Bearded Tit bails out of Scotland

The Bearded Tit is a very handsome bird and their call can excite many a birder when it's heard 'pinging' across the reedbed. As a Schedule 1 species, Bearded Tits are one of 88 species specially protected in the breeding season. Between 800-1,000 Bearded Tits are ringed every year in Britain by qualified bird ringers. Being fairly sedentary they make a good study species, particularly for the Retrapping Adults for Survival scheme (of which there are currently three active projects), but they can be frustrating as groups of Bearded Tits are occasionally prone to flying straight up into the air and disappearing into the distance.

Male Bearded Tit. Photo by Graham Catley

The map below shows some of the movements of Bearded Tits that have been recorded within our Ringing Scheme. As you can see, the majority of movements are from their stronghold in East Anglia to the near continent.


Colour of location: Ringed in Britain and Ireland, Found Here; Ringed Here, Found in Britain and Ireland

We have just heard from our colleagues in the Norwegian Ringing Scheme that one of their ringers has recently (16 Oct 2018) caught a Bearded Tit wearing a BTO ring! This is only the second recorded movement of a BTO-ringed Bearded Tit to Norway.

This bird was ringed as a juvenile by the Tay Ringing Group on 24 June 2018 at one of their regular sites and reported from Norway less than four months later. It is likely this bird would have been travelling in the opposite direction to the thousands of other species that would have been leaving Scandinavia on their way to spend the winter with us.

The map below shows the ringing and finding locations of some of the Bearded Tits ringed by the Tay Ringing Group; the bird reported from Norway was the Group's longest-distance movements to date for this species. The red pins show the ringing location and the blue pins the finding location.

For more information of the movements of Bearded Tits and some interesting recoveries, check out the BTO Online Ringing & Nest Recording Report.

New Curlew recoveries from Poland

Mike Smart (on behalf of the Curlew Forum) writes:

The current BTO map of Curlew recoveries shows (out of nearly 1,800 recoveries of this species) only two movements between Britain and Ireland and Poland, both rather old, one in either direction, as follows: 

FV42986 - Adult ringed on 09.08.1978 at Camel estuary, Wadebridge, Cornwall, found long dead on 23.07.1979 at Drawski Mlyn, Poland 52.52 N 16.06 E.

EN02280 - First year bird ringed on 25.08.2009 at Borety, Lichnowy, Poland 54.07 N 18.52 E and colour ring read on 26.10.2010 at Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate.

The ringing or finding locations of both these birds were close to the Baltic coast, with the birds in Poland in July or August, which suggests that they were on migration from northern or eatern breeding sites to wintering areas along the Atlantic or Channel seaboards in England.

A new national Polish Curlew project, which aims to encourage breeding populations in nine sites across the country, has shown that movements between Poland and Britain and Ireland are more frequent than the old recoveries suggest. The project involves work in river valleys in nine different areas of eastern Poland, where there is collaboration with farmers to avoid destruction of nests and eggs by agricultural activities, artificial raising of chicks in aviaries (‘head-starting’), marking of young birds with colour rings and inscribed flags and the use of satellite markers to record migration routes taken. Lots of extra information is available on the excellent Polish website at www.ochronakulika.pl; (‘Kulik’ is Polish for Curlew); for the English version, just click on the Union Jack.


Release of a satellite-tagged bird on the breeding grounds in Poland. Photo by Dominik Krupiński

The work in Poland has already borne fruit: at least five of the birds marked with colour rings and satellite tags have been recorded in south-east England this autumn: the latest is a bird with a yellow flag M78, ringed in Poland on 14 July 2018 and sighted at Chichester Harbour on 28 September 2018 (see picture below). Another Polish-ringed and satellite-tagged female called Nina has been a regular visitor to Porchfield Cricket Club’s ground, on the Isle of Wight. The map below shows the route taken by one of the satellite-tagged birds.


Polish-ringed Curlew with flag in Chichester Harbour. Photo by Dominik Krupiński

Route taken by a satellite-tagged bird from Poland to southern England

In fact the Poles are clearly carrying out all the actions to encourage breeding Curlews that have been discussed at a series of recent meetings in the British Isles and Ireland – the first in Ireland in November 2016, the second at Slimbridge in February 2017, the third in Wales in January 2018 and the latest in Scotland only recently, in September 2018. Such meetings are crucial, in view of the Eurasian Curlew’s current status on the UK and International Red Lists, and there is indeed an International Species Survival Action Plan under the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), which recently held a meeting in Scotland.
 
For details of all these meetings and much more on breeding Curlews in lowland Britain, see the Curlew Forum website at www.curlewcall.org.

And, as if all this was not enough, another recovery of a British-marked bird has just been reported:
FA95802 - adult ringed on 14.12.2015 at Usk estuary, Newport, Wales and colour ring read on 19.04.2018 at Trzyrzecze, Brzozówka Valley, NE Poland 53.31 N, 23.10 E.

