Far too much bird ringing

Agree with everything you say indeed some ringers only do ringing in my opinion from how they talk about the thrill of holding a bird just for that reason.

Please note I said some ringers and for sure there are lots of responsible ones it just seems to have got completely out of hand and surely if bird organisations cannot act responsibly we need some stiff rules from someone like DEFRA.

This thread is making me uncomfortable. We are all entitled to our opinion of course but in my limited experience of ringing I know one person who does this and I have total and utter respect for him. I trust totally that he does this task with experience behind him, with care and love for the birds and you just need to look at the photos he posts of the various birds to see they are not traumatised or scared and are obviously none the worse for the experience.

I am out all today so will not be responding again.

Regards

Pipit

You mean that there are some birds that are not ringed?  (banded in the USA) How odd!

I'm completely with Pipit on this. Let's just say that I'm more pro ringing than anti ringing.

I also agree with Pipit. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but unless they have scientific evidence to prove their thesis against the policies of professional bodies and have it peer reviewed in scientific journals such as those published by the BTO, I am not inclined to follow them.

I will not be making any more contribution to this thread and would like to see a response from one of our Moderators.

Regards,

Andy

Unknown said:

I also agree with Pipit. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but unless they have scientific evidence to prove their thesis against the policies of professional bodies and have it peer reviewed in scientific journals such as those published by the BTO, I am not inclined to follow them.

I absolutely agree.

Paul, interesting statement.

 "Far to much bird ringing"

"What a load of utter whitewash. There is no way you could get that information for those particular species from ringing. I'm sorry but this is just a pseudo-scientific smokescreen".

Ringing needs more regulation from outside the BTO. And I'm not just referring to the ringers licensing scheme. I would have expected the RSPB,  the royal society for the Protection of birds, to be voicing their disapproval. Being caught in a net, handled and then ringed is a pretty traumatic experience, and when performed inappropriately, amounts to cruelty in my opinion.

Strong statements based on what?

I take it you have done your homework and countless studies to make such strong statements and it's great to see that you are also aware of the regulations that are in place.

An activity that has been carried out for 100yrs desribed as cruel, inappropriate, traumatic, handled and caught in a net.

Now even a layman like me would be asking the question if it was all you say it is, then why after 100yrs are we still doing it.

You are entitled to your opinion, based on the fact you may not agree with ringing!

I would suggest you read the data, before voiceing your opinion.

The data gives clear precise information on the 25 species of these, three are on the 'Red list' of the Birds of Conservation Concern (BOCC) document (Song Thrush, Willow Tit and Linnet) and five are Amber-listed (Dunnock, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Bullfinch and Reed Bunting).  The other species are Wren, Robin, Blackbird, Cetti's Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Long-tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Treecreeper, Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Goldfinch.

This is my opinion as I'm also a very opinionated person.

" Ignorance plays a major part if somene is biased and knows nothing about the agenda, there is always two sides to the coin"

I could provide you with all the relevant data and the on-line links, but I feel that I would be wasting my time and effort!!

As far as expecting the RSPB to voice their disaproval again I would expect that someone who has been a member for 20 years would also know that the RSPB is a conservation society not a welfare society and fully supports and works in conjuction with the BTO and numerous other organizations.

The RSPB regularly uses ringing as a monitoring and research tool to aid in their conservation work and ringing has allowed ornithologists to discover invaluable life history information on many species such as the kind of habitats they require and where they go if they migrate.

On your website under About Me:- You make comments with regards to a Manx Shearwater, it's migration and longevity.

How do you think this data was collated. Someone just happened to recognise this bird and keep an eye on it for 50yrs.

Buzzard

There will be always those for and those again't.

Don't close it on my account!!

In my opinion Buzzard has said it all, but I'm always up for healthy debate. If, as Pipit says, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, a thread should not be closed just because some peoples opinion makes other people feel uncomfortable.

 But this is just MY opinion...

El