Blog By Sam Walker

Bird Ringing

In September 2024, I had the opportunity to go bird-ringing with the Wildlife Explorers Club, and I enjoyed it so much that I wrote this blog about it!

We met before sunrise at Keyhaven, before walking to a nearby area of scrubland. When we arrived, the net had just been set up. Over the next couple of hours, we caught a wide variety of birds, including Nightjars and Firecrests.

Bird ringing is an important part of bird conservation as it enables people to track the movements of birds and monitor migratory populations. People ring passerines (perching birds like finches and tits), seabirds (such as terns, gulls, and waders), or birds of prey (such as eagles and hawks). Tracking migratory birds allows conservationists to find important rest spots that may need to be protected.

Catching Birds

Passerines are caught in thin mesh nets called mist nets. They are hard to see, so birds often fly into them, where they fall into pockets. This does not hurt the bird in any way. The birds are taken out carefully (as the net could catch onto things like their legs and injure them) and then put into cloth bags to calm them down.

Putting The Ring On

Each ring has a code on it that is unique to your country, showing where the bird was first ringed. They also have a code unique to the specific ring, which is noted down when it is rung. The ring is put onto one of the bird’s legs near the foot. It is closed with a special pair of pliers until it is secure. I have tried doing this, but it was on a fake bird (I promise you no birds were harmed). The ring can move up and down the bird’s leg but will not fall off if put on correctly. Birds of Prey and seabirds are rung as chicks in the nest when parents are out collecting food.

Checking over the Bird

After the bird is rung, the ringer will do a health check. A ringer will note down the weight, wing and tail length, age, and gender of each bird caught and log it with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). If a ringer finds a bird that is injured or sick, which means it won’t survive on its own, they will take it to a wildlife hospital. If you ever hold a wild bird, make sure to look at its wings and tail, as some of the patterns can be very nice to look at!

Holding a Bird

To hold a bird, you should place your middle and index around the neck quite loosely whilst wrapping the rest of your fingers around the body of the bird. If the bird starts panting, you should loosen your grip as the bird is struggling to breathe. When applying the ring, the ringer will keep their two fingers around the bird’s neck while holding the feathers around the bottom of the leg with their other fingers.

When you first take hold of the bird, you should do it quickly and confidently because otherwise the birds can bite your fingers, which can be quite painful (I know from experience!). The first bird I held was a very noisy female Blackcap at the Wildlife Explorer session.

If you are ringing in a cold place, you should also make sure your hands are warm before holding a bird.

What next

I enjoyed the bird-ringing session with the Wildlife Explorers so much that I contacted the BTO to try and find out more about ringing. Through the BTO, a local bird ringer, who also trains new bird ringers, was kind enough to invite me to a bird ringing session at Blashford Lakes, where I was able to hold, examine, and release birds such as Nuthatch, Siskin and Chaffinch, as well as lots of Blue Tits!

I learned how to age Blue Tit’s by checking the colour of the Primary Covers. In an adult bird, the colour of the Primary Covers will match with the Lesser and Median Coverts (being a light blue colour), whereas in a young bird they will be a duller blue-grey.

I am really looking forward to other opportunities to help with bird ringing and to being old enough that I can start training as a bird ringer.