Ringing wildfowl

[wildfowler.250]

Noticed that the States seem to be far more proactive when it comes to ringing birds than we are here in the uk. I appreciate they probably have better access to breeding grounds whereas a lot of our birds will come from across seas but it would be good if we we're more proactive in this country.

 

 

Even for Orkney when're there's a feral greylag problem. Ringing young birds would give a better idea of their movements. Whether they almost exclusively stick to Orkney or move onto mainland much?

 

 

Personally think it's quite an interesting way to get an idea of birds age, movements and,(albeit quite generally) how shooting affects numbers.

 

 

I've only ever had a couple of ringed birds in my time and believe they're pretty scarce in the uk. Would be good if it was brought back into practice a bit more regularly?

[anser2]

The big difference between the USA and Britain is that in the USA the ringing is run by government agency the US Fish and wildlife . The ringers are professional workers in and all staff and the cost of ringing is all covered by the US government ( we it is at the moment , but it could be on the line for the chop if Trump gets his way. In contrast ringing is all done by volunteers and the scheme is run by the BTO on behalf of the Environment Agency. So all the costs are bourn by the ringers themselves. The costs cam be high to. When I was duck ringing back in the 1970s-2006 we would use 5 tons of corn as bait a winter at around £125 a ton, the traps used to cost around £400-800 depending on size and the wildfowl rings started ( 1990 prices ) at 50p each and up to £1.50 for swans. As we used to ring several thousand duck a year all those 50ps added up. The cost was not so much the ring its self , there would be postage to tell the finder and to the ringer to tell him his bird had been found , plus office costs of processing the records. Ring prices reflect the costs each species would be likely to be. For example only 0.1% of willow warbler rings are ever found ( being a tiny bird that spends much of the year in Africa 99% of ringed birds are never heard of again. In contrasts swans are big white birds that do not move very far, east to find and around 20% are recovered so the paper work costs are high. There has been some sponsorship , mainly from the Wildfowl trust and RSPB. Ringing ducks is also very time consuming. The traps have to be visited twice a day and a good catch of 100 duck will take several hours to deal with. If you think wildfowling was for the hardy then try rounding up a hundred ducks out of a water filled trap in sub zero temperatures. Traps vary , but most are very large walk in aviaries set on the shallows of a lake. The birds are caught in fish landing nets.

 

Because of the damage feral greys do to farming in Orkney there has been a lot of ringing sponsored by SNH and a number have been found in Norfolk in mid winter.

 

It would be great if more wildfowl ringing was done , but its very specilised, needs skilled and trained ringers and the costs are a lot higher than song bird ringing. So waterfowl ringing is unlikely to become widespread.There are around 5,000 duck ringed a year , but the number of geese varies according to what projects are be done in a single year but usualy less than a thousand a year.

[wildfowler.250]

Brilliant reply anser2!

 

Do you think there's potential for costs to come down if it was done on a more electronic/email basis? Are the wildfowl trust and RSPB quite keen on sponsoring the program? I thought basc would have been involved in that as well.

 

 

Good to hear the Orkney greys are being ringed. Interesting to here that they are moving about maybe more than suspected then?

 

 

The ducks that are ringed in the uk each year, is that mostly mallard? Is there much benefit in ringing adult birds as opposed to juveniles as aging the bird must be less accurate as it gets older?

 

 

Anecdotally,(a couple of years ago) having not shot a ringed bird for years, the old man and myself shot one each within a week. Only difference was mine was done 3 miles away and only 1 week prior to shooting the bird. Whereas my Dads was ringed in Greenland,(slightly more interesting!).

[anser2]

I do not think the costs are going to come down as the BTO\ Envronment agency are getting less and less funding and the BTO has to stand on its own two feet being a NGO.. The bulk of about 50% of the species of duck ringed are mallard , why - they are the easiest to catch and common. Others like wigeon or shoveller can be very difficult to catch in numbers. Adult ducks are the survivors , live longer than the average juvenile. Different sexes or age groups sometimes have differing migrations so all need to be rung. The RSPB will only sponsor a program that fits in with their conservation aims. The WT will sometimes supply rings for projects. There is also the problem of getting volunteers with the time to ring wildfowl. When you age a duck its a juvenile or an adult as for most species its impossible to age to each further year after their first full moult. Most duck are caught in traps that have to be fed daily and visited twice a day 7 days a week , month in month out , as normal ringing with mist nets for song birds its usually a case of turning up, setting the nets , dealing with the catches and packing up and going home until the next weekend. Most years there only a dozen sites in the country who operate duck traps.

Edited March 1, 2017 by anser2

[wildfowler.250]

I do not think the costs are going to come down as the BTO\ Envronment agency are getting less and less funding and the BTO has to stand on its own two feet being a NGO.. The bulk of about 50% of the species of duck ringed are mallard , why - they are the easiest to catch and common. Others like wigeon or shoveller can be very difficult to catch in numbers. Adult ducks are the survivors , live longer than the average juvenile. Different sexes or age groups sometimes have differing migrations so all need to be rung. The RSPB will only sponsor a program that fits in with their conservation aims. The WT will sometimes supply rings for projects. There is also the problem of getting volunteers with the time to ring wildfowl. When you age a duck its a juvenile or an adult as for most species its impossible to age to each further year after their first full moult. Most duck are caught in traps that have to be fed daily and visited twice a day 7 days a week , month in month out , as normal ringing with mist nets for song birds its usually a case of turning up, setting the nets , dealing with the catches and packing up and going home until the next weekend. Most years there only a dozen sites in the country who operate duck traps.

 

Brilliant reply. Thanks! Learnt an awful lot from those two posts

[fandango]

BASC used to provide rings for mallard if you were releasing these, they don't do it now.

[wildfowler.250]

BASC used to provide rings for mallard if you were releasing these, they don't do it now.

I did shoot a mallard years ago that was ringed under the basc scheme. Poor bird was 8 1/2 years old!

Edited March 2, 2017 by wildfowler.250