North Wilts Group

Losing both days mist netting due to weather once again is very frustrating but it did provide the perfect opportunity for us to get on top of the Tree Sparrow nest box scheme right from the outset. Niamh and I did a small tour of the downs on Friday evening and on Saturday we were joined by her other half Chris for a 7 hour tour of the downs and the sparrows have really made a decent start. Over the two days we recorded 63 pairs with eggs and 11 clutches of tits. Over the years we have lowered a lot of our boxes so that we don’t need to use ladders so much for speed but some remain a little too high and so we use alternative means... 

We ringed a pair of Barn Owls that had 7 eggs, this is a large clutch for the downs so is surely a good sign that Barn Owls are in good health and that vole numbers are up.

On Sunday I was joined by Paul for a tour of our Thames Valley sites and we recorded 6 pairs of Tree Sparrows with eggs and 29 clutches of tits. Another pair of Barn Owls had 4 eggs, one downy chick and another just hatching, is always magical to see a new life starting. The female of this pair was originally ringed as a breeding bird in May 2011 when she raised four young but she did not breed in the past two years due to the shocking weather. She has moved boxes this year to a box 300 metres away on the neighbouring farm, sadly the male was too quick for me as I would love to know if he was the male from 3 years ago.

We finished at lunchtime but then went back out in the evening to Marlborough STW to try for hirundines and upon arrival there was a flock of 70 House Martins and 40 Swallows so we fancied our chances. The birds were preoccupied on high flying insects and we only managed one Swallow but he was a most magnificent male.

In addition we ringed 2 Pied Wagtails, a female Grey Wagtail with a brood patch but most interesting of all, our first mist netted juvenile bird of the year was a Grey Wagtail which is very early.

Well and truly shattered, I have just about managed to stay awake long enough to write this and so I am off to bed. MP, NM, CH, PA

Chaffinch brood of 4 ringed, Stock Dove 5 nestlings ringed, Barn Owl – 2 ringed, Grey Wagtail – 2 ringed, Pied Wagtail – 2 ringed, Swallow – 1 ringed

Active nests recorded (eggs or young), Tree Sparrow 69, Tit spp 40, Stock Dove 5, Barn Owl 2, Little Owl 1, Jackdaw 1, Chaffinch 3, Goldfinch 1

SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE)

We visited our Salisbury Plain site again today only 2 days after the previous visit as this site is just too good for migrants to pass up the opportunity.

The same 4 Nightingale's were singing again but had now spread themselves out into the best territories in terms of habitiat. As we caught all 4 the other day we don't need to disturb them again. If any others now arrive there will be a brief spell of territory displacement before everything settles down and they become uncatchable as they are not prone to crossing net rides until they are in family groups.

No Grasshopper Warbler's were singing at this site today but we soon heard the first Lesser Whitethroat and Garden Warbler of the year singing and it was evident that a great deal more Whitethroat's had come in since last time.

The Whitethroat's seem to have gone straight onto their tiny territories as we only caught one the whole morning but we did catch a few Garden Warbler's and the singing Lesser Whitethroat along with our third Redstart of the spring. One of the retrap Garden's had originally been ringed in 2008 and we also got a 2009 Blackcap so it was good to see some old regulars coming back.

We weren't over burdoned with numbers however so after packing up by mid-morning we went to check our other Grasshopper Warbler sub-site and caught 2 of the 6 singing with the others enjoying sitting in their bushes in the spring sunshine too much to bother with our nets. GD/OF

Wren (2), Dunnock (1), Nightingale (1), Redstart 1, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 2(1), Grasshopper Warbler 2, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Whitethroat 1, Garden Warbler 1(2), Blackcap 20(2), Chiffchaff (2), Willow Warbler 5(1), Linnet 4, Bullfinch (1)

SWINDON STW

The stars were out as we set the nets and with the wind straight out of the north bringing the temperature to -1°c it was a rather frosty and chilly start to the morning. 

The good news was that even after 2 breeding seasons of complete nesting failure due to the weather and females not turning up, the first Nightingale's were back. Three were singing and were quickly targeted coming to a tape lure along with a fourth that hadn't been singing. Over the years we had been gradually having less and less sucess in catching the returning males and it seems that the reason may be that the birds are too used to the song that gets played to them. A German study shows that Nightingale's learn the songs of other birds around them and incorporate some of those song phrases into their own. With this in mind I'd download a selection of Nightingale songs from across Europe  and these seem to have done the trick. Now that they've been caught we won't need to target them again. The original ringing dates for the 4 birds cought were 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. With some of these birds now getting on in years they need a good breeding season so that they are not lost from this site, one of only a handful left in the county.

The northerly breeze that had been blowing all night did however effect the number of birds we caught with numbers well down on the last visit and after the first few net rounds the morning was more or less done. We did however catch a Grasshopper Warbler we ringed here last year, the first ever year to year retrap we've caught of this species despite ringing over 100 at this site. Two pulli Stock Dove's were an extra bonus after we'd packed up early due to the increasing wind. PD/GD/OF

Stock Dove 2, Wren 1(2), Dunnock 1(2), Nightingale (4), Blackbird 2, Song Thrush 1, Grasshopper Warbler 1(1), Whitethroat 1, Blackcap 18(3), Chiffchaff 2(5), Willow Warnler 2(2), Long Tailed Tit (1), Bullfinch 3(1), Chaffinch 1(1), Linnet 6

After tidying up the net rides and setting pole holes and guys a couple of weeks ago today was the first ringing session of the year on our Salisbury Plain site. This was the earliest date in April we have ringed this site in the last 12 years by four days so it perhaps wasn't a suprise that we didn't hear any Nightingale's singing when we arrived at 0500.

Blackcap's were very much the bird of the day with 53 new birds caught along with 2 retraps from last year but a nice trickle of Willow Warbler's and Chiffchaff's were also good news. Highlight of the morning was a rather nice male Redstart which was followed shortly after by a second. We also heard a Grasshopper Warbler briefly start singing but it couldn't be encouraged into one of the nets.

In all it was a pleasant mornings ringing in the spring sunshine with 95 new and 18 retraps. PD, GD, OF, AB

Wren 5(2), Dunnock 4(8). Robin 2, Redstart 2, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush (1), Blackcap 53(2), Chiffchaff 4(3), Willow Warbler 8, Long Tailed tit 2, Blue Tit 2, Great Tit 4(1), Chaffinch 2(1), Goldfinch 3, Linnet 1, Yellowhammer 2