North Wilts Group

1st October 2014 - Swindon STW

A clear, starry morning heralded another balmy Autumn day. I met Matt and Paul on site at,for us, the comparitively late hour of 6am. Matt had to scoot off to work, so he left the requisite nets and left us to get on with it. Mindful of the avalanche of Chiffs and Blackcaps roaring through the country lately, we decided on two old faithful rides,namely 'the bund' and 'line-of-three'. This would be the first time me and Paul have conducted a ringing session on our own, and shows the group demonstrating increasing flexibility. Paul, like a Welsh Rommel, has hit this group with an organisational blitzkrieg since he joined us. So, the ringing table was a paragon of efficiency as we set off on our first net rounds. The session like many of late, was characterised by an initial trickle, a sudden peak, then an equally sudden drop-off. You wouldn't have needed to give your crystal ball a vigourous polish to predict the catch would be dominated by Chiff and Blackcap. We re-encountered 3 Chiffchaffs with ring sequences we didn't recognise. It was a trouser tightening moment when we thought we might have 3 controls! With the volume of Chiffs other ringers in the country have reported ringing, we thought it could be likely we would at least get someone else's at some point. Matt splashed our chips when a quick phone call to him revealed that they were, in fact, his rings. Never mind. This session looked like it wasn't going to provide the kind of datagasm i'd been experiencing when re-encountering my Reed Warbler pulli. With a new adult and a re-encounter only, i think my progeny have finally baled the country. Interestingly, we caught 3 juvenile Song Thrush together, heavyish birds, and with our first early Redwing sighting last week, possibly Channel hoppers?
 
 A modest session drew to a close with 68 new and 10 re-encounters. We packed up, then did some miscellaneous chores on site involving mud and falling into Reeds. So ended a month of hectic activity where we've ringed, scoffed and vomited our way across North Wiltshire. Onwards.   PA, SW
 
Chiffchaff 26 (5), Blackcap 32, Song Thrush 3, Robin 4 (1), Blue Tit 1, Reed Warbler 1 (1), Long-Tailed Tit (1), Reed Bunting (1), Dunnock 1 (1)