2008 in a national context
There are getting on for two and a half thousand Ringers in the UK. To become a licensed Ringer takes a few years of dedication, but it is extremely rewarding, and it is a way for a spare time volunteer to make a significant contribution to the science of ornithology.
The BTO's publication "Ringing and Migration" (Vol. 24 Part 4, December 2009) includes the Report for the Ringing Scheme for 2008, which provides details of all ringing activity in Britain and Ireland. This report shows that in 2008 a total of some 836,000 birds were ringed, so that Rye Meads Ringing Group was responsible for a mere 0.5% of this total. The major contributions to this total come from the fully manned observatories, mostly at migration hot spots on the coast. However, Ringing Groups such as Rye Meads play a much more significant role than the mere total numbers indicate in terms of regular studies (such as our contribution to the Constant Effort Sites scheme) and in work on particular species, which in RMRG's case includes our colour ringing of wintering Chiffchaffs, Water Pipits and Green Sandpipers.
We also ring nationally significant numbers of waterfowl each year, especially of pullus. This included for example 28% of the year's Gadwalls, as well as between 2 and 5% of Tufted Duck, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Little Grebe. However, in terms of pullus, RMRG was responsible for 61% of Gadwall, 42% of Tufted Duck, and for Pochard, our two ringed ducklings again represented the grand total ringed nationally.
2010 has been an even better year for some wildfowl: for example, we have ringed 10 Shovelers - two more than the 2008 national total. To put this into perspective, if we were to make an equivalent contribution to national totals, we would need to ring 90 Jack Snipe, 140 Yellow-browed Warblers, 535 Firecrests, 21,277 Sedge Warblers, or no less than 104,368 Blue Tits!
We also achieved more than 4% of the national totals for Cuckoo, Green Sandpiper, Kingfisher, and most notably Water Pipit, our three birds being a third of the total ringed.
For warblers, we typically ringed 1-3% of the national totals, but much better for pulli: 39% of Sedge Warblers, 20% of Reed Warblers, 11% of Whitethroats, and our brood of four Grasshopper Warblers were 27% of the national total. Also in the reedbeds, we contributed 23% of the national Reed Bunting pulli.
These contributions to the Pullus totals are very important, since these are birds of precisely known origin and age, and hence recoveries of pulli are very helpful in clarifying what bird movements are really taking place.