Rufford Ranger Team: A bird in the hand.......

2014 sees the dawning of a new era for the Ranger's Team at Rufford Abbey Country Park. We are going all technical, providing you with an up to date account of events, wildlife, history and other goings on at this beautiful Country Park.

First up is something that usually happens in the early mornings, in less public areas, Bird Ringing.

Bird Ringing is undertaken to discover;

Age of birds
Weight of birds
Their wing length
Their movements

It is an integral tool in tracking the movement of birds as well as monitoring the more scarcer species and monitoring populations. A small ring is placed harmlessly on the bird's leg so it can be identified and recorded when caught again at the same or a different site.

Rufford's Events Officer (Gary) organised a Ringing demonstration led by the Birklands Ringing Group in the Wetland area of Rufford Country Park. This was to see which species of birds had been visiting the feeding stations built by the Ranger Team.

The feeding stations include a mixture of hanging feeders, platform tables and mesh cages placed on the floor. Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust kindly supplied a hopper feeder to entice birds to the area. This variety of feeding stations provides supplimentary feeding for different species of birds. Supplimentary feeding is important for birds during the winter as natural food may become scarce.

The session started at 8am and the weather was brisk but sunny. Nets were erected by the group in two locations near the feeders and then it was a waiting game.........

......after a short wait we were rewarded with some willing birds. These were prompty and safely removed from the mist nets and taken to the shelter for processing. A ring is then harmlessly put onto the bird. Each ring has a unique number which is entered into a national database with the details gathered for that bird. The bird's weight and wingspan are then measured (this can help with sexing certain species), then they are aged. Different colours on bird's wings can also help with ageing birds.