The Ringing Scheme
_The British and Irish Ringing Scheme is operated by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and oversees the work of over 2,600 trained ringers with over 900,000 birds ringed each year. Most of the ringers in the UK are volunteers who give up their spare time to collect valuable data that is used to generate information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds that helps us to understand how populations are changing.
Ringing involves placing a lightweight metallic ring around the leg of a bird, each ring is uniquely numbered meaning that if the bird is caught again, sometimes elsewhere, a picture can be built of the movements of the bird. Ringing is an essential method for understanding the movements of birds and how long they live for - questions that are difficult to answer with simple observations. An understanding of the lives that these birds live allows us to identify environmental changes and provide conservation solutions.
We have been ringing birds in the UK for more than 100 years, but we are still finding new facts about where birds travel and where they spend the winters. The Ringing Scheme employs two different projects, in addition to general ringing;
If you are interested in learning to ring birds, you can find out more information from the BTO by clicking here.
Ringing involves placing a lightweight metallic ring around the leg of a bird, each ring is uniquely numbered meaning that if the bird is caught again, sometimes elsewhere, a picture can be built of the movements of the bird. Ringing is an essential method for understanding the movements of birds and how long they live for - questions that are difficult to answer with simple observations. An understanding of the lives that these birds live allows us to identify environmental changes and provide conservation solutions.
We have been ringing birds in the UK for more than 100 years, but we are still finding new facts about where birds travel and where they spend the winters. The Ringing Scheme employs two different projects, in addition to general ringing;
- The Constant Effort Sites (CES) scheme provides information on population size, breeding success and survival of bird species living in scrub and wetland habitats.
- The Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) project gathers survival data for a wide range of species, particularly those of current conservation concern.
If you are interested in learning to ring birds, you can find out more information from the BTO by clicking here.