North Wilts Group

23rd April 2017 - Pewsey Downs

 
Last week I saw a fantastic loose flock of Corn Buntings at one of the sites on the downs right next to a rape crop. With the permission of the farmer I scattered some rape and barley into the tramlines and the flock concentrated into a small area. I didn't expect to catch much but if we could catch a Corn Bunting or two it would be a worthwhile session and up on the downs you never know what could turn up.
 
The day dawned exactly as forecast, cold and flat calm, perfect for this site. As usual the Corn Buntings largely avoided our nets but we did manage to catch three which is excellent and these birds all have darvic rings to enable us to resight them as we drive through the area during the summer. We were surprised by the number of Tree Sparrows that we caught and they contribute further to the RAS project. Right at the end we were caught that bonus bird, a Skylark so on his first ever farmland bird ringing session Terry ringed Corn Bunting, Skylark, Tree Sparrow and Linnet! MP, GH, TL
 
WP 20170423 10 55 46 Rich
 
WP 20170423 09 15 20 Rich 2
 
Corn Bunting 3, Skylark 1, Linnet 9, Tree Sparrow 1 (4), Reed Bunting 1