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| Wildlife Trust Members enjoying the Bird Ringing demonstration |
The Manx Wildlife Trust runs many events for the general public throughout the year catering for all age groups - everything from adult education courses to children's rock pooling sessions. Although those of us who are signed up members of the Trust are just happy to see our subscription used for the benefit of wildlife generally, it's always nice to enjoy the occasional membership "perk" ! This might be a conducted tour by the Reserves Officer round one of the reserves normally closed to the public or, as on Friday, a bird ringing demonstration at Ballachurry Reserve by the two Calf Wardens, Aron Sapford and Robert Fisher. For those of you who are perhaps not local, The Calf of Man is a small island with a bird observatory located off the south of the Isle of Man. The wardens monitor wildlife there from spring to autumn. Spring and Autumn bird migrations are particularly important.
On Friday Aron and Rob had been at the reserve since before dawn putting up 6 mist nets at strategic points around the reserve. These nets are so fine that birds fail to notice them and roll down, unhurt by the collision, into a pocket at the base of the net.
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| mist net situated in path to the bird hide |
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| birds' view of the net |
The nets were then patrolled at frequent intervals to remove trapped birds which Aron brought back to the work station near the reserve entrance. Put into individual cloth bags, the birds remain quiet in the dark until it is their turn to be ringed.
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| Aron bringing birds back to the work station in individual cloth bags |
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| The work station where Rob carefully records all the data. |
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| measurements such as wing length are recorded |
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| here a Blue Tit |
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| special pliers are used to close the ring without hurting the bird - here a Siskin |
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| birds are weighed - looks a little undignified perhaps! |
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| but the birds do not struggle and weighing takes just a few seconds |
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| colouration and feather shape can help asses the age of the bird |
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| the ring number, the date and place of ringing |
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| and all relevant information is carefully noted. |
All the recorded information is shared with Manx Birdlife and the British Trust for Ornithology. Analysis of such information provides a snapshot of bird species on the Island, highlights any cause for concern and allows bird conservation to be planned more accurately. It contributes to the bigger picture in the British Isles and beyond and any birds re-trapped elsewhere will increase knowledge about migration and bird movements generally.
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| an occupational hazard for the ringer is being pecked ( & pooed on!) |
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| briefly admiring birds at close quarters before they were released |
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| Aron holding a male Blackcap |
Pale rings round this Blackcap's feathers indicated a period when parent birds had been unable to feed it as a nestling, confirming that it was one of this year's youngsters.
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| one of Ballachurry's Robins |
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| a female Goldfinch |
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| and one of many Blue Tits on the Reserve |
Below is a list of birds caught:
New Birds
Long-tailed Tit – 3
Blue Tit – 14
Great Tit – 3
Chaffinch – 3
Siskin – 1
Goldfinch – 1
Robin – 2
Blackcap – 1
Redwing – 8
Blackbird – 5
Re-traps
Blue Tit - AFJ5689 (ringed 14/11/2021 @Ballachurry)
Blackbird – LL61934 (ringed 14/11/2021 @Ballachurry)
Control ( i.e. ringed elsewhere)
Blue Tit – S998866 (ringed 15/09/2020 @Ballagawne)
Total birds = 41 new birds, 2 re-traps, 1 control.
As you will see from the re-traps a ringing session had already taken place at Ballachurry during November. For comparison here are the results of that session on 14th November :
New Birds
Redwing – 17
Dunnock – 1
Blackbird – 10
Wren – 1
Robin – 3
Goldcrest – 3
Blue Tit – 2
Coal Tit – 1
Great Tit – 3
Song Thrush – 1
Total = 42 new birds
Aron and Rob hope to do further recording on the Reserve during 2022. Many thanks to them both for allowing us to watch the process and for patiently answering all our questions. We had a really interesting and enjoyable morning.
Thanks to them too for allowing me to take the above photos and publish them on this Blog.
If you would like to help the work of the Manx Wildlife Trust ( and perhaps enjoy Members Only perks such as this! ) please consider joining as your subscription allows valuable work to be done, not just for birds but for the Island's wildlife generally. There are membership forms in the bird hide at Ballachurry or you can contact the Trust direct at its HQ in the Market Square, Peel, on 01624 844432 or email on enquiries@mwt.im
Find out more on www.mwt.im They are also on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
please click on the photos to enlarge them
