It was a great privilege very early one Saturday morning recently to be allowed to watch bird-ringing at a site out in the country between Hastings and Pett: very much a first for both Stephanie and me.
Bird-ringing to collect national data on bird migration and population density and health is an activity closely regulated by the British Trust for Ornithology. Apparently it can take up to two years of training for a ringer to be able to ring birds unsupervised.
Small birds like the sedge warbler and the blackcap in these photos are caught in mist nets and then quickly assessed for weight and body fat before being ringed and released unharmed. If the birds are ever netted again or found dead somewhere else the information on the ring can be sent back to the UK and collated by the BTO.
But the chances of that happening for any one bird are low, so the unit we visited rings about 100,000 birds a year. And they are just one of a large number of ringing stations around the country needed to get back statistically valid scientific data from a large enough number of birds.
We were greatly impressed not only by the professionalism of the ringers that we saw, but also by their gentleness in handling the birds.
To find out more go to www.bto.org
