Why we Ring Birds?

Reed Warbler August 05 by G Thomas

A Brief History

The origins of the present Ringing Scheme date back to 1909 when 2 separate schemes, one run by H.F. Witherby and the other by A. Landsborough Thomson were launched. These schemes ultimately merged and in 1937 control of the Scheme was transferred to the British Trust for Ornithology ( BTO ) and the headquarters moved to the British Museum ( Natural History ) which had allowed the use of the Museum address on rings. The headquarters are now located at the Nunnery, Thetford but the Museum address is still used on rings.

For a long time the scheme was mainly self-supporting with the ringers paying (as they do now) for the rings they use and associated administration costs. However in 1954 the Nature Conservancy agreed to give financial support to cover salaries and the Scheme is now funded by a partnership between the BTO and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee ( JNCC ) but a significant proportion of the cost continues to be met by the ringers themselves.

The Purpose of Ringing and its Results

H.F.Witherby wrote “If sufficient results were obtained, much could be learned from marked birds. We should gain a more exact idea of the movement of individual birds than has ever been possible by any other method, and this should not only throw light upon the more general aspects of migration, but it should tell us a great deal that is at present obscure with regard to particular points.”

Today ringing is seen as a major research tool and is used in most countries of the world with all the original objectives in mind, except that these have been amplified and have acquired huge importance in identifying changes in migration and dispersal patterns and studying population dynamics in order to provide sound biological data with which to inform conservation policies.

Examples of the uses to which the data can put are:

• to map in as much detail as possible the winter quarters of every breeding population;
• to discover the routes normally followed by migrants, and whether or not there are important resting areas for each species;
• to discover the general time-table for such migrants, the duration of journeys and the effects of weather upon them;
• to discover which species are partial migrants, and whether partial migration consists of some individuals from a population migrating every year while others remain, or of individuals migrating in some years and not in others;
• to investigate juvenile dispersal and its role in the colonisation of new areas;
• to discover the average life expectancy of each species, and such related features as the age at which breeding first occurs, whether breeding continues into old age, and maximum life-span;
• to discover the main causes of death for each species;
• - to monitor population trends by analysing survival rates, breeding activity, annual variation in numbers and the cause and seasonal distribution of deaths.

LONG-EARED OWL caught at Spurn May 2003

If anyone would like to know more about ringing or participate in local ringing activities please contact the British Trust for Ornithology at the address below for your nearest trainer:

The B.T.O
The Nunnery
Thetford
Norfolk
IP24 2PU

All training is carried out by licensed trainers and may take up to five years to fully qualify, as safety and standards are to be kept at the highest level.

Any qualified ringers wanting to ring at the Observatory should contact the warden at:

Kew Villa
Kilnsea
East Yorkshire
HU12 0UG
Tel 01964 650479