01/03 Greenham Common

Location: Greenham Common Feeder.

Session: 01/03/2026 07:45 to 11:30hrs

Present: JHW, JL, IW, RAD, IQ, JA, DB, ZH, ABa, JB.

Weather: Occasional rain spotting, overcast, breezy, cool.

Nets: 6+6M feeder nets + a 12M scrub nets up from 08:00 to 11:00hrs.

Lures (Feeder): two sunflower heart feeders and a peanut feeder also intermittent Siskin/Redpoll call lures in the scrub.

Notes: Last night the weather forecast was 100% rain at 07:00hrs. At 07:00hrs this morning it wasn’t raining and apart from occasional spotting it didn’t rain until just after we left site at about 11:30hrs. We welcomed the new seasonal wardens showing how we age and what we record etc when we ring each bird. It was one of the best sessions of the winter including 14 Siskin; they have only discovered this feeder in the last day or so. It is the first time in this second half of the winter that we have risked the rain holding off and put up a scrub net. It provided some of the species variety including Blackbird, Song Thrush, Long-tailed Tit and some of the Siskins. We had fewer re-traps than of late, probably an indication that the birds are beginning to think about breeding and not coming to the feeders as often.

FG = age indeterminate

Recaptures: (13)

Blue Tit ringed: 29/10/2023, 14/01/2024, 26/10/2025x3, 09/11/2025x2, 01/02/2026.

Great Tit ringed: 02/03/2025, 09/11/2025, 26/10/2025, 18/01/2026x2.

Sightings: IW’s list – we were busy so probably missed a few. Only the second singing Mistle Thrush I’ve heard this year. The Woodlark was displaying quite hight up over us before flying back over towards the "lozenges" on the common.