Ringing

Up to the end of 2023 a total of 136,523 birds of 180 species had been ringed on Lundy. Read more ...

Ringing coverage was the most extensive since 2000, with ringers on the island for two and a half weeks in spring and five and a half in autumn. For ten days in early autumn the focus was on Manx Shearwaters but at other times migrants dominated the catches. Despite the increased coverage, the year's total of 2,430 birds ringed was unexceptional, with poor weather limiting bird and ringer activity in some weeks. Read more ...

Ringers primarily targeting migrants were on Lundy for three and a half weeks in spring and nine weeks in autumn, while a further four weeks were spent carrying out work on Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels in summer and early autumn. This is the highest level of coverage achieved since there were ringers resident on the island in the 1970s, and the number of birds ringed in 2009 was the highest ever: a remarkable 4,924. Read more ...

After 2009’s exceptional ringing coverage and numbers of birds ringed, 2010 saw a return to more normal levels. The most remarkable feature of the year was the variety of birds caught: 62 species, making it the best since 1997. Migrant birds were ringed during one week in spring and five in autumn. There was additional coverage of one week in February and one in June, and Manx Shearwaters were the focus of attention during two weeks in early autumn. In all, 2,494 birds were ringed. Read more ...

Ringers focusing on catching migrants were on the island for 11 days in spring and six weeks in autumn. Work on Manx Shearwaters was carried out over two weeks in late August and early September, with another 10 days at the beginning of August spent fitting tracking devices to shearwaters and recovering data from them. The total number of birds ringed in the year was 2,604. Read more ...

In spring, 18 days were spent ringing migrants in April and early May. During 12 days in late May and beginning of June, there was more ringing of migrants, as well as some work on Manx Shearwaters and Wheatears. After some shearwater tracking work in mid August, chicks and adults were ringed during 17 days from late August to mid September. Small numbers of migrants were also ringed at this time, with the main autumn migrant work taking place for a week in late September and three weeks in October. Read more ...

Bird ringers visiting Lundy focused on three different projects in 2013: studying migrants, Manx Shearwaters and Wheatears. In April three weeks were spent ringing spring migrants on their way north. Then for a week at the beginning of June, Wheatears were intensively studied by day and Manx Shearwaters by night. In late August and early September, two and a half weeks were spent ringing Manx Shearwater chicks emerging from their burrows, as well as some adult shearwaters. Small numbers of migrants were also ringed during the day. In late September and October, there were a further four and a half weeks of coverage, focused on returning migrants. Read more ...

In 2014, the long-term study of Manx Shearwaters and the colour-ringing of breeding Wheatears continued. Together with the mist-netting of spring and autumn migrants, they contributed to a total of 2,112 birds being ringed. This is lower than in the previous few years, for a number of reasons, but plenty of valuable information was gained from the ringing that took place. Read more ...

2015 saw the continuation of long-term studies of Manx Shearwaters and breeding Wheatears, along with the mist-netting of spring and autumn migrants. In all, 2,823 birds were ringed, a significant increase on the 2014 total. Read more ...

In 2016, long-term ringing studies of Manx Shearwaters and breeding Wheatears continued, and spring and autumn migrants were ringed during twelve days in April and six weeks in autumn. With a total of 1,868 birds ringed, catches were lower than in 2015. This was because of significantly lower numbers of migrants caught, with ringers’ visits not generally coinciding with good conditions for migration and mist-netting. Read more ...

The 2017 ringing total of 3,254 birds was much higher than in 2016, with improved coverage and better weather conditions in spring helping to boost numbers. Ringers targeted migrants during three weeks in spring and six weeks in autumn. Three weeks in May and early June were spent continuing the long-term study of breeding Wheatears, with some night work on Manx Shearwaters also at this time. Shearwaters were targeted during two-and-a-half weeks in August and September. Read more ...

In total, 2,724 birds were ringed in 2018. In spring, ringers were on the island catching migrants for a week in late March and two and a half weeks in late April and early May. Coverage focusing on Wheatears consisted of three weeks in late May and early June, then Manx Shearwaters were the primary target for two and a half weeks from late August to mid-September, when early autumn migrants were also ringed. Migrants were then the main focus for the following two weeks, and again for four days in late October and a week in mid November. Even though ringing coverage was similar to that in 2017, catches were reduced by spells of poor weather early and late in the season. Read more ...

A total of 3,042 birds were ringed in 2019. This was an increase compared to 2018, with large numbers of migrant passerines more than compensating for a comparatively low number of Manx Shearwaters; and in spite of the disappointing shearwater total, other nocturnal work resulted in a record 61 Storm Petrels being ringed, as part of the effort to understand their breeding population on Lundy.

Visiting ringers were on Lundy for four and a half weeks from mid April to mid May, catching spring migrants. Though weather conditions were changeable, more than 1,300 birds were ringed at this stage. These were mainly warblers, with Blackcaps making up over half of them.

Three weeks in late May and early June were spent on the long-term Wheatear study, together with some night-time Manx Shearwater ringing. Then over sixteen days in late August and early September there was more shearwater ringing, along with some productive targeting of Storm Petrels by night and autumn migrants by day. Migrants were then ringed during the last two weeks of September and three days in late October. Read more ...

