May 11 2025
The first three nestboxes where eggs were laid are now old enough for ringing so we headed out to the woods with Ruedi. The window for ringing is 8-13 days for Blue Tits and 8-15 days for Great Tits. The first nests we went to were Great Tits who were 13 days old. It was a big brood for great tits and so the habitat here must be more or less ideal for them.
As we walked we saw a strand of silk with a small caterpillar dangling on the end. This was a winter moth caterpillar and one of the food sources for the baby tits. They lower themselves to the ground to pupate and then in the winter the females moths emerge and climb up the trunk of the oak up to the developing buds. The females don’t have wings but the males do, and the males will fly to fertilise the eggs which are laid right on the buds so the caterpillars appear just as the leaves are at their most tender and delicious. This gives the earliest food for our blue and great tits.
We ringed 20 chicks from the three nests and then headed out for Badger watching. We watched the badgers playing near the set and then two badgers came gamboling towards us. We had chosen our spot to sit carefully, a good distance from the set, and away from the usual badger paths. There is a big wet area of seepage across the wood so the badgers don’t really like to walk across it and that is where we were. However these two badgers were on a lower path that we hadn’t spotted. Unfortunately the two badgers came close enough to realise we were there and dashed off.
We did see badgers after this so I think that we didn’t disturb them too much which is a relief.
video taken by NERD Club leader Kim Appleton
video taken by a NERD Club member
Upper Woodburn 