Simon Tucker

It was quite good being able to hear both Great and Lesser drumming in the same wood just about at the same time so the difference really stood out.
Hearing the two Green Woodpeckers who have territories either side of the wood made for a full set.

A lovely, regular, winter visitor to our UK shores. I have been lucky enough to have seen several.

According to Trump is there any country that didn't try to interfere in the 2020 & 2024 elections?

I am well aware they had a rapid expansion until the noughties. It would be interesting to know what caused it: adaptation to fragmented woodlands.

On another note, whilst out ringing at one of my sites on Wednesday we had two Lesser Spotted Woodpecker drumming off against each other!

Reacting to Labour's devastating loss to the Green Party in Gorton and Denton, Keir Starmer claims that only Labour can unite communities. I agree. He convinced Muslims to vote for a white working class woman representing a party led by a gay Jewish man.

GSW numbers have plateaued for the last 10 years according to GBW data and, as already mentioned, BT usage has declined

That's one reason I want to see some proper scientific studies on it.
On the one hand feeding birds is spreading disease and reducing populations on the other hand it is increasing populations and causing the demise of other species.
It needs better studying and better, factual, answers.

your garden reduces competition for naturally occurring wild foods, as those that take advantage of your garden aren't hunting the woodlands.
Did you know that the most regularly reported Trichomonosis suffering finch species is Goldfinch? I have never seen it amongst the 100s I get in my garden.

I think nest boxes have a much bigger impact than garden bird feeding. If you look at the Garden Birdwatch data the frequency and number of Blue and Great Tits using garden feeders is in a long slow decline also, although with some peaks and troughs. One scenario not addressed is whether feeding in

This is the issue: in my area Blue & Great Tit numbers are both in a slow decline. The only Titmouse species that is increasing is the Marsh Tit. Lots of people feed around here but, by agreement with Forestry England and the Wildlife Trust, there are no Titmouse nesting boxes in the Braydon Forest

The only think I want to hear about Trump (plus Putin, Netanyahu and Farage) is that he has dropped dead.

pre-infection levels. We had 5 breeding pairs of Greenfinch visiting our feeders last year and lots of juveniles. Chaffinch have never been that common in our garden, as 20 years of GBW records show.

The Trichomonosis study is only starting this year & although the Greenfinch & Chaffinch numbers dropped precipitous 15 years ago and I did see definitely ill birds at that time, there have been none that I have seen in my garden for nigh on 10 years, but the population has built back up to

I am lucky to have had all three, but the badgers seem to have gone missing of late.

The most astonishing thing about this is how many MAGA are defending this and lying about it, just as they have about the other extra-judicial executions.

The BTO have asked members of the Garden Birdwatch Scheme to provide any carcasses for analysis. One of the key things will be Trichomonosis to try and get some accurate data on spread. I am a member of both the BTO and the RSPB and have discussed this with Mike Toms.

I am aware that various studies are in progress but they have not reported yet. Ironically, we have caught more Marsh Tits at our woodland feeding stations in the first two months of this year, despite visits being severely compromised by the weather, than we have ever done before.

I also have a garden full of natural food plants, a decent sized pond, loads of fruiting trees and bushes. So far I have caught & identified 467 species of moth, seen 6 species of dragonfly, 5 species of damselfly etc, badgers, hedgehogs, fox and three species of mice. Being retired, I have time

Marsh Tits in Wiltshire, WWRG & the Braydon Forest It has been quite an astonishing year for two species of titmice within our ringing group. I intend to cover all four species. I started with Blue Tits but will now continue with my obsession, the …

For anyone who is actually interested in an analysis based on real data here's a link: I doubt Alex or Dr Broughton will want to read it.

braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/16/w...

Where is the data? It's like people blaming Magpies for the decline of birds nesting in gardens.

population of Marsh Tits in the Braydon Forest provided 5.5% of the Marsh Tits ringed in England in 2025. The BF comprises 0.005% of the suitable woodland for the species in England. Unlike Alex's assertion, mine is based on data. The key difference is that we removed all titmouse boxes in our sites

area that wasn't declining his co-author claimed my Marsh Tit population was "insignificant" and then blocked me on all social media, claiming I was trolling him, which was as accurate as his territory mapping of Marsh Tit territories in Ravensroost Wood. As an addendum to that, my insignificant

I have asked for links to direct evidence ever since Alex & 2 others made similar claims in British Birds on January 2022. They have never been forthcoming. They blamed it as helping extinction of Marsh & Willow Tits. When I pointed out that Marsh Tit was the only member of the Paridae in my ringing

I clean my feeders between every feed and clean out my water bowl every day. I am sure most people by now realise the need to exercise cleanliness. Do you actually have any direct evidence that Willow Tits are declining as a result of dirty feeders, as opposed to habitat loss and fragmentation?

Long-tailed Tits in the Braydon Forest, WWRG & Wilts: 2013 to 2025 Having covered off the true titmice, family Paridae, I am now going to assess the situation with the Aegithalidae, the Long-tailed Tit, Aegithalos caudatus. They are the only one of the eleven spec…

So, at risk of boring people, I have done an analysis of Long-tailed Tits in the Braydon Forest:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/27/l...

Well-Being at the Firs: Wednesday, 25th February 2026 So pleasing to get out and have a proper session today and to have a good catch and lots of other things going on. The reason for the title: we were joined later on in the morning by the new Swindo…

Finally managed to get out for a good bird ringing session this morning. We were joined by the Swindon Well-being Group, organised and managed by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust.

braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/25/w...

I have all their stuff: one of my all time favourite bands! Lucky to have seen them six or seven times. The Bends is still my favourite but love them all, even the difficult ones!

beautiful

In hindsight I should have got up earlier and made a fawning comment!

All the good puns have been taken. I am staggered by that 😂