Black Park - 24 November 2013

We were joined by EW to work an alternative area of the heathland area and quickly had 3 singles and a run of four nets up. We tried tapes for Redpoll, Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tits but the day started very slowly and we spent some time checking out a range of spectacular examples of fungi.

 Sulphur Tuft - I think

Fly Agaric

Another stab in the dark - Black Trumpet

I certainly wouldn't eat anything on the basis of my flaky fungus ID skills.

There were a few Redpoll but the catching was slow and the total was only made respectable by a late encounter with a tit flock that pushed up the total.

Lesser Redpoll

Total - 26 (1)

Wren - 1

Goldcrest -  2 (1)

Long-tailed Tit -7

Coal Tit - 3

Blue Tit -9

Lesser Redpoll - 4

Home Cottage Farm - 23 November 2013

The visit to Home Cottage Farm was planned to allow us to reacquaint ourselves with the site and the way that birds are using it. There were no visits last winter as the crop was poor and little was left for the birds after visitors went to 'pick their own' and the sheep had polished off the fallen windfalls. It was a very different situation this year with a bumper crop reflective of the optimal conditions that caused a mast year in the natural food supply.

Every row of trees showed the same story - excess windfalls

There were windfalls below every tree posing the problem of where precisely to place nets. There were a few thrushes around and Fieldfare and Mistle Thrushes were in the orchard but with the option of feeding in the adjacent fields, they soon moved away due to our disturbance. We need some really low temperatures, cold enough to harden the earth, to improve our catching chances.

The catch was still very respectible with a total of 42 birds. Most were tits but there was a bit of variety including some Blackbirds, Goldcrests and a juvenile Sparrowhawk.

 

3M Sparrowhawk

Ten of the birds were retrapped with two having been processed at the site on 20 November 2012.

 

Adult Coal Tit Y599947

The other eight retraps had been done, since September 2012, in our back garden just a kilometre away.   Coal Tit Y599267 being the earliest date 08/09/2012,  Goldcrest EBX489 was done on 23/09/2013 and the most recent, Blue Tit D710087 on 18/10/2013. 

Totals: 32 (10)

Sparrowhawk - 1

Dunnock - 1

Robin - 1

Blackbird - 3

Goldcrest - 3 (1)

Long Tailed-Tit - 5 (2)

Coal Tit - 0 (2)

Blue Tit - 13 (5)

Great Tit - 1

Chaffinch - 3

Goldfinch - 1

Chobham Common - 18 November 2013

The rain originally forecast for today did not materialise and the wind speed was very low so we returned to the Common in the hope of  catching some Redpoll. We moved to a slightly different site (to that where only two birds were caught on the previous day) and only used three doubles. There was a little more success with 5 Lesser Redpolls and 10 Long-tailed Tits. No too bad considering the last start and early finish.

Lesser Redpoll Aged 3

Totals: 15

Long-tailed Tit - 10
Lesser Redpoll - 5

Chobham Common - 17 November 2013

We were joined by TA and JHH and arrived at the ringing site in semi-darkness due to heavy cloud cover. We erected three doubles and began playing for Redpoll before adding a final double panel for Dartford Warbler.

It turned out to be one of those sessions that remains in the memory for all the wrong reasons. There were no large numbers of Redpoll and the odd ones and twos that came to investigate the audiolure would not be tempted down to the nets.

There were good numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing passing overhead throughout the morning but this didn't boost the capture total. We finished early with just two birds on the record sheet.

3M Coal Tit

Totals - 2

Wren - 1
Coal Tit - 1

Stanwell Moor - 16 November 2013

We were joined by EP for a 6.30am start. We put nets in the vicinity of the reed bed with a configuration for Meadow Pipits on the raised grassy area.

We started off with a retrap Reed Bunting, from our colour ringing project. We colour ringed Reed Buntings over two years but ceased doing so when the numbers of bird using the roost dropped off, coupled with the fact that there was only ever one sighting throughout that time. It just goes to show that birds are still about although birdwatchers (probably knowing the birds by call) don't take much notice of them.

 

Reed Bunting 4M, L606564,colour ringed 6/6/2011when 4M  

This bird was captured along with 4 other new Reed Buntings. Other birds from the reed bed included a couple of Goldcrest, two Chiffchaff and a new Cetti's Warbler.

Catching Meadow Pipits often doesn't happen until the birds go up as you walk towards the nets, so we weren't expecting too much as efforts were split over two areas. However we still managed to bag 22 with the bonus of a Skylark.

 TR64520 Skylark

Totals: 40 (3)

Skylark - 1

Meadow Pipit - 18

Dunnock - 1

Robin- 1 (1)

Cetti's Warbler - 1

Chiffchaff - 2

Goldcrest - 2

Blue Tit - 0 (1)

Reed Bunting - 4 (1)

 

Broadwater - 15 November 2013

It was some time since out last visit to the site and we found that a couple of trees had come down in the storm of a fortnight ago. Fortunately, the places where nets are usually sited were not affected. We set a double and four single nets, then tried a variety of different recordings to encourage birds to the nets.
We had a modest catch but were pleased to get a single redpoll, if only of the Lesser variety. There were also a Magpie, a couple of Chiffchaff and some Goldcrest. One Goldcrest retrap, EJJ827, was a retrap from the Hilfield site.

Juvenile Magpie

 

Lesser Redpoll 3M

Totals: 15(8)

Wren-  0 (1)

Robin - 1 (2)

Chiffchaff - 2

Goldcrest - 3 (1)

Long-tailed Tit - 5 (2)

Blue Tit - 3 (1)

Magpie - 1

Lesser Redpoll - 1

Black Park - 8 November 2013

There have been no visits since February, mainly due to last winter's programme of work to clear parts of the heathland of less desirable plants and, more widely, many of the more mature trees. The trees lining the stream that runs by the area where nets were usually set have been severely reduced and for this reason it was felt that the area was best left over the summer.

From the time we arrived, there were small bands of finches flying overhead and one was enticed down to net level and caught, but the usual trail of birds moving along the stream was no longer. We did have one visit from a tit flock but they, unusually, came across the heathland, hoping from isolated tree to isolated tree. We finished early as the drizzle began to close in.

3M Lesser Redpoll

Totals: 15
Wren - 2

Goldcrest -4

Blue Tit -3

Long-tailed Tit -5

Lesser Redpoll - 1