North Wilts Group

Today we ringed a subsite of our usual ringing area about 3km away from our main site. We usually only ring it a couple of times each summer to see what birds from the main site may have spread out. The area of scrub here is much smaller and is rather tick infested but can hold some good birds.

While putting up the nets we were suprised to hear a Nightingale singing in some pretty marginal habitat which was quickly caught but a distantly calling Quail was too far away to coaxe into a net.

It was a good mornng for Dunnock's with far too many being caught, most of which were 3J's. We also ringed 3J's of Blackbird, Song Thrush, Robin, Wren, Linnet, Blue Tit and that well known chalk grassland species Coal Tit. We also ringed a brook of Swallow's and a brood of Blackbird's

Not suprisingly we only caught 3 retraps, a Grasshopper Warbler from last year ans 2 Whitethroat's from 2012. In total we had 68 new and 3 retraps before the wind picked up causing us to take the nets down. GD, PD

Swallow 5 pulli, Wren 3, Dunnock 8, Robin 1, Nightingale 1, Blackbird 5+5 pulli, Song Thrush 2, Grasshopper Warbler (1), Lesser Whitethroat 1, Whitethroat 12(2), Garden Warbler 1, Blackcap 2, Chiffchaff 7, Willow Warbler 4, Coal Tit 1, Blue Tit, Chaffinch 4, Linnet 1, Bullfinch 4

 The forecast was for mist first thing and then a monsoon was set to hit so I thought that I would get to Marlborough STW set two nets and then ring House Martins until the rain arrived. When I got to Marlborough STW it was warm and pretty oppressive with the low clouds but it was dry. There were no hirundines around but I set two nets anyway. After two hours the rain arrived but the House Martins hadn’t so I took the nets down but by this time I had ringed 7 Grey Wagtails which means that I have ringed all adults and most young from two family parties; I also caught a Woodpigeon which unbelievably is my first of the year.

NIGHTINGALE WOOD

A relatively quite morning with some local ringing at our regular farm site that has a small lake and reed bed, mature hedgerows and willow plantations.

Juvenile birds were all over the place with almost every other bird a 3J Robin. We caught 2 Blue Tit's and a Great Tit that had been ringed as pulli earlier in the season and we also had our first 3J warbler in the form of a Blackcap. 

Interestingly we caught 3 new Lesser Whitethroat's which are a rather scarse bird in this area of the site. One was singing for several hours before we caught it but by then another had started responding to it so it was no suprise when I found the two of them in the net right next to each other. One bird carried on singing right by the net and bfore long had attracted another. These birds can only be either very late arrivals, unattached birds or failed breeders.

Some of the retraps were rather nice with a 2012 Reed Warbler, one 2009 and two 2010 Blackcap's, a 2012 Chiffchaff and a 2010 Chaffinch.

A pleasant morning with 34 new, 20 retrap. GD,PD

Wren (1), Dunnock 2(3), Robin 8, Blackbird 2(2), Song Thrush 2, Reed Warbler (1), Lesser Whitethroat 3, Whitethroat 7, Blackcap 7(6), Chiffchaff 1(1), Willow Warbler (1), Long Tailed Tit 1(1), Chaffinch (1), Bullfinch 1(2), Reed Bunting (1)

SWINDON STW CES SESSION 4

SALISBURY PLAIN (east)

 SALISBURY PLAIN (centre)

Like the other half of the team we had an early start with my alarm going off at 0245 in order to reach the ringing site at 0400 and also like the other team we also put some nets up in new places in the hope of catching those birds that may have been eluding us.

The morning felt a little slow with not a whole lot seemingly going into the nets and we were certainly down on new warblers conpared to the last few sessions so it would appear that spring migration is now well and truely over.

There were a lot more 3J's around compared to a week ago and we had juveniles of Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird and Linnet in the nets as well as a family of BLue Tit's. We even caught our 3rd Green Woodpecker in a row for a bit of quality.

Despite it feeling like a slow morning we still manged 51 new and 36 retraps. GD,PD,AB

Green Woodpecker 1, Swallow 5 pulli, Wren (1), Dunnock 7(3), Robin 3, Blackbird 2, Song Thrush 2(1), Grasshopper Warbler (2), Whitethroat 3(7), Garden Warbler (4), Blackcap 4(5), Chiffchaff 1(5), Willow Warbler 2(4), Long Tailed Tit 1, Blue Tit 7(3), Great Tit (1), Starling 1, Tree Sparrow 2 pulli, Goldfinch 2, Linnet 7, Yellowhammer 1 

SALISBURY PLAIN (centre)

With the number of singing Nightingale's remaining at 5 we were suprised when the first bird of the morning proved to be silent male number 6. This bird was one hatched last year so this is either an interloper or one pair did actually mange to fledge some young.

We also caught a spread of common warblers with a good number of Whitethroat's again and even another 5 new Willow Warbler's. We also caught a single Reed Warbler which is a rather rare bird here in the spring with the site being a good 20 miles from the nearest reed bed.

The morning was quite cool and cloudy which meant that there weren't many butterflies on the wing compared to last weeks Wall's and Green Haitstreak's. While no Marsh Fritillary's were about we did see this rather nice Duke of Burgundy.

We checked all the artillery bunkers on the way out and found 2 broods of Swallow's of a ringable size and lots of nests with eggs.

On the way home we went to look for open nests at one of our Tree Sparrow sites and mangaged to find a nest with 3 Pied Wagtail's ready to ring hidden away in some rusting farm machinery.

In total we managed 72 new and 42 retraps. GD/PD

Green Woodpecker 1, Swallow 10 pulli, Pied Wagtail 3 pulli, Wren 2, Dunnock 1(2), Robin (1), Nightingale 1(1), Blackbird 4(3), Sonh Thrush 1(2), Grasshopper Warbler (2), Reed Warbler 1, Lesser Whitethroat 1(1), Whitethroat 16(8), Garden Warbler 2(5), Blackcap 4(5), Chiffchaff 1(1), Willow Warbler 5(2), Long Tailed Tit 6(1), Blue Tit (2), Great Tit 1(1), Chaffinch (1), Linnet 4(1), Bullfinch 5(3), Yellowhammer 3

MARLBOROUGH STW

The forecast was terrible but upon waking it was overcast but flat calm, dry day though it was obvious that rain was imminent. I was joined by my wife Louise who had the ulterior motive of buying some chickens after our work was done. We ringed a few Tree Sparrows on the way and when we got to Marlborough STW it was absolutely heaving with House Martins. I put up a single sixty foot net and the birds piled in as quick as I could take them out. After a very busy two hours the rain came and we took the net down. Star bird of the morning was a House Martin originally ringed on 19th May 2012. We ringed 26 females with brood patches showing that many of the flock were local birds.