Hazeley Heath Ringing

Hazeley Heath ~ 15th November 2014 ~ 

I think it is safe to say that the weather has been most unkind over the last few weeks and so despite the fact I got my C permit almost a month ago, the weekend just gone was my first chance to get out and exercise a proper ringing session on my own.

After a lot of discussions with a fellow ringer, it was decided that all the usual nets would be put up because if it got too busy I could always turn off the tapes and furl the nets.

In the dark on Friday evening, MC and I set the nets. Everything went smoothly and all the nets went up fine and were furled for the night.

My alarm went off at 5.30 on Saturday morning and after packing some food and my hat & gloves, my mum and I headed to Hazeley. Once I arrived, I headed to the nets to start opening them.

There is a small Redwing roost in some of the trees next to one of the net rides so once I began to hear them starting to move around, I put on a tape to try and attract them to the nets. This didn't work too badly and I ended up with a grand total of two. Not quite as many as I was hoping for, but certainly better than none! I then spent the next 8 hours ringing or doing net rounds. It was a great session and I caught some lovely species too - Redwing, Marsh Tit, Lesser Redpoll & Treecreeper were the highlights!

Redwing (Turdus iliacus)

When I finally left at 15.00, after my mum and her friend had helped me carry all the kit to the car, the total stood at 104 captures including 46 re-traps. The species totals are as follows (re-traps are in brackets):

Blue Tit - 27 (12)
Bullfinch - 3 (2)
Chaffinch - 2 (1)
Chiffchaff - 1
Coal Tit - 2 (4)
Dunnock - (7)
Goldcrest - 1
Goldfinch - 4 (1)
Great Tit - 6 (10)
Lesser Redpoll - 1
Long-tailed Tit - 3 (3)
Marsh Tit - (1)
Redwing - 2
Robin - (2)
Song Thrush - 3
Treecreeper - 1 (1)
Wren - 2 ( 2)