19/01 Snelsmore Common

Location: Snelsmore Feeder CES2024/25.06

Session: 19/01/2025 07:45 to 11:20hrs.

Notes: Thanks to NC for providing backup and nice to see DL for a while, hope you feel better soon. Conditions were poor and uncomfortable (1degC). with fewer birds than expected. Blue Tit numbers were lower than usual; most turned up late in the session and were heading towards being outnumbered by Coal Tit until after 10:00hrs.

Present: JL,IW,NC,DL

Weather: overcast, damping mist, calm, cold.

Nets: 2x6M nets, one each side of feeder up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs

Lures (Feeder): Fat Balls, Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts.

Recaptures: (33) (nest box ref CP/WH = Snelsmore Common/Winterbourne Holt)

Blue  Tit  ringed: 20/11/2022, 05/11/2023, 10/12/2023, 03/11/2024x5, 06/11/2024 (BagFdr), 17/11/2024, 15/12/2024x2

Pulli ringed: 18/05/2022 box CP01, 24/05/2023 box CP30, 20/05/2024 box WH24

Coal  Tit   ringed: 05/02/2023, 17/12/2023x2, 03/11/2024, 17/11/2024, 29/12/2024x2

Great Tit ringed: 15/01/2023,15/12/2023, 05/11/2023, 03/11/2024x3, 17/11/2024x2, 29/12/2024.

                 Pulli ringed: 24/05/2023 box CP28, 14/05/2024 box CP33.

Sighting: IW’s list, we were quite busy so probably missed a few.

0701 Bagnor feeder

Location: Bagnor Feeder CES2024/25.05

Session: 07/01/2025 07:45 to 11:20hrs.

Notes: Compared to last winter’s visit 05 there are very low numbers of 1st winter Blue Tits. We discussed while ringing today and decided that there must have been a very poor post fledging survival in 2024. Possibly the newer fledge birds were not able to cope with the very unsettled and wet post May weather. 2nd winter plus birds are in good numbers, also all the pulli recaptures are 2023 fledging birds, except 0ne. The Great Spotted Woodpecker was unusually quiet, didn’t protest once during extraction or processing.

Otherwise, a typical recent times session.

Present: JL,IW.

Weather: overcast early clearing to bright sun, calm, cold.

Nets: 2x6M nets, one each side of feeder up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs

Lures (Feeder): Peanuts, Sunflower Hearts, Fat Balls, Bread.

FG =age indeterminate

Recaptures: (24) (nest box ref A,B,C,D,F=Mount Hill Bagnor, ref CP,WH = Snelsmore Common)

Blue  Tit  ringed:. 09/11/2022, 26/01/2024x2, 20/02/2024, 06/11/2024x3, 26/11/2024x2, 03/12/2024x2.

                 pulli ringed: 20/05/2023 box WH13, 24/05/2023 box CP26, 26/05/2023 box A01,

10/05/2024 box A01,

Great Tit ringed: 06/11/2024.

                pulli ringed: 30/05/2023 box F05A.

Long-tailed Tit ringed: 07/11/2023x2

We started this feeder winter 1985/86 (40years ago) and have operated it every winter since.I

thought it would be interesting to look back and see what we were catching that 1st winter

using the nearest visit date and 20 years then 10 years later. – unfortunately, there is no 1996

feeder visit available. Until winter 2006/07 just one large peanut feeder was provided topped

up twice a week sometimes in the dark early morning before work.

The earlist visit (that included a Willow Tit!) and to lesser extent the second visit show better

species diversity, the later visit is little different to todays except fewer birds

Sighting: A fleeting sighting of a Barn Owl that disappeared behind a hedge as we entered the

field.This last few days Ravens have become active after being silent for week or two. Mute Swan

and Little Egret at the village green as we left. As usual fairly quiet.

29/12 Snelsmore Common

Location: Snelsmore Common Feeder CES2024/25.05

Session: 29/12/2024 07:45 to 11:10hrs

Notes: The session started off with a Wood Pigeon that stayed in the net, so we had to ring it. We usually avoid ringing these as we have few rings left of the size required. These rings are made of strong corrosion resistant Incoloy are expensive and we rarely ring birds requiring this size – mostly marine and estuarine habitat birds. An 8 year old Blue Tit (ringed 24/12/2017) is probably one of the oldest we have re-trapped for a few years maybe ever since the group started in 1967. The matching visit, although about a week later than this visit 05, is a further indication that this winter (2024/25) birds numbers, particularly the tit family, are much reduced, probably affected by the storms mid-Dec.

Present: JL,IW,JHW,LC.

Weather: overcast, misty, calm, cold

Nets: 2x6M nets, one each side of feeder up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs

Lures (Feeder): Fat Balls, Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts.

