There has been an interesting recent sighting of a juvenile marsh harrier with green wing tags at Fairburn Ings. It is a juvenile male from Cantley in Norfolk. The British Trust of Ornithology (BTO) tagged him on the 1st July this year; he was one in a brood of three (two males and one female). To date the BTO have tagged 165 marsh harriers with sightings coming in from all over Britain as well as main land Europe and Western Africa.
The marsh harrier almost died out as a breeding bird in Britain, but has been recovering over the years and according to the BTO has even adapted its behaviour nesting in farmland and overwintering here.
Ringing and tagging helps to gain information on the survival, productivity and movements of birds, this helps with an understanding of why populations are changing. The British and Irish Ringing Scheme is organised by the BTO. Over 900,000 birds are ringed in Britain and Ireland each year by over 2,600 trained ringers, most of whom are volunteers.
The main focus of the Ringing Scheme is monitoring bird populations. Ringing allows the study of how many young birds leave the nest and survive to become adults, as well as how many adults survive the stresses of breeding, migration and severe weather.
Below is an example image of a young male marsh harrier with wing tags.
Male Marsh Harrier BN. The sex was determined using the Dutch foot span measurement method, which this Norfolk project have championed in the UK (c) Geoff Gowlett.
Image Accessed http://btoringing.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/marsh-harriers-strike-out-across-europe.html 02/09/14
thank you Julie its good to know some background information.