Centenary of Bird Tagging

Did you know that here in the UK, bird tagging has been taking place for 100 years? The process of fitting birds with numbered rings in Britain and Ireland was started by ornithologists at Aberdeen University on May 8 1909. The British Trust for Ornithology says that during these 100 years 36 million birds have been tagged. Currently volunteers ring more than 800,000 birds each year.

Birds ringed here have been found in places such as:

• Siberia
• Canadian Arctic
• Australia
• Gambia (caught by a crocodile)

For more information visit the BTO bird ringing page.