First Heron visit at both sites
Walthamstow and Netherhall both checked today. A nice sample of 16 birds ringed. Ineterstingly at Watlhamstow the Egrets were very early and mostly with full clutches we we will need to visit in early May again to get the Egrets at the right size to ring.
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 16 | 16 |
| Little Egret | 0 | 0 |
Netherhall - Last Herons and Egrets for the year 20th May 2023
A good trip out wiht the Rye Meads trainees and Roger Emmens saw a respectable total of 16 Egrets and 8 Herons ringed.
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 8 | 8 |
| Little Egret | 16 | 15 |
Egret Visit Walthamstow - 16th May 2023
We visited Walthamstow No 1 island this evening to check and ring Littel Egrets. Many still had eggs and two nests were too small to ring. However three broods of Egrets were ringed and a late brood of two Grey Heron. We ran out of time and it was too cold to go to No 2 island, we will try and do that in the next week or so to at least establish a count. There appeared to be 12 pairs on No 1 Island.
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 2 | 2 |
| Little Egret | 10 | 10 |
Methods
The Southern Colour Ringing Group rings Grey Heron and Little Egret pulli (young in the nest) at two sites in the Lee Valley – Netherhall and Walthamstow Wetlands.
Nests are climbed up to and young removed to ring. We also fit colour rings; Heron (White with black letters and a three digit code) and Egrets (orange on the left leg and black or green on the right leg) which allows the birds to be relocated without needing to be recaptured. There are many more bird-watchers looking for colour-ringed birds, so this greatly improves our chances of understanding the movements of the birds from the Lee Valley.
If you see a bird with one of our colour rings, please use the submission form or send details (ring-code, date, location, species) to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Ringing totals
2021 year totals
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 31 | 31 |
| Little Egret | 19 | 19 |
2022 year totals
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 14 | 14 |
| Little Egret | 18 | 18 |
2023 year totals
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 20 | 20 |
| Little Egret | 26 | 25 |
2024 year totals
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 16 | 16 |
| Little Egret | 0 | 0 |
Grand totals
| Species | Ringed | Colour ringed |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Heron | 274 | 126 |
| Little Egret | 210 | 189 |