Encountering DD32670

Redshank: DD32670.
Ringed 30th August 2008, 04:20.
Easington, East Yorkshire (Spurn Bird Observatory)
Age: 4 (adult)
Wing: 159.0 mm. Weight: 155.0 g.

Nearly nine years later, DD32670 was retrapped on the south Medway.
26th July 2017, 02:00.
Wing: 160.5 mm. Weight: 126.0 g
3,252 days later, 255 km south.

No primary feather moult. U.K. breeders usually move away from their breeding grounds in late June/July to head for a safe moulting site. As the weight was down by some 20%, perhaps the bird had only just made a flight south? U.K. Redshanks north of Yorkshire tend not to move as far south as the south-east, birds from Yorkshire down to the Wash do.

Of course, all total speculation- it could just be it came from further north, from the Icelandic population, hard to say. It might have been staging in Yorkshire in 2008. The Medway weight of 126 grams is a very low one for a Redshank. Perhaps it had just arrived from Iceland? Birds often use the same staging sites year after year, perhaps at some point this bird decided Kent was better than Yorkshire? (U.K. adult Redshanks usually only travel around 109 km on average).

Other measurements help point towards races, the bill (to feather, to skull, head plus bill). Tarsus, toe and tarsus combined, all helpful but all with some/much overlap. The bird certainly might have been Icelandic. They arrive in the U.K. from late June, the majority in August. So it really could be just in..

So much fun to speculate. The more we find out from ringing, the more there is to know.

A ring from middle estuary: #1306348

Although I now 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

Grey Plover Ring no. 1306348
Ringed as an adult female, 26th May 1996, Castricum, Nord-Holland, The Netherlands.
Retrapped: 8th September 2002, Oakham.
Found 2296 days after ringing, 303 kilometres south-west of ringing site.

This time I haven't joined the two sites with a line. With the number of years between ringing and recapture, the fact the bird was an adult when ringed, and ringing was en route to breeding grounds and recapture en route for winter, the chances are that in any statistical analysis of all records, this would be weighted towards choosing a route close to the continental mainland on the way back racing back from a wintering ground much further south. This was the seventh inbound trip later, so one would hope she knew what she was doing. The autumn choice of route is influenced by the need to find somewhere to undertake a partial moult of flight feathers safely- stopping for a short period on the Medway had probably been a good choice for this bird down the years.

This sort of record always has me wondering if these birds ever take a short cut overland, say, from the Medway to the south coast. A good probability. After all, GPS studies on other migration routes have confirmed them not to be deterred by a little bit of ground, say, most of mainland Russia and China...

A ring from middle estuary, #NT70553

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. Still my species of the month, yet another story of a...

Dunlin Ring no. NT70553
Ringed as an adult, 14th August 2011, Oakham.
Controlled: 9th April 2013, Vasa Sacos, Santarem, Portugal.
604 days after ringing, 1584 kilometres from ringing site.

The Rio Tejo (Tagus river to most tourists) is the longest river on the Iberian peninsula and empties into the Atlantic near Lisbon. The site is someway inland, mainly due to it being within the largest estuary in Western Europe, much of it Ramsar protected and adminstered as the Reserva Natural do Estuário do Tejo.

A bird in Portugal in April could well have spent much of the winter even further south. After refueling, most likely it would have then hugged the coastline up-Channel for the Waddenzee (or thereabouts). It might not be seen on the Medway in spring; if a 'survivor', then chances are it might well just turn up there on a future post-breeding migration. Few Dunlin pass through our estuary in April/May.

So, tomorrow is time to look at the recent counts and see if the winterers have left the Medway on cue.

A ring from middle estuary, #NT07167

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. Still my species of the month, here's another story of a...

Dunlin Ring no. NT07167
Ringed 18th December 1995, Oakham.
Controlled: 12th March 1996, Castricum, Noord-Holland, The Netherlands.
Found 85 days after ringing, 302 kilometres from ringing site.

Starting the long return, stopping short of the Waddenzee. Would this have stayed at Castricum for a few weeks, or completed the short hop to the main refueling flats, before making for the breeding grounds? Hard to say for sure, but the date is about right for birds having left their wintering grounds here.

Whereas tomorrow's ringing map will hint at Dunlin on a different migration route/timing...

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...)

A ring from middle estuary- #DB97190

I trained as a ringer under my good friend Bill Jones, often out on Oakham Island. Although I now limit myself to the southern shore, and Oakham is frustratingly mid-estuary, just north of the main channel, I hope publishing an occasional map from some of his ringing recoveries over the years here on this blog will be of interest.

Greenshank Ring no.DB97190
Ringed: 9th August 2003
Found: 13th July 2005, Homledal, Hole, Buskerud, Norway.
Leg and ring found near Peregrine nest.
Found 704 days after ringing, 1,129 kilometres from Oakham.

This particular bird was an adult when ringed.Scandinavian Greenshank often pass through the south and east of the UK on their way to winter in south-west Europe and Africa. It is known these birds are highly site-faithful to particular staging areas whilst on migration, so highly likely to have visited the Medway before (and then after) the ringing date.

The recovery site and date could refer to it being back local to its breeding site, or possibly still en route to breeding grounds, when it met its end.

More details on Greenshanks (plus a map of international movements) can be found c/o the link on the BTO Birdfacts page here.

A ring from middle estuary- #1293502

I trained as a ringer under my good friend Bill Jones, often on Oakham Island. Although I now limit myself to the southern shore and Oakham is frustratingly just north of the main channel, mid-estuary, I hope publishing an occasional map from some of his ringing recoveries over the years here on this blog will be of interest.

Grey Heron Ring no.1293502
Ringed: 12th February 2003
Found: 16th May 2008, Töcksfors, Varmland, Sweden.
Freshly dead- found in a fishing net.
Found 1,920 days after ringing, 1,143 kilometres from Oakham.

To date, this is the only British-ringed Grey Heron to have been recovered in Sweden. The bird was most likely not actually British, as foreign-ring recoveries have shown birds from north and east Europe routinely overwinter in the UK.

More details of Grey Heron ring recoveries (plus a map of international movements) can be found c/o the BTO website here.