Glossy Ibis influx

We see the occasional Glossy Ibis in the UK, but there's always the occasional big influx as well. It was also only last year we had our first foreign-ringed Glossy Ibis in Britain, when a bird ringed at Doñana in southern Spain (on 3 June 2006) was seen in Lincolnshire (below).


But the last two weeks have seen Glossy Ibis all over the place, with plenty sporting shiny colour rings. The first flock to arrive was of 12 birds seen in Wexford, Ireland, four of which were ringed (MVP, HH4, MR3 and NJF). Three days later these moved to Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, where a total of 25 birds were later seen (with the same four ringed birds mixed in). Since then, five have popped back to Wexford, seven have been seen in Essex, with reports of birds also from Kent, Avon, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk!


These birds all appear to be juveniles (the Lincolnshire bird was an adult) and were ringed at the same site in southern Spain this spring.


Thanks to Russel Hayes for the pic of the Lincs bird, and to Kev Joynes for the great pics of the Welsh birds.

Irish Roseate Tern breeding in Belgium

We've just heard that our first recovery of a British and Irish ringed Roseate Tern in Belgium was breeding there. SR14895 was ringed as a nestling close to Dublin, Ireland in 2004 and was found breeding near Zeebrugge, Belgium in 2008.
















When we realised that this was a first for Belgium, we asked our Belgian colleagues for confirmation. It turns out that our bird was breeding with a Common Tern, and they successfully produced hybrid chicks which were also ringed. The only other Roseate Tern in the colony also attempted to breed with a Common Tern, but was unsuccessful. Unfortunately in 2009 the colony of over 1000 pairs of terns was decimated by foxes. So far no pure pairs of Roseate Terns have bred in Belgium.
Posted by Dorian Moss

World's oldest Whitethroat!

When ringers at Stanford Reservoir, Northants, caught Whitethroat ring number P774799 on 2 August 2009 they didn't think much of it. It was only later they realised that it had been originally ringed at the same site on 3 August 2002. Since then it was a regular at the site, though did go missing in 2007.

Seven years old might not seem like much, but P774799 is now the oldest recorded Whitethroat in Europe (and presumably the world?), beating a six year old Lincolnshire bird found dead back in 1992.

What is more amazing is that just in migrations alone, it will have made the 7,000 mile return trip to/from Africa seven times, crossing the Sahara 14 times!

Thanks to Adam Homer at Stanford Ringing Group for letting us know about this amazing bird.

Ringing in The Times

At the weekend we had a bit of a media frenzy, with a visit from the BBC AutumnWatch team and a photographer from The Times. So keep an eye out for us on AutumnWatch later in the year and check out the ringing slideshow half way down the Times pages here. Alternatively, you can view the Times slideshow here

The weekend also saw Ellen Walford (BTO Membership Development Officer) leaping out of a plane at 10,000 feet to promote the BTO's Out of Africa Appeal.


Ringing will play an important part in this work, so it was quite apt that Ellen was sporting a very nice Centenary t-shirt. To support Ellen and the Appeal, check out her JustGiving page.

Almost a first...

We were sent this photo recently of a ringed Black Tern, taken at Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire last week. Sadly the image isn't quite sharp enough to make out any detail on the ring...


There have only been 100 Black Terns ringed in Britain and Ireland, and we have yet to hear of any movements, so this is doubly frustrating!

Thanks to Mark Hawkes for letting us know and teasing us with the picture!