RINGERS' ROUNDUP

Thank you very much to the many ringers, ringing groups, birders and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) who provided the information for this latest round up. Thanks also to the many bird watchers and folk who take the time and trouble to read rings in the field or find dead ringed birds and report them.

If you have any interesting ringing recoveries, articles, wee stories, project updates or requests for information which you would like to be included in the next issue, please email to Raymond Duncan at rduncan393@outlook.com.

For lots more exciting facts, figures, numbers and movements log on to http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/ringing/publications/online-ringing-reports.

Update on the effects of the fire in Tay Reedbeds in April 2020

A huge fire burned large areas of the Tay Reedbeds on 27 April 2020; this involved approximately 50% of the best areas for breeding birds. Two Marsh Harrier nests were burned out and many Bearded Tits and Water Rail nests were lost. Amazingly at least some of the first broods of Bearded Tits managed to escape the fire, and were seen feeding in the area the following day.

Despite the fire damage, the long term effects appear to have greatly improved the habitat, by removing areas of old reed. This allowed the RSPB, who lease much of the reedbeds, to extend the areas managed. This has resulted in a large increase in the number of breeding Water Rails, which will be fully assessed when the three year study is completed later this year.

Tay Ringing Group have for many years monitored the breeding population of Bearded Tits as part of the BTO’s Re-trapping Adults for Survival (RAS) Survey. We mist net at four sites from March to September. The numbers trapped at the most easterly site had been decreasing, probably due to changes in the areas managed, so it was decided that in 2022 we would abandon that site and use a new site near the most westerly site. The new site had been used for catching Beardies in the autumn and winter but had rarely been used during the breeding season.

During our RAS visits we catch many birds which are not specifically targeted, but all are ringed and processed. The data are passed to the RSPB which allows them to assess the results of their management and to make any changes necessary to keep the habitat in prime condition for breeding birds. Whilst it is not possible to detail the changes in all of the species using the reedbeds, it is possible to briefly look at the changes in numbers of two of the breeding species over the past five years.

Bearded Tit

Since first being recorded on the Tay in the early 1990s the numbers of birds trapped has varied widely, with irregular peaks and troughs, but the numbers had steadily increased and I have no doubt that they have benefited greatly from the management of the RSPB. I have looked at the data for the period 2018 to 2022 as I feel that gives a good enough indication of the situation. The numbers were obviously badly affected by the pandemic in 2020 when we were unable to ring for much of the breeding season, and the aforementioned fire. To compensate for this we carried out additional sessions after the RAS period and this continued in 2021 and 2022.

Table 1. Shows the number of new birds ringed and the total number of captures that year.

2018 2019 20202021 2022

New Birds 424 259 221 607 1000

Total Captures 581 354 345 915 1846

Clearly 2022 was an exceptional year for Bearded Tits and provided our best ever catch on 21 October, when there were 217 captures between two of our sites.

It is not possible to say at this stage exactly what the breeding population is, as the data are