Friday 27 May 2016

Ringing recoveries

Hello

Here follows a quick summary of some of the more interesting Northants Ringing Group contribution to ringing recoveries, if a little dominated by Siskins!

Z451592 was a female Siskin first ringed at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory in Kent on 17th September 2015 which then showed up at John Woollett's garden in Astcote on both 24th and 25th March this year. Although the data shows this bird to have travelled 194km in 190 days this is no doubt a distorted picture and it is more likely that she was initially trapped heading south in the autumn and was on her way back north tracking a slightly different route this spring.

D543830 was a female Siskin first caught at Humshaugh in Northumberland way back on the 8th May 2013, John re-trapping her again at Astcote on 22nd March this year. It is likely that she was at or close to her breeding site when first caught and on her way back up from Southern climes earlier this year with a stop-over in sunny south Northants!

Z946874 was a male Siskin first caught and ringed by Chris Payne at Greens Norton on 2nd April this year which was then re-trapped at Selkirk on the Scottish Borders 36 days later and having travelled 397km in a NNW direction. Tempting to think that this bird is from Scottish or Scandanavian breeding stock which again re-fueled in South Northants.

Following a similar pattern, male Siskin S122655 was caught and ringed at Astcote on 24th March this year and was then controlled by another ringer at Drummond near Inverness on 2nd May, this bird travelling 622km in 39 days.

S122416 (another male Siskin) showed a slightly more lateral dispersal after initially being caught and ringed at Stortons Gravel Pits on 28th February this year. This bird was re-trapped at the RSPB headquarters at Sandy in Bedfordshire on 9th April, this time moving in a relatively short ESE direction.

But it wasn't just Siskins stealing the limelight! Chris Payne caught an already ringed male Goldfinch (Z453729) at Greens Norton on 12th April this year and it transpires this bird was first ringed at Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory on 23rd October 2015. This movement correlates in some respect with Siskin Z451592 and is probably a bird moving back to more northerly climes.

Finally, a female Blackbird bearing the Dutch ring of L417709 was found in a mist net at Scotland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate on 6th March this year. She had originally been ringed as a migrant at Korverskool, de Koog on Texel in the Netherlands on 17th October 2015, confirming that the UK is an important winter refuge for continental Blackbirds. Whether she spent the whole winter in Northants is speculative, but she travelled at least 391km in a westerly direction to find us.

Regards

Neil M


Siskin

Blackbird

Goldfinch

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