Bird ringing report

This is a report of the bird ringing that has been undertaken in Shingle Street over the last ten years by Mervyn Miller and his colleagues. Birds are trapped in specially designed ‘mist nets’, then examined, weighed and ringed with tiny metal rings, each of which has a unique, identifying code number.

The process only takes a few minutes and the birds are then released again, quite unharmed by it. If they are subsequently re-discovered, either trapped by another ringer or eventually found dead somewhere, the finder is invited to note the number and report it back to the address on the ring. Over time this helps ornithologists build up a picture of the seasonal migrations and movements of the species in question.

Most of the birds listed on this table are common Shingle Street residents or visitors, but a few of them (notably the Dusky, Pallas’s, Yellow-browed and Radde’s warblers) are very rare migrants from Siberia and the far NE. Some of these would never have been seen at all had they not been caught, which is itself an indication of how much ‘invisible’ migration is going on all the time. The other striking conclusion to emerge from this report is just what large numbers of some commoner migrants like goldcrests and blackcaps are moving through Shingle Street every spring and, more especially, every autumn. You may also see some of these ringed birds like robins, greenfinches and blue tits in your own garden or on your bird table, which will indicate that some at least of the them haven’t travelled very far at all!