Bird observatory / Helgoland / every day since 1909

# Thirty-one thousand birds. One island.

One trap, hourly rounds from first light, and a hundred and seventeen years of the same nine measurements written down in the same order.

A day at the station
The funnel, from the wide end. Sixty metres to the catching box.

## Last year, in order

Twenty-two species of the hundred and sixty-four recorded. Everything under twenty birds is in the appendix, not on the front page.

- Goldcrest4 118
- Robin2 906
- Blackcap2 441
- Chiffchaff1 887
- Song Thrush1 402
- Dunnock1 190
- Willow Warbler1 044
- Redwing968
- Blackbird901
- Brambling744
- Reed Warbler612
- Redstart588
- Wheatear431
- Pied Flycatcher397
- Siskin362
- Whitethroat318
- Bluethroat204
- Wryneck96
- Barred Warbler61
- Red-backed Shrike44
- Yellow-browed Warbler38
- Icterine Warbler27

The value of this station is not any single year. It is that somebody walked the same trap on the same island every day for a hundred and seventeen years and wrote down what was in it, on days when there was nothing in it at all.

Ringmark is a working ringing station, not a visitor centre. Three staff, six volunteers at a time, one trap and a hut that has been rebuilt four times.

Everything we catch is measured, ringed and released inside about ninety seconds. Everything we record is published, including the years that make no sense.

## A day, five times over

Sixteen rounds between first light and dusk, and the same five things every time.

1. 01

   ### First round

   The trap is walked at first light, before the birds have settled and before the gulls find them 05:00
2. 02

   ### Hourly rounds

   Every hour to dusk. A bird is out of the trap and in a bag within four minutes, which is the whole discipline 06:00 – 21:00
3. 03

   ### On the bench

   Ring, species, age, sex, wing, weight, fat and muscle. Ninety seconds a bird, and the bird decides if it is less Continuous
4. 04

   ### Release

   From the hand, at the door, facing the dunes. Nothing is held over, nothing is kept Continuous
5. 05

   ### Enter and check

   Written on paper first, typed the same evening, and read back by a second person before it counts 22:00

The hut. Rebuilt in 1947, 1962, 1991 and 2018, in the same footprint.
The bench. Nine measurements, in this order, since 1909.

## Three things we do not bend

Two are about the birds. The third is about what a long series is worth.

I

### Every bird, every day

The station has been manned on every single day since 1909, through two wars and one evacuation. A gap in a hundred-and-seventeen-year series is worth more than any one season in it.

II

### Four minutes in the trap

Rounds are hourly and never skipped, whatever the weather is doing. A bird that waits is a bird that loses more than the data is worth.

III

### Published as recorded

Totals go out every January without smoothing, without adjustment and without a covering note explaining why a bad year was really quite good.

## Eight years

Published every January. A control is one of our rings read by somebody else, somewhere else.

1. 2026 31 208 164 species 11 controls abroad Wettest autumn on record
2. 2025 28 771 158 species 19 controls abroad Late Goldcrest fall, 3 700 in a day
3. 2024 34 990 171 species 14 controls abroad First Siberian Rubythroat since 1991
4. 2023 26 415 149 species 9 controls abroad Trap rebuilt, six weeks lost
5. 2022 30 116 162 species 21 controls abroad
6. 2021 29 004 155 species 17 controls abroad Two-week closure in April
7. 2020 22 388 141 species 6 controls abroad Station manned by two people only
8. 2019 33 542 168 species 15 controls abroad Centenary of the ringing scheme

> A day with nothing in the trap is a data point. It took us forty years to start writing those down.

> Dr Heike Stolzenberg, station head

## What goes on the card

Nine measurements and an initial. The order has not changed since the first ledger.

1. Ring Aluminium, size 0 to 6 Fitted with pliers Never re-used
2. Wing Maximum chord To 0.5 mm Stopped rule
3. Weight To 0.1 g In a cone or a bag Spring balance, tared
4. Fat Score 0 to 8 Furcular hollow By eye, one observer
5. Muscle Score 0 to 3 Over the keel By eye, one observer
6. Age EURING code Plumage and skull Recorded as unknown when unknown
7. Moult Primaries scored 0 to 5 per feather Only in autumn
8. Time To the nearest hour Round, not capture Local time, never shifted
9. Observer Initials Every single record Errors are attributable
10. Check Second reader Same evening Before it enters the database

## Coming up the hill

Station
  Am Fallberg, 27498 Helgoland. Twenty minutes up from the harbour.
Watching
  Anyone may follow a round. Ask at the door; nobody has ever been turned away.
Volunteers
  Two-week placements, March to November. Bunk, food and no wages at all.
Data
  Every record since 1909 is public. The paper ledgers are digitised to 1962 so far.

Placements, recoveries, data requests

## The ringing report

Email address

How often
  Twice a season, and once more if something odd lands.
What is in it
  Totals, recoveries, and the birds we did not expect.
Found a ring?
  Send the number to fang@ringmark.example instead.

Am Fallberg, 27498 Helgoland. If you have found one of our rings, send the number and the place and we will tell you where the bird has been — that is a letter, not a newsletter, and it is always answered.