This week was session 2 of year 4 of the Ravensroost coppice project. The sessions were on Saturday and Tuesday. Ellie Jones joined me for the Saturday session. Although today was a bit windy, one of the benefits of ringing in Ravensroost is that it can be blowing at 19mph, gusting to 30+mph, as it was today; the tops of the trees can be whipping around like crazy and the nets have barely a billow. The results for the two sessions were, as follows:
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1; Treecreeper 1; Blue Tit 1(1); Great Tit 1(1); Marsh Tit (1); Long-tailed Tit 3(2); Wren 2; Dunnock (3); Robin 2(5); Song Thrush 2(4); Blackbird 1(5); Blackcap 11(4); Garden Warbler 2; Chiffchaff 4(2); Goldcrest (1). Overall totals: 31 birds ringed from 12 species; 29 retrapped from 11 species, making 60 birds processed from 15 species.
The birding highlights were: the Long-tailed Tits processed today and the Treecreeper. The Long-Tailed Tits were a family group comprising an adult bird with three of the smallest youngsters I have ever seen. I am pretty certain that these youngsters fledged this morning. As I processed the youngsters, I put them together in a large bag so that the whole family group could be released together. I released them back near the nets that they were caught in, so they could join up with other family members in the area.
The Treecreeper was my first juvenile of the species for 2016. It seems very early but they can lay as early as the 5th April and, with 30 to 35 days incubation to fledging, well within the boundaries.
The Marsh Tit was quite unusual: it was a male who had clearly finished breeding (no cloacal protuberance) and had started its post-breeding moult already. Unfortunately, I have to conclude that it is a failed breeder. You would normally expect moult to take place in August / September.
As it did on Saturday, a male Cuckoo called continuously from all parts of the wood, including right over my head up at the Shooters’ Hut. However, my highlight of Tuesday's session wasn’t a bird at all: I was chatting with a couple of dog-walkers (the kind that can read, so had their dogs on leads) when a Weasel ran across the path about 20’ away from me. I haven't seen one for quite a while, so it was great to see. ST / EJ