diff --git a/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitHookChangesetCollector.java b/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitHookChangesetCollector.java
index a13a08997c..0acd7c1ad2 100644
--- a/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitHookChangesetCollector.java
+++ b/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitHookChangesetCollector.java
@@ -75,7 +75,7 @@ public class GitHookChangesetCollector
   //~--- constructors ---------------------------------------------------------
 
   /**
-   * Constructs ...
+   * Constructs a new instance
    *
    *
    * @param rpack
@@ -92,10 +92,9 @@ public class GitHookChangesetCollector
   //~--- methods --------------------------------------------------------------
 
   /**
-   * Method description
+   * Collect all new changesets from the received hook.
    *
-   *
-   * @return
+   * @return new changesets
    */
   public List<Changeset> collectChangesets()
   {
@@ -114,17 +113,19 @@ public class GitHookChangesetCollector
 
       for (ReceiveCommand rc : receiveCommands)
       {
-        //J-
-        logger.trace("handle receive command, type={}, ref={}, result={}",
-          new Object[] {
-            rc.getType(),
-            rc.getRefName(),
-            rc.getResult()
-          }
-        );
-        //J+
-
-        if (rc.getType() != ReceiveCommand.Type.DELETE)
+        String ref = rc.getRefName();
+        
+        logger.trace("handle receive command, type={}, ref={}, result={}", rc.getType(), ref, rc.getResult());
+        
+        if (rc.getType() == ReceiveCommand.Type.DELETE)
+        {
+          logger.debug("skip delete of ref {}", ref);
+        }
+        else if (! GitUtil.isBranch(ref))
+        {
+          logger.debug("skip ref {}, because it is not a branch", ref);
+        }
+        else
         {
           try
           {
@@ -138,13 +139,10 @@ public class GitHookChangesetCollector
             builder.append(rc.getType()).append(", ref=");
             builder.append(rc.getRefName()).append(", result=");
             builder.append(rc.getResult());
+            
             logger.error(builder.toString(), ex);
           }
         }
-        else
-        {
-          logger.debug("skip delete of branch {}", rc.getRefName());
-        }
       }
 
     }
@@ -161,18 +159,6 @@ public class GitHookChangesetCollector
     return Lists.newArrayList(changesets.values());
   }
 
-  /**
-   * Method description
-   *
-   *
-   * @param changesets
-   * @param converter
-   * @param walk
-   * @param rc
-   *
-   * @throws IOException
-   * @throws IncorrectObjectTypeException
-   */
   private void collectChangesets(Map<String, Changeset> changesets,
     GitChangesetConverter converter, RevWalk walk, ReceiveCommand rc)
     throws IncorrectObjectTypeException, IOException
@@ -243,9 +229,7 @@ public class GitHookChangesetCollector
   /** listener to track new objects */
   private final CollectingPackParserListener listener;
 
-  /** Field description */
   private final List<ReceiveCommand> receiveCommands;
 
-  /** Field description */
   private final ReceivePack rpack;
 }
diff --git a/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtil.java b/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtil.java
index daa016b00e..ef0f12c27d 100644
--- a/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtil.java
+++ b/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/main/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtil.java
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ package sonia.scm.repository;
 //~--- non-JDK imports --------------------------------------------------------
 
 import com.google.common.annotations.VisibleForTesting;
+import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.common.collect.ArrayListMultimap;
 import com.google.common.collect.Multimap;
 
@@ -337,6 +338,20 @@ public final class GitUtil
 
     return branch;
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * Returns {@code true} if the provided reference name is a branch name.
+   * 
+   * @param refName reference name
+   * 
+   * @return {@code true} if the name is a branch name
+   * 
+   * @since 1.50
+   */
+  public static boolean isBranch(String refName)
+  {
+    return Strings.nullToEmpty(refName).startsWith(PREFIX_HEADS);
+  }
 
   /**
    * Method description
diff --git a/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/test/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtilTest.java b/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/test/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtilTest.java
index e5c33fc9d8..fdaa825a3f 100644
--- a/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/test/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtilTest.java
+++ b/scm-plugins/scm-git-plugin/src/test/java/sonia/scm/repository/GitUtilTest.java
@@ -91,6 +91,19 @@ public class GitUtilTest
     assertEquals("1.0.0", GitUtil.getTagName("refs/tags/1.0.0"));
     assertEquals("super/1.0.0", GitUtil.getTagName("refs/tags/super/1.0.0"));
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * Tests {@link GitUtil#isBranch(java.lang.String)}.
+   */
+  @Test
+  public void testIsBranchName(){
+    assertTrue(GitUtil.isBranch("refs/heads/master"));
+    assertTrue(GitUtil.isBranch("refs/heads/feature/super"));
+    assertFalse(GitUtil.isBranch(""));
+    assertFalse(GitUtil.isBranch(null));
+    assertFalse(GitUtil.isBranch("refs/tags/1.0.0"));
+    assertFalse(GitUtil.isBranch("refs/heads"));
+  }
 
   private org.eclipse.jgit.lib.Repository mockRepo(File directory)
   {