe and a Jack Snipe I found myself at 4am on the Salisbury Plain meeting James the farmer for an effort at dazzling Woodcock. We have been told that there are lots of Woodcock wintering on the Salisbury Plain and we have been inspired by the people at the Woodcock network who have revolutionised Woodcock catching and research in the UK. The problem with the plain is that there is too much good grassland and so finding good numbers of birds is the first problem, then there is the need for us to develop our technique. We have tried this once before when we blanked but this morning we caught our first dazzled Woodcock and as a bonus we also dazzled a Fieldfare. We saw a Short Eared Owl that didn’t hang around and we saw over 70 Golden Plover and we got within four paces of one which was very exciting and we know that in more suitable conditions we will one day ring Golden Plover. We also saw a couple of Snipe and Lapwing. We have noted this area and will definitely return but we still feel that are even better places around that we have yet to discover.

We met up with Biff, Andrew Bray and new potential trainee Thomas to set some nets in the game covers that James has been feeding four us. We were driven around the two sets of gamecovers and because of the icy wind, we set 5 two-shelf nets very low. Upon return to the farm, James remarked that Charlotte was loose. We then learned that Charlotte is a very tame saddleback pig, so she was lured back to her pen with some food and then we returned to the nets for the net round. The first round produced a decent scatter of birds but there were loads of Corn Buntings present but we got none. I gave James the privilege of ringing the Woodcock as his first ever bird ringed and then he disappeared and came back with a generous tray of the most succulent fresh cooked sausages. I asked him where they came from and he told me that they were Charlottes last set of children!

James had to go but left us with a landrover to do net rounds with but the site quietened off very quickly and so the morning turned into a quality training session with time to be able to work through techniques and ageing/sexing, in particular of three Starlings. We had a net set in a kale crop but only caught one Linnet out of the 300+ present and we saw a Merlin dash through which is encouraging.

31 ringed is a low number for us but it is a starting point and we will fine tune our efforts and catch more here in the future. MP, AM, TW, AB

Woodcock 1, Fieldfare 1, Starling 3, Yellowhammer 8, Chaffinch 8, Linnet 1, Reed Bunting 2, Blackbird 4, Song Thrush 1, Robin 3

Ringing Group Totals 2014

22 January 2015

With all the ringing group totals for North Wilts RG now collated we finished 2014 with 24603 captures with 20635 being new birds ringed. Not a bad total for a group with 2 trainers to 2 A's, 2 C's and a couple of trainees.

Highlights of the year were the Wryneck, Barred Warbler and a couple of Quail caught on Salisbury Plain and 3 pulli Cuckoo's all found in the same small reedbed om a stretch of old canal in Swindon.

An amazing breeding season resluted in huge numbers of migrants which were reflected in the number of birds we ringed with 3226 in August and 5463 in September with our 2 sites on Salisbury Plain roducing amazing numbers. Some of the warbler totals were out of this world with 90 Grasshopper Warbler, 951 Whitethroat, 4305 Blackcap and 1812 Chiffchaff. We also managed a creditable 59 Whinchat, 52 Yellow Wagtail, both difficult species to catch in Wiltshire and a massive 667 Redwing largely due to the Latvian lure.

Farmland birds are something the group particularly targets and we managed 718 Yellowhammer ringed while our Wiltshire Tree Sparrow recovery project ringed 1647 birds including1485 pulli for which group members all put in 100's of hours of effort nest monitoring each year.

