Out of 700 Corn Buntings how many did we catch?
I must admit that when i got home from work last night and found our ringing gear in the front room i felt rather ambivalent about it - after a really busy week at work i’d spent all day telling everyone how i was looking forward to a long lie in. Still, i can’t resist time outdoors and had soon sorted out my warmest of clothes and ringing pliers.
In the news this week had been a report that 700 (or more!) Corn Buntings have been feeding around a farm in Bedfordshire. RSPB conservation researcher Rosemary Setchfield is currently working with farmers in the area to help Corn Buntings and is planning to trial plots of suitable nesting habitat. The Corn Bunting has declined drastically over the last 20 years (see this RSPB article).
As it is thought that some of the birds in this huge flock could possibly breed on her study sites over the next two years she was hoping to catch and ring and colour ring some of them and needed ringers to help out. When birds are ringed using just a metal ring a lot of the recoveries are of birds, which are found dead. The great advantage of using colour-rings is that the birds don’t necessarily need to be recaptured to be reported - the general birder out in the field can file a report of where and when he/she has seen a colour-ringed bird and of course, it would be very useful to Rosemary to be able to identify whether birds ringed during the winter were then breeding in her study area.
It was dark when Ian, Gareth and i arrived and we headed out across the field to set our nets - 600 feet of double panels. Rosemary arrived shortly after and went to sort her nets near the area she’d been baiting. Another 360 feet of net. More helpers (all RSPB staff who are ringers) arrived shortly after and we waited optimistically for the nets to fill up.
Doing what we do best - standing around, watching empty nets and freezing our various bits off!
I must say the sheer number of Corn Buntings in the fields was impressive, the sight being well worth hanging around in the cold for. A Merlin did a flyby but didn’t quite manage to spook any Corn Buntings into the nets. And boy was it cold! Rosemary very kindly supplied us with cake and coffee was passed around.
Does something tell you John is feeling the cold today?
We thought we couldn’t get any colder then it started to snow and we considered packing up. However, it didn’t last long so we carried on. There were quite a few Yellowhammers in the area too and when Rosemary’s husband Ian D turned up he and John went and put a net up further up the field. Before long it was catching Yellowhammers but none of the Corn Buntings that were there.
Katie and John ringing Yellowhammers with Ian D scribing and going through the ageing and sexing
As there were also quite a lot of Yellowhammers on the other side of the field Ian D persuaded Rosemary to relocate 3 of the Corn Bunting nets. They caught fairly well - all Yellowhammers apart from a single Reed Bunting.
Yellowhammer
So, at the end of the session, how many of the 700+ Corn Buntings did we catch? Yes, correct! None. A disappointing result, it would have been great to have been able to help Rosemary with her research. Maybe next time will be more successful.
Ah well, it was way more enjoyable than staying at home doing the hoovering, painting the fence or going shopping!
Thanks for leaving your comment Neil - as always any feedback gratefully received! Rosemary had been baiting up an area with a view to doing a whoosh net catch - there are no overhead cables that they’ve been using but there are some trees which the CORBU were gathering in and had previously been dropping down and feeding. Yesterday however, they were flying around the fields and not coming down in any particular place - they seemed to be finding plenty of food out there. Might be a different story when the fields get ploughed in the next week or so.
Great idea to leave a dummy net in place, i have a friend who also uses that method with good success.
I’ll also pass your comments on to Rosemary.
LOL, yes you do look a bit pixie-like there Katie! I put a link to your blog hope that’s OK!
Reckon you’re right Martin!
As Ian D will tell you CB’s have a sixth sense. Past attempts to catch them on Uist were painful and only very low numbers ended up with jewellery!
Nice to meet you today, Yvonne. Would just like to point out that my head isn’t, er, pointy, like the penultimate photo suggests :o)
I think you’re best bet may be to try woosh netting. In the past I’ve baited an area close to where Corn Bunts have gathered (esp near any favoured perching spots .. bushes, overhead cables etc). I then put black netting and bamboo poles set up as a dummy woosh and leave it for a week, top up the seed the day before a catch and set the real woosh before daylight on the morning of the woosh. The key to the exact wooshing area is for a clear view but with some cover from some distance, slightly uphill perhaps. My last successful woosh was from probably 50 metres away so you’ll need either a long pull cord or remote trigger as in my experience they spook easily. Your CORBU flock is amazing and one wonders how far birds have travelled also how many have been ringed elsewhere, good luck. If someone gets on to it tomorrow you could try catching next Sat.