030517 Hirundines at KSW

I got to the sewage works at 5:30 and had three nets set up by the time Bobbie (CT) joined me and we put the fourth net up together. I had a 40ft in the far left corner, as far down as we're allowed to go. I put a 60ft between two rotating things, one 40ft between a rotating thing and the hedge and the 30ft I put up with Bobbie we put next to the fence to the farmers field next door.

The first catch was a Pied Wagtail. I'd never processed an adult Piewa until this morning and following guidance from Laurent Demongin's ID guide I concluded that it was an age code 6, however I didn't manage to tell if it was Pied or White because the guide was talking about how the shades of grey/black/white are different in each, wing bars are broader/narrower than each other, face tinged "olivaceous yellow" in white or "slightly yellow" in pied... I had nothing to compare to. So it will remain a Pied Wagtail until proven otherwise! The second bird was a male Goldfinch and after that it slowed down quite a bit. Hirundines had started flooding in and a bright spark told me to move the 30ft net, so Bobbie and I did that and then Bobbie had to go to do BBOWT things. Thank you for coming and helping me! Please come again 😊

Captures continued to be slow and I was practicing my hirundine identification. They kept giving me heart palpitations, getting so close to the net and then dodging it at the last moment! To mock me even more one of them crapped in my coffee. Thanks. But that didn't stop me being ecstatic when I caught one! A House Martin 😁 The book says that they do a full post juvenile moult so I couldn't age it any more precisely than 4. I caught a Grey Wagtail in this round, too. After that I caught a Blackbird at 9:55.

I was just about to take my nets in and thought I'd better check the nets first. Another Grey Wagtail and 3 House Martins! Wow! After processing those I went and got a net in. Checked the other nets again - 2 more House Martins!... Processed those, took another net in, checked the last two nets nets, a Swallow! 😁💓 After processing that one I took a third net in (left the one that was catching the birds until last. Don't tell me you wouldn't) and there was another House Martin. Processed that. Another one in the net. Processed that. Took the last net in! Phew! I'm now knackered and I don't know how I'm going to survive work this evening! Wish me luck!

House Martin:

Swallow:

Totals:

020517 Mist netting AND Nest box checking

Today has been a very bird-filled day! I started with ringing at Bowdown, putting three nets up - one of which was 18 metres so I thought I wouldn't stretch myself with putting a fourth net up, just in case I got inundated! 

The first 5 captures were Long-Tailed Tit's which was hardly surprising since they were beeping away all around me for the first half of the morning 😄 they were caught in the footpath net. Then a Marsh Tit and a Garden Warbler in the net ride that Ian found when we went out as a group last Sunday was great! I will definitely be putting that net up again! All the 18 metre net caught all morning was a retrap Chiffchaff - a female just starting to develop a brood patch.

Corinne, who helps check the Dormouse boxes at Bowdown, came to visit at 9 and we had a nice time chatting about Dormice, birds and butterflies 😄 she has since kindly emailed over some documents to help with my Dormouse licence training - thank you so much! 💓 I thought it would be another no-show like at the demonstration on Saturday, but at 10:30 a female Bullfinch went into the footpath net 😊 a nice little bird to be able to show!

I'd just finished getting the first net in at the end of the day when Roger Dobbs, Bowdown reserve warden, came over for a chat. He was doing a butterfly transect and a lovely day for it, too! I really like Bowdown - a great place to ring, I'm getting involved with the Dormice here, bird nest boxes, and I'll be doing some bird surveys for Simon here soon as well!

I'm so good at making birds look really unphotogenic, but it was very pretty I promise! The Garden Warbler from the new net ride:

Here are the totals for this mornings session:

This afternoon I met up with Steve to check the nest boxes here at Bowdown and also at Aldernbridge Gulley (spelling..?). One clutch of Great Tit's at Bowdown were ready to ring today, but I haven't put the information into IPMR yet. I think I will wait until I'm with Jan so that I can make sure that I'm not doing it wrong! (I think it's mostly like normal, so age code 1 - pulli, but do I put the wing measurement (1 - 2 mm showing through the sheath) in? Or should I leave the wing length blank? Or put it in an "own" column. I know that I need to put the box number in an "own" column, too.)

