The Godwit Club

The amazing International Schools Godwit Project links children and birds from Iceland, Ireland and the UK. Children from all three countries are learning about bird migration and ecology and at the same time they are helping scientists in their study of the species. Many Black-tailed Godwits are being colour marked in their breeding grounds -Iceland- so their movements and home ranges can be traced by birdwatchers and scientists!
The Topsham Primary School Godwit Club has been meeting weekly after school to study the amazing migration patterns of the Icelandic Black-tailed Godwits. Last week they met up with David Lindo and a BBC filming crew and went searching for wintering coloured marked Godwits, and it seems that they had a lot of fun too!
If you want to know more about this great project don't miss this week's BBC's Countryfile, on Sunday 12th December 2010, or visit the schools' update by clicking here.
Reporting colour ringed birds is very important as it helps in the understanding of their ecology, which can be used in the future for their conservation. So please, next time you spot a colour ringed bird make sure that you make a note and contact us here.

More ringing on the BBC

Way back in the spring we filmed a bit about the history of ringing for BBC in the east. This is now available and gives a nice introduction to ringing more generally, and also has a look back at how the original ringing records were stored!



Thanks to Sue Wilkinson at the BBC Inside Out team for getting us access and permission to show this more widely!

Ringing on AutumnWatch

After our appearance on SpringWatch in... the spring... there will be a bit of a ringing focus on AutumnWatch this evening.

The team have been out filming recently in various parts, with Martin training to ring in Sussex and Kate and Chris seeing it in action at Portland Bird Observatory in Dorset (below). So keep an eye out for us on BBC2 later this evening - 9pm.

Ringing on Springwatch!

Just a very quick post so people can keep an eye out for a piece on ringing which will be on Springwatch either tomorrow (Thursday) or Friday.

We filmed a Constant Effort ringing session at Pensthorpe this morning with Chris Packham and two young helpers, and actually managed to catch a good variety of birds. So tune in to see Sedge Warblers, Chaffinches and maybe even my ugly mug!