2025 to date has gone by very quickly. Combined ringing totals from across all of our sites are presented in Table 1 below.

Table 1: Ringing Totals (1 Jan – 19 July 2025 inclusive)

Of particular interest have been:

• A firecrest recaptured on Southward Lane, Langland on 31/01/2025. The bird had been ringed at the same location on 25/10/2022. This is the second between winter recapture of a firecrest at the site. It is interesting to see birds passing through the same location between years. The bird showed a broad, rounded tail, which is typical of an adult.
• A young redstart captured at West Cliff, Southgate on 01/07/2025. What was of particular note was that the bird was in almost entirely juvenile plumage, suggesting it had bred close by. Redstart is a very scarce breeder on the Gower peninsula.
• A cuckoo captured at West Cliff on 01/05/2025. The bird was a male. We catch very few cuckoo as a group, with the last one being a bird rehabilitated and released by Simon Allen of Gower Bird Hospital in 2021.
• Two goshawk pulli ringed at an undisclosed site. Great to see people obtaining new endorsements to their licenses and branching out.

Following a couple of years of poor productivity it is looking a very good year for blue tit, with numbers well up on 2024. Other species which appear to have done well are chiffchaff, jackdaw, long-tailed tit and reed warbler. However we can reflect properly in a couple of months time, when autumn passage of our summer visitors is largely complete and we have some more data on our common residents.

Controls have included:

• Exchanges of siskins between Gower RG sites at Gorslas (Carmarthenshire) and Oxwich with a site near Llangadfan (Powys), run by the Belvide Ringing Group.
• A starling ringed at Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham in May 2023 and recaptured at West Cliff in May 2025. A south south-westerly movement of 324 km.
• Late news of a blackcap ringed at Oxwich on 31/08/2024 that had made its way to Tour aux Moutons, Donges, Loire-Atlantique, France by 16/09/2024.
• Further late news of a sedge warbler ringed at Oxwich on 26/07/2024 that was controlled at Sandouville, Seine-Maritime, France on 08/08/24

There have also been numerous reports of colour-ringed jackdaws received, particularly from Kittle where they are frequently noted around the green.

Finally, many of our ringers have spread their metaphorical wings this year. We have members of the Group wardening on Fair Isle (Tom Wright), Noss, Shetland (Catrin Ferguson) and at Spurn Point (Tate Lloyd). Various Group members have visited Skokholm Island (courtesy of the Teifi Ringing Group / the island wardens) to ring seabirds, work the Heligoland traps and run the mist nets. Others have headed to northern Scotland and the Midlands to ring seabirds, breeding terns and black-headed gulls. Lots of the team have also gone out ringing herring and lesser black-backed gulls at some of Swansea’s urban rooftop colonies with gull aficionado Peter Rock.

Thanks to all who have significantly contributed to what is shaping up to be a good ringing year. In particular, Heather Coats, Wayne Morris, Dionne Jenkins, Richard Dann, Colin Baker, Alice Connell, Megan Nicklin, Jasmine Davies,  Steve Lysyj, Lianne Rouys, Miguel Lurgi, Kayleigh Bargus, Jo Conway, Tom Wright, Tate Lloyd, Jenny Tyler, Ben Gamble, Shane King, Fran King, Amy Schwartz and Becky Gibbs.

Particular thanks are also due to the Gower Society, who have provided us with sponsorship for the eleventh consecutive year. This supports our running costs including ring purchase for Oxwich where we do a large proportion of our training. Without this help we would have to scale down what we do. Over the past 11 years we have trained multiple ringers, many of whom are making a substantial contribution to studying birds in Wales and elsewhere and who will become some of the conservationists at the forefront of local and national ornithology over time.

Photos are below

Owain Gabb

20/07/2025