West Midlands Ringing Group

13/10/2026

Definitely ones for everyone’s consideration

🦔🤍👻 If you are decorating for Halloween. Consider Wildlife 🦇🐦
❗️🕸️ Please do not use these fake webs outside 🕷️
🦔 At the bottom hedgehogs can become entangled, badly injured and die ☠️
-They are also a danger to birds, bats, moths, insects and other wildlife.
-Plus it is non-biodegradable, so just ends up in landfill after use.
-Always think "wildlife" when you decorate
🦔 Maybe make some ghostly hedgehog bunting, or witchy hedgehog window stickers 🧙
✅ Please share to raise awareness...

>>> Full post link, with info in comments https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=963382192497355&set=a.1269782346435187

🎃 Please also do not dump your pumpkins after decorative use

🤍 🦔

04/10/2026

Proud of the team for supporting this operation and the recovery of 13 birds of prey who are all being looked after and are doing well.

01/10/2026

🖤 An incredible Blackbird movement, but sadly, a tragic end.

A Blackbird originally ringed by us in West Worcestershire in November 2024 has turned up an incredible 937 km (582 miles) away in Konsmo, Norway 🇳🇴.

Sadly, the bird was found dead on 1st September 2026, having become trapped in garden netting.

While it’s always difficult to receive recoveries like this, the record provides a fascinating insight into just how far some of our Blackbirds can travel.

From West Worcestershire to southern Norway, 937 km as the crow flies! 🐦

A really interesting, if incredibly sad, recovery of a stunning bird. 🖤

26/09/2026

Yesterday we had the absolute privilege of visiting a private site in Birmingham, where a very special species has returned year after year to breed, much to the delight of several enthusiastic local birders. 🐦

Thanks to the fantastic support of the site owners, we’ve been invited to colour-ring these birds, giving us a unique opportunity to understand how they move around Birmingham, how many breeding pairs there may be across the city, and ultimately how successful they are at raising young.

And what a privilege it was to start the project with Birmingham’s Black Redstart. ❤️🖤

Our first bird was this stunning adult male, now proudly carrying the colour-ring combination HB.

Every colour-ring sighting will help build a much bigger picture of this fascinating population — so if you’re lucky enough to spot one, keep an eye out for those rings! 👀🔭

A brilliant start to what we hope will be a really exciting project. 🐦📍

23/09/2026

A pleasant training session at Marsh Lane on Sunday 🐦

A few Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs were still hanging around, taking advantage of the site to feed and build up reserves for the journey ahead.

The highlight was catching both a new male and female Cetti’s Warbler, always a great result and particularly interesting as we continue to monitor Cetti’s numbers at Marsh Lane year on year.

It’s a fascinating little site, especially given it’s only a stone’s throw from Birmingham Airport ✈️🌿

Another reminder of the wildlife that can thrive in some unlikely places.

21/09/2026

Sharing on behalf of another group, please support them if you can.

19/09/2026

🔥 What a session at Twycross! 🔥

A proper cracker of a ringing session today, with 96 birds processed 86 new birds and 10 retraps. 🐦

Even better, we added 5 new species to the Twycross Zoo list! 🎉

The Chiffchaffs were certainly on the move, with a fantastic 34 ringed, alongside:

🦅 Kestrel – 1
🦗 Grasshopper Warbler – 1
🐦 Cetti’s Warbler – 1
🐦 Lesser Whitethroat – 1
🌳 Treecreeper – 1
🐦 Reed Warbler – 1
🐦 Robin – 8 (2 retraps)
🐦 Wren – 4
🐦 Chiffchaff – 34
🐦 Blackcap – 8
🐦 Dunnock – 1 (1 retrap)
🐦 Long-tailed Tit – 7
🐦 Blue Tit – 18 (5 retraps)
🐦 Great Tit – 2

A brilliant mix of species and a great indication that migration is really gathering pace. 🍂

And those five new species for the site make this one particularly special. You never quite know what the next net round is going to bring! 🔬🪶

13/09/2026

🖤🧢 We always love hearing where our birds end up!

One of our juvenile male Blackcaps, ringed by WMRG Twycross Zoo Nature Reserve on 19 August 2026, has just been recaptured by fellow ringers 246 km (153 miles) away at Portland Bill Bird Observatory in Dorset.

That’s an impressive journey in just a few weeks, and Portland Bill is likely to be one of this little Blackcap’s final stops in the UK before it heads south for the winter. 🌍

For us, these recoveries are what make bird ringing so rewarding. A tiny bird caught, ringed and released at Twycross, then turning up 153 miles away on the south coast, gives us another piece of the puzzle about how our birds move.

A fantastic recovery for Twycross Zoo Nature Reserve and us. A huge thank you to the ringers at Portland Bill for catching and reporting it! 👏

Where will it turn up next? 🌍🐦

07/09/2026

🌙 Another fantastic evening at Marsh Lane Nature Reserve, Solihull! 🐦

Two more Nightjars were safely ringed this evening as they continue their incredible migration journey, taking our total to 9 Nightjars ringed since 2021, with a minimum of 12 individuals recorded at the reserve. 💚

These encounters highlight just how important protected nature reserves are, particularly in landscapes undergoing major development such as the HS2 corridor.

But they also leave us with some fascinating questions…

🌍 Where are these Nightjars coming from?
🐦 Why are we consistently encountering juvenile birds?
🧭 What routes are they taking on their incredible journeys?

There is still so much we don’t know.

Thankfully, we have some exciting projects in the pipeline that we hope will start to provide the answers — following these remarkable birds beyond the UK and uncovering more about their secretive lives.

For now, we’ll keep watching, listening and learning. 🌙

The more we understand, the better we can protect them.

05/09/2026

🌾✨ A fantastic start to our Dazzling season in Wolverhampton! ✨🌾

What a way to kick things off! This week we’ve had an incredible 39 Skylarks ringed, along with two birds already carrying rings from previous years at the same site. 🐦

But what makes this work particularly exciting is what happens after dark…

Thermal imaging has completely changed our understanding of what goes on across farmland at night. Birds that would otherwise be virtually invisible can be located, monitored and safely caught for ringing — giving us a fascinating insight into their movements, behaviour and survival.

Every bird adds another piece to the puzzle, and with returning birds providing valuable information year after year, we’re building an increasingly detailed picture of this important farmland population.

39 new birds. 2 familiar faces. And plenty more to discover.

Really exciting times for Skylark research! 🔥🐦