A ring from middle estuary- #JN69442

Although I restrict myself to the southern shore I trained as a ringer under my good friend Bill Jones out on Oakham Island, which is frustratingly mid-estuary, just north of the main channel. I hope no-one objects to my publishing an occasional map from some of his ringing recoveries over the years here on this blog for interest. As I've now made them my species of the month, this story has to be of a...

Dunlin Ring no. JN69442
Ringed as a pulli, 15th July 1994, Yabari, Sabetta, Yamal Peninsula, Yamalo-Nenets, Russia.
Found: 18th February 1998, Oakham.
Found 1,314 days after ringing, 4,285 kilometres from nest site.

1998 was an interesting year for the Dunlin of the Yamal Peninsula- a paper was published in International Wader Studies confirming Siberian Dunlins calidris alpina migrate to Europe; first evidence from ringing Unfortunately JN69442 was just a little too late to feature in the article, but it surely would have made print for the rarity value of the finding circumstances:

Dead- taken by predatory bird- ring found in owl pellet

Bill has dined out on this story over the years. His then assistant, Andy, had picked up the pellet and joked that there might be a ring in it. Bill laughed and told Andy he'd checked hundreds and hundreds of pellets over the years without any luck so, if there was, Andy could keep it. The rest is history. (Bill is off to Wales to see Andy next week- I'll have to get him to ask if he still has the ring.)

For any pedant ringers/historians reading this (I cannot be the only one, surely?) the BTO notification paperwork quoted USSR:

Of course, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had actually been dissolved in 1991, some three years before it was ringed. With typical socialist efficiency, this bird was documented as coming from somewhere that didn't exist(!).

Of course, bird rings often avoid quoting the country name, choosing instead somewhere that might intrigue a finder: British Museum, Moscow (Paris, Oslo, Madrid, etc). Makes sense in a strange way- after all, the birds don't recognise our own silly boundaries.

Only the final odd twist in this tale was the actual address quoted on this particular ring- Gdansk. It turned out Polish ringers had mounted the expedition, and used their own scheme's rings (with permission) so as to help ensure prompt news of any birds found (avoiding that Socialist efficency). Of course, since then co-operation between schemes has got a lot better, thanks to bodies such as Euring, and results can come through quite promptly. Not yet perfect, but getting there.

More details of interesting Dunlin ringing recoveries can be found on the BTO website. (And lovers of displaced migrants, when checking the map there don't miss the single record on the extreme left, nine o'clock...)