Birding

Şencan and I did a superb walk around the Isle of Portland on Saturday. It was a lovely day, with bright, sunny weather and a relatively short walk, which meant that we could take our time and enjoy the stroll. I remembered my previous walk around the island in 2003 with fondness, and the views more than made up for the exertion.

On the ascent up from Church Ope Cove Şencan found a small metal ring, pink in colour with a series of letters and numbers on it. It was a bird-ring, and there was no sign of the bird that it was once attached to.

When we got home I went onto the Internet and looked into reporting the finding of the ring. It proved to be a fairly painless process - the ring belonged to a racing pigeon, and it proved easy to report via their website. The only problem was that there was not a field for a ring found without a bird.

I thought nothing more of it until I got a letter through the post from 'The Royal Pigeon Racing Association'. It thanked me for reporting the bird and saying that the owner had been informed. Although it was a fairly proforma letter, it was very pleasant to receive it.

As a matter of interest, the owner was from Brockenhurst in the New Forest, not too far away from where the ring was found on the island.

So if you ever find a bird ring, then report it. The process is quick and fairly painless.