Netherhall Grey Heron Session 27th March 2021
We took a very small team out to count the Heron colony on Netherhall and see if there were some early chicks to ring. A slick operation which we put back an hour due to the chilly temperatures first thing. All went well with 25 active nests and a sample of 8 Herons ringed and colour ringed. As with Walthamstow there are already some early Egrets getting going and one nest with five eggs already.
Out of Lockdown! Herons at Walthamstow Wetlands 24th March 2021
Under the Governement guidance that scientific monitoring can continue we took a small team to undertake the survey of Herons at Walthamstow Wetlands today. A good session with 32 active nests counted and a sample of 16 young ringed all colour ringed.
Thanks to the team at Walthamstow for organising the socialy distanced canoes to undertake the session.
Kite sightings keep coming in
This week more sightings of our Kites. 4F has been confirmed again in the Wickham Bishop area in Essex and 2J has been sighted just down the road in Stapleford. This is the first sighting since it was ringed in a spring trap back in September. Pictures of both below.
Aims
The aim of the Southern Colour Marking Group is to study various species of bird using colour marking in London, Essex and Hertfordshire. We do this by catching the birds using a cannon net, a technique requiring a special licence, or finding nests of breeding birds and marking the young in the nest.
Birds captured using cannon nets are extracted from the net before being marked with individually numbered metal leg rings. Whilst ringing the birds, we take measurements and study plumage characteristics. As many birds as possible are marked with a colour mark (either leg ring or wing tag) which can be read with a telescope without the bird being recaptured.
Donate and win
The Southern Colour Ringing Group Giant Cash Bonanza is a licensed Lottery supporting the group and the purchase of rings and satellite tracking devices for monitoring bird migration, behaviour and biology.
Links
Here are links to other related websites:
Lee Valley Regional Park Authority
If you know of a website that we have missed, please contact us.
Bird ringing in Britain is licensed and coordinated by The British Trust for Ornithology. Bird ringing in Europe is coordinated by EURING.
A catalogue of colour ringing projects throughout Europe is voluntarily maintained by Dirk Raes at European colour-ring Birding.
Acknowledgements
The group operates with the excellent support and cooperation of The Essex Wildlife Trust at Blue House Farm which operates the nature reserve and allows access for Brent Goose catching. The Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and the London Wildlife Trust allow us to access sites in the Lee Valley Park for Heron and Egret work. Richard Bott kindly allows access to woodland on the Bott Estate for Red Kite monitoring.
We are grateful to the Essex Birdwatching Society and Essex Field Club for providing funding for the colour ringing programme for Brent Geese, London Wildlife Trust for Herons and Jenny Weston at the RSPB for support with Red Kite wing tagging.
The development of the dynamic mapping was supported by a grant from the British Birds Charitable Trust.
We also acknowledge financial support from Merlin Ringing Supplies.
Header images on this website are licensed under the Creative Commons license by the photographers.