ringed wood pigeon

[Gobfish]

I fully agree with what you say Anser2, the gathering and use of information is the only way we can understand what is going on around us and if used properly will serve our sport and see it continue for many years to come. However like the Running man, I have had too many social conversations blow up in my face over the years and consequently exercise caution with any information that I give out. Most times the hysterical responses are based on how cute and fluffy my lunch was before I murdered it and have no base on knowledge or experience whatsoever.

An old farm worker friend of mine was desperate for me to shoot any ferals that I saw on the farm as they enticed his racers to stray, and though not overjoyed whenever I handed him one of his own rings, was happy that at least the chances of more of his prize flyers being lured to the dark side were reducing. I continued this practice for years until once I phoned a number on a pigeons ring only to have the ex owner go berserk on the line threatening me with everything from physical violence to phoning the police and the RSPCA.

When I was younger I spent many hours out with an old friend who spent his time ringing birds and collating information, the wealth and value of the knowledge gained from this was in my opinion immeasurable

So whilst agreeing with you in principle, please understand my caution as in my experience not everyone asking for information is necessarily using it responsibly and in the best interests of all those concerned.

I find myself going around in circles here I guess that I’m only wary as I’ve been in this game in all of it’s variants for a very long time and have found the friendly faces to the way I live my life growing ever fewer.

[Davy Holt]

Hiya,

 

I think all that is needed here is a bit of common sense, if the ringed bird is legal quarry and in season then there is no issues with reporting it. I'm quite sure they are just happy to get any news on the ringed animal, I know this is the case for myself with the Common Skate I tag & release I'd much rather hear about the demise of a tagged fish than be left wondering is it's still kicking about.

 

If the bird is a racing pigeon or something else shot by accident through miss ID (I know it shouldn't happen but not everyone is perfect) or if it has gone "feral" then all you need to do is report it as found dead .. not shot ... simples

[Highlander]

The information from wild ringed birds are a vital tool for the conservation and future of the species. Until recently i used to be a BTO bird ringer and I have never come across an instance where any of the information from ringed birds have effected anyone’s shooting. Indeed The British Trust for Ornithology depends on people including hunters returning bird rings and if they upset the shooting community from the misuse of any information gathered from ringing they know a major source of information gathers would be lost.

 

I have ringed a few wood pigeons over the years , but never had a recovery. Pigeons are very hard to catch and only about 1,000 wood pigeons are ringed in this country per year and the majority as nestlings. Given the high mortality from nestlings from predators other than man , in reality its probable that only a few hundred ringed wood pigeons are flying around the country at any one time . I have always thought a serious ringing project where 50,000 + wood pigeons were ringed a year would help answer some of the mysteries surrounding the birds. Do we get winter migrants from Europe ? How do the birds move around the country and so on ?.

 

Some would say they like such mysteries , but is a changing countryside where new crops and farming methods are developing coupled with an uncertain climate such information could help aid the future of the species. Remember Gobfish , for our shooting to continue we need something to shoot at. Any information that adds to our knowledge of a species can only be for our benefit.

 

One quick note for anyone finding a ringed bird. return the information of what it was , where and when it was found to the address on the ring or on the BTO website and you will get a letter in return on all the known movemets of the bird. There is no need to return the ring and if you do still enclose a small note including the ring number as there have been a number of cases where the metal ring has torn through an envlope while in the post and been lost. Without that vital ring number the information is usless.

 

Well said that man...I once posted on here that maybe if all we pigeon shooters contributed say £1 each to a project to sponsor a graduate looking to do a thesis or somesuch we could get an awful lot of (new) info about our favourite bird. It is after all 50 or more years since Dr Merton's studies and things have changed one hell of a lot since then! Maybe BASC or GWCT would run such a programme that we could all sponsor like the GWCT woodcock surveys.

[Gobfish]

Well said that man...I once posted on here that maybe if all we pigeon shooters contributed say £1 each to a project to sponsor a graduate looking to do a thesis or somesuch we could get an awful lot of (new) info about our favourite bird. It is after all 50 or more years since Dr Merton's studies and things have changed one hell of a lot since then! Maybe BASC or GWCT would run such a programme that we could all sponsor like the GWCT woodcock surveys.

 

 

If the BASC (an organisation which I wholehertedly trust and support) were to to run such a detailed survey/study, I would do my utmost to assist. There was a how many do you shoot survey but it obviously couldn't track individual birds or give a detailed analysis of movements

 

..... now if those rings had BASC stamped on them!!!!

