22/03 Greenham Common

Location: Greenham Common Feeder.

Session: 22/03/2026 07:35 to 11:20hrs

Present: JL, IW, JHW, RAD, CMD.

Weather: sunny periods, bright, calm, cool.

Nets: 6+6M feeder nets + 3no 12M scrub nets up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs.

Lures (Feeder): two sunflower heart feeders and a peanut feeder.

Chaffinch male, we once regularly ringed yearly in tripple figures maxing at 496 in 2011. Numbers ringed/re-trapped for the last 20 years are: 2006 - 209, 2007 - 319, 2008 - 326, 2009 - 330, 2010 - 407, 2011 - 496, 2012 - 148, 2013 - 151, 2014 - 106, 2015 - 99, 2016 - 73, 2017- 52, 2018 - 78, 2019 - 45, 2020 - 5, 2021 - 0, 2022 - 8, 2023 -1, 2024 - 5, 2025 - 2 and so far this year 2026 - 3. Even allowing for recent much reduced ringer activity the drop in numbers since around 2015 is notable and shows the effect that papilloma infection and to a lesser extent for this species trichomonas is having on the Chaffinch population.

Notes: A quieter session – fewer birds coming to the feeder now as breeding and territorial instincts come to the fore. A Nov 2021 ringed as a juvenile Blue Tit (5+ years old) re-trap is notable and is the first recovery of it since ringing. Several species particularly Long-tailed Tit were in breeding condition – CPs or BPs present. Late posting due to BTO website being closed for maintenance over the weekend.

FG = age indeterminate

Recaptures: (09)

Blue Tit ringed: 28/11/2021, 10/11/2024, 26/10/2025, 02/12/2025, 14/03/2026.

Bullfinch ringed: 13/10/2024

Goldfinch ringed: 18/01/2026

Long-tailed Tit ringed: 14/03/2026

Robin ringed: 30/03/2025

Sightings: IW’s list – Relatively quiet – the first singing returning migrant Blackcap I’ve heard this year. The Mistle Thrush is from a pair breeding somewhere in the treeline along the road.