NIGHTINGALE WOOD
After ringing over 100 Redwing's in 2 sessions last weekend we were hoping for another decent catch.
The morning was cold and frosty which had obviously made a large number of thrushes more overnight and we were soon swamped with Redwing's with over 70 caught in just the first 2 net rounds using the Latvian lure and my 30mm large mesh nets.
We also managed to catch our first Fieldfare of the season. We are having a really poor year for catching Fieldfare largely because there have been very few passing through this site and although Redwing flocks were passing through all the time for the first few hours of daylight we noted less than 10 Fieldfare. Most years the Redwing/Fieldfare catching ratio is around 10 to 1, this year its currently 408 to 1.
Once the Redwing's tailed off the morning was fairly quiet in terms of finches and tit's so I had enough spare time to set up the bonus feeding station we used last winter when the river flooded and left our normal net rides waist deep in water. This feeding station is in a different part of the wood and so catches us some extra birds once the Redwing numbers drop off in a couple of weeks.
Even though it was quiet I forced myself to stay on to do a thrush roost. While sitting in the car listening to the football on the radio a Sparrowhawk came flying straight at the windscreen and dived off towards one of my feeding station nets. By the time I'd rushed to the net it was just reversing out and flew off down the ride. I then noticed a second Sparrowhawk at the far end of the sa,e net which also managed to roll out of the shelf beofre I could get there leaving me unamused.
The next net round did make up for this as a Kestrel that had spent the afternoon showing an interest in one of the Redwing lures had gone into one of the large mess nets so had no chance of getting away. I don't catch many of these, less than one a year, so unsuprisingly this was the first of 2014.
The roost was a bit of an anti-climax compared to the morning with only 5 more Redwing added but we'd managed an amazing 93 for the day. 133 new, 14 retraps. GD, PD
Kestrel 1, Wren 2(1), Dunnock (1), Robin (1), Blackbird 5(1), Fieldfare 1, Song Thrush 1, Redwing 93, Blue Tit 2(2), Great Tit 1, Chaffinch 9(1), Greenfinch 11(4), Goldfinch 1(1), Bullfinch 1(1), Reed Bunting 5(1)
HANNINGTON
We didn’t have much of a team lined up so I had to enlist the help of my lovely wife to come and scribe but I always seem to drag her out when it is freezing cold. Our little team was completed by Anna and Biff. The net set only included four nets plus two especially for Redwing but at this site in the Thames valley that would probably be enough.
We set a dog leg of 30mm mesh nets for the Redwing in a new plantation and because we had time on our hands we played Tawny Owl for a bit as a speculative effort. At dawn we went to put the Redwing tape on for Biff to find a lovely adult Tawny Owl in the net. We set up the ringing table by the barns and had the unusual luxury of electricity so I put a fan heater on to keep the team warm. The gamekeeper turned up and we had a good chat.
First net round and the Redwing nets were bulging and then the sparrow flock hit our other nets and we were busy. It was really heartening to catch quite a few Tree Sparrows amongst the House Sparrows and our first Yellowhammer of the autumn. It got a bit busy so we closed two nets.
Retraps included a 3 year old Yellowhammer and a Great Tit ringed as a nestling in June 2013. Star of the show however turned out to be a Tree Sparrow that we thought would just be a local bird but I have just checked my database and it was in fact ringed as a nestling on 27th July 2014 near Broad Hinton, so a movement of 16km north east, this is really valuable to have genetic mixing of the Marlborough Downs population with the Thames Valley population; movements like this make all the efforts that I put into conserving this species worthwhile.
151 new and 22 retraps made for a busy but interesting morning.
Tawny Owl 1, Redwing 58, Song Thrush 2, Blackbird 2, Tree Sparrow 11 (1), House Sparrow 14 (1), Chaffinch 18, Bullfinch 0 (3), Goldfinch 2, Reed Bunting 1, Yellowhammer 4 (1), Robin 8 (2), Dunnock 7, Blue Tit 17 (10), Great Tit 5 (6 ), Woodpigeon 1