Ringing Committee (RIN)

Chair - Dr Lucy Wright

Lucy Wright. Photograph by Guy Anderson

Lucy has had a lifelong interest in birds, with a particular passion for waders. She has been a bird ringer for 20 years and a ringing trainer for eight years and a PhD on Woodlarks led to a job as a Research Manager at BTO for several years.

She then moved to the role of Principal Conservation Scientist at RSPB, researching how anthropogenic developments, such as offshore wind farms, affect birds. Lucy is now the Head of UK Marine Conservation Science at RSPB.

Richard du Feu

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Richard is the Head of Networks at the University of Bradford. BTO has played a major part in Richard’s life since he was at school in the 1990s, and his involvement has mainly been through the Ringing Scheme on long term projects and schemes including a Retrapping Adults for Survival (RAS) on Sand Martins and wader monitoring around the UK.

In 2017 Richard started colour ringing Knot on the Sefton coast, which is now producing interesting survival and movement data. He has also been involved with the monitoring of Red Knot and Horseshoe crab in Delaware Bay where adaptive management of crab harvest relies heavily on high-quality data being collected throughout the migration period.

Louise Clewley

Louise Clewley

Louise has been ringing since 2009, is a ringing trainer and also holds a cannon-netting endorsement. She has been involved in many ringing projects, both at home and abroad, working with groups in Africa, New Zealand, Sweden and North America.

Louise works for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. She previously worked on Project Godwit and as a Warden at Welney before moving to a role as Reserve Manager at Martin Mere. Louise mainly rings wildfowl and waders.

Peter Kirmond

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Peter’s ringing career has been very much a game of two halves: he became a trainee in the 1970s under the expert eye of John McMeeking. A decade of varied activity included the early days of ringing at Treswell Wood, numerous Wash Wader Ringing Group trips and time as assistant warden at Dungeness.

Work (as a pharmacist and GP surgery Practice Manager) and family led to a 30-year sabbatical, and he returned to ringing five or so years ago. This return has included, amongst other things, heavy involvement in CES at Slimbridge, spells at Gibraltar Rock Bird Observatory, monitoring for Gloucestershire Raptor Group’s Kestrel nest box scheme, establishing a colour ringing House Sparrow RAS and winter CES in his garden and a community-based Swift nest box scheme around his village. 

Jim Lennon

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Jim started ringing in 1991 with the Severn Vale RG but since the millennium have been based in Nottinghamshire. He is endorsed for, and trains, most types of ringing and has been involved in about 20 BTO ringing courses.

His ringing includes seabirds on the Shiant Isles where they run four seabird RAS projects, farmland birds in the winter with local students who use the data as part of their studies, heron and egret pulli, a few hundred owl and kestrel boxes plus garden ringing as a training tool.

Jim brings to Ringing Committee experience of governance, partnership and funding issues within the public and voluntary sectors through his work with Natural England and RSPB.

Helen Franklin

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Helen started ringing in 2007 with the Northants Ringing Group, gaining her A permit in 2017. She has experience ringing both at home and abroad, having joined ringing teams in Malta, Portugal and Cyprus as well as undertaking annual trips to Skokholm Bird Observatory.

Helen worked in administration and finance and, prior to retiring, was office manager and PA to the director of the RSPB Midlands office. Following retirement, she volunteered as the minute secretary for the Board of Buglife for several years.

Stephen Vickers

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Stephen started ringing at Skokholm Island Bird Observatory in 2017. He subsequently trained with Gower and Mid-Wales Ringing Groups, getting his C permit the following year whilst back on Skokholm as a long-term volunteer and is now a qualified Trainer. He completed a PhD at the University of East Anglia in 2022, largely focussing on mechanisms of migratory connectivity in birds.

Now alongside training, Stephen leads or contributes to projects across a wide range of species with a particular focus on colour ringing. He is active across a wide range of techniques, including mist netting, dazzling (with and without a thermal imager) and hand catching.

In his spare time Stephen has developed a range of online tools for ringers to use to explore the BTO’s annual ringing report and their own ringing data and he has also developed colour ring reporting apps that give instant life histories.

Roger Walsh

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Roger first experienced ringing as a Voluntary Warden on Skomer Island 45 years ago. Subsequently, he spent time as Assistant Warden on the Farne Islands broadening his experience and then developing his skills and knowledge over the following years in the UK and abroad.

For 35 years he followed a career in education which gave him a passion for training and development that he has since utilised as a Trainer. Since 2011 he has been involved in studying migrants and resident species in West Africa, participating and now leading the regular expeditions to Kartong Bird Observatory.

He is passionate about seabirds and has been involved in leading trips to remote Scottish Islands as well as other islands around the British coast. Other long standing project work includes farmland birds, Barn Owls, Sand Martins and wetland birds.