Recent ringing data

Hello

Some interesting information has been forthcoming from local ringing as follows:-

An adult Stock Dove was caught at Pitsford Res on Wednesday. This bird was bearing a ring and had been ringed as a nestling in a nest-box in the Holcot Bay at Pitsford in May 2012.  This bird was captured exiting a nest-box in the Scaldwell Bay where there were two very young nestlings.  The indications were that this bird was a female and after being reared successfully herself on the reserve she had chosen to breed on the same site albeit in a different bay and nest-box.

In addition two adult female Tawny Owls breeding in the nest-boxes were also caught and these were bearing rings.  One bird was first ringed in 2005 when she was an incubating female and the other was first ringed in 2008 when she also was an incubating female.  Clearly these matriarchs are very site-faithful as well as attaining a good age and continuing to produce owls for the next generation.

A Goldfinch caught and ringed at Greens Norton on 18th November 2013 was recovered dead at a place called Prosperous, Nass in County Kildare (Eire) on 1st April 2014.  This suggests that it wintered in the UK or was on passage and that it was intent on breeding in Eire.  The two locations are 406 km apart.

Finally a Blackbird that was first ringed in Sunderland Wood on the Kelmarsh Estate in February 2012 was found dead 575 km away at a place called Sandhorst, Weser-Ems in Germany in February 2014. This suggests that this bird was of a continental origin but successfully overstayed in the UK or passed through during the cold winter of 2011/2012.

Regards

Neil M