Birds in Lincolnshire

Ringing Science

Ringing Science by Stuart Britton, Mid-Lincs Ringing Group.

Many ringers started ringing when the emphasis was on ringing large numbers of birds but doing comparatively little with the vast amount of data which was gathered. With the advent of computerised submission of ringing records, this data is now being used to produce scientific information. In 1996 the BTO Council and Ringing Committee adopted the Scientific Strategy which includes the greater involvement of volunteer ringers in planned projects that are designed to provide specific types of information. One of these is Constant Effort Site ringing (CES) which was started in Lincolnshire by Mike Boddy at Theddlethorpe and has been standardised into what is now an international project. It involves putting up the same nets at the same site for the same duration 12 times between May and September at approximately 10 day intervals and recording every bird trapped and retrapped. This highly successful scheme provides valuable information on numbers, productivity and survival. Another such project is the ringing and retrapping of adults birds for survival rate estimation (RAS). This was launched in 1998 and involves targeted catching of individuals and pairs of a particular species which will generate time-series of survival rates for a range of species. The Mid-Lincs Ringing Group have taken part since the beginning at Donna Nook, targeting Whitethroats and Dunnocks. In 1998 60 adult Whitethroats and 18 adults Dunnocks were caught and 10% and 17% respectively were retrapped the following year. The latest project is integrated population monitoring (IPM) which combines intensive ringing censusing and nest recording at a limited number of study sites. This combines the skills of ringers, census workers and nest recorders and will provide high quality, site specific data on population dynamics. There are several other proposed schemes, details of which can be obtained from the BTO Ringing Unit at Thetford. I hope that other county ringers, or prospective ringers, that are not yet involved may consider taking part in one or more of these projects.

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