The wise old great tit



The bird ringing equipment - ruler for measuring wing length, tiny scales for weighing the birds, different sizes of rings and log books for all the results.


Richard was at Gibside again yesterday, carrying out more bird ringing at the stables.  We had a good day, catching a robin, blackbirds, a jay, treecreeper and a goldcrest.  Five great tits were caught, all of them recaptures (they already had rings on and had been ringed on previous sessions).  Richard recognised one of the ring numbers as quite an old one, and when he checked it out, he found out that the great tit had been ringed at nearby Lockhaugh Constant Effort Site on 11th July 2002.  That makes the great tit at least 9 years old!  The typical life span of a great tit is 3 years.

Since it was ringed, 9 years, 5 months and 9 days have passed, 4 years short of the record for great tits which is 13 years, 11 months and 5 days.

We can only find out information like this through bird ringing and recapture, and it is proving to give us some very interesting results.

Richard will be here again next Wednesday, and everyone is welcome to come along to the stables court yard to see the birds he catches and watch him ringing.



The beautiful colours of the jay's wing.