In the year (2009) that the BTO celebrates 100 years of ringing in Great Britain, it is appropriate that our Society should finally get a ringing section on its web site.

As a Devon organisation, we can be proud of the fact that we have been a part of this important research activity since the beginning. It was recorded in British Birds (Vol. III 1909-10) that a Curlew ringed in Devon in June 1909 was recovered on Dartmoor in October that same year.

We have come a long way since those early days, with several individual ringers trapping over 1,000 birds a year and one ringer exceeding 2,900 birds ringed in a single year for the first time in Devon (Devon Bird Report 2007, Vol. 80:2008). Total ringing numbers for 2008 (the last full year for which records are complete) are 20,130 birds of 99 species.

Ringing is a vital part of ornithological research and Devon ringers have played their part. However, it is not the intention here to go into the reasons and continued importance of ringing as this is very well expressed on the BTO web site.

Indeed, the BTO site contains a huge amount of useful information for and about ringing and ringers and is highly recommended.

This section of the Devon Birds web site will concentrate on reporting on ringing projects within Devon and south-west England and will provide news and reports on current ringing activities and the members who carry out and run ringing projects and groups.

There are currently approximately 26 individual ringers actively working in Devon (2008/9 figures), with a further three major groups of ringers concentrated at Slapton Ley and South Milton Ley in South Devon and the Axe Estuary Ringing Group in East Devon. All of these groups can be contacted by email using the links.

Finally, please do not forget that ringing returns are vital pieces of information. If you find a ringed bird, please report it. This can be done by contacting the Ringing Unit at www.ring.ac

Related Quicknotes

Most of you will know that our previous Vice-Chairman, Nik Ward, is currently working at the Broome Bird Observatory in Western Australia. His blog 'nikinoz' has a wonderful selection of pictures and is well worth a visit.

You might also like to see his previous blog 'Slapton Bird Observatory Ringing Group' which hopefully, will have new postings very soon or at least when Nik returns in May 2010.