Bird Ringing in Glen Nevis

Over the last couple of years BTO licenced bird ringer John Owen has been running bird ringing events at Glen Nevis Visitor Centre. He has done this together with a group of trainee ringers, include Friends of Nevis Volunteer Kirstie Ross, who gained her C licence earlier this year, well done Kirstie! Kirstie has provided a summary of this year's work:
"We've managed ringing in February, March, May, July and August.  Siskin and Chaffinch are the birds we ring the most.  
The Siskin we are catching in Glen Nevis are proving to be exciting travellers.  Two birds we caught that already had rings on them turned out to have travelled from Aberdeenshire and Callender.  A male Siskin we ringed, travelled 606km (377 miles) all the way down to Thetford Norfolk where another ringing group caught it.  We also caught a Coal Tit ringed in the Glen by another Bird ringer which is 3 years old.  This is quite old for a little bird. 
This year we've caught a few new species - Song Thrush, Common Gull, Pied Wagtail, Bullfinch and Willow Warbler. 
Our August event was maybe a bit too hot, too sunny and probably too much natural food about as we only caught 19 new birds and retrapped 5 previously ringed birds.  It was nice to see a Goldcrest and 2 Wrens as well as a Greater Spotted Woodpecker. 
Thank you to everyone who comes along and takes an interest.  It's great for us to hear your bird watching stories."

Watch this space for dates for more ringing events running this year together with volunteer work parties