North Wilts Group

With calm conditions forecast before the autumn storm was due to hit later in the morning we ventured out to the Plain again hoping that clear night would mean that all the migrants held up by the recent nights of rain would finally be able to move.

We arrived onsite to some low level mist and a temperature of just 2°c which by first light caused a ground frost. With tape lures playing Blackcap and Chiffchaff at the nets it wasn't long before the scrub was alive with the calls of Blackcap's and it soon became obvious that it was going to be a busy morning. We ended up with a massive 147 new Blackcap's and 88 Chiffchaff's, a total that has taken me to over 1000 Blackcap for the year. As well as the expected warblers we also caught Lesser Whitethroat, Graden Warbler's and Willow Warbler's all of which have usually long gone in 'normal' years when breeding starts when it should.

There was also a good passage of Meadow Pipit's for the first time this autumn and we caught 38 in our usual pipit nets. With one large bush in the catch zone this net is also good for catching warblers moving between areas of scrub and always seems to attrach Redstart's, of which we caught 2 here with another elsewhere.

We had to start taking the nets down at 10.00 as the wind had pick up and a quick tally of the days catch resulted in 299 new birds. Not happy with being one short of 300 a quick check on the artillery bunkers on the offchance that there might be some Stock Dove pulli resulted in. 2 chicks being ringed. We therefore ended up with 301 new and 4 retraps. No Great Reed Warbler's today, but you can't have everything. GD/PD

Stock Dove 2, Swallow 1, Meadow Pipit 38, Robin 3, Redstart 3, Sedge Warbler 4, Lesser Whitethroat 1, Whitethroat 10, Garden Warbler 2, Blackcap 147(1), Chiffchaff 88(2), Willow Warbler 2, Chaffinch (1)

With a brief break in the wind and rain forecast we decided to give it a go this morning though with fewer nets in case the rain started up early.

We arrived onsite to some low mist and light drizzle but put some of the nets anyway. While driving between net sets we flushed an interesting bird off of the track that we were unable to identify. My Dad thought it might have been a Song Thrush or Wryneck, I thought it could have been a Wheatear as it looked as if it had an eye-stripe. However, other than sitting with a rather upright stance nothing we saw really seemed to fit. The bird quickly flew into the scrub and out of site never to be seen again, except........

The overnight rain meant that there wasn’t any real migration going on but we managed a few good Blackcap’s and Chiffchaff’s the first two net rounds. A single Willow Warbler and a handful of Whitethroat’s were still hanging in there but species variety was limited. Some of the warbler retraps were on the weighty side since the birds are feeding up but stuck here until the weather improves. One of Blackcap’s was 26.1g and one of the Whitethroat’s was 18.3g.

But then it got interesting. My Dad came back from checking a few nets saying he had something good but that it was better than a Wryneck and he hadn’t seen one in this country before. The mystery bird turned out to be an adult Great Reed Warbler, an amazing catch for a patch of scrub in the middle of chalk downland. Fortunately, Matt was ringing near by on the east side of The Plain and was able to get to us quickly as did Mike from the West Wilts group who lives close by. With 4 Wryneck’s caught on Salisbury Plain in the last two years, a Thrush Nightingale in 2008 and this bird it shows that some birds can turn up just about anywhere even if the area is exceptional for migrants and probably the best inland ringing area in the country.

Quite a morning, although we didn’t get any Redstarts so the run ended 12 visits and out. 70 new, 5 retraps. GD/PD

Meadow Pipit 1, Great Reed Warbler 1, Whitethroat 4(3), Blackcap 37(2), Chiffchaff 26, Willow Warbler 1

What could have been a really productive morning was rather spoilt by the weather. Any time there is fog at this site, or in the case of today low level mist, the expected catch gets cut in half. As it turned out the final total was down 51% on last weeks visit.

We had our usual nets set as well as the Meadow Pipit nets up for the first time this Autumn so it was a shame that all they caught all morning was a single Grasshopper Warbler. The morning did however start promisingly with 4 Grasshopper Warblers in the the first round and good numbers of Blackcaps but dropped off rather dramatically after that. Species variety was much reduced with some warbler seemingly moved on. We did get some more Sedge and one more Reed but Willow Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats were notably misisng. 

One positive from the last nets we took down before leaving was our standard Redstart of the morning.

118 new and 14 retraps may sound a like a good days catch but is well under par for this time of year at this site. GD/PD

Dunnock 1, Redstart 1, Blackbird 1, Song Thrush (1), Grasshopper Warbler 4, Sedge Warbler 4, Reed Warbler 1, Whitethroat 16(3), Garden Warbler 2(2), Blackcap 69(8), Chiffchaff 18, Blue Tit 1

Group totals up to the end of August except for the large number of Tree Sparrow pulli yet to be inputted. Warbler numbers have increased dramatically with the start of the autumn migration and our group's success at catching Whinchat's has meant that we have moved onto 41 for the year which will be a substantial amount of the national total for the year.

With a massive military exercise involving some 8000 troops and several hundred tanks and armoured vehicles training for deployment in Afghanistan we were lucky to be allowed on the ranges today. As it turned out all we saw of the army were two Chinook helicopters practicing landing over a mile away from our site.

After ringing over 1100 birds in August we were hoping to get September off to a good start. The morning was all about numbers, large numbers of birds, and some special totals being passed. Twelve birds into the first net round we reached 40,000 birds ringed on my rings. The lucky bird turned out to be a Garden Warbler. We also reached 100 for Grasshopper Warbler and Tree Pipit, the pipit being the last bird caught. We even managed yet another Redstart making it  onto the list for 11 consecutive trips.

Rather suprisingly, we managed to catch good numbers of warbler species that have usually migrated by now as plenty of Willow, Sedge and Garden Warblers and Whitethroats were still knocking about, some still as 3J's. The most obvious change in species and numbers was seen in the 109 new Blackcaps caught. This species is a dead sucker for a tape lure at this time of year. This day total is nothing new to us and when compared to some counties totals for a whole year that are less than 50 birds I can't understand why more ringers don't take advantage of the bonanza this time of year.

A massive 240 new and 8 retraps made for a great but busy morning. GD/PD/OF

Tree Pipit 1, Robin 7, Redstart 1, Whinchat 2, Blackbird 2, Grasshopper Warbler 4, Sedge Warbler 14, Reed Warbler 3, Lesser Whitethroat 2, Whitethroat 36(2), Garden Warbler 10(1), Blackcap 109(4), Chiffchaff 32, Willow Warbler 12, Great Tit 1, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer 2

Lucky number 40,000

A busy second net round. No time for coffee and biscuits.

Grasshopper Warblers showing differences in plumage colouration