Category: Conservation
Published on: June 4th, 2025
In our new blog series, Research and Conservation Coordinator Sophie will be taking us along on her adventures as she monitors, studies and protects wildlife.
This month, Sophie gives us an insight into an early morning of bird tagging and explains why it’s an important activity that provides vital data on bird movement, health and survival, and deepens our understanding of native bird populations.
It’s 4am when we arrive and the Safari sits in silent darkness – it's peaceful and very still. While it might sound like an unholy time to be up and at work , it’s important that we get the equipment set up ready before first light, when the landscape comes alive with the dawn chorus and we hit one of the peak times for bird activity. It doesn’t bother me anyway. Not only because I’m excited by the anticipation of a, hopefully, good bird ringing session and the prospect of adding to much needed ornithological conservation data, but also because it feels extra special being at the Safari during these early hours.
Just as you get the dawn chorus of birds the Safari has a chorus of its own, the highlight of which is listening to the deep roars of our lion pride roll out through the early morning air. The novelty of listening to those calls while we make our way to the day’s surveying location will never lose its charm.
Once we reach the chosen spot, we change into our wellies, don our headtorches (plus a million layers of extra clothing if it's the cold of mid-winter) and start setting out the mist nets. These nets get their name from their appearance – they are so fine and lightweight that they look almost like mist. We string them between two poles with horizontal lines strung to create loose pockets into which the birds fall when they come into contact with the nets.
Getting the nets set up correctly, removing the birds, and handling them while simultaneously putting on the rings, before then taking all the measurements requires a lot of skill, practice and assessment that cannot be conducted by just anyone. To do this you legally need a license issued by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and this is where our expert volunteer Anthony Spicer comes in, without whom none of this would be possible.
I asked Anthony to tell us a little bit about how he got into bird ringing.
“My name’s Anthony Spicer and I am a fully licensed bird ringer under the BTO. I am part of the Merseyside Ringing Group which operates within Merseyside, Cheshire and parts of North Wales.
“My journey to become a bird ringer started when some work colleagues invited me to go bird watching with them, and from there my passion for birds and their conservation began. I began volunteering as a trainee bird ringer in 2021 and trained three times a week for two years to obtain my permit. Once I had my permit and was able to ring independently, I enquired about ringing at Knowsley Safari. Thankfully Sophie was on hand to get us set up within the park, and we are already seeing some interesting data coming through from the ringing. Currently I hold a license to conduct mist netting and nest box hatchlings, but I can continue training to obtain licenses for a range of other survey methods.”
The data gathered by ringers like Anthony is invaluable to both ornithological conservation and the scientific community. Each bird is fitted with a uniquely numbered lightweight ring, which allows it to be identified if it’s ever recovered again or spotted by surveyors. This is easier in the case of larger birds like waterfowl, which typically have bigger, easier to read rings.
Once the ring is securely fitted, other details about the individual are also recorded such as species, age, sex, weight and wing length, as well as any evidence of breeding. All this data is uploaded to the BTO database, allowing researchers to not only track the movements of birds, which is especially useful for migratory species, but it also means we can keep tabs on the history of each bird. Whether this is monitoring their weight and health over winter, or gaining insights into their survival, all data gathered is vital in informing conservation practices. With approximately one million birds rung each year in Britain alone, by 3,000 BTO licenses ringers, their efforts make a huge difference.
Once the equipment is in place and the sun starts to come out, it’s time to open the nets to their full height and then we retreat out of sight, get settled in our camping chairs and wait. The time at which we ring our first bird, the length of time between each, and how many we get in total varies every time depending on location, time of year and weather – although we don’t ring in wet or windy conditions.
We started ringing here at Knowsley Safari in July 2024 and in that time, we have conducted 12 sessions, ringing 76 birds across 18 species, with repeat recoveries for 12 different individuals, all aiding us in tracking the collection of species on site.
We spend the time between each check of the nets planning new bird ringing opportunities and Anthony goes over the different technical terms or ways of identifying different but visually similar species with me, and I can now spot the subtle variations between chiffchaffs and willow warblers.
By 10am the sun is much higher in the sky, the temperature has started to pick up and bird activity has slowed down, so it’s time to pack down the equipment and head back to the office. On this occasion we had a very successful morning. It was our first time trying out a new location, which can always be a bit of an unknown, however we recorded 15 different birds from seven species, including one new species for our records – a willow warbler.
