Dawlish Warren NNR 2013 recoveries (1 Viewer)

Hi all

I made a big effort in 2013 to read as many ringed birds at Dawlish Warren NNR in Devon and published an account of my results.

To those that may be interested to read it I am trying to submit as an attachment, but if I fail miserably you can also find it on the website- http://www.dawlishwarren.blogspot.co.uk/ (on the right hand side of the page)

This year has been even more rewarding, with over 100 different birds all from the Warren in just 8 and a half months.

Lee

Amazing report Lee and it can get a bit addictive!

Fantastic Lee, thank you very much.

As a ringer I would like to reinforce the message that this is extremely valuable information. We ring many birds - about a million annually in the UK - and the information on those birds is far more valuable where we have follow-up, the more the better.

I had stopped ringing peewit chicks because of the vanishingly small chance of getting that follow-up. Now I have been given the opportunity to leg flag them, I have started again. I want to know about movements - where do they winter ? do they come back again ? if not, where do they go to breed ? I also want to know about survival. I can only get a tiny bit of this information IF they come back here again. For the rest, I need observers' help. So please, everybody, try to emulate Lee - check all the birds you see for rings/tags, try to get all the code, and report it. Don't forget dead birds - I pick up quite a few birds we have ringed dead on local roads.

We are ringing peewit chicks with a metal BTO ring on the right tarsus and a lime green leg flag with black lettering on the right tibia. In this first year we have marked three. We have chosen a site near our house so we have excellent opportunity for re-sighting and for marking can monitor and leave chicks as late as possible before fledging to avoid marking lots of chicks that die early - all three we marked this year fledged, but to our knowledge they came from broods totalling 10 (from 12 eggs) so pre-fledging losses are high.

Mike.