[yickdaz]

yes i shot a crow about 18 years years ago with a ring on;i sent it to adress on the ring and they send you back the details of were and what year it was ringed and how many was in the brood at the time of ringing ..i also have one at home somewhere off a woodie that i shot at the end of june;reading this post has just reminded me of it.

i will send off the ring today and post back details i keep forgeting to send it off i think its very interesting finding out the past of a bird on the shooting list nothing untoward going on or a conspirisy to us shooters..why do you think they ring pigeons; crows; geese; ducks;they must know that these birds will be shot because how else can they recover these rings.they certainly wont find a ringed woodie in a 1000 bird flock apart from the bird dying off natural causes.it states on them if found send to british nat history sw7.

[anser2]

Vicky and Davy are right. There is a world of difference between shooting a wild bird and a tame racing pigeon. If you are unhappy about returning racing pigeon rings fine . They are of no conservation value and of interest only to the owner , but a wild ringed bird is a very different matter. As for BASC having their own rings - it would be against the law to use those rings on wild birds though they can be put on reared duck which are released into the wild. The other advantage of having BTO\ Brit Museum addresses on rings is that its an internationally known address and not matter where the ring is recovered in the world even if its finder does not speak English the ring information will find its way home , though it may take some time ( I had a wigeon ring that took 5 years for the information to travel back from Greece.)

[darrenb47]

still waiting for the info i will post it one here when i recieve it ..if any ones intrested

[yickdaz]

you may find this hard to beleive i was out with the old fella on wheat stubble we got 70 and whilst laying the bag out me dad noticed a ringed bird amongst them i said get out i shot one same area in june he said to me honestly i said yes 200 yards from were we are shooting today how weird is that i have never shot a ringed woodie in 24 years then shoot 2 in 2 months from same area.to be honest i don;t know who shot the bird today as we were taking it in turn to shoot so either of us could have shot it i took a pic of it on me mobile for proof but not a great pic.but can;t put it on talk from the field.so put it on sporting pics

[darrenb47]

ive finally got the info back for the ringed woody i shot details are..

 

Ringing Scheme: London Ring Number: FA29021 Species of bird: Woodpigeon

 

This bird was ringed by Shropshire Ringing Group as age 1st year, sex Unknown on 17-Oct-2009 at Prees, Shropshire, OS Map reference SJ5533, co-ordinates 52deg 53min N 2deg 40min W.

 

It was found on 09-Aug-2010

The bird was: Freshly dead "Shot"

 

Remarks:

 

It was found 296 days after it was ringed, 10 km from the ringing site, direction N.

not as exciting as i thought it was gonna be

[marlin vs]

Might not be as exciting as you thought it was gonna be, but still nice to know.

[southdowns_stalking]

As above, you never know until you get the result back from sending the details off. I have never shot one with a ring on but will send it away just to see the result

[caeser]

There is a place near where I shoot called SandHutton Science Laboratory. I know that they have ringed woodpigeon in the past and rely on shooters etc to give them feedback for their studies.

[derekbomag]

i shot pigeon and duck with ring on both in same week

[yickdaz]

i had results back 2 weeks ago from 3 pigeons shot in same area in 2 years 1 bird was 7 years old and shot 22 km from ring site the other 2 were shot 8km from same ring site but different ages 1 year old well 356 days just short. and the other 216 days old.

[Blackpowder]

It sounds really intersting to find out what are the movements of woodpigeon, just a pity it was not a real nation wide effort to build up a useful picture. In over 50 years shooting I have only came across one ringed wildfowl- a mallard ringed in Russia, and a cormorant when they were still vermin ringed on Tweed estuary shot Tweed estuary.

 

Blackpowder

[inshallah]

If I sincerely believed that infornation was being gathered impartially and the subseqeunt information being distributed unbiased and not used as a banner waver then I would do exactly as you suggest. However I have to view it sceptically as I suspect that any info gathered could and would be distorted and used against us. If the BASC was gathering the info I would hand over everything without hesitation, but anyone else makes me suspicious. Remember the famous fox in a snare picture used in the antis campaigns yet when the truth about it came to light out it received very little publicity, the damage however had already been done. I'm proud of my country pursuits and hide it from no one, but having said that I won't give fuel to those that oppose me.

 

Ringing of wild birds is done for science research. All they want to do is gather data for their research, and need to know the fate of the bird for their experiment. They won't judge at all for shooting it. Any PROPER scientific research (e.g. by museums and universities, GWCT etc.) is a good thing for our countryside. Completely different set of people to the tree hugger antis.