When we got to the other site, who do we happen to bump into? Simon and the CT's!! They had just finished doing their Habitat Condition Assessments so they came along to check the boxes with Steve and I. A couple of clutches - one Great Tit and one Nuthatch - look as though they might be ready to ring in a few days, so Simon and I might go out late afternoon on Friday or in the morning on Saturday to ring those.

So yeah, it's been a very birdy day, and to top it off Simon and I went and did a full weekly shop (we made a list and everything!) It's time to chill now, before another morning of ringing tomorrow at the sewage works!

290417 Demo at the Butterfly Reserve

On Saturday I did a ringing demonstration for Ailsa's Birding for Beginners talk (which was really good!! I highly recommend her talks! I learnt so much :D). I got to the reserve for 6:30 and put up 4 nets - a 9 metre, 2x 12 metre and an 18 metre! I'd just finished putting up the last net when Ian arrived, shortly followed by Jan, and they put one more net up. We retrapped a pair of Treecreepers - the same one's that I retrap here a lot that are good examples of different ages. The younger one is the male - toyboy hahaha. :P

We caught all of the birds before the ringing demonstration took place. The one guy who turned up early saw the Blackcap but sadly no one else got to see any birds in the hand. Thank you so much Jan and Ian for coming because I don't know how I'd have coped with having to run around every 10 minutes checking the nets praying for there to be a bird AND entertain 10 people at the same time all on my own! You guys basically saved my bacon so thank you very much 💓

We found out when Simon came to lead the group of people back to the NDC that there was an event happening in the reserve at 10 - it was 9:30 at that point so naturally I freaked out 😅 but Ian reassured me that it wouldn't take long to take the nets down with three of us, and it didn't 😁 so again, thank you! xx

23/April/17 Bowdown with the Group!

Today was the last Sunday session before the CES starts, and I suggested we all go to Bowdown to see if there are any other potentially good areas where I could put my nets up in the future. I put the two nets up that I usually put up on either side of the Oak tree, Ian put two up in the surrounding low vegetation, Jan put two up down the footpath, one at the top end where I usually put a net and one at the other end of the footpath, Jon put up two nets further down the enclosure, and I put a third net up down that end of the enclosure, too. So 9 nets in total.

In the first round we caught a Blackbird and 4 Chiffchaffs, including a retrap Chiffchaff. While we were processing these birds we were joined by Jone, a lovely lady who works with Simon at BBOWT and who checks some of the nest boxes that I'm hoping to ring. 😊 We were later also joined by Duncan and Simon.

We heard Garden Warbler and kept our fingers crossed, but no luck. Captures were slow but steady, and between rounds we checked under the reptile mats and found, in total, 5 Slow Worms and 2 Grass Snakes. While I was setting my furthest net up, I was about to put a peg into the ground when I heard what I thought was a hiss. When we went to check it out later on the guys said that it was more of a buzz sound and that it was probably Bee's. Good job I didn't put the peg in there!

As for finding new good places to put my nets, Jan's net at the top of the footpath caught the most birds all morning. The far nets (Jon's nets and my third net) caught one Dunnock. One of my Oak nets caught a Blackbird and maybe one or two more (I didn't check the nets each time so I could be wrong). As far as I know, the rest of the birds came from that top footpath net. Ian found another area that might be good just to the left as you enter the enclosure, so next time I will put a net there, I will move one of my Oak tree nets so that it's parallel with the big patch of bramble because we saw quite a lot of activity there, might keep the net that caught the Blackbird? We'll see. But will definitely be putting the top-end footpath net up!

Thanks for coming today everyone 😊 here are the totals:

19/April/17 Blackcaps galore!...

...well, not quite - I caught 4. One of which was a retrap and the ring is not mine! Will have to wait and see if it's a control (a bird that has been retrapped 5km or more away from where it was first ringed), but I'm not getting my hopes up (much)!

I put up 4 nets, 2 in the places that I said I'd try last time. Those two nets didn't catch much (one caught one Blackcap and the other caught - okay, a little better - a Blackcap, a Dunnock and a Woodpigeon that I spooked into the net, so that one doesn't count.)

