North Wilts Group

Myself and Olly set off for Salisbury Plain leaving Graham behind for his last day at work before flying off to visit Nigel Goodgame in Norway at his Herdla Fuglestasjon.

Meeting up with Rob, Mike and Andrew all nets were set and the first round showed that there were still Blackcaps and Chiffs around.  For the second round Mike and I went off to the two more distant nets and felt chuffed to bring back about 60+ birds, to be greeted on return to base by three grinning faces and a ‘special’ bird in a red bag – a Barred Warbler! - another mega for Salisbury Plain!

Rob and Olly were walking each side of the triple 60 (same net that trapped the Great Reed Warbler last year). The Barred Warbler was over head height and above two low down Blackcaps on Olly’s side of the net. Rob walk straight past the bird without recognising it. Olly extracted the two Blackcaps before looking up and seeing the juvenile BW which was quickly put into the red bag.  As Rob is the County Recorder there won’t be any dispute about the bird’s identity and the first BW ringed in Wiltshire. Rob had the honour of fitting the B ring, a fitting tribute for forty years of ringing and being the man responsible for training Matt and Graham and others.  

For icing on the cake we had a Chiff with an ‘Icona Madrid’ ring. Finished the morning with exactly 200 new, 16 retraps, 1 control. PD/OF/AB/RT/MH

Swallow 1, Meadow Pipit 21(1), Blackbird 4, Song Thrush 1(1), Robin 2(2), Dunnock 3(1), Wren 1(2), Reed Warbler 1, Barred Warbler 1, Blackcap 78(6), Chiffchaff 73(1 control), Goldcrest 8, Blue Tit 2(1), Great Tit (1), Jay 1, Chaffinch 2

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE)

Firstly, we had a trip out here on Thursday morning after an aborted atempt on Tuesday due to the fog. Having got onto the Marlborough Downs the fog was so thick that you couldn't see the cars taillights from just 30m away so rather than crash on the twisting Avebury road we turned back and did a spot of ringing in Olly's garden catching 88 new birds. These were mostly Blackcap and Chiffchaff but we couldn't add to the Firecrest that Olly caught a few days earlier.

So, onto Thursday. Thankfully no fog but instead a clear sky and a temperature of just 1 degree resulting in a frost. The day was mostly made up of just 2 warbler species with all the sub-Saharan stuff long gone. Final count 232 new, 4 retrap GD/PD/OF

Meadow Pipit 10, Wren 5, Dunnock 1(1), Robin 8, Blackbird 4, Song Thrush 5(1), Blackcap 124, Chiffchaff 69(1), Goldcrest 2, Chaffinch 1, Goldfinch 1, Yellowhammer 2(1)

...and onto today. With thick fog forecast we were suprised to hear from the MoD firing range people that there was no fog onsite. While there were a few whisps of mist around we could see a thick fog bank a few miles away but nothing came of it.

Again the catch was dominated by Chiffchaff's and Blackcap's causing very full nets and for the first time this year we managed to get the Meadow Pipit's to play the game. We heard a Tree Pipit fly over and flushed 2 Wheatear and a Whincat along the track as we left but they were the only birds of note for the morning. We also got another Chiffchaff control, our 10th control of the Autumn.

Ah, the old Thrush Nightingale/Wryneck net full of birds

So far this year we've ringed 4509 birds at this site since early April. We also passed the mark of 3000 birds ringed in September today moving us onto 3200 for the month.

Another big day with 333 new, 1 control, 9 retrap. GD/PD?OF

Great Spotted Woodpecker (1), Meadow Pipit 58, Wren 8, Dunnock 2(1), Robin 4(1), Blackbird (1), Blackcap 96(4), Chiffchaff 143(1), Goldcrest 3, Blue tit 1, Great Tit 2, Chaffinch 4, Goldfinch 2, Linnet 1, Bullfinch 1, Yellowhammer 8(1)

SWINDON STW

We only had a small team out today but folks wanted to set wader nets, then Paul who couldn’t make Saturday moaned that he hasn’t ringed a Snipe yet so he came to help me set nets Friday evening so we had 5 nets up into dark but sadly a Snipe flew over the net but we did get a retrap Green Sandpiper which for me is of much greater value. When I got home I looked the bird up on my database and I ringed it in July 2009 and then Simon processed it in November 2012 so this bird demonstrates how Green Sandpipers are more or less non breeding residents. I also realised that it was the 100,000th bird processed on my rings in Wiltshire which is rather staggering.

