Mist netting

Exploring Birds on the Farm 2024

/ Laura Tuke / 2 Comments

All my life I have loved nature and all it has to offer us, and over the years my knowledge of this aspect of our world has been ever growing. Within this, since 2019, I have been training as a bird ringer in Dorset, growing my passion for birds and enjoying experiencing and sharing this with others. I have had some really great experiences myself with birds in this way already, which has included exploring and beginning to ring the birds that call my family’s Dorset farm home, and giving me a new perspective of the wildlife on my doorstep.

In 2023, I had finally gained my bird ringing C permit with some restrictions, and could now ring endorsed species independently. With this under my belt, during that year I got to watch my local swallow population grow, take control of monitoring our barn owl population (under a Schedule 1 license), mist net in my garden on my own, and gain new endorsements. This all felt like such an achievement to me already.

Well last year, I was able to build on my previous years of bird ringing, and expand my projects on my family’s Dorset farm, to have the best year yet. I again monitored our farm’s swallow and barn owl populations, began monitoring my own tit populations, continued gaining more and more confidence solo mist netting, and worked towards increasing my permit endorsements. Check out how my year in birds on the farm went during 2024!

Swallows

Following a poor breeding season for my local swallows in 2022, with my own permit under my belt, in 2023 the swallows had a more positive season. From 10 nesting attempts on the farm and on my neighbours’ property, I was able to ring and watch 42 chicks fledge, alongside at least missing one brood of chicks being raised to fledging. It made me excited for what another year would bring for my local swallow population.

So moving forward to 2024, the swallows did not disappoint, with a long breeding season running from May to September. Across this time, 14 nesting attempts were made on the farm and on my neighbours’ property, more attempts overall than during the 2023 season. Of these 14 nesting attempts, 7 attempts were made by the same 3 pairs, with one pair managing 3 broods totalling 10 chicks in all. From all successful attempts, I was able to ring and watch 56 swallow chicks fledge, up by 14 for me on 2023.

Barn Owls

For many years my family’s farm has been a safe haven for breeding barn owls, which has been a real privilege to experience. In 2022, 2 pairs of barn owls bred on the farm, with both fledging 2 chicks each, and in 2023, just one pair was discovered breeding, but this pair successfully fledged 3 chicks.

At the very beginning of 2024, my dad put up an outside barn owl nest box, that I had bought him for christmas 2023, on the tree that barn owls had previously nested in. We did not expect it to be used for breeding during its first year up, but we were in for a big surprise. First, I was able to ring 3 lovely barn owl chicks from the barn nest box (following 3 chicks last year), and share doing so with my 7 and 4 year old nieces. One week later I was able to ring another 3 chicks, this time, fantastically, in our brand new field nest box. I was also able to share these chicks, this time with my Manchester buddy and fellow Zoology graduate, Emma Rogan. What a great year for barn owls on our farm!

Tit Nest Boxes

In 2024, I finally gained my cavity nesting pulli endorsement, which means I could now ring such chicks independently. Making the most of this opportunity, I added to the 4 tit nest boxes already set up on my family’s farm, and put up another 7 across different locations and habitats, to see how well they would do. Through May and June, I kept a close eye on all boxes, and ended with 6 of 11 being used to raise and fledge chicks successfully, all blue tit broods. In total, they gave me the opportunity to ring 44 blue tit chicks, with brood sizes ranging from 3 to 10, alongside one adult female caught at one of the nests.

Chicks Ringed For Training

In 2024, I was now working towards my full open nesting pulli endorsement for my permit. Blackbirds did well to add to my totals, with 4 nests being found easily around our farm and home (2 being attempts by the same pair). From these 4 attempts, I got the opportunity to ring and observe the fledging of 17 chicks, adding to only 4 chicks rung in 2023.

I also had a new chick species for me during 2024, in the form of the robin. Though I only found one nest during this time, I did get to ring 2 healthy chicks that were raised to fledging. Moving forward, in 2025, it would be my aim to try to further continue working towards my full endorsement.

Garden Mist Netting

During 2024, I mist netted solo in my own garden using 2 nets during both August and December, with 2 sessions completed during each month. In August, I caught a total of 28 birds, with 4 being retraps, and including house sparrows, dunnocks, great tits, blue tits, blackbirds, goldfinches, and robins. In December, I caught 74 birds, which was a greater number compared to August, due to them being more reliant on visiting the garden to feed. Thirteen of these birds were retraps, and species overall included house sparrows, dunnocks, great tits, blue tits, starlings, and coal tits. I really enjoyed being able to continue mist netting on my own patch during 2024, but as always I wished I had had more time to do so.

My Highlights and Hopes

During 2024, I had a great year with my ringing experiences at home on my family farm. I experienced our swallow population having their best year yet, with the same being said for our barn owls. Though we did not find tawny owls breeding on the farm during this particular year, I did get to do my first solo ringing of blue tit chicks, and ringed my first robin chicks too. I gained more confidence with mist netting on my own, whilst also gaining more experience with blackbird chicks.

