Devon and Cornwall Wader Ringing Group

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  1. The Devon & Cornwall Wader Ringing Group (SCWRG) will only collect and hold data lawfully, clearly and transparently.
  2. The DCWRG Membership Form is the basis of the group’s record of members’ data, but we may also consult the Royal Mail and other databases to verify details of any postal addresses that members provide.
  3. By ‘data’ we mean:
    • membership details (name address, telephone numbers)
    • ringers details
    • details of financial transactions
  4. We will only collect data for specific identified purposes and not then use it for any other purpose.
  5. We will only collect data that is adequate for the purpose and no more.
  6. We will only make use of accurate and up-to-date data.
  7. There is a concomitant responsibility for members to inform the DCWRG of any changes in their own details.
  8. Members’ personal data will not be used to record any aspect of their bank account or other financial information, apart from a simple payment record.
  9. We will ensure that storage of data is secure and kept for no longer than is necessary for the immediate purpose.
  10. Members have a legal right to access any data the Trust might hold about them.
  11. We will never sell personal data to any third party.
  12. Personal data will be accessible only to the smallest possible number of DCWRG members that is compatible with efficient use of that data.

DCWRG - 8 February 2020

Aims

The aims of the Devon and Cornwall Wader Ringing Group are to study the wading birds that live in, or pass through, Devon and Cornwall.

We hope to undertake fieldwork approximately once a month, mainly at weekends, involving either mist-netting or the use of a cannon net. Members of the group live across Britain, although many are based in Devon. A key site for fieldwork is the Exe Estuary and in particular Dawlish Warren National Nature Reserve, where we have a project on colour ringed Oystercatcher.

Birds are marked with individually numbered metal leg rings and, to aid relocation without the need to recapture them, with colour rings. Under special license we are also fitting GPS tags to a small number of birds to help understand the way they use the habitats around the estuary through the winter and at different states of the tide.

Links

The Dawlish Warren Recording Group publish regular updates on the birds seen at Dawlish Warren.

The county bird clubs are Devon Birds and the Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society.

Bird ringing in Britain is licensed and coordinated by The British Trust for Ornithology. More information on why we ring birds and why we use colour marks on our study species can be found here. Bird ringing in Europe is coordinated by EURING.

The definitive database of all colour-marking schemes for waders in Europe and the East Atlantic flyway is available on the International Wader Study Group website. All editions of their publications (Wader Study, Wader Study Group Bulletin and International Wader Studies) are available online

For species other than waders the European colour-ring Birding website, voluntarily maintained by Dirk Raes, should be useful.

Join us

The group welcomes volunteer ringers from anywhere who are interested in taking part in the fieldwork, although membership of the group is open to all, whether or not you hold a bird-ringing license. Please bear in mind that we need to have a good balance of experience across the team for each session, but we do our best to accommodate and train the less experienced.

The current membership fee is £5 per year, running from November to October. You can register and join here.

Acknowledgements

The group operates with the excellent support of Teignbridge District Council and Devon Wildlife Trust as landowners of Dawlish Warren. Warren Golf Club kindly allow access across their land.

We are also grateful to he RSPB and David King for allowing us to operate on their land at Exminster Marshes and to Torridge District Council for co-ordinating permissions at Northam Burrows.

The value of the projects would not be fully realised without the excellent re-sighting work undertaken and publicised by the Dawlish Warren Recording Group.

We are grateful to Natural England for funding the rings and GPS tags, and for providing staff time for ongoing management of the projects. We are also grateful to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) for staff time for fitting the GPS tags, organising the project and dealing with data. Devon Birds have generously provided some funding for colour rings.

Header images on this website are licensed under the Creative Commons license by the photographers.

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