Southern Colour Ringing Group

The final visit to the Tern rafts was made today with a small team of two going out in the small green boat to ring the final Terns and Gulls. Whilst out there we were able to fit colour rings to eight Black-headed Gulls that were only metal ringed from a previous session and also to ring 15 new Black-headed Gulls. We also ringed two new Common Terns during the visit. Only one dead bird was found on the rafts and this is excellent for the productivitiy clearly due to the really good weather. 

Common Tern Chick - Shaun Harvey

The final visit to 70 Acres this evening saw a final 25 Black-headed Gulls ringed along with 14 Common Terns. 14 new Black Headed Gulls were colour ringed along with two metal ringed birds from the last vist that were now big enough to take a colour ring. A good team executed the visit smoothly and ringed all birds quickly in the warm weather.

A vist to FIshers Green today saw a team of six in the large boat for the first time attempt to ring the large number of birds on the rafts. Some birds were still too small and there were probably around 20 nests still to hatch so there will be some more to ring when we visit for Terns in the next three or four weeks. The ringing operation was completed quickly and well. A final total of 74 birds ringed and 62 colour ringed was a good sample. None of the young on the islands were ringable due to no fences on the island and with 70 pairs nesting on the island means we are probably only ringing a third of the young from this colony.