The main aim of ringing birds is the hope that they are caught or found again, thereby giving information regarding their movements, survival and potentially breeding success. Such data contribute towards studies of population changes and our understanding of species declines, growths and changes in range.

Since the British and Irish Ringing Scheme was ‘hatched’ in 1909, nearly 50 million birds have been ringed and over one million have been recovered (recaught alive or found dead) – i.e. the chances of a ringed bird being recovered are little more than 2%. Despite such low odds, sufficient birds have been recovered to reveal a lot about their migration routes, population dynamics, etc.

When the Ringing Scheme began, the legend that Swallows hibernated through the winter at the bottom of ponds was not long dead. The first recovery of a Swallow in South Africa came as soon into the Ringing Scheme as 1912. Now, we almost take such feats of migration for granted, but at the time such realisation was outstanding. There have been many recoveries since of Swallows ringed in western Europe being found in central and southern Africa. One of the greatest distances involving a bird from the WMBC Region was a bird ringed at Bedworth in September 1966 and found in Uganda the following December, 6,359km (3,815 miles) away and 84 days later.

Some species are quite long lived – these tend to be larger species, take several years to reach maturity or have low productivity rates. The oldest known British bird is a Manx Shearwater, ringed as an adult female at the Club’s “very own bird observatory”, Bardsey Island, in May 1957 and recaught there several times since, the last time being in May 2008, 51 years after ringing. Manx Shearwaters typically breed when five years old, and this bird was a breeding bird when first caught, so she must have been at least 56 years old in 2008. Manx Shearwaters winter in the south Atlantic, typically off South America, up to 10,000km (6,000 miles) away. This female could well have flown over 1,000,000km (600,000 miles) during migration alone. Perhaps even more remarkable, she would have returned to the exact same nesting burrow each spring and bred with the same male during their respective lives.

Our largest bird, the Mute Swan, is also long-lived. The oldest known was just over 29 years when recaught in Dorset having been ringed there as a first-year bird. There has been a long tradition of ringing Mute Swans across the Region, and “our” oldest was an adult ringed at Stratford-on-Avon in February 1995 and found dead near Stourport-onSevern in June 2021, 26 years and three months later. Being ringed as an adult, it would already have been at least three years old when ringed. Mute Swans are regarded as being quite sedentary, and often they are, but several British birds have been found abroad and vice versa. Another adult ringed at Gailey Reservoir in August 1988 was found dead in Denmark in February 1990, having flown some 764m (458 miles).

At the opposite end of the size scale, until recently a WMBC reserve held the record for Britain’s oldest Goldcrest – a first-year bird ringed at Blithfield Reservoir in October 2011 26 and recaught there in November 2016, just over five years and one month later. This has since been exceeded by two months by a firstyear bird ringed in Wiltshire in November 2015 and recaught on the Isles of Scilly in March 2021.

Each autumn/winter, Britain experiences an influx of migrating birds from continental Europe, with Goldcrests forming part of the mix. A bird ringed in Estonia in September 2019 was recaught near Great Malvern in that December, having flown 1,811km (1,086 miles) in little more than two and a half months.

Redwings are another familiar autumn migrant, with hundreds of thousands of birds reaching our shores each year. Birds ringed across the region have been recovered as far east as Russia, including a bird caught on Cannock Chase in October 2016 and with only its ringed leg found in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, in July 2018, two years and three months later and a distance of 3,784km (2,270 miles) – see map. Redwings have also been recovered in the opposite direction as far as Spain, showing that they don’t all stay to winter in Britain – one ringed at Chillington in November 2016 was found dead near Cadiz in December 2017, 1,793km (1,075 miles) away. Both birds potentially returned to their breeding grounds in northern Eurasia after ringing and migrated westwards again the following autumn(s). One that sadly didn’t return was ringed near Nuneaton in January 1963 and found dead on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean just three days later and 2,428km (1,457 miles) away, demonstrating that not all migrants heading westwards from Britain make landfall!

Some species are also fitted with colour rings in addition to a metal ring, which allows them to be identified in the field. Water birds are commonly fitted with colour rings, which can be read when perched or stood on the ground or ice.

Since 2008, the Waterbird Colour-marking Group has co-ordinated the colour-ringing of Coot to better understand their movements, site-fidelity and survival. Over 3,600 birds have been fitted with a white ring bearing three letters or numbers, although older birds were fitted with a combination of plain colour rings. Several birds have been ringed at Westport Lake, with some noted there eight years later, though the oldest was an adult ringed in November 2010 and still present in November 2021. Not all Coots are site faithful though: an adult ringed in Dorset in 2005 remained at the same site until January 2014 at least, but suddenly appeared at Belvide Reservoir in August 2014, a distance of 232km (140 miles) and the greatest movement within Britain and Ireland. Of birds ringed at Shrawley in February 1963, several were recovered abroad, the most distant being one found dead in Germany in January 1964, 923km (554 miles) away.

Gulls are an excellent group for generating recoveries – they are long-lived, stand in the open, can be approachable and are the subject of several colour-ringing schemes. Several species have been noted moving between Britain and Europe, and vice versa.

Two first-year Black-headed Gulls ringed in Staffordshire have both been recovered in Russia, some 2,000km (1,200 miles) to the east: one ringed at Blithfield Reservoir in February 1975 and found in March 1989 and one ringed Westport Lake in January 2015 and found in May 2016. Several birds have also been noted going the other way, not least a first-year ringed at Droitwich in January 1979 found dead near Moscow in June 1982, having flown 2,535km (1,521 miles). Perhaps these birds had been raised in Russia, wintered in Britain and returned to Russia to breed?

Several Herring Gulls ringed as chicks or immatures in Russia have also been noted in the Region during subsequent winters, the greatest distances involving one ringed in July 1961 and seen near Stratford-upon-Avon in February 1965, and another ringed in June 1985 and seen at Major’s Green in January 1987, both having flown over 2,500km (1,500 miles).

From a different direction, two nestling Yellow-legged Gulls, one ringed in Spain in June 2005 was seen at Belvide Reservoir just two months later, and another ringed in France in May 1999 was seen at Cannock in October 2005 and Stubber’s Green in October 2009, distances of over 1,120km (672 miles).

Reading rings can add a different dimension to your birding, gives you an insight into the bird’s life history and contributes to our collective understanding of migration and population dynamics. If you do read a bird ring in the field or otherwise find a ringed bird, you can submit the details here https://app.bto.org/euring/lang/pages/rings.jsp and in due course you will receive details about the bird’s history.