East Dales Ringing Group

Home - Ringing Totals - Membership - Publications -Trips - Links

Projects - Blackheaded Gull - Grey Lag Goose - House Martin - Little Ringed Plover - Merlin - Muteswan - Pied Flycatcher - Sandmartin - Swallows - Wood Warbler

East Dales Merlin Study

Since 1973 an ongoing study of the Merlin in the south-east corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park has been undertaken by Peter M. Wright, a member of the East Dales Ringing Group. In 1977 this resulted in the publication of a paper on the occupancy and breeding success of the Merlin in Bird Study (1997) 44. He also won the Boddy and Sparrow prize (awarded to the best amateur paper in Bird Study ) in 1998. A later programme of study looked in to factors which might influence site selection and site fidelity of the sexes and the lifetime productivity of individual birds. This lead to the publication of a further paper 'Recruitment, Site Fidelity and Dispersal of Merlins Falco columbarius from the South-east Yorkshire Dales, England' published in Ringing and Migration (2003) 21.

Merlin Chicks in nest scrape c10 days old

Since 1992, noose mats have been used to trap adult Merlins at the nest. 24 adult females and 7 adult males have been ringed in the period 1992-2008. A number of these birds have been trapped on more than one occasion, totalling 30 females and 9 males, in some instances up to four times and sometimes at the same site in consecutive years.

Demonstrating the use of a tube for taking biometrics

From 1998 onwards birds trapped at the nets have been fitted with electronic transponders in addition to BTO rings. An electronic loop placed around the nest is attached to a data-logger and reads the transponder number on the bird without the necessity of re-trapping. In 1999 the data-logger not only allowed tagged birds to be monitored at the nest but also enabled individual incubation periods of males and females to be timed and recorded.
Fitting the transponders to adult birds and the ringing of both adults and pulli enabled the study of dispersal. To date of all the 323 birds (149 males, 136 females and 15 of unknown sex) ringed as pulli in the study area, nine males, eight females and four birds of unknown sex have been recovered elsewhere and only one male has subsequently been controlled as a breeding bird within the study area.

A particularly interesting record was of a female which travelled a distance of 1239km and was recovered in Navarra, northern Spain, 91 days after being ringed.

2007 proved to be the worst year for Merlin in my study area for many years with only a small number of chicks fledging, the cold wet weather at the critical time accounting for high mortality.

The decision was made to discontinue the trapping for the time being and to continue to monitor the population. Five nests were found in 2008 of which four successfully fledged 15 chicks.

Peters Book

The book documents a twenty year study of the Merlin Falco columbarius in the south-eastern part of the Yorkshire Dales. The author, Peter Wright, is a former Head Ranger of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and has a lifelong interest in Britain's smallest falcon.
The book describes the species moorland habitat, its behaviour during each stage of the breeding cycle and its productivity. It also describes how adult birds were trapped and ringed in order to determine their recruitment into the population, their fidelity to nesting sites and post-breeding dispersal.
Illustrated with 26 full colour photographs, the book includes numerous tables, figures and maps for those requiring specialised information and is written in a style which should also appeal to those with a more general interest in the Merlin.