Monday 26 May 2014

Pitsford Res & ringing update

Hello

Typical Bank Holiday weather - heavy rain!

An Osprey was fishing on the reserve north of the causeway at Pitsford Res late morning, much to the annoyance of the summering Great Black-backed Gull there!  Surprisingly, of the two it seemed that the gull has the longer wing-span.

The pair of Oystercatcher hatched four young on one of the tern rafts last week, and the adults were ferrying worms to them today. Common Terns have now started laying eggs on the same rafts.

Details have emerged in recent days of some more ringing returns:-

A Blackbird controlled at Pitsford Res on 1st December 2013 was first ringed in Holland as a youngster on 10th September 2012 at a site called Hollum, Ameland.  The distance between the two sites is 454 km with the bird having moved in a traditional WSW direction (and presumably over the North Sea). Whether this bird wintered in the UK during the 2012/13 winter is not known.
  
Also an adult male Lesser Redpoll that was ringed in East Hunsbury, Northampton on 25th February 2013 was subsequently controlled at Market Drayton, Shropshire on 15th March 2014. This little chap had no doubt clocked up many hundreds of kilometres in that time, a straight line between the sites is 131 km over a duration of 383 days.

Regards

Neil M

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