Lancaster University lecturer joins bird ringing revival at RSPB Leighton Moss

Dr Stuart Sharp is part of a team playing its role in international bird conservation efforts

2 hours ago

A Lancaster University lecturer has joined a bird ringing revival at RSPB Leighton Moss.

Dr Stuart Sharp, an animal ecologist and senior lecturer at Lancaster Environment Centre, comprises part of a wider team playing a role in conservation efforts.

A skilled group of licensed bird ringers have resumed their efforts to monitor local bird life, and this is the first time bird ringing has taken place at local nature reserve RSPB Leighton Moss since the coronavirus pandemic, the BBC reports.

The team catch the birds using specialist nets set up across the reserve, before a tiny ring is manually attached to each animal’s ankle. The ring features a unique ID tag number.

It’s taken Mr Godden, assistant warden at Leighton Moss, years to reach the end of his training.

He said: “It’s quite intensive, it’s not just about putting the ring on the bird, even putting up the nets is many, many, many sessions of learning there.”

Stuart explained how once the birds are released, somebody else would ideally catch and record the location of them, so the team could see the distance they’d travelled.

A sedge warbler wearing a Belgian ring was recently found in the nets at Leighton Moss. By submitting its unique number to Belgium’s ringing scheme, Stuart hopes the team will soon find out where the warbler has traveled from.

The data will form part of a global picture of bird migration, helping researchers in their conservation efforts.

Fitting the rings doesn’t negatively impact the birds because it weighs less than a wristwatch, when calculated by a human’s proportions.