	Full Grown	Pulli	Retraps	Total		Full Grown	Pulli	Retraps	Total
Grey Heron	0	4	0	4	Fieldfare	12	0	0	12
Mute Swan	1	0	0	1	Song Thrush	122	3	46	171
Eurasian Teal	12	0	0	12	Redwing	667	0	1	668
Mallard	4	0	0	4	Mistle Thrush	7	0	0	7
Sparrowhawk	10	0	1	11	Cetti's Warbler	4	0	2	6
Kestrel	5	7	0	12	Grasshopper Warbler	84	6	9	99
Grey Partridge	1	0	0	1	Sedge Warbler	474	0	31	505
Quail	2	0	0	2	Reed Warbler	286	101	164	551
Water Rail	5	0	0	5	Barred Warbler	1	0	0	1
Moorhen	3	0	0	3	Lesser Whitethroat	71	0	11	82
Jack Snipe	8	0	0	8	Whitethroat	948	3	125	1076
Snipe	20	0	1	21	Garden Warbler	182	0	62	244
Woodcock	2	0	0	2	Blackcap	4305	0	282	4587
Green Sandpiper	3	0	4	7	Chiffchaff	1812	0	116	1928
Common Sandpiper	1	0	0	1	Willow Warbler	442	0	53	495
Black-headed Gull	14	0	1	15	Goldcrest	305	0	22	327
Lesser Black-backed Gull	1	0	0	1	Firecrest	1	0	0	1
Stock Dove	2	12	0	14	Spotted Flycatcher	24	0	0	24
Woodpigeon	34	0	5	39	Long-tailed Tit	224	0	121	345
Collared Dove	7	4	0	11	Marsh Tit	17	10	12	39
Cuckoo	0	3	1	4	Willow Tit	6	0	0	6
Barn Owl	9	35	1	45	Coal Tit	146	21	87	254
Little Owl	3	3	0	6	Blue Tit	950	175	796	1921
Tawny Owl	1	1	0	2	Great Tit	531	49	413	993
Nightjar	2	0	0	2	Nuthatch	7	0	12	19
Kingfisher	9	0	2	11	Treecreeper	39	0	24	63
Wryneck	1	0	0	1	Jay	16	0	0	16
Green Woodpecker	12	0	3	15	Magpie	21	0	0	21
Great Spotted Woodpecker	36	0	61	97	Jackdaw	3	7	1	11
Skylark	5	0	0	5	Rook	1	35	0	36
Sand Martin	71	0	0	71	Carrion Crow	2	0	0	2
Swallow	378	185	5	568	Starling	65	0	0	65
House Martin	533	0	5	538	House Sparrow	108	2	18	128
Tree Pipit	28	0	0	28	Tree Sparrow	162	1485	118	1765
Meadow Pipit	377	0	3	380	Chaffinch	776	7	111	894
Yellow Wagtail	52	0	2	54	Brambling	4	0	0	4
Grey Wagtail	34	0	4	38	Greenfinch	518	0	120	638
Pied/White Wagtail	88	14	3	105	Goldfinch	264	0	147	411
Wren	365	0	100	465	Siskin	1	0	0	1
Dunnock	472	0	252	724	Linnet	106	17	2	125
Robin	502	5	153	660	Lesser Redpoll	49	0	22	71
Nightingale	4	0	13	17	Bullfinch	179	0	96	275
Redstart	47	0	3	50	Yellowhammer	718	0	84	802
Whinchat	59	0	5	64	Reed Bunting	219	0	95	314
Stonechat	5	1	0	6	Corn Bunting	17	0	1	18
Wheatear	2	0	0	2
Blackbird	315	8	127	450	Total:	18441	2203	3959	24603

4th January 2015 - Avebury

04 January 2015

With the first few days of the year being terrible weather it was almost a relief to be out ringing. I say almost, because my wife and I hosted a very lively party for our 17 year old daughter the night before that finished at 2am, so after an evening of running around after teenagers and two hours sleep I found myself driving through a pea-soup fog along the windy roads leading to this site tucked away on the edge of the downs.

We set up T shaped, seven net set of wader nets in a conservation crop targeting Skylarks and Corn Buntings and then set six nets around a hedgerow for Tree Sparrows, buntings and finches and then set a two shelf net for Linnets.

We did a drive through the cover at dawn that produced a Skylark, Corn Bunting and most surprisingly of all a Snipe but two Grey Partridges kept out of the way. Skylarks are exceptionally difficult to catch and our group has ringed most of the Skylarks ever ringed in the county so to even catch one is a considerable success. The Corn Bunting was of course fitted with a unique darvic ring as part of our long term study into this species. We were joined by local farmer and top photographer David White who with his usual enthusiasm dashed around taking photos of us and the birds at all sorts of different angles, the light was truly awful but I am sure that David will have got some acceptable shots. One positive outcome of the morning was that we were comparing habitats at todays site with Davids and although Davids is good, he wants it better and we will work together to replicate some of the habitats from today at Davids to improve his site to make it top class for farmland birds.

