North Wilts Group

Ringing Group Totals 2014

With all the ringing group totals for North Wilts RG now collated we finished 2014 with 24603 captures with 20635 being new birds ringed. Not a bad total for a group with 2 trainers to 2 A's, 2 C's and a couple of trainees.

Highlights of the year were the Wryneck, Barred Warbler and a couple of Quail caught on Salisbury Plain and 3 pulli Cuckoo's all found in the same small reedbed om a stretch of old canal in Swindon.

An amazing breeding season resluted in huge numbers of migrants which were reflected in the number of birds we ringed with 3226 in August and 5463 in September with our 2 sites on Salisbury Plain roducing amazing numbers. Some of the warbler totals were out of this world with 90 Grasshopper Warbler, 951 Whitethroat, 4305 Blackcap and 1812 Chiffchaff. We also managed a creditable 59 Whinchat, 52 Yellow Wagtail, both difficult species to catch in Wiltshire and a massive 667 Redwing largely due to the Latvian lure.

Farmland birds are something the group particularly targets and we managed 718 Yellowhammer ringed while our Wiltshire Tree Sparrow recovery project ringed 1647 birds including1485 pulli for which group members all put in 100's of hours of effort nest monitoring each year.

  Full Grown Pulli Retraps Total     Full Grown Pulli Retraps Total
Grey Heron 0 4 0 4   Fieldfare 12 0 0 12
Mute Swan 1 0 0 1   Song Thrush 122 3 46 171
Eurasian Teal 12 0 0 12   Redwing 667 0 1 668
Mallard 4 0 0 4   Mistle Thrush 7 0 0 7
Sparrowhawk 10 0 1 11   Cetti's Warbler 4 0 2 6
Kestrel 5 7 0 12   Grasshopper Warbler 84 6 9 99
Grey Partridge 1 0 0 1   Sedge Warbler 474 0 31 505
Quail 2 0 0 2   Reed Warbler 286 101 164 551
Water Rail 5 0 0 5   Barred Warbler 1 0 0 1
Moorhen 3 0 0 3   Lesser Whitethroat 71 0 11 82
Jack Snipe 8 0 0 8   Whitethroat 948 3 125 1076
Snipe 20 0 1 21   Garden Warbler 182 0 62 244
Woodcock 2 0 0 2   Blackcap 4305 0 282 4587
Green Sandpiper 3 0 4 7   Chiffchaff 1812 0 116 1928
Common Sandpiper 1 0 0 1   Willow Warbler 442 0 53 495
Black-headed Gull 14 0 1 15   Goldcrest 305 0 22 327
Lesser Black-backed Gull 1 0 0 1   Firecrest 1 0 0 1
Stock Dove 2 12 0 14   Spotted Flycatcher 24 0 0 24
Woodpigeon 34 0 5 39   Long-tailed Tit 224 0 121 345
Collared Dove 7 4 0 11   Marsh Tit 17 10 12 39
Cuckoo 0 3 1 4   Willow Tit 6 0 0 6
Barn Owl 9 35 1 45   Coal Tit 146 21 87 254
Little Owl 3 3 0 6   Blue Tit 950 175 796 1921
Tawny Owl 1 1 0 2   Great Tit 531 49 413 993
Nightjar 2 0 0 2   Nuthatch 7 0 12 19
Kingfisher 9 0 2 11   Treecreeper 39 0 24 63
Wryneck 1 0 0 1   Jay 16 0 0 16
Green Woodpecker 12 0 3 15   Magpie 21 0 0 21
Great Spotted Woodpecker 36 0 61 97   Jackdaw 3 7 1 11
Skylark 5 0 0 5   Rook 1 35 0 36
Sand Martin 71 0 0 71   Carrion Crow 2 0 0 2
Swallow 378 185 5 568   Starling 65 0 0 65
House Martin 533 0 5 538   House Sparrow 108 2 18 128
Tree Pipit 28 0 0 28   Tree Sparrow 162 1485 118 1765
Meadow Pipit 377 0 3 380   Chaffinch 776 7 111 894
Yellow Wagtail 52 0 2 54   Brambling 4 0 0 4
Grey Wagtail 34 0 4 38   Greenfinch 518 0 120 638
Pied/White Wagtail 88 14 3 105   Goldfinch 264 0 147 411
Wren 365 0 100 465   Siskin 1 0 0 1
Dunnock 472 0 252 724   Linnet 106 17 2 125
Robin 502 5 153 660   Lesser Redpoll 49 0 22 71
Nightingale 4 0 13 17   Bullfinch 179 0 96 275
Redstart 47 0 3 50   Yellowhammer 718 0 84 802
Whinchat 59 0 5 64   Reed Bunting 219 0 95 314
Stonechat 5 1 0 6   Corn Bunting 17 0 1 18
Wheatear 2 0 0 2            
Blackbird 315 8 127 450   Total: 18441 2203 3959 24603