Talking of the Woodpigeon... I now realise why I've been having such a hard time fitting the F rings... it's because on the big pliers the big hole is the first hole, the smaller hole second. On the small pliers the first hole is the smallest and then they get bigger. So I've been fitting F rings in the G ring hole and when we caught a Woodpigeon at the Butterfly Reserve before I taught Simon how to fit an F ring (in the G hole). So please, Simon, forget everything I told you about fitting F rings! 😌 In fact, if anything, F rings are 10 times easier doing it the right way - you did a good job fitting an F ring the wrong way, so I have every faith in you to do it even better the right way!

I also told myself I'd get a photo of the Woodpigeon for the blog. I totally forgot to do that but I did take a photo of the evidence that I'd ringed one:

The Cetti's Warbler that I caught was a retrap, but it wasn't the retrap that I've caught here previously, so that's quite exciting! I had a bit of a shock while taking my nets down. Two men were walking around inside the Butterfly Reserve and usually people don't go in there so I was surprised. They stopped and asked what I'd caught, told them about the Cetti's and then one of them said that he was Steve, the guy who checks the nest boxes at Bowdown, who I'm scheduled to join this year to ring the nestlings! So it was good to meet him. He and his pal were in the Butterfly Reserve doing a butterfly survey.

Overall a nice morning. Finished reading The Naming of the Shrew, too. Here are the totals:

16/April/17 KSTW

Today was the first ringing session since reinstating permissions at Kingsclere Sewage Treatment Works (KSTW). I sent round an email on Friday to the group and I was joined today by Simon, Jan, Ian, Jon and Pat 😁. We all put up nets in different areas, and found that the catches were pretty random, with no particular nets doing particularly well. Some areas of the site could have done with a net or an extra net, which I'll try out next time I come here, which will probably be next week (Monday or Tuesday). I got to test out one of the nets that Rupert gave me and I must say I am very impressed at what great condition it's in 💕😍 I'm so grateful - if you're reading this Rupert thank you again!

We caught two Grey Wagtails, which were nice to see as Simon and I hadn't ringed them before (I've ringed pulli, but not full grown). They're surprisingly long! Relatively easy to sex (the two we caught were both female. According to the French guide males would have had black on the throat) and more complicated was ageing them. Looking at contrasts in the colour of primaries and secondaries compared to tertials allowed us to age the second Grey Wagtail as a 6.

We caught at least four Chaffinches that unfortunately couldn't be ringed due to grotty foot. There were Swallows about but they could see the nets and were avoiding them skillfully! They did get dangerously close though! In the ringing hut Jan was saying about not being able to hear Goldcrests, which was coincidentally singing as he was saying it! (he couldn't hear it lol). Was good to see everyone and next Sunday is the last group session before the CES starts, so the whole group will come to Bowdown! Hosting two group sessions in a row, cor 😀

Totals for the morning:

Is it a fashion statement? Or is it health and safety:

10/Apr/17 First Blackcap

Ringing at Bowdown this morning I put three nets up. Two on either side of the big Oak - they only caught 1 bird each. I suppose without the feeders being regularly topped up the birds haven't much need to go to the oak anymore. I had a walk around later on in the morning to look for new places to put nets up. Some potentially good places but I'm wary that the nets would be visible from the footpath. On the other hand, a bit of publicity wouldn't be a bad thing. I need to build confidence talking to passers by about what I'm doing and get myself known in the area, so that I can venture a bit further from my car (people stand and look at my car because I park it inside the reserve and I suppose they're just curious, but I can't help but be paranoid... my car and it's contents are the most valuable things I own..!). I put the third net up along the footpath within the gated enclosure, and this net caught 8 birds. I'm thinking I might put two nets in a row in that area next time, since it's been such a productive net so far. My only worry about that particular area is that because the ground is solid rock I can't get pegs into the ground, so need to work out positions for the nets that are within guy rope distance of trees..!

The Long Tailed Tit that I caught first off was a female with a brood patch so far developed that I'm sure she must be sitting on eggs (BP4). The same went for the Dunnock caught later on this morning - I'd caught this bird a week ago and she had a BP3, BP4 today. Both male and female Blackcap's incubate eggs and the male I caught this morning had lost a lot of his belly feathers in preparation. He was also my first Blackcap of the year :-). In fact, all of the birds I captured this morning had signs of breeding! Excited to ring some pulli and 3J's in the near future!

Totals for this morning: