BTO Nest Recording Scheme (NRS) - surveying nests for research

This is the second year I have been taking part in the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) Nest Recording Scheme (NRS), surveying the 35 nest boxes that I am responsible for checking on the shores of Chew Valley Lake. You have to survey the and record what you find in terms of whether the nest boxes are empty, partially lined, fully lined, eggs warm, eggs cold, adult on nest, chicks etc. 

As I am also a trainee ringer, I also ring the pulli (the scientific work for chick) but it has to be when they are old enough but not old enough to try and fly out. So long as you follow all the regulations and have someone experienced with you, and are careful, there is virtually no chance of injuring the chicks.

Training to get your full "C" Licence for ringing is pretty tough as you have to know a lot about bird ID before you can even start and then have to learn a lot about bird ringing safety and the technical aspect of extracting birds, ringing them and how to assess details such as age and sex of birds that look the same. If you have a coupe of years to give to it, then it is very worthwhile. I do think that the BTO need to do work to make ringing more inclusive.

These photos are from last night, before going out to see a band in Bristol for my 15th birthday (which was yesterday). The first two photos are a Great Tit pulli (chick) which was pretty early for Great Tit and the last two are of a Dunnock pulli. It's quite delicate work ringing pulli, but great for me with my smaller hands.

Young Birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig ringing a Great Tit Pulli at Chew Valley Lake
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Young Birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig ringing a Great Tit Pulli at Chew Valley Lake
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Young Birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig ringing a Dunnock Pulli at Chew Valley Lake
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

Young Birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig ringing a Dunnock Pulli at Chew Valley Lake
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

This is an early Dunnock Pulli I ringed on 27 April 2017 from one of my nest boxes.

Young Birder Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig ringing a Dunnock Pulli at Chew Valley Lake
Photograph taken by and copyright Chris Craig

About the Author

Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig in Antarctica
Photograph copyright Young Birder Birdgirl Mya-Rose Craig

Mya-Rose Craig is a 15-year-old young British Bangladeshi birder, naturalist, conservationist, environmentalist, activist, writer and speaker. She is based near Bristol and writes the successful Birdgirl Blog, with posts about birding and conservation from around the world. She loved seeing Mountain Gorillas in East Africa and Penguins in Antarctica over Christmas 2015, her 7th continent.

Mya-Rose was a Bristol European Green Capital Ambassador along with Kevin McCloud, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Tony Juniper, Simon King, Miranda Krestovnikoff and Shaun the Sheep! See the full list of Bristol Ambassadors. She has also been listed with the singer-songwriter George Ezra and actress Maisie Williams from Game of Thrones as one of Bristol's most influential young people. She is an Ambassador for World Shorebirds Day, See It Her Way and a Charter Champion for The Charter for Woods, Trees and People. She organised a conference, Race Equality in Nature, in June 2016 aiming to increase the ethnic diversity in nature and plans to run her third Camp Avalon camp in 2017. She has also set up Black2Nature with the aim of working with organisations to increase the access to nature of Black Asian Minority Ethnic people. Please connect with her on LinkedIn (Mya-Rose Birdgirl Craig) so that she can invite you to join the Race Equality in Nature LinkedIn Group and be part of the change. She has been awarded the Bath and West Show Environmental Youth Award 2017 for Bristol for her Black2Nature work EYA 2017. Please also like her Birdgirl Facebook Page and follow her on Birdgirl Twitter.