October 2014

With several trainers taking a holiday this month, sessions were down at some sites but still produced a healthy 557 birds (276 Runnymede RG; 281 Maple Cross RG) of 33 species.

Meadow Pipits headed the totals with 119 and peaks of 81 at Chobham and 25 at Hilfield. Goldfinch came in second at 60 with 41 from Milton Keynes gardens whilst Goldcrest and Blue Tit tied for bronze at 54.

There was a good catch of 16 Reed Buntings at Chobham and 7 Yellowhammer at The Willows. House Sparrows are rarely caught these days and 14 at The Willows (with 5 Trees) were notable.

Maple Cross produced an interesting result for a garden-ringed Starling (Eastcote, December 2013) recovered on the Baltic coast in Lithuania this September, 1,505km away.

Starling ring recovery. Eastcote, London to Silute, Lithuania

The benefits offered by bird ringing in the 21st century

In this editorial, I shall first mention the various methods of marking and tracking birds, and then go on to explain why I think that bird ringing is still essential to the development of both bird science and bird conservation. Ian Newton

Full article:
http://www.britishbirds.co.uk/article/bird-ringing-still-necessary/