Tuesday 15 April – Chew Valley Ringing Station Leader: Graham Blacker

To celebrate the 1,500th Tuesday walk, we enjoyed a very interesting and informative three hours, when 45 members visited the Chew Valley Lake Ringing Station. We met, and spent time both before and after, at Herriotts Bridge, where there was a wide variety of birds seen, including Little Gull, Little Ringed Plover, Bittern, Pintail, Green
Sandpiper, Marsh Harrier and Little Egret. At the ringing station we were shown what is done by the volunteer staff, who are BTO trained and licensed. We were fascinated to see how the individual birds are looked at in detail, all their biometrics recorded and then sent to the National Database. This includes their weight, length and condition
of wings and feathers, age, sex, whether showing any signs of ongoing moult and crucially noting the number on their ring and if it is a replacement or a first ring. We observed a number of small birds being processed, including Cetti’s Warbler, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Song Thrush and Blackcap. Each carried an aluminium alloy ring before
release. A number were already ringed. The ringing is done throughout the summer, weather permitting, enabling the station to be classed as “a Constant Effort Site”, and 2-3,000 birds are processed annually here. A splendid celebration cake, iced with the BOC logo was provided by Graham. Many thanks to Chris Craig and the expert volunteers for hosting us, and to Graham for leading.  Species total was 43.   Sue Watson