Publications

Using your data

This feature highlights some of the scientific papers that have been produced using the data that you collect through the Ringing Scheme and the Nest Record Scheme.

HAWFINCH BREEDING SUCCESS HIGHER THAN EXPECTED

The Hawfinch is one of several British woodland birds to have suffered a severe population decline, with Bird Atlas 2007–11 data showing a 76% range reduction since the 1960s. One theory for the cause of the decline is an increase in nest predation. A collaborative study between the RSPB, ringers and nest recorders in north Wales and the Welsh Borders set out to test this theory by catching female Hawfinches at feeding sites, fitting them with radio-tags, and then tracking them back to their nests. Some of the 69 nests were monitored using cameras in order to identify predators or other causes of nest failure. Breeding success averaged 36%, which was higher than the 21% found in nests monitored by the Nest Record Scheme. Such low rates of success are fairly typical across Europe, even among thriving populations of Hawfinches, so were not considered to be the major underlying cause of the species’ decline in Britain. Instead, this study suggests that drivers of the Hawfinch’s decline are operating outside of the breeding season.

Kirby, W.B. et al. (2018). Nest survival, causes of failure and productivity of British Hawfinches Coccothraustes coccothraustes. Bird Study 65: 279–289. USING CAMERA TRAPS TO RECORD COLOUR-MARKED GEESE

Many ringers are involved in colourmarking studies, and waterbirds are a popular subject. However, fitting a colour ring or a numbered ring is only the beginning, as it is the subsequent resightings that provide the valuable information on movements, survival, productivity and social behaviour. Collecting resighting data can be labour-intensive, with many studies relying on casual reports submitted by birders or other members of the public; these however, rarely provide systematic information. To help overcome this, ringers from the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust and RSPCA installed four camera traps around a feeding site in Cumbria to collect resightings of Canada and Greylag Geese fitted with numbered colour rings or neck collars. Over 100 days of automatic observation, the cameras recorded 27,289 images, generating 1,176 resightings of 159 individuals that were manually identified and logged by checking through the images. In comparison, observers using telescopes logged 216 visual resightings over the same period during visits to check the cameras, and detected only five additional birds that were not identified on the camera images. The authors concluded that camera traps have great potential for collecting resighting data.

Brides, K. et al. (2018). The use of camera traps to identify individual colour-marked geese at a moulting site. Ringing & Migration 33: 19–22. PLAYBACK FOR SURVEYING WOODLAND TITS

Small woodland birds can be difficult to survey, especially those that occur at low densities and can be hard to find. Where these species are rare or in decline, such as Willow Tit, Crested Tit or Marsh Tit, then knowing where and how many birds remain is essential for their conservation. Playback (playing recordings of call or song) can be useful for stimulating target birds to respond, but knowing what proportion of those present are detected, and how many remain silent, can be a problem. This study tested a playback survey method for Marsh Tits, based on two visits to woodland in early spring. By combining the survey with colour ringing it was possible to calculate the detection success at 96%, showing that the survey located almost all of the birds known to be present at the sites. For unringed birds, a simple protocol could estimate the number of territories, based on the locations of responding birds in the survey. The study outlines how the playback method is a simple, efficient and reliable survey method for Marsh Tits, with a similar method being adopted for the national Willow Tit survey, led by RSPB, in 2019–2020.

Broughton, R.K. et al. (2018). An efficient survey method for estimating populations of Marsh Tits Poecile palustris, a low-density woodland passerine. Bird Study 65: 299–305.