PAUL VERON BIOGRAPHY
I am 50, and was born in
Guernsey, Channel Islands. I am
married to Catherine (who is also a bird watcher and bird ringer) and
have
three children (Ursi, Sophie and Merlin). Sophie (age 18) is a trainee
bird
ringer, helping out with several of the projects detailed below. So
– our bird
work is really a family affair!
Since the age of 11 I
have been very keen on bird watching.
At age 14 I began to train to ring birds on my home island of Guernsey.
In 1976
I was given a restricted Bird Ringing Permit (full permit the following
year).
Since then I have ringed
more than 53,000 birds –
concentrating on three principal projects:-
1. The
Study of one small marsh on the north coast of Guernsey (the Vale
Marais) –
where I live:
2. Seabird
Studies (including in particular European Shags, Northern Gannets and
gulls)
and
3. The
Movements and Mortality of Common Moorhens.
To date I have received
more than 1,200 recoveries/sightings from my
ringed birds – with more than 750 being found outside the Channel
Islands. In
addition I have controlled/seen around 140 birds which have been ringed
outside the
Islands.
This web site provides links to publications and summaries of all three project areas, together with various summaries of the ringing information.
During the
period 1993 – 2004
(inclusive) I had the opportunity to travel widely – visiting
more than 50
countries on all seven Continents. Over this period my ringing
activities were
suspended, while I tried to see a very good sample of all the birds of
the
world. By the end of this decade I had seen around 46% of the bird
species of
the world. Each trip has been written up and three volumes of
“Birding the Blue
Planet” have been published privately..
In 2005, I completed my
period of travel and resumed my bird
ringing on Guernsey. This now focuses on the same three projects
– with
priority being given to studying the three species of gull which
currently
breed in the Channel Islands – Herring Gull Larus
argentatus, Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus
fuscus and Great Black-backed Gull Larus
marinus; in addition to further work on the two gannetries off
Alderney and
on Common Moorhens.
12th January 2010