Recaptures: (28) (nest box ref CP,WH = Snelsmore Common)

Blue  Tit  ringed:. 24/12/2017, 24/10/2021,  20/11/2022, 19/11/2023, 10/12/2023x2,

                            15/12/2023 (BAG-FDR), 07/01/2024x2, 03/11/2024x4, 17/11/2024, 15/12/2024x2.

                pulli ringed: 16/05/2022 box CP26,

Coal  Tit   ringed: 15/01/2023, 03/11/2024,17/11/2024

Great Tit   ringed: 17/11/2024, 15/12/2024

                 pulli ringed: 14/05/2024x2 boxes CP23 & CP32.

Marsh Tit ringed: 15/12/2024

Robin      ringed: 19/11/2023

Sighting: Ian’s list, not much activity other than at the feeder. Raven usually are active this time of

year as they prepare to breed but this year none recorded here since November 2024 as far as I

am aware and I visit two or three times a week to top the feeders up.

17/12 Bagnor Feeder

Location: Bagnor Feeder CES2024/25.04

Session: 17/12/2024 07:45 to 11:10hrs

The Bagnor Feeder

Notes: If you think about it to survive the recent storms, living outside, with only natural shelter and foraging your only source of food, it would be difficult for humans to survive a day or so in such conditions without suffering from hypothermia etc. Now imagine that you only weight 11.0 grams, the wind is raging at 40+mph, the tree branches that usually provide shelter are thrashing about in a torrent of rain and you must fly to find food. Being so small your metabolism is fast, and you must eat to maintain body temperature. In such conditions how do you survive? We know from recoveries that birds travel from Snelsmore Common, Boxford Common, and elsewhere, a kilometres or two away, to the Bagnor feeder every day. Many Blue Tits and similar size birds probably didn’t survive such conditions which might explain why few birds visited the feeder today and that food uptake at the three feeders has slowed since the storms. Today’s 19 birds is one of the lowest December totals at this feeder which we have operated continuously winter 1985/86 (40 years) Unfortunately, the similar weather of December 2023/24 stopped us doing a matching visit for comparison, similarly we missed 2022/23 winter's late December Visit. The last matching visit was winter 2021/22 and is shown below for context. It will be interesting to see if numbers recover, they usually do. 

Present: JL,IW.

Weather: overcast, with a sunny period, cool, calm to light breeze

Nets: 2x6M nets, one each side of feeder up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs

Lures (Feeder): Peanuts, Sunflower Hearts, Fat Balls.

Recaptures: (11) 

Blue  Tit  ringed: 21/112023, 06/11/2024x3, 26/11/2024x2, 03/12/2024.
Long-tailed  Tit ringed: 23/11/2021x2, 07/11/2023, 26/11/2024.

Sighting: The light was very poor apart from one period when the sun came out. As we drove through the  gate into the field a Barn Owl flew up from the ground and we followed it along the track in the car until it pounced on something unsuccessfully then flipped across in front of us and disappeared in the trees by the stream. There was some movement during the morning that included a flock of about 30 Meadow Pipits over west, several small groups of  Lesser Black-backed Gulls headed south as did a couple of Cormorants, 20+ Canada Goose flew north and five Mallard flew east. An immature male Kestrel hunted the field for a while, the first I have seen here for some time. 

15/12 Snelsmore Feeder

Location: Snelsmore  Feeder CES2024/25.04

Session: 15/12/2024 07:45 to 11:30hrs

The Snelsmore Feeder

Notes: Due to the poor weather Sundays 1st and 8th Dec, we unfortunately missed visit 3 of this year’s winter CES, so it was good to be able to do visit 4 today. The first net round produced 12 birds, then birds visiting slowed for a while but pick up later in the session to around the same total for last winter’s matching 2023/24.04 visit. We manage to jink the woodpecker into the net, they usually drop in vertically and exit vertically avoiding the nets. We also had a visit from a Sparrowhawk that exited the net as we approached leaving a nice big hole in the mesh, possibly the big female that was circling above the trees earlier in the session. The very tame approachable Robin that has been present in the carpark this winter was phone videoed from about 500mm away. We tried to see if it would take sunflower hearts from the hand, a few spilled on to the ground and it dropped down and fed at our feet.

Present: JL,IW.IQ,JHW,RAD,DL.

Weather: overcast, calm, cool.

Nets: 2x6M nets, one each side of feeder up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs

Lures (Feeder): Fat Balls, Sunflower Hearts, Peanuts.

Recaptures: (30) (nest box ref CP, WH = Snelsmore Common)

Blue  Tit  ringed: 10/12/2023x2, 17/12/2023, 07/01/2024, 03/11/2024x8,

                 pulli ringed: 14/05/2024x2 boxes CP17 & CP14 .

Coal Ti     ringed: 05/02/2024, 11/02/2024, 03/11/2024x4, 17/11/2024.

Great Tit ringed: 03/11/2024, 17/11/2024.

                 pulli ringed: 24/05/2023 box WH22, 14/05/2024x2 boxes CP14 & CP33.

Sighting: Ian’s list. We may have missed a species or two. A soaring female Sparrowhawk just above the treetops caused disquiet for the local birds, lots of alarm calls.