Moving on from 2024, my main aims have been to increase my experience further with ringing open nesting species chicks, in the hopes of gaining my endorsement for my permit. I also hoped for an even better swallow year, to increase the number of tit boxes I would be monitoring during their breeding season, and to add some new nest boxes, such as kestrel to the farm. Overall, I just looked forward to being able to follow the bird breeding season once again.

Breeding Birds on the Farm 2023

/ Laura Tuke / Leave a comment

In memory of Trevor Squire

My love of birds can be first originated with my grandfather, who enjoyed sharing his own passion with me when I was child, even before my own began. In time, my mum passed her own knowledge on to me, but it took me going off to university to finally realise how much fascination bird species hold for me. Once I returned home to Dorset after completing my Master’s, I then got the opportunity to begin my training as a bird ringer in 2019 with a very special local trainer, Trevor Squire.

Last year I posted on my blog all about the birds breeding on my family’s farm in Dorset throughout 2022, whilst working to apply for my C permit (check it out here). That year I encountered 2 broods of kestrel chicks, 3 broods of swallow chicks, 2 broods of barn owl chicks, and 2 great mornings ringing in my own garden to build my confidence with a range of species.

Moving in to 2023, I had now gained my C permit with restrictions, and could begin to ring with more independence whilst exploring the bird life on my family’s Dorset farm. Unfortunately, no kestrel nests were discovered on the farm during 2023, as our local population were hit hard by avian flu. There was still lots of bird fun to be had though, so read on to find out what I got up to.

Swallows

In 2022, the swallow population around my home had a tough year and a very poor breeding season, which may be because less pairs returned to start with. In total, I discovered 6 nests, but only 3 fledged chicks, 12 in total. So in 2023, with my new C permit now giving me the endorsement to ring swallow chicks on my own, I hoped for more luck for my swallows.

I began nest checks again on the 25th May and over the course of the breeding season I discovered 6 different nests in use, with 4 being used again for 2nd broods. I am very happy to say that I had the pleasure of ringing 42 swallow chicks from 11th June to 16th September. Knowing that some chicks even fledged before I had the chance to ring them, 2023 was a very good year for my swallow population in comparison to 2022.

Barn Owls

Those who follow my blog will already know that barn owls are a species that are very special to my family, with these birds being intertwined with farmland in Dorset. Barn owls are a great indicator of the state of nature on farmland, and have been followed closely on our land since 2019, helping to influence management. Check out my Barn Owl page for more stories.

In 2022, the barn owls had a good year on the farm, with 2 pairs nesting at opposite ends of our land, one in an annually used nest box and another in the same tree as a pair of kestrels. Both pairs went on to have 2 chicks fledge successfully, which was a big positive for the barn owl population in our area.

For 2023, I now had my C permit that had the inclusion of an endorsement for me to ring barn owl chicks on my own. We had high hopes for our barn nest box once again, having seen 2 owls hunting around the farm over the winter, and courting around the box in early spring. On checking the box on the 2nd June, we were happy to discover 3-4 young chicks. I used these chicks as an opportunity to gain confidence, and ringed 3 good sized chicks alongside my ringing trainer on the 7th July. We had hoped to discover a second pair breeding on our farm again in 2023, but we are very happy that at least 2 of the barn box chicks were seen to go on to fledge successfully. This is a definite improvement on only 1 chick in 2021!

Chicks Ringed of New Species

As on my newly acquired C permit I only have endorsements to ring swallow, kestrel, and barn owl chicks, in 2023 I aimed to ring chicks from other species alongside my ringing trainer to expand on my C permit in time.

On the farm in 2023, I got to ring my first brood of blackbird chicks (4), blue tit chicks (7), and starling chicks (1). The highlight though was one of our tawny owl boxes finally producing a healthy brood of 2 tawny owl chicks. A great start to increasing my experience, whilst I also got the opportunity to ring at other sites, such as checking tawny owl boxes with another ringing group.

Garden Mist Netting

In 2022, ahead of applying for my C permit, I got to spend 2 mornings mist netting and ringing in my own garden with another ringing trainer. This was an exciting first for me, made even greater by catching 192 new birds of 9 species, the highlight being some lovely starlings.

For 2023, I got to experience a new first, mist netting and ringing in my garden all on my own. Through June and July, I spent 6 mornings ringing in my garden, and managed the situation each time, so as to only catch as many birds as I could deal with on my own at one time. Over these mornings I caught 90 new birds of 11 species (1 robin, 7 chaffinches, 11 blue tits, 44 house sparrows, 1 blackbird, 13 great-spotted woodpeckers, 2 goldfinches, 3 dunnocks, 6 great tits, 1 starling, and 1 greenfinch), and learnt alot from acquiring this experience already. My highlight was definitely the greenfinch, as it was a beautiful adult male and my very first greenfinch ever ringed!

Here’s to 2024 being as interesting!

All birds were ringed under license and following rules to ensure the health and welfare of the birds handled at all times.