December ringing

The month started with a "new venture" for Andy - operating a walk-in ground baited trap for Starling in his garden. Positioned away from the mist net locations, and only occasionally provisioned with meal-worm, so that catches did not risk compromising the WRP project catches. The first Starling was caught on Tuesday 2nd, but by mid month only 5 had been ringed.

With weather forecasts for the first half of the month looking problematic for netting, it only took two sessions for us to reach our second highest ever year total. Andy decided to do the WRP3 visit on Wednesday 3rd for a catch of 45 + (14), made up of Great-spotted Woodpecker (1), Dunnock 2, Blackbird (1), Blue Tit 33 + (11), Great Tit 3, Coal Tit 1 + (1), House Sparrow 3, Goldfinch 2, and Chaffinch 1. Over the three x 3hr WRP sessions since early November his total Blue Tit catch is 101. The majority were young birds suggesting a good breeding season, which was not evident in the group's nest boxes.

On Thursday 4th, Jerry was at the Llangynidr feeders (single 30' net for 3 hrs, plus a half hour closed mid session to catch up with processing the birds). The total of 55 ringed, with no recaptures, was made up of Blue Tit 49, Great Tit 1, Coal Tit 2, House Sparrow 1, Starling 1, and Siskin 1.

A "working" visit on Wednesday 10th (by Jerry to continue the fence line maintenance) saw much of our netting area under water. Although mostly only a couple of inches deep at the moment (the feeder net lanes had 6"). The flood water will soon drop when the rain reduces, and we will likely be able to resume netting. Several Water Rail had been pushed out of the reed bed and ditches, so were now calling from our netting area.

Tuesday 16th was a (rare) fine day so Andy and Jerry took the opportunity to complete WRP 4. The catch of 29 + (13) was less than in the previous visits (maybe due to Andy being away and not unable to refill the feeders so often. The species mix was similar however with "Tits" dominating - Great-spotted Woodpecker (1), Dunnock (1), Robin 1 + (1), Coal Tit 2 + (1), Blue Tit 18 + (7), Great Tit 3 + (1), Nuthatch 1, House Sparrow 3, and Goldfinch 1 + (1).

After more unsettled weather in the run up to Christmas, there was another settled spell (though cold) from then until new year. On Monday 29th Jerry also set a net under the church yew tree where Greenfinch were feeding on fallen stones (for the older members, our first ringing base). In two hours he had caught just four birds, unfortunately none of the target species. Later in the morning, he joined Peter at the hut feeders for a respectable catch of 25 + (27). The mix for the day comprised Blackbird 1, Song Thrush 1, Robin 1 + (1), Dunnock 1, Blue Tit 11 + (23), Great Tit (2), Nuthatch 2, Chaffinch 3 + (1), Goldfinch 1, Bullfinch 1, and Greenfinch 7 The following day, Jerry was at the Llangynidr feeders, but they were very quiet with only five birds caught - Blackbird, Siskin, and Goldfinch (3).

On the last day of the month, Andy was joined by Peter/Alan J for a productive WRP 5, and a catch of 48 + (22), mainly Blue Tit but with good variation with 9 species including a decent catch of 8 Goldfinch. Late in the afternoon Peter and Alan J tried for Snipe (as the flood level had dropped sufficiently). Their catch was less productive than the morning, but well worth their effort, with a single Snipe and a group of 13 Starling. The total for the day was 62 + (22), comprising Snipe 1, Great Spotted Woodpecker (3), Robin 2, Dunnock 1 + (1), Blue Tit 25 + (15), Great Tit 3, Long Tailed Tit 3 + (1), Nuthatch 1 + (1), House Sparrow 4, Starling 13, Chaffinch 1, Goldfinch 8 + (1).

Peter and Alan's extensive efforts this year produced further rewards 

During the second half of the month, Andy also caught a further 6 + (2) birds - 5 + (2) Starling and a Blackbird in the ground feeder.

During December we ringed 236 birds (our second highest for December), bringing our year total to 3321. Despite the effort during the last two months, only a few short of our highest ever annual total of 3355 (in 2004).