Simon Tucker
@simonrtucker.bsky.social
7 years in farming. Went to Uni, 2:1 in Zoology, 31 years working as an IT consultant then 10 years as my own boss doing IT and eco-consultancy. Keen birder & conservationist, bird ringer & ringing trainer & blogger. Politically left wing.
As it says in my opening sentence: It's raining, it's pouring, no ringing, it's boring, hence this lot:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/08/t...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/08/t...
Titmouse Recruitment in the Braydon Forest
It’s raining, it’s pouring, no ringing, it’s boring! So I thought, having looked at the population levels of the Titmice being ringed in the Braydon Forest, whether these changes …
braydonforestringing.uk
February 8, 2026 at 11:57 AM
As it says in my opening sentence: It's raining, it's pouring, no ringing, it's boring, hence this lot:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/08/t...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/08/t...
North Yorkshire: Satan's own county, where birds of prey go to die!
Shot Buzzard found nr Wigginton, York. Currently in the expert care of @jeanwildlife.bsky.social
North Yorkshire living up to its reputation as the worst county in England for illegal raptor persecution.
#RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/02/08/s...
North Yorkshire living up to its reputation as the worst county in England for illegal raptor persecution.
#RaptorResearch #WildlifeCrime
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/02/08/s...
Shot Buzzard found nr Wigginton, York
Raptor rehabilitation expert Jean Thorpe posted on social media yesterday about an injured Buzzard that was found grounded near Wigginton, York. The Buzzard was taken to Battle Flatts Veterinary Cl…
raptorpersecutionuk.org
February 8, 2026 at 11:15 AM
North Yorkshire: Satan's own county, where birds of prey go to die!
Another day, another session, another plethora of Blue Tits: they must have had an exceptional breeding season last year. The split we are catching at the moment is 20:80 Adult: 2nd Calendar Year birds. It is normally 40:60!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/04/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/04/w...
Webb’s Wood: Wednesday, 4th February 2026
With the rest of this week, and the start of next week, forecast to be wet and miserable it was lucky that today was forecast to be fine, after heavy rain all day yesterday. Sure enough, at 7:15 wh…
braydonforestringing.uk
February 4, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Another day, another session, another plethora of Blue Tits: they must have had an exceptional breeding season last year. The split we are catching at the moment is 20:80 Adult: 2nd Calendar Year birds. It is normally 40:60!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/04/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/04/w...
Managed to get out this morning and got a good haul and gave a much appreciated demonstration to the Chippenham Men's Mental Health Group. So many Blue Tits again, hence the title of the piece!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/02/r...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/02/r...
Ravensroost Blues: Monday, 2nd February 2026
I cancelled Saturday’s session in Ravensroost due to a weather forecast that said wet and windy all morning. Waking at 6:15 to find it was raining, I thought “back to bed”. When I…
braydonforestringing.uk
February 2, 2026 at 7:12 PM
Managed to get out this morning and got a good haul and gave a much appreciated demonstration to the Chippenham Men's Mental Health Group. So many Blue Tits again, hence the title of the piece!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/02/r...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/02/r...
Filthy weather, so not a bad haul for January:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/01/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/01/w...
West Wilts RG Results: January 2026
A quite remarkable month given how awful the weather has been. To put it into perspective, my team only managed four sessions, but we processed 304 birds from 16 species. 50% Blue Tit but goo…
braydonforestringing.uk
February 1, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Filthy weather, so not a bad haul for January:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/01/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/02/01/w...
Unbelievable!
c.org/v59n5FMmdX
c.org/v59n5FMmdX
Can you spare a minute to help this campaign?
Reinstate Hero Bus Driver Mark Hehir
c.org
January 31, 2026 at 12:22 PM
Unbelievable!
c.org/v59n5FMmdX
c.org/v59n5FMmdX
The shooting industry: organised crime, protected / owned by the rich & powerful, hiding behind dishonest propaganda from the Countryside Alliance, BASC and their scientific smokescreen, GWCT (not everything they do but they never produce anything that would negatively impact on their paymasters!)
Hen Harriers and other birds of prey are still being killed illegally.
Enough is enough.
Join us and call on the UK Government to license gamebird shooting and help protect these incredible birds before it’s too late. 👇
action.rspb.org.uk/page/185536/...
Enough is enough.
Join us and call on the UK Government to license gamebird shooting and help protect these incredible birds before it’s too late. 👇
action.rspb.org.uk/page/185536/...
