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:

08/April/17 yay company!

I had Simon come out with me for the whole morning for the first time in ages! It was good to have some help setting up nets and chats and things so I think he should come ringing with me more often (hint 😁) 

We put up four nets this morning. Our plan was to put three nets up and then fix and leave up the fourth net because I thought the top string had come loose but when we put it up this morning it was fine. All four nets were up by 7, and we started taking the nets down at 11:15. I have a good idea about where I want to put nets up next time because we noticed a lot of activity in a couple of areas, including a pair of Blackcap near to the gate.

We retrapped the Cetti's warbler that I had caught last time. Jan had sent me previous records of this particular bird and Simon ringed it. Simon had also processed it two times between ringing it and me retrapping it last week, and then Simon processed it again today! All of the data!

We had 5 Wrens this morning, including 2 new and 2 age 6 with rings close together in the ring series (HTP234 and HTP236). The female Great Spotted Woodpecker was born last year and had a brood patch (BP2). I need to work out how to submit brood patch and cloacal protrusion onto IPMR - I'll ask the group when I go ringing with them tomorrow morning.

Last but not least at 11:10 was another Wood Pigeon! Earlier in the morning Simon said that he wanted to ring one, and his wish was granted! And like last time I dropped everything I was holding and RAN to the net to stop it getting out (I don't run. Ever. 😜). Fingers crossed that the excitement of this catch makes Simon want to come out ringing with me again and again! 😗

Here are the totals for the morning:

4/April/17 Thorpe Park

I'm exhausted! Went ringing this morning and then went to Thorpe Park straight after. Got home about an hour ago and I'm nearly ready for bed (gotta have dinner first though - taco's yay!)

I left the flat while it was still dark to make the most of the time and daylight that I had because I knew I'd have to leave earlier than I usually would. I bought 8 more pegs yesterday so that I had plenty for this morning, but I placed one of the nets on a footpath, which was impenetrable with the pegs, so I carefully tied the guy ropes to Blackthorn trees..! They'll come in handy I'm sure but I needn't have bought the pegs after all :P

I caught a good variety of birds this morning, and I had a Great Spotted Woodpecker narrowly avoid the net, too. Highlights from the morning include:

• The Dunnock that I caught had a very advanced brood patch.
• The retrap Great Tit with ring number D738706 isn't a ring series I recognise. I wonder if it's one of Jan's rings?
• Having caught a Coal Tit and a Marsh Tit in the same round it was good to see side by side how different they really are from each other!
• I wasn't expecting my footpath net to catch very much and I was pleasantly surprised when it caught two Chiffchaffs! :D (it caught the Blackbird, too).
• The Blue Tit that I caught as I was taking the nets in was a beautiful big bright blue boy! (all the B's!) He was lovely :)

Totals for the morning: