The Ringing Scheme

The Ringing Scheme

 

Puffin.  Photo by Lee Barber.

Ringing generates information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds, helping us to understand why populations are changing.

Over 2,700 trained, volunteer ringers ring up to 1,000,000 birds in Britain and Ireland each year, helping us to understand the reasons for population change - vital information for conservation.  Ringing also continues to help us to understand bird movements.

The latest report on bird ringing will shortly be published in the restyled Ringing Scheme journal Ringing & Migration.  There are also online reports, which summarise birds ringed and found by county, country and for Britain & Ireland.

There are two ringing projects gathering more detailed information on survival and productivity:

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 would like to help, please look out for ringed birds and report them to us, or consider training to become a ringer.