Honey Buzzards and trains don't mix

Unfortunately some of the really interesting stories get delayed, as they are checked and double-checked. This was the case with NLA 6124986.


This was a Buzzard found dead on railway lines near Ipswich, Suffolk, in August 2008. This was carrying a Dutch ring, which was pretty unusual, but even more so when we got the report back recently, as it had been ringed in the nest as a Honey Buzzard! Ringed in July 2006 in the Drenthe region of The Netherlands, this is only the third foreign-ringed Honey Buzzard to be found in the UK. The others were ringed in Germany (injured hitting wires in Kent in July 1973) and Sweden (killed hitting wires in South Yorkshire in October 1976).

Our own birds do move around a fair bit as well. A pair seen in south Wales in 2006 were both colour-ringed: the female was from Shropshire (ringed in 2000) and the male was from central Wales (ringed in 2002). Welsh birds have actually wandered quite widely, being found injured in Hampshire, stuck in a wire fence in France and shot to protect chickens and ducks in Ghana.

The only other foreign movements we know of are a bird from Scotland, shot in Guinea in February 1991, and a bird from Sussex, hit by a train in France in August 2007. Maybe Honey Buzzards and trains just don't mix! These are shown on the map, but we've kept off any possibly sensitive breeding sites, as birds do still suffer persecution.

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Our second Chaffinch to Poland

"How many Chaffinches have we had in Poland?" - a question posed by Lee Barber this morning... My guess of none was close, but not quite right! We have (or more accurately had) just one record of a BTO-ringed Chaffinch in Poland: ringed in Oxfordshire in November 1970 and found in Poland in April 1971. But we now have two, after an email arrived with these photos.


This colour-ringed male was part of a project looking at the dispersal of birds away from a winter roost, but this is slightly further than the group expected! They were hoping to just receive a few sightings from local gardens! It was originally ringed on 23 December 2006 at Charnwood, Leicestershire, and found in Poland on 31 March.


This is about as far as Chaffinches go, though we do have two records of BTO Chaffinches found in Russia. Going the other way, we've had two from Russia and one previous from Poland to Britain (ringed in Poland in September 1965 and found in Bewdley in March 1967).

Spring Siskins in Russia

March is always a good time to be out catching Siskins, as this is the time they are on the move. Many of these birds will be 'local' breeders from northern England or Scotland, but some do come from much further afield.

Just today we received details of two BTO-ringed birds recaught by Russian ringers at the Rybachiy Ringing Station. X168805 was originally ringed in Northamptonshire on 30 March 2008 and found just 17 days later, whilst X036370 was ringed in Norfolk on 26 March 2008 and recaught on its way back to us on 14 October 2008.

We only have records of 21 other Siskin movements to Russia, nine of which were to Rybachiy, so these two together are exceptional.


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Fair Isle Robin on the move

Only one in 50 ringed birds are ever found again (which is why we have to ring so many), but V159128 obviously didn't know this.

This Robin was originally ringed at Fair Isle Bird Observatory on 1 April 2007 - honestly... It was presumably on spring migration at the time, returning to a breeding area further north. It was then recaught by ringers on 23 October 2008 at Limburg in The Netherlands, and remarkably also caught at Limburg in Belgium just 10 days later (2 November). These two Limburgs are over 100km apart, so its interesting to think this winter visitor had been just wandering round the Benelux countries all winter, and is maybe now en route back throguh Fair Isle...


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Papilloma in Chaffinches: not for the faint-hearted!

Ringers are in the unenviable position of sometimes seeing birds close up that suffer a manner of different ailments. Perhaps one of the commonest is Papillomatosis and affects species as diverse as Chaffinch, Crossbill and Sedge Warbler.

This is caused by the Papillomavirus, a DNA virus that is more normally associated with parrots and macaws. For those with an abnormal fascination with the virus, more details can be found in this paper.


This Chaffinch is one of the most extreme cases we've ever seen, and was caught on 15 March near Ripon. The extent of the growths is incredible, and the bird obviously has difficulty walking and presumably feeding normally, as it has very abnormal claw growth on its feet. The virus has been noted in the Chaffinch population at the site for several years, though the majority of birds coming to the feeders in the winter still have 'clean' legs. One adult male, though, that had regularly been caught at the site had lost one foot due to the virus.


Thanks (I think) to Yvonne Elvin for the photos and to Jill Warwick for passing them on.