11/07 Greenham Common

Location: Greenham Common Western Enclosure wk28

Session: 11/07/2024 07:45 to 11:20hrs

Notes: Couldn’t do tomorrow so as IW was available did a Thursday which is a regular busy day for me. Some good birds early including the first Reed Warbler of the year, we usually get one or two each season surprisingly it being a heathland site. The second Stonechat of the week, this time a juvenile female. We were jugging along quite nicely with top end single figures most net rounds that included a few more Blackcap and Chiffchaff but no Garden Warbler and just a single adult Willow Warbler in wing moult. That’s until nets down when I needed to get away sharpish. As we approached the nets all had several birds in them including a flock of Long-tailed Tits. Extraction went quite smoothly, and the nets came down ok. We began processing the birds when a member of the public arrived and began talking to us, not only that but he had two dogs with him that wouldn’t harm the birds apparently. Unfortunately, when I released a Great Tit it dived to the ground and the dogs ran to it, but I manage to keep them off it and get it into a gorse bush out of harm’s way; the chap still assuring us that the dogs meant no harm! I continued processing the birds including the Long-tail Tit all of which, the adult and juveniles were in full wing moult, each requiring a primary moult score and all the time the chap telling us about his garden bird, with the dogs jumping around me (for those who don’t know I am allergic to them and as a result have a phobia of them). Finally, we finished processing them, the chap moved on, we packed the equipment away etc at about 11:20hrs (I needed to be home by 11:30hrs). I drove off the common and got through the gate, shut it, got back in my car to find a dog walker with several dogs right in front of me trying to untangle the dogs leads. (She had about eight dogs and about six had tangled there leads; another few minutes wasted. As I exited the car park at the road junction, eight cyclists followed by about the same number of cars went by, I joined the back of them and proceeded back home at around 12mph. arriving at 11:45hrs. It stops you getting bored I suppose.

Present: JL,IW.

Weather: sunny bright, occasion dark clouds and blustery, light breeze, hot

Nets: 48metres 3 Rides, up from 08:00 to 10:30 hrs.

Lures audio: (Warbler), (Misc Migrants), (RT), (GH) intermittently.

Recaptures: (02)

Blue Tit pulli ringed: 09/05/2024 Box PK23, about a KM away on the south side of the common

Long-tailed Tit ringed: 03/10/2022

Sightings: When I arrived IW had already had a walk around with “Merlin” on and it had picked up calling Oystercatcher and Redshank, unable to locate them he decided that maybe “Merlin” had got it wrong as it does occasionally. It’s possible that both species went over unseen high up. Using it the other day on the common it registered singing White Crowned Warbler?  Later a Hobby flew along the tree-line west, giving good views. Probably the highlight though was when IW spotted a Buzzard sized raptor flying south-ish along the tree-line carrying prey. It was grey above with white under-tail at it junction with the body and a stripy underside that convinced us that it was a female Goshawk, my first for a while. They occur more frequently than you might think and breed throughout the area but are very very secretive in their mostly woodland habitat.