West Wilts Group

Tedworth House, 17th December 2014

It is not often that catching 5 birds in a session would qualify for an entry on the blog but this was an exception.

The weather forecast for this morning was for the rain to clear Tedworth House by 6:30 am - unfortunately nobody remembered to tell the weather.  We had a good group around: Fraser Bell (C-permit holder and friend from Purton); Dave Turner, special projects officer for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust; Georgina Baker, Wildlife Trust trainee and ex-service personnel Elaine and Steve.  As the rain continued, we had a pleasant chat, passing the time under the large tented workshop until the rain finally relented at about 8:30.  I was unwilling then to put up a lot of nets, just to take them down again 2.5 hours later.  We put up 4 net rides in different places from which we caught 5 birds from 4 species: 2 Magpies, 1 Robin, 1 retrapped Goldcrest and this little beauty below:

FIREC171214

This is the second Firecrest caught at Tedworth House in each of the last 2 years.  To put that into perspective, the numbers caught and ringed in Wiltshire from 2010 to 2013 inclusive were 1, 1, 0 and 4. To catch them in the same net, in the same spot, two years running is incredibly lucky.

I have to confess, I have a huge fondness for Magpies.  I do not subscribe to them being the root of all problems for song birds in our gardens and the countryside, especially as my resident pair breed successfully every year in or close to my garden: as do Wrens, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Dunnocks and Robins.  Today we caught a pair in the same net, within a foot of each other.  A big thank you to Fraser for, being young and athletic, running the length of the ride to make sure they did not escape.  The benefit for Fraser was that he had never ringed a Magpie - he now has.  So far this year we have caught and ringed 5 Magpies at Tedworth, only 4 were caught and ringed in Wiltshire last year.  ST

MAGPI171214