Iceland - 4th - 8th March 2022

Tuesday, 18 October 2016

Amazing Migration!

Hello

Back on home turf today, and a wander around Harrington Airfield in the rain this morning was sufficient to confirm the presence of good numbers of migrant thrushes. A Golden Plover was heard calling but otherwise I didn't see anything of note.

Neil H was at Pitsford Reservoir this morning and noted three Great White Egrets, three Green Sandpipers and a Pintail on the reserve. An adult Yellow-legged Gull was in the gull roost off the dam this afternoon and a female Peregrine was in the Brampton Valley below Hanging Houghton earlier on this afternoon.

A number of ringing recoveries have been received as follows:-

Two Chiffchaffs ringed in Yorkshire earlier this year have been re-trapped at Pitsford Reservoir this autumn and an adult female Chiffchaff caught and ringed at Pitsford on 19th June this year had only travelled 42 km in a south south-west direction to be re-trapped at Hillesden in Buckinghamshire on 2nd October;

X177982 relates to a Reed Warbler which was ringed at Stortons Gravel Pits as a juvenile on 19th July 2009, which was then re-trapped in Portugal on 24th August 2012. This bird was then captured again at Stortons Gravel Pits on 19th August 2013 and finally was controlled at Wilstone Reservoir, Hertfordshire on 17th July 2016. So where will this seven year old reed dweller turn up next?

Another Reed Warbler (Z677862) was ringed as a nestling at Chew Valley Lake, Avon and Somerset on 24th June 2016 and was then caught at Stortons Gravel Pits on 24th August. This young bird travelled 155km in a north-east direction;

An adult male Blackbird which was caught and ringed in our garden at Hanging Houghton on 26th February 2015 was found freshly dead near Elamajarvi, Vaasa in Finland on 31st August 2016. This migrant Blackbird was found 1982km north east from where originally ringed and thought to have been tragically killed by a cat.

Regards

Neil M



Chiffchaff
Courtesy of Cathy Ryden.

Reed Warbler

Blackbird

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