Wheatear RAS

A long-running Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) project on the Lundy Wheatear population has been in operation since 2013. This involves colour-ringing all adults within the study area (from the Castle to Halfway Wall) and attempting to re-sight as many as possible from previous years. This allows the calculation of year-on-year survival estimates which are generally in excess of 50%.

Each bird is identifiable as an individual with a combination of three colour rings; a striped ring above or below a metal BTO ring on one leg and a combination of two plain colour rings on the other leg, as shown in the images on this page. It is important to note the position, colour and leg of the rings, but even if you only get a partial reading, we may still be able to identify the indivdual bird. 

Visitors to the island are encouraged to report any colour-ring sightings to the project lead, Tony Taylor (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.),, the Bird Observatory Warden (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.), by entering the details in the logbook held in the Marisco Tavern or posting to the project's Facebook group. Photographs can often be very helpful, so please forward those if you are able.

For more information on RAS projects in general, please visit the BTO website.