Results

Gulls in Spain and ducks in France

The details can sometimes take a while to come through to us, but here are some Recoveries that have been notified to the Group over the two years up to March 2015.

We are now getting recoveries from our Black-headed Gull colony, which is now in its seventh year of chick production. Here are some recent ones, all recoveries coming from field sightings.

One ringed in 2012 was sighted in Feb 2015 at Ria de Aviles, Asturias, Spain, some 1015km to the SSW. A sensible bird, wintering in warmer climes on the north coast of Spain.

In contrast, other chicks from the 2014 crop were in Norfolk and Liverpool the following winter, and one from 2012 was in Manchester in January 2014.

Two of our Gadwall ducklings from June 2013 went to France: one found dead in Pas-de-Calais in Jan 2014, and one shot on the Somme in Dec 2014.

One of our celebrity Bearded Tits, ringed in Nov 2012 and famously parading in Hyde Park in the following December and January, has now turned up again controlled at Belton Marshes, Norfolk, in August 2013.

We ring a lot of Sedge Warblers, Reed Warblers and Blackcaps, so we should get some interesting recoveries from them! Here are a few recent ones, firstly of Sedge Warblers.

A juvenile ringed in August 2013 was controlled ten days later in Loire-Atlantique in France, 525km to the SSW. One ringed in July 2012 as an adult female, so presumably a local breeding bird, was controlled in Limburg, Belgium in August 2014. Had it bred in UK again and strayed on passage, or was it now breeding in Belgium or north of there?

Another adult female ringed in June 2014 was controlled in Lot-et-Garonne in France two months later, a fairly predictable passage route.

And a Sedge Warbler ringed as a nestling in May 2014, and retrapped a month later, was then controlled at Land’s End in July: a typical case of juvenile dispersal, a young bird exploring the country.

Now some Reed Warbler recoveries which demonstrate typical migration routes. One ringed as a juvenile in August 2007 was controlled in Heulva, Spain in April 2011, and another juvenile ringed in August 2013 was found dead in Álava, Spain in June 2014.

Finally a juvenile female Blackcap ringed in July 2014, so presumably bred locally, was controlled in Seine-et-Marne, France in September, on its way probably to Iberia or North Africa for the winter.

Another local warbler we are ringing increasing numbers of is Cetti’s Warbler: a juvenile ringed in August 2013 – late enough that it need not be a local bird – turned up in a net at Rutland Water in March 2015.

Lastly a Goldfinch ringed here as a juvenile in October 2009 was ccontrolled at Boston in Lincolnshire in October 2014, a reasonably venerable 5 years old.