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Fife Ness

We run this as a ringing station. The area is visited most days during the spring and autumn migration seasons and if there is any prospect of migrants being present, ringers will be present too. Mark Oksian (who is now retired) and I are the main ringers. There is a ringing hut with basic equipment and in autumn a canopy is erected over the front to give added protection from the weather. There are 4 Heliogoland traps, 2 of which are rather more effective than the others. We also have seven mist nets sites. The Heliogoland traps are not as effective as the nets but give us the capacity to catch migrants in weather conditions that are not suitable for mist netting. In general migrants are present when the wind has some east in it and often when it is overcast (or worse!). However from long experience only about 1 day in 5 when the wind is easterly are numbers of migrants present. On a good day we may catch several hundred birds, but our catches over the years are about 35% of similar species on the Isle of May and most migrants rapidly move on through the reserve even in very poor weather. There is little 'coasting movement' at Fife Ness and only goldcrests and robins are regular in autumn outside spells of easterlies. During falls there can be good variety and we have ringed 20 species of warbler but the bulk of the catch is species like blackbird and robin.

We are always pleased to welcome other ringers to help and I have a training licence and a spell of migration does produce a training opportunity not easily available at inland sites. We rarely operate more than 2 mists nets at once since there are often many non-ringers visiting and nets need very close - almost continual supervision. Visiting ringers may well allow us to use more nets. We operate a policy of allowing free access to all parts of the reserve to non-ringers and would [and do] stop ringing if there are any objections. I might add that most visiting bird watchers know us well and there is rarely any sort of difficulty between those ringing and those just enjoying the spectacle. The best way to check what is going on is to Email me but if you think it is likely to be good then you are welcome to just turn up and introduce yourself.