January 30, 2026 at 3:03 PM
The shooting industry: organised crime, protected / owned by the rich & powerful, hiding behind dishonest propaganda from the Countryside Alliance, BASC and their scientific smokescreen, GWCT (not everything they do but they never produce anything that would negatively impact on their paymasters!)
Probably our final session of January: just the four this month!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/28/t...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/28/t...
The Firs: Wednesday, 28th January 2025
January has been a very difficult month. I had planned for ten sessions this month. Thanks to the weather and the forecast for this coming Saturday, it looks as if we will only have managed four of…
braydonforestringing.uk
January 28, 2026 at 6:41 PM
Probably our final session of January: just the four this month!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/28/t...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/28/t...
Chapter 4 of my Paridae analysis in the WWRG / Braydon Forest as a proportion of Wiltshire and England. The only one that causes me concern.
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/27/c...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/27/c...
Coal Tits in Wiltshire, WRG & the Braydon Forest
So, a final analysis in my four part Paridae examination within the Group, the subset of the Braydon Forest, and how they compare with the numbers for Wiltshire and England as a whole. This time it…
braydonforestringing.uk
January 27, 2026 at 5:59 PM
Chapter 4 of my Paridae analysis in the WWRG / Braydon Forest as a proportion of Wiltshire and England. The only one that causes me concern.
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/27/c...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/27/c...
Having had my ringing activities severely curtailed by the weather, just three sessions so far this month, I have decided that I need to do something to alleviate the boredom: so that's why I am boring people with these posts:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/24/g...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/24/g...
Great Tits in Wiltshire, WWRG & the Braydon Forest
Following on from the analysis of Blue and Marsh Tit numbers, I have had a look at the same data for the Great Tit: another species that, along with Blue Tits, are supposed to be being advantaged b…
braydonforestringing.uk
January 24, 2026 at 4:31 PM
Having had my ringing activities severely curtailed by the weather, just three sessions so far this month, I have decided that I need to do something to alleviate the boredom: so that's why I am boring people with these posts:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/24/g...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/24/g...
⏰ Thames Water’s future is hanging in the balance. Billions in debt could be written off for private owners and it could remain in private hands unless we act fast.
53,000+ of us are calling for nationalisation. Add your name: 38d.gs/tw_bs
53,000+ of us are calling for nationalisation. Add your name: 38d.gs/tw_bs
Thames Water wants to block campaigners from speaking out against them?! Enough is enough. The Government must renationalise this failing water company. Agree? Sign the petition today:
Join the push to renationalise Thames Water!
38d.gs
January 23, 2026 at 12:26 PM
⏰ Thames Water’s future is hanging in the balance. Billions in debt could be written off for private owners and it could remain in private hands unless we act fast.
53,000+ of us are calling for nationalisation. Add your name: 38d.gs/tw_bs
53,000+ of us are calling for nationalisation. Add your name: 38d.gs/tw_bs
Ban all shooting: it is a criminal enterprise and ecologically destructive.
RSPB reports six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers 'disappeared' on or close to grouse moors in England in 2025 & another was illegally poisoned raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/20/r...
RSPB reports six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers 'disappeared' on or close to grouse moors in England in 2025 & another was illegally poisoned raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/20/r...
RSPB reports six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers ‘disappeared’ on or close to grouse moors in England in 2025 & another was illegally poisoned
The RSPB has today issued a press release documenting the suspicious disappearance of six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers in 2025, as well as one that had been illegally poisoned. All seven in…
raptorpersecutionuk.org
January 20, 2026 at 4:16 PM
Ban all shooting: it is a criminal enterprise and ecologically destructive.
RSPB reports six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers 'disappeared' on or close to grouse moors in England in 2025 & another was illegally poisoned raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/20/r...
RSPB reports six of its satellite-tagged Hen Harriers 'disappeared' on or close to grouse moors in England in 2025 & another was illegally poisoned raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/20/r...
After 10 days of weather frustration, we managed to get out this morning. It was a shortened session, as the wind got up at 10:45 and the nets started billowing and saying "Hello" to the nearby foliage!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/20/r...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/20/r...
Red Lodge: Tuesday, 20th January 2026
We seem to have moved from the Ice Age into the monsoon season in very short order. After our excellent sessions at the Somerford Common sites of the 3rd and 10th of January, the next two sessions …
braydonforestringing.uk
January 20, 2026 at 3:53 PM
After 10 days of weather frustration, we managed to get out this morning. It was a shortened session, as the wind got up at 10:45 and the nets started billowing and saying "Hello" to the nearby foliage!
