About the project

We have consulted with the British Trust for Ornithology, who actively encourage the monitoring of Red List species such as the House Sparrow, and this project had been registered with them as a Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) scheme, using ringing and colour-ringing birds to enable them to be individually identified by bird ringers, birdwatchers, or members of the public.The birds are captured (under licence) and are fitted with a BTO metal ring on their right leg, and with a colour ring on the left leg. The colour ring has a code (the rings are Black, with White lettering, and the code is 2 digits either numbers or letters) that can be easily read using binoculars. Anybody seeing a House Sparrow with a colour ring can contact us at shetlandsparrows@gmail.com. We need to know the code on the ring, and the date and place you saw it. Many thanks for your help!

Thanks to the support of the following:

Shetland Ringing Group for supplying the metal rings for this project

The Shetland Wildlife Fund for covering the cost of buying the colour rings

Plantiecrub Garden Centre and Shop (www.plantiecrub.co.uk) for supplying bird feeders and wild bird seed

Shetland Walking and Wildlife (www.shetlandwalkingandwildlife.co.uk) for allowing Graham time to put his surveying and bird ringing skills to good use

Tuesday, 8 January 2013

Full feeders

Had a short ringing session this morning at one of my sites in Walls.

There were about 60 House Sparrows feeding on the new feeders I got from Plantiecrub yesterday, along with 30-odd Starlings. Also on the same site 8 Rock Doves and a Moorhen pecked around for food.

Rain soon stopped play with the bird ringing, but not before I had 6 Starlings caught, weighed, measured, ringed and released. No House Sparrows though, which was a shame.

Walls, and one of my ringing sites

Later, I popped round to the other good ringing site in Walls to put up a couple of the feeders there. A pair of Great Tits and a load of Starling soon found the feeders, so hopefully when I return to have a go at ringing at the site, in better weather, the House Sparrows will be there too!




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