The normal mist nets were graced by the usual Yellowhammers, Tree Sparrows and Chaffinches and we had two really nice rounds of Linnets. That’s all very well but this session is all about retrapping Tree Sparrows and we did retrap a couple of adults ringed at the same site last winter, but it is the movements of the birds that we ring as nestlings that prove really interesting and show how robust the project is. Today we recorded the following movements:

4km south west

5km south west

6km south west

5km north

7km north, north west

7km north, north east

We also retrapped two Yellowhammers and two Chaffinches ringed at the site last winter.

The fog remained all morning and got our nets and equipment damp and it was very cold on our hands. Paul A supplied the leftover Christmas cake which was most welcome. 153 new and 15 retraps sounds like a great day but today we only caught a small percentage of the flock that was present, it may have been the poor visibility caused by the fog that put the birds off. MP, PA, AF, PW

Yellowhammer 68 (2), Tree Sparrow 20 (10), Corn Bunting 1, Linnet 20, Chaffinch 31 (2), Reed Bunting 2, Skylark 1, Snipe 1, Dunnock 3, Robin 2, Blackbird 2 (1), Song Thrush 1, Wren 1

28th December 2014 - Swindon STW

28 December 2014

With all of the regular team away I was very pleased to be joined by Graham again but best of all we were joined by Lee and Rachael Barber who have both ringed with me in The Gambia. The targets were Snipe and Jack Snipe, knowing that Lee and Rachael haven’t ringed a Snipe in the UK for a few years and they have both never ringed Jack Snipe. The weather was cold, clear and calm and much of the water on site had frozen.

Much more importantly, we want to continue the monitoring of how these birds use the site to help us improve our habitat management for them. We do think that we are starting to master the habitat management because we had two net sets that were created around areas that we have strimmed and arranged the cuttings in piles and this is where we caught the birds today. Graham and I met at the unearthly time of 04:30 and set the wader nets and some billy bonus nets for gulls, we were joined by Lee and Rachael who helped us add some bramble to a net. We then set three nets for Redwing and three single nets by small feeding stations mainly targeted at Reed Buntings.

The Redwing lure failed totally and it seems that migration has stopped. The first wader set was liberally adorned with Jack Snipe and careful walking of the area flushed two more in. The second net set was on the main scrape surrounding two patches that I have previously strimmed especially for Snipe. This area has never worked well before but this year we seem to have learned the lessons of previous years and as Rachael and I walked in, we saw some Snipe already in the nets but then some more erupted up from the ground and filled the nets. 7 Jack Snipe and 12 Snipe is the best Jack Snipe catch for the group and the second best Snipe catch. Lee and Graham went to the gull nets and they came back with a very creditable 8 Black Headed Gulls. Catching so many Snipe and Jack Snipe in one go gave us the opportunity to improve our ageing techniques. As in a lot of waders the shape and wear of the primaries appear to be important criteria.

Once these birds were processed the morning calmed down to a trickle of Reed Buntings and the more common passerines which gave us time to have a chat and eat some chocolates that Lee and Rachael generously provided. Seeing as Lee is the recoveries officer at the BTO it seemed only fair to allow him to process some retrap Blue Tits but we also allowed him to process some retrap Reed Buntings of which 5 were from last winter. What a great morning! MP, GD, RB, LB

Jack Snipe 7, Snipe 12, Black Headed Gull 12, Reed Bunting 10 (8 ), Chaffinch 1, Bullfinch 2, Blue Tit 6 (18), Great Tit 8 (7), Chiffchaff 2, Wren 1 (1), Dunnock 5 (11), Blackbird 1 (3), Song Thrush 1, Robin 2 (4), Treecreeper 0 (1)

21st December 2014 - Ogbourne St Andrew - return of the Norwegian vagrant

21 December 2014

A few months ago Nigel Goodgame who ringed with me for years, told me that he would be back on 21st and would like to go ringing on the downs for old times sake. Eleven of us enjoyed a chinese meal with Nige and Sissel the night before. The forecast for today was pretty dodgy with a strong breeze predicted but the site I had lined up for us was again a site well protected from the westerly wind and just happened to be one of Nigels favourite sites. We managed to persuade Graham to come out and help which was great.

