Give us a ring some time

Much excitement down at the National Trust Plymbridge Woods last week at the Plym Peregrine viewing point at Cann Quarry.


This year's peregrine chicks were old enough to be handled so they were ringed on Saturday. Dale Jackson, a trained ringer, licensed by the British Trust of Ornithology, abseiled down to the nest and put small, lightweight rings on the chicks’ legs. The female peregrine was in a tree at the time and the male nowhere to be seen. The female showed some concern when the ringer approached the nest but had been more bothered by another peregrine entering her territory earlier in the day.

The whole process was very quick and painless for the chicks and lasted no more than 10 minutes. The female peregrine was back on the nest within 20 minutes of Dale leaving and has since shown normal behaviour - feeding the chicks regulary and leaving them alone on the nest for short periods of time. She probably wondered what on earth was going on but has not been affected by the disturbance.

Dale reported that both chicks were doing well and was able to tell us that we have one female and one male chick. The female is already the larger of the two.

Peregrines and many other birds are often fitted with rings on their legs to aid conservation efforts. The rings on our chicks will allow us to identify them as Plym peregrines. Perhaps in a few years’ time we will receive news that our chicks have gone on to breed successfully somewhere else in the country or maybe they will return to breed in Cann Quarry if the territory becomes available.

With the ability to identify individual birds we can gather more information about their movements, habits and breeding which all goes to help inform conservation measures to protect them. This could complete the picture for the Plym Peregrine Project by allowing us to confirm that our chicks survive into adulthood, making our efforts to protect the peregrines that extra bit more worthwhile.

To find out more about ringing visit the BTO website http://www.bto.org/ringing/index.htm
Find out more about the National Trust Plym peregrines at http://www.plym-peregrines.co.uk/