Minister for Environment John Cortes recently visited the bird ringing operation run by GONHS (The Gibraltar Ornithological & Natural History Society) at their Upper Rock Nature Reserve premises at Jews’ Gate.  A qualified bird ringer himself, he was able to update himself on recent records and on the ongoing success of the ringing operation.

The process can only be practised by trained ringers following the guidelines of the British Trust for Ornithology, and licensed under the Gibraltar Nature Protection Act.  It involves catching birds with mist nests set up in appropriate habitat, carefully extracting them, then ringing the birds, making notes on plumage, moult, etc and weighing and measuring them before release.

When the birds are recovered, locally or elsewhere, they give an indication of lifespan and the journey that they may have undertaken.  During the Minister’s visit, blackcaps and robins were the most common birds, both species migrating from northern and central Europe to winter in the Mediterranean area, including Gibraltar.

Minister Cortes said: “It was great to be back at Jews’ Gate, like I used to do years ago, to assist in the ringing effort and monitor the migration and life of our smaller birds. Congratulations to GONHS for keeping this gathering of scientific data going through local and visiting ringers.”