Tonight we reached what is always a major landmark for the project. Here I am caught in the act of ringing the 1000th Tree Sparrow nestling of the year. Still plenty to go yet!

Redstarts are starting to appear on the Salisbury Plain. We have ringed four this week. They really are a highlight for us. This juvenile male was particularly beautiful.

We ringed 179 birds on the Salisbury Plain yesterday as migration kicked in. Star of the show was a Nightingale, sadly a Wiltshire mega these days. The supporting cast was great: 2 Redstart, 2 Whinchat, 2 Tree Pipit, 10 Grasshopper Warblers, 38 Sedge Warblers and 34 Reed Warblers

A huge push of birds migrated through grassland on the Salisbury Plain this morning. We ringed 185 birds including 19 Whinchats, 85 Sedge Warblers, 31 Reed Warblers and 7 Grasshopper Warblers. However, the first juvenile Corn Bunting of the year stole my heart❤️.

The last 'big' night of the season saw us ring 38 Tree Sparrow nestlings from 11 pairs. We only have 14 pairs to go, now. As much as we love Tree Sparrows, at this stage of the season we are tired and can't wait for it to finish.

The tenacity of Tree Sparrows never fails to amaze me. The pair in Box 290 have laid their 4th clutch of the year after 3 successful broods. In reality they are too late in the season, and they will likely fail,but full marks for trying. This is why I keep trying to save them.

A little pre-work session at a lovely little location saw us ring a brilliant 14 Grasshopper Warblers and 10 Whinchats. It's not quite a record for Grasshopper Warbler for us, but it's pretty close. It is amazing how many birds pass through unnoticed.

The Salisbury Plain was on good form yesterday. Tree Pipits were pouring through and we ringed a record 14! We also ringed 5 Lesser Whitethroats and all the chats = Wheatear, 2 Redstarts, Whinchat, 2 Stonechats, 7 Grasshopper Warblers and a really big female Sparrowhawk.

Migration was quiet for most birds again yesterday, apart from Grasshopper Warblers. We ringed 16 of them, they seem to have had a very good year. First bird of the morning was this lovely male Barn Owl that was right over the Nightjar player so he must have been hunting.

We had a unique experience today, ringing a brood of Swallows - inside a neolithic long barrow. The brood in the first pic were too big to ring but the second brood were spot on. Well done to my Trainee who has been monitoring them👏.

We have moved house from suburban Swindon to a hamlet on the edge of the countryside. Our shortest dog walk is great, seeing Corn Buntings every night. There were at least 50 this evening and the video shows a few. The other new bird for my new local patch was a Hobby.

At last the Tree Sparrow nesting season is over. A phenomenal 1352 young fledged from 143 pairs across North Wiltshire. This is 9.45 young per pair which is the second highest fledging rate ever. Thank you to my team, especially the 3 new Trainees who are inspiring me so much!!!

Continued westerlies have dulled migration but we were delighted to ring a Nightjar on the Salisburt Plain, along with a Kestrel, Redstart, Tree Pipit and 10 Grasshopper Warblers. Blackcap migration is underway with 56 ringed.

Short pre-work session saw two of us ring over 70 birds including 19 Whinchats and 10 Grasshopper Warblers. We also retrapped two Whinchats including one that was ringed as an adult male this time last year.

I saw two flocks of Yellow Wagtails totalling 300+ on the Downs this evening. I ringed 16 at the smaller flock where 100 are present. The farmer came to join me, he loves the Wagtails and is a great supporter of our work monitoring them.

VOLUNTEERS URGENTLY NEEDED 1st SEPTEMBER If anyone in Liverpool has even a tiny bit of time tomorrow, I would massively appreciate in helping to manage this big ol’ meadow in Netherley! Please do DM if you’d like to help 🌱❤️

Migration through the Salisbury Plain was much quieter today than yesterday. We ringed 190 birds of 19 species which sounds great, but is about 40% fewer than we would expect. 3 Redstarts were great including these adult and juvenile males.

Our results show that many species have had a bad breeding season. Grasshopper Warblers however, seem to have had a very good breeding season. This one was the 100th ringed this year and we have now ringed 108 which is a lot more than our previous record of 81.

Over the last two evenings we have ringed over 100 Swallows at roost. We also had the amazing surprise of a Hoopoe, an uncommon visitor from Europe. The Swallow ringed elsewhere, 3 Sand Martins and a Yellow Wagtail were somewhat overshadowed!

It's fair to say that this has been rather a spectacular week! I was ringing in some long grass this morning and this Wryneck turned up! The backing cast was great with 8 Grasshopper Warblers, 5 Whinchat, 2 Stonechat and 53 Sedge Warblers.