So, come Sunday morning we met up with it raining and blowing too strong to put up nets so we sat in the car and put the world to rights and we were joined by Paul W. Just before dawn the rain and wind both subsided enough for us to quickly put up nets, when you have three trainers this is very efficient though Paul did well to hold his own.

Birds immediately started to to appear from everywhere with the catch being dominated by Yellowhammers and Chaffinches. This also became our biggest Greenfinch catch for some time with ten but most interestingly was a leucistic Greenfinch that we were able to age as a first year male.

We were joined by the farmers sister who came to watch us ringing, it is always good for the landowners to be so interested in the birds on their land. We only caught one Corn Bunting out of the 50 that were present but it was great for Nige to be able to ring it as he doesn’t get them in Norway. We ended the morning with a superb 102 new Yellowhammers but we only ringed two Tree Sparrows which is pretty rubbish considering that there were 30 present.

187 ringed with 19 retrapped was a fantastic start to our farmland bird ringing on the Marlborough Downs this winter and it we had a great morning and it was an absolute pleasure to have Nige back out ringing with us. MP, NG, GD, PW

Yellowhammer 102 (10), Tree Sparrow 2, Greenfinch 10, Chaffinch 51 (7), Dunnock 6, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 2, Robin 5, Blue Tit 6, Great Tit 3 (1), Collard Dove

After ringing it was a pleasure to show Nige around the downs and feed three of our Tree Sparrow sites and one in particular looks incredible with 250 Tree Sparrows, hundreds of Yellowhammers, 100+ Linnets, 50 Corn Buntings and 100 Skylarks.

20th December 2014 - Castle Eaton

21 December 2014

Tree Sparrows have been declining in the Thames Valley since 2006 but at Hannington a few weeks ago there were encouraging signs of recovery. We have stepped up our feeding efforts at this site at Castle Eaton and the flock of Tree Sparrows has built up to 40 recently which is much better than previous years when the flock has only just made double figures. This is the first time that we have ringed this site since 2011 but it is clear that we need to go back.

I was joined by Paul W and Biff and before we started I thought that we may catch about 70 birds. The westerley breeze was quite lively which is why we chose this site because the net sets are sheltered on the east side of bushes, this is one of the good things about having lots of ringing sites as different sites are suitable in different conditions.

We decided not to set nets for Fieldfares or Redwings so that we could concentrate on the farmland birds and this proved to be a good decision. We were very busy from the start and closed three nets quite quickly as it started to catch tits and we didn’t want them getting in the way of the farmland birds.

Grey Partridges were present but wisely kept out of the way. This was the first big day of Yellowhammers for the winter and we ringed 55 and retrapped one from 2010 and another that was ringed 3km away last year. Bullfinches were a notable feature of the day and testimony to the superb hedgerows that the farmer maintains and we ringed 16 during the morning. The total of 203 ringed was excellent.

The great news is that the Tree Sparrow flock is over 50 now and we managed to ring a very creditable 8 but we also retrapped what for me is the best bird of 2014, a Tree Sparrow ringed as a nestling in June 2014 at our southernmost site 32km away. This is the most northerly site of the project so it is the furthest that a Tree Sparrow can move within the project but it is the second bird from the Marlborough Downs to be retrapped in the Thames Valley in the last month so it could be the reason why the the Thames Valley flocks are growing again, perhaps being augmented by birds moving from the downs. For me, this justifies all the hours working hard on the Tree Sparrow project and shows how managing such a large project means that birds from one area can repopulate another. MP, PW, AM

Yellowhammer 55 (2), Tree Sparrow 8 (1), House Sparrow 4, Bullfinch 16, Chaffinch 34, Reed Bunting 11, Goldfinch 1, Greenfinch 4, Dunnock 12, Blackbird 7, Robin 12 (1), Redwing 2, Wren 2, Goldcrest 2, Blue Tit 23 (1), Great Tit 10