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/20/r...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/20/r...
The second instalment of my Paridae review for 2025: Marsh Tits. It is a good story for a depleted species. A little taster: my "insignificant" Braydon Forest population produced 5.5% of the ringed English population:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/16/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/16/w...
West Wilts RG: Marsh Tits, 2013 to 2025
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 …
braydonforestringing.uk
January 16, 2026 at 7:59 PM
The second instalment of my Paridae review for 2025: Marsh Tits. It is a good story for a depleted species. A little taster: my "insignificant" Braydon Forest population produced 5.5% of the ringed English population:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/16/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/16/w...
Why am I not surprised?
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/th...
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/th...
The time for change is now: end fox hunting
Hunting was supposed to be banned over 20 years ago, but the hunts have carried on chasing and killing wild animals with dogs like the law never changed. This government was elected on a promise to fi...
you.38degrees.org.uk
January 16, 2026 at 2:08 PM
Why am I not surprised?
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/th...
This cause is close to my heart - please sign: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/th...
As ever, the punishment doesn't fit the crime. He should be in jail & banned from working in any related field in future. Equally, his employer should be banned from running a shoot in the future. The employer is responsible for his criminal actions.
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/12/g...
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/12/g...
Gamekeeper Thomas Munday convicted after brutally clubbing trapped Buzzard to death on a Pheasant shoot at Hovingham, North Yorkshire
Further to last week’s blog about a gamekeeper being due to appear in court charged with killing a Buzzard on a Pheasant shoot at Hovingham, North Yorkshire (here), the case was heard today a…
raptorpersecutionuk.org
January 12, 2026 at 4:25 PM
As ever, the punishment doesn't fit the crime. He should be in jail & banned from working in any related field in future. Equally, his employer should be banned from running a shoot in the future. The employer is responsible for his criminal actions.
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/12/g...
raptorpersecutionuk.org/2026/01/12/g...
As much as they can be the bane of a bird ringers, the one thing about Blue Tits is that they give you plenty of data for comparisons and trend analysis:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/12/b...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/12/b...
Blue Tits in the Braydon Forest
Blue Tit, Cyanistes caeruleus I cannot wait until I get access to the 2025 Blue Tit ringing results for England and Wiltshire in 2025, as the basic data for the West Wilts Ringing Group is looking …
braydonforestringing.uk
January 12, 2026 at 4:08 PM
As much as they can be the bane of a bird ringers, the one thing about Blue Tits is that they give you plenty of data for comparisons and trend analysis:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/12/b...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/12/b...
Same thing happening in the UK
Having served in multiple countries run by ruthless dictators, I am accustomed to their tactics for keeping their populations under control. One of them is to employ a legion of fake opposition figures who promote the false narrative that "all parties are the same, so why bother voting?"
January 12, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Same thing happening in the UK
That word has been around for centuries: it was rightly applied to what happened during WW2 to socialists, communists, trades unionists, Romanies, anti-war protestors, regime critics & Jewish people but that should not restrict its usage. It applies equally to Gaza.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Shay Given 'unreservedly' apologises for Holocaust remark on Final Score
Former Premier League goalkeeper Shay Given
www.bbc.co.uk
January 10, 2026 at 10:20 PM
That word has been around for centuries: it was rightly applied to what happened during WW2 to socialists, communists, trades unionists, Romanies, anti-war protestors, regime critics & Jewish people but that should not restrict its usage. It applies equally to Gaza.
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
Another big Blue Tit heavy session, but plenty of interesting stuff alongside them (not that Blue Tits aren't interesting):
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/10/s...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/10/s...
Somerford Common: Saturday, 10th January 2026
I went out to top up the feeders ready for a session on Wednesday. I was rather pleased to find a Woodcock hoovering up some of the seed under the feeder. It flew off as I approached and landed wit…
braydonforestringing.uk
January 10, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Another big Blue Tit heavy session, but plenty of interesting stuff alongside them (not that Blue Tits aren't interesting):
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/10/s...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/10/s...
Our best year so far: even though we all had a lot more bitey Blue Tits to deal with:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/07/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/07/w...
West Wilts RG Results 2025, Part 1: the Numbers
For the fifth year in a row our results have increased in number. The significant increase has been in the numbers ringed, with several significant increases and a couple of significant decreases. …
braydonforestringing.uk
January 7, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Our best year so far: even though we all had a lot more bitey Blue Tits to deal with:
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/07/w...
braydonforestringing.uk/2026/01/07/w...