Inevitably, the Covid pandemic had a direct impact on bird ringing, with no visiting ringers able to operate on the island until August. This meant that work on the long-term study of Wheatears for the BTO’s RAS (Retrapping Adults for Survival) project could not be carried out. However, Dean Jones recorded sightings of 34 Wheatears that had been colour-ringed on Lundy in previous years, filling in what would otherwise be gaps in those birds’ life histories. Dean was also able to ring some spring migrants, record the Manx Shearwaters making use of nestboxes through their breeding season, and to mist-net Storm Petrels near North Light in July. We are most grateful to him for all his efforts at a time when he had so many other tasks to tackle.

With Covid restrictions easing in August, the first visiting ringers arrived in time to mist-net Storm Petrels in two more night-time sessions that month, and good numbers of Manx Shearwater chicks were ringed during two weeks in late August and early September. In these same two weeks some autumn migrants were also ringed, though the ringers’ need for sleep, after nights spent in the shearwater colonies, limited the numbers caught. Autumn migrants then became the primary targets during a further six weeks of ringing to early November.

In total, 1,977 birds were ringed in 2020. While this was lower than in most other recent years, good autumn coverage resulted in a productive year considering the difficult circumstances. The birds caught were made up of 47 species, which is close to the average for the previous ten years. For the fourth year in a row Blackcap topped the species list, with 511 ringed, followed by Manx Shearwater (319), and Goldcrest, Swallow, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler also reaching three figures. It was another record year for Storm Petrels, with 79 ringed. Read more ...

With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic less severe than in 2020, it was possible to carry out plenty of work on all the long-term ringing projects currently under way on Lundy. In addition to the single-species studies, the ringing of migrant passerines in spring and autumn was very productive. The overall ringing total for the year was 4,446, the highest since 2009.

With LFS rings now being used for the ICL and Sheffield University House Sparrow Project, an offshoot has been a new colour-ringing study looking at the breeding biology of Lundy’s Starlings, a species that is declining in the UK. Starlings and House Sparrows breed in similar habitats and Starlings are often caught incidentally when the sparrows are targeted, so much of the ringing work on both species can be carried out at the same time.

While the increased use of LFS rings on House Sparrows and Starlings clearly contributed towards the year’s high total, the numbers of migrant Blackcaps (1,148), Redwings (115) and Siskins (470) ringed broke these species’ all-time records for Lundy. Taken together with Willow Warblers (574), they made up over half of all the birds ringed. Other species with three-figure totals were Manx Shearwater, Goldcrest, Swallow, Chiffchaff, Starling, House Sparrow and Meadow Pipit. Read more ...

Unlike the previous two years, in 2022 there were no Covid-19 restrictions to affect bird ringing on Lundy. However, ringing restrictions imposed in response to another pandemic, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), affected work on Lundy’s seabirds. Just one night of Storm Petrel ringing was possible before the restrictions, and autumn Manx Shearwater ringing was also curtailed.

The year’s ringing total of 2,716 was little more than half that of 2021, but HPAI was not the main cause of this reduction. Numbers of spring migrants and of shearwaters were somewhat lower, but autumn migrants showed the largest drop, falling by about a thousand. Adverse weather conditions played a part in reducing migrant ringing. They caused the low spring numbers, despite an increase in the time for which ringers were operating (up from three weeks to nearly five); then in autumn their effect was combined with a reduction in ringing coverage (down from seven weeks to four) to reduce that season’s ringing total very significantly.

As in the previous five years, Blackcaps topped the species totals, with 753 ringed. Numbers of Manx Shearwaters (161), Swallows (202), Chiffchaffs (144), Willow Warblers (387), Sedge Warblers (101), and House Sparrows (140) also reached three figures. The most unusual catches included a Golden Plover, only the fourth to be ringed on Lundy; a Long-eared Owl and a Pallas’s Warbler were each the fifth of their species; a Cetti’s Warbler was the sixth; and two Hawfinches were the tenth and eleventh. The most notable of the other species were three Yellow-browed Warblers, two Treecreepers and a Common Rosefinch. Read more ...

At the beginning of the year, Lundy was reaccredited as part of the network of British and Irish Bird Observatories after a gap of almost 50 years. In the Observatory's first year of operation, the impressive total of 4,473 individuals of 61 species was ringed – only just shy of the all-time record of 4,924 set in 2009. Had it not been for prolonged unsettled weather in October and November, making use of mist-nets all but impossible on many days during this peak period for autumn migration, the 2009 total would almost certainly have been surpassed. There were nevertheless record annual totals for five species: Storm Petrel (551), Golden Plover (5), Jack Snipe (20), Snipe (119) and Woodcock (15) – all of these owing to a significant expansion of nocturnal survey work, including intensive use of thermal imaging equipment. Other notable totals included 66 Skylark (the highest number of fully grown individuals ever ringed on the island) and 1,004 Blackcap. Ongoing studies of the island's breeding Manx Shearwater, Starling, Wheatear and House Sparrow populations once again resulted in substantial numbers of these species being ringed. Among species under-represented in comparison with many previous years, due largely to the adverse conditions for mist-netting in autumn, were Meadow Pipit and Swallow, as well as several thrushes and finches. Read more ...