Poor weather over the last month has made is difficult to conduct bird ringing surveys. However, a gap in the weather last weekend allowed us to run the first bird ringing survey of the year, with 124 birds caught including Green Woodpecker, Lesser Redpoll, and Yellowhammer.

Temperatures have finally dropped bringing large flocks of farmland birds to supplementary feeding stations. As a result, we were able to catch 150 birds at one study site this morning, including 9 Greenfinches, 11 Yellowhammers, 19 Reed Buntings and a staggering 39 Dunnocks.

Another calm night allowed the team to head out onto the Lambourn Downs to survey the Owl populations that utilise the extensive network of undisturbed grass for hunting. We finished the night with six Barn Owls seen and four birds ringed.

We enjoyed another excellent farmland ringing survey today with 201 birds caught, including 87 Linnets, 40 Yellowhammers and 27 Reed Buntings. Best of all was showing the farmer the first Corn Bunting recorded on his farm, a direct result of countryside stewardship scheme options

Over the last week or so many farmland birds have switched from using grain/seed at feeding stations to eating insect prey in fields and margins. As a result, today's bird ringing survey was quieter but included some returning migrants: Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps.