King of the Sea

With the Constant Effort Site (CES) ringing in full swing, we were out yesterday at our local reed bed, Cranwich, Norfolk. The weather was excellent and the Reed and Sedge Warblers were singing at full volume. It was a great session with 54 birds caught, not bad for a 3 hour session before work.

One of the highlights was an adult male Kingfisher (below), caught in the top shelf as it flew between two pools. This bird was quickly processed and released.

We've had a few recoveries of BTO birds travelling between ringing sites and getting caught by other ringers in the UK and Ireland but very few go across the sea. This morning we heard of a Kingfisher that was caught by another ringer in the Netherlands! There have been nine reports of BTO Kingfishers going abroad and this is the second for The Netherlands and the fifth to be caught by another ringer abroad.


View Kingfisher to the Netherlands in a larger map

This bird was ringed by the Merseyside Ringing Group as a juvenile on 24/06/2011 at Woolston Eyes, Warrington, Cheshire (red pin) and caught at Kampen, Overijssel, Netherlands (blue pin) on 12/05/2012 (575km in 323 days).

Thanks to Rachael Barber for the photo.