| REPORT
FROM BTO RINGING SCHEME (BRITAIN & IRELAND) |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Organisation
|
|
|
|
|
| The
Ringing Scheme in Britain & Ireland is run by the British Trust
for Ornithology (BTO). The Ringing Scheme forms part of the
BTO's Populations Research Department. Staff primarily involved
in the Ringing Scheme are as follows: |
| |
|
|
| BTO
Director |
Jeremy
Greenwood |
|
| Director
of Populations Research |
Stephen
Baillie |
|
| |
|
|
| RINGING
UNIT |
|
|
| Head
of Unit |
Jacquie
Clark (Migration Atlas) |
|
| Secretary |
Angie
Raven |
|
|
Recoveries
& Licensing Team: |
|
|
| |
Leader |
Jeremy
Blackburn |
|
| |
Recoveries
Officers |
Dave
Anning |
|
|
| |
|
Linda Milne
|
|
|
| Data
& Sales Team: |
|
|
|
| |
Leader |
Bridget
Griffin |
|
|
| |
Ringing
Data Officer |
Sue
Adams |
|
|
| |
Ringing
Assistant (part-time) |
Brenda
Read |
|
|
| |
Ringing
Sales |
Anne
Trewhitt |
|
|
| NB
there is also currently a team of approximately 20 outworkers
inputting old ringing data. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| DEMOGRAPHY
UNIT |
|
|
|
| Senior
Population Biologist |
Chris
Wernham (Migration Atlas and Ringing Research) |
|
| Research
Officer |
Dawn
Balmer (Organiser of CES & RAS) |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Other
BTO staff with a recent involvement in ringing based research
are: |
| |
Phil
Atkinson |
(survival
analysis) |
|
|
| |
Niall
Burton |
(movements
of waders) |
|
|
| |
Steve
Freeman |
(CES
analysis, survival analysis) |
|
|
| |
John
Marchant |
(Migration
Atlas) |
|
|
| |
Rob
Robinson |
(survival
analysis) |
|
|
| |
Gavin
Siriwardena |
(Migration
Atlas) |
|
|
| |
Mike
Toms |
(Migration
Atlas) |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| BTO
RINGING SCHEME OPERATIONS |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Numbers
ringed |
Annual
(1999) |
700,387 |
|
|
Ever
(to end 1999) |
28,911,999 |
|
| Numbers
recovered |
Annual
(1999) |
10,586 |
|
|
Ever
(to end 1999) |
561,195 |
|
| Number
of ringers (1999) |
1,936
(proportion professional less than 10%) |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Computerisation
|
|
|
|
| Recoveries
of all BTO-ringed birds and all foreign-ringed birds received
since 1979 (some species fully computerised) have been computerised. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Ringings
for over 2 million birds have been received from ringers electronically.
Data have been accepted electronically since 1996. For 2000,
75% of ringing data were submitted electronically by ringers.
About half of the electronic data is received via email. Ringers
have been supplied with free programs to allow input and submission
of ringing and recovery data. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Back
data for certain ring sizes now being computerised by a team
of outworkers. Data for about two million Starlings (Sturnus
vulgaris) and Blackbirds (Turdus merula) are currently
being computerised. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Recaptures
and biometrics are now also collected from ringers electronically. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Problems
|
|
|
|
| None
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| Finance
|
|
|
|
| Ringers
pay towards cost of rings, pay for equipment and pay an annual
permit fee. Other costs are met from a partnership between BTO
and JNCC (Government) and by the BTO. Ring prices are based
on current conservation concern of species being ringed. Where
all, or most species, that have a particular ring size are of
conservation concern the ring price is reduced. If only a few
of the species taking a particular ring size are of conservation
interest a refund is given to ringers at the end of the year.
Refunds are only given for data submitted electronically. |
| |
|
| Annual
Report |
Published
in BTO Ringing Scheme Journal Ringing & Migration (circulated
free to all EURING Schemes). |
| Ringers'
Bulletin |
Published
three times a year (circulated free to all EURING Schemes). |
| Ringer's
Manual |
New
edition (with major revisions and additions) currently nearing
completion. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| BTO
RINGING SCHEME RESEARCH - PROJECTS |
| |
|
|
|
|
| CONSTANT
EFFORT SITES SCHEME (CES) |
| This
scheme monitors demographic changes for 25+ widespread songbird
species. Over 140 sites were operated in 2000 (with good geographical
spread), the best ever coverage. Coverage may be somewhat lower
in 2001 due to Foot & Mouth disease but many sites are operating
as usual. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| EURO-CES |
| This
is a EURING collaborative project, lead by the BTO and CRBPO,
and including constant effort data from Britain & Ireland, France,
the Netherlands and Spain, and help from many other European
ringing schemes. We have received the results from a detailed
questionnaire asking about all existing European schemes and
will have a first draft of European guidelines ready for comment
in the winter of 2001/02. Steve Freeman (BTO) and Romain Julliard
(CRBPO) have made good progress with analysing and comparing
trends from the four countries with the longest running constant
effort schemes and will be finalising a report/scientific paper
this coming winter. An update will be given at this conference. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| RAS |
|
|
|
| This
project was started in 1998 to collect mark-recapture data to
monitor adult survival rates for a range of species. Ringers
choose their own study area and attempt to ring and retrap (or
resight) all the breeding adults in the study area each breeding
season. The project concentrates on species not well-monitored
by CES or other types of ringing. There are now 100+ studies
registered, covering around 40 species. Of these species, 50%
are of current conservation concern. This year we are carrying
out our first piece of analytical work using RAS data (including
historical data): an analysis of temporal and geographical variation
in the survival rates of Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca). |
| |
|
|
|
|
| MIGRATION
ATLAS |
|
|
|
| The
Migration Atlas is now nearing completion. All the species
texts (written by expert authors) have been completed and edited
and the final supporting chapters are being completed. Publication
is expected early next year. A talk about the Migration Atlas
will be given at this conference. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| BREEDING
BIRDS IN THE WIDER COUNTRYSIDE THEIR CONSERVATION STATUS 2000 |
| This
major report on bird population trends is now available on the
BTO Website (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends).
The report includes abundance and productivity trends from CES
(with graphs) as well as information from census schemes and
nest recording. The report will be updated annually and we will
be looking to include more information from ringing in future
editions. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| BTO
RINGING SCHEME RESEARCH - ANALYSES |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Integrated
population monitoring analyses combining data from ringing nest
records and censuses have recently been carried out on Marsh
Tit (Parus palustris) and Willow Tit (Parus montanus).
A significant decline in Marsh Tit survival, which is the most
likely cause of the decline of this species in Britain, was
demonstrated. Willow Tit survival may also have declined. It
was not possible to estimate survival trends for Nightingale
but the survival rate found (33% per annum) is low for a species
of this size. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Further
integrated analyses of Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos)
ring-recovery, developing new analytical techniques, have also
been carried out. This work incorporates estimates of post-fledging
survival and further work on this is planned for a range of
species. |
| |
|
|
|
|
| Work
will begin in the autumn to analyse the Starling data currently
being input by outworkers. This will address the demographic
causes of the decline of this species. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Jacquie
Clark
24 August 2001 |
|
|
|