Next morning as I entered the site I saw  badger which is my first there for a few years. I then opened all the wader nets and then put up less passerine nets than normal. I was joined by Jack and Simon and then once again our world filled with Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. A Spotted Flycatcher perched on the top shelf of the bund net and then cleared off. The wader nets got us one bird, a Snipe just to frustrate Paul more.

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE)

With hazy conditions as we left Swindon, which turned into floor to ceiling fog once we climbed onto the Marlborough Downs, which turned into something from a Charles Dicken's classic by the time we reached our site, any chance of a good catch had well and truley gone. Fog here we have learned from plenty of experience reduces the catch by around 60% but today it seemed more like 90%.

While Matt's team was at  Swindon STW catching 250 Chiffchaff's and Blackcap's our totals never really go going and by 0830 we had ringed less than 40 birds. This weekend last year saw us catch 147 Chiffchaff's and 112 Blackcap's so todays catch of 17 and 55 respectively was a complete disaster.

Meadow Pipit's were very much in evidence all morning but for 4 hours we only caught one or two per net round and the only birds of real quality we caught were 2 late Redstart's.

The morning crept along slowly so it gave us a chance to examine all the pipit's in detail and to look at some of the very fat Blackcap's many of which were over 24g. We also caught a lot of new Robin's many of which were obviously not local birds as they were carrying fat scores of up to 5.

Eventually we just about got to 100 new birds and started taking the nets down. By this time more Meadow Pipit's were around (800 passing through in the course of the morning) and Swallow's started to move. A quick change to the lures meant a final net round of 60 new birds including some more House Martin's but it was all too little too late.

160 new and 8 retraps was all there was and about half what was expected for this site at this time of year. Just as well be filled our boots last week. GD/PD/OF

Stock Dove 2 pulli, Swallow 9, House Martin 13, Meadow Pipit 39, Wren 2(1), Dunnock 3(1), Robin 9(1), Redstart 2, Song Thrush 1, Blackcap 55(2), Chiffchaff 17(1), Goldcrest 5(1), Blue Tit (1), Greenfinch 1, Reed Bunting 2

SWINDON STW

 Below are our group totals up to mid-September.

Tree Sparrow's have had a very productive breeding season which are shown by the high pulli totals and a few nice species such as Quail and Wryneck have been caught. It is however the high numbers of the warbler species which is particularly noticable. Both halves of the ringing group have been breaking all sorts of records for warblers and hopefully there are still a few weeks left to increase numbers.

Hopefully we will get back at least as many recoveries as we've had controls this Autumn.

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE)

After a record breaking week we were again hoping for a good catch but were somewhat hampered by the weather. Driving to the site we had clear skies which soon clouded over producing thick fog banks. Fog always reduces our catches and expereience at this site tells us that the catch could be up to 60% down.

The first net round was a little disappointing as it was obvious that Blackcap numbers were going to be well down on the last few visits. Numbers then began to pick up a little with Chiffchaff's around in good numbers as well as a few nice birds in the form of a Grasshopper Warbler, a Redstart and 3 Tree Pipit's and another Sparrowhawk. 

Due to the fog Meadow Pipit movement was non existant as was any hirundine migration until the fog began to llift. As soon as we saw a few Swallow's around we switched over the lures and soon caught a few. House Martin's began to build up over the same net that we had caught the 190 in earlier in the week and we soon had another 20 bagged up. However, that was all we got despite a flock of 100 around nets as the increasing wind was making the net obvious.

We also caught a control Chiffchaff, our third control this week and the 7th of the Autumn for this site.

Whitethroat numbers have dropped off dramatically but we managed another 5 this morning taking our years total to exactly 500. We even finished on a Lesser Whitethroat, a species that everyone else seems to be catching plenty of but is down 45% on our best year for them despite it being a record breaking year for every other warbler species we catch.

After having some time off work and going out ringing 12 consecutive mornings and ringing 2092 birds in the process which included 1197 Blackcap, 363 Chiffchaff and 211 House Martin, I'll be having tomorrow morning off before work again on Monday.

A good morning with 234 new, 8 retraps and 1 control but almost half of the catch we had on Wednesday. GD/PD/OF

Sparrowhawk 1, Swallow 12, House Martin 21, Tree Pipit 3, Meadow Pipit 3, Wren 2, Dunnock 2(1), Robin 6, Redstart 1, Song Thrush 3, Grasshopper Warbler 1, Reed Warbler 1, Sedge Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Whitethroat 5, Blackcap 99(7), Chiffchaff 71(1), Goldcrest

SWINDON STW