Bird Ringing

Bird Ringing entails catching birds (either in mist-nets or heligoland traps - see below) and placing a small, weightless ring on the bird’s leg. The ring has absolutely no effect on the bird’s ability to fly, feed and breed as has been proved by long term tests. Each person involved in the ringing of birds has to go through a rigorous training programme with highly experienced ringers before becoming licensed by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) to ring birds on their own. It is illegal to catch wild birds without a ringing licence.

There is a unique reference number on each ring and the address of the BTO, the national organisation that runs the Ringing Scheme in the UK. All the information of every bird caught is recorded and sent to the BTO. The BTO stores this information and it is used nation-wide in an effort to monitor population levels of our birds in Britain.

If a ringed bird is caught or found (as a result of traffic, cats, deaths in gardens etc.) again, the information on the ring is recorded and sent to the BTO who monitor these ‘recoveries’.

In this way, the migration paths, the important ‘stop off’ points and the wintering and summering grounds of our migrating birds
can be established and efforts can be made to preserve these areas.

The Ringing Scheme has built up a vast amount of information over the years about the birds that occur in Britain and the BTO plays a key role in conservation of our birds and their habitats.

Peter Williams, Chairman of

recording ringing information