North Wilts Group

19th-20th July - Marlborough Downs, Salisbury Plain (east) & Salisbury Plain (centre)

MARLBOROUGH DOWNS & SALISBURY PLAIN (EAST)

 Despite the forecast for rain, thunder and lightning we still ventured out Saturday as the forecast showed enough gaps in the weather to enable us to continue with our nest monitoring. We popped into Marlborough STW but the House Martins were very high in the sky and there were 5 unringed Grey Wagtails but not enough birds worth trying for. We checked the Swallow site and ringed one brood but this visit inspired us to have a think about our monitoring here and we have decided that we would like it to be a key part of our summer work and so we are going to go for total monitoring which means ringing all the young and detailing where they are and then ringing the adults but trying to allocate them to the nest. The horse riders are all very interested so an end of year report is well worth the effort.

 
We tried to zip round the sparrow sites but then we saw a flock of c60 Tree Sparrows along with a few Corn Bunts and Linnets and couldn’t resist a little go but it yielded only a little but we did learn yet more lessons about setting nets in these open environments.
 
We then tried watching a Corn Bunting back to its nest and then the mother of all storms came along, flattened half of the crop, thoroughly cleaned the car and the lightning show all around was very impressive. Then as quickly as it came, it went and we spent the rest of the afternoon in blazing sunshine and then it started raining again just as we got home. MP, PA
 
Tree Sparrow 2 (3) + xx pulli, Whitethroat 2, Swallow 2 pulli
 
I was on my own on Sunday which is always risky for the team because they think I catch the best birds when on my own, this is of course pure myth but they were taking a chance leaving me on the Salisbury Plain on my own. Sunday dawned quite weird with a cold but dry mist that caused a reasonable breeze that kept the insects down. The first round was decent and then it died completely until the last round when a few Whitethroats moved. It was clear today that most birds have stopped breeding there now and this was the first morning when virtually nothing sang. The only slight frustration was that there were 3 Redstarts on site but I only caught 1, but I will set a different net next time. Today saw the first juvenile Bullfinches which are always a pleasure to see.
 
60 new and 9 retraps is unspectacular but on a similar date last year we processed 49 new and 11 retraps. MP
 
Blackcap 17 (3), Whitethroat 11 (2), Lesser Whitethroat 3, Chiffchaff 1, Redstart 1, Linnet 2, Bullfinch 2, Goldfinch 2, Dunnock 1 (1), Robin 0 (1), Wren 2 (1), Great Tit 11 (1), Blue Tit 7
 
IMG 9396
 
SALISBURY PLAIN (CENTRE)
The mist grey depressing start to the morning with a strong breeze that as at least double that forecast was matched with the number of birds we caught during the first 2 nets rounds with barely 10 new birds out of 17 nets.
 
However once it warmed up and the sun started breaking through the birds suddenly appeared and we had soon ringed good numbers of the common warbler species. Willow Warbler's were much in evidence with far more than on previous visits so they are obviously already on the move.
 
Interestingly out of the 94 new birds caught in the nets 59 of them were from just 3 nets so the birds today were obviously favouring just one parch of scrub.
 
A Nightingale was still present which gave a few alarm calls early on but wasn't caught and one of the Grasshopper Warblers briefly started up but no chats seemed to be on site.
 
In the end we had a decent moring with 99 new and 22 retraps. GD/PD
 
Swallow 5 pulli, Wren 1(1), Dunnock 1, Robin 1(1), Blackbird 2(1), Song Thrush 1(1), Lesser Whitethroat (1), Whitethroat 21(3), Garden Warbler 7, Blackcap 25(4), Chiffchaff 8(1), Willow Warbler 11(6), Goldcrest 2, Long Tailed Tit 1, Coal Tit 2, Blue Tit 2(1), Great Tit 1, Chaffinch 1, Linnet 1, Bullfinch 2(1), Reed Bunting 2, Yellowhammer 2(1)