This bird was seen and recognised from its colour rings (Black on the left tibia, White over Orange on the right tibia, plus Orange over White on the left tarsus as a marker for all Usk birds) from 19 to 26 April 2018 (see picture below). Note that this bird was recorded not in autumn near the Baltic coast (like the two previous recoveries), but far inland in northeast Poland, close to the Polish border with Belarus, by observers from the Polish project. It had been ringed by a BTO team studying possible effects of tidal lagoons on the Severn estuary near Newport in winter 2015/16. The first reaction was that this bird was perhaps on its way to breeding areas in Finland, but it now seems much more likely that it was a bird preparing to nest in eastern Poland.


Black White Orange Colour ringed Curlew in Poland in April 2018. Photo by Dominik Krupiński

So, it suddenly appears that, whereas we previously thought there was little exchange of Curlews between Poland and Britain and Ireland, there seem to be much more numerous exchanges between breeding grounds in Poland and wintering grounds in southeast England, with the occasional bird going to winter as far west as Wales; and the two older recoveries mentioned above may well have been of Polish nesting birds, rather than migrants from further north. Many other Polish-breeding birds go further down the Atlantic coast to western France where, as reported at the AEWA meeting, there is still an open season for shooting Curlews: 7,000 Curlews were shot in France last winter. 
Further records of metal- or colour-ringed and satellite-marked Curlews may throw even more light on the situation, so please keep looking out for those engraved leg flags.

And a post-script:

It so happens that another bird from the December 2015/January 2016 catch on the Usk estuary has recently been reported (in May 2018) in Finland; there are very many recoveries, according to the BTO map, of British-ringed Curlews in Finland (an enormous 128), or of Finnish-ringed birds recovered in Britain and Ireland (an even greater 238). Given all those movement of Curlews between Britain and Ireland and breeding sites in Finland (and for that matter Sweden too – there are 86 recoveries in Britain and Ireland of Swedish-ringed Curlews and 40 recoveries in Sweden of British-ringed Curlews), surely some of the Finnish or Swedish birds must get recovered in Poland on their way to the Atlantic coast breeding grounds? A check of the Finnish and Swedish ringing atlases, (data kindly provided by the Finnish and Swedish ringing offices), and……  quite crazy results: there is not a single recovery of a Finnish-ringed Curlew in any of the states of the north-eastern Baltic – neither in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania or Poland; all, but all, of the many ringed Finnish Curlews (17,000 birds ringed, nearly all as chicks) migrate along the western (Swedish) Baltic coast to Denmark, then move on to winter along the Atlantic seaboard, mainly in the UK and France. The same is true of Swedish-ringed Curlews; no recoveries whatsoever in the eastern Baltic. Extraordinary that there should be such different migration routes for birds wintering in the same area! More research is needed to find out why!

Many thanks to Polish colleagues Dominik Krupiński and Jerzy Lewtak, and to the Finnish Ringing Office.

Very special Nightingale at Leybourne Country Park

Alan Woodcock writes:

Leybourne Country Park was opened in 2004 and is part of an extensive area of former sand and gravel workings, which was excavated between 1946 and 1977. Much of the area is therefore 'man made' with landscaping and planting having taken place as part of the restoration during the late 1970s. It comprises 93 hectares, of which 65% is water, 10% marshland and reedbed, 15% grassland, 6% trees and woodland and 4% scrub. The Park is sandwiched between the villages of Snodland and New Hythe in the Medway valley about five miles south of Rochester in Kent.

Nightingale became established in the general area of the park towards the latter end of the 1970's. The main Nightingale habitat is hawthorn / bramble scrub and willow / hawthorn / buddleia scrub with adjoining open areas.



Nightingale scrub habitat - photo by Alan Woodcock

In 1980, I recorded three singing birds around a gravel pit (Abbey Meads), which is separated from the Park by the Snodland to New Hythe railway line, and by 1991, the number had increased to ten pairs (five in the Abbey Meads area and five in the Country Park). The count for 2016 was twenty five singing birds, with five in the Abbey Meads area.

The Park now holds a very important population of Nightingale, with up to thirty singing birds in some years. A dedicated team of rangers and volunteers have helped to create and maintained Nightingale habitat throughout the Park.

Footpath by Nightingale habitat- photo taken by Alan Woodcock

Between 1979 and 1992, an area known as Reeds Island Site, which is just across the Medway from the Park, also held a high population of Nightingale (Kent Bird Report 1991, The Burham, Eccles and New Hythe Nightingale). Although Nightingale still breed in the general area, without habitat maintenance and the recent solar park development, the population is now much depleted, which makes the Leybourne Country Park's population even more important.



Singing Nightingale - photo by Alan Woodcock

Good Nightingale habitat - photo by Alan Woodcock

T677063 was ringed in the Pylon territory on 6 June 2008, as a 5 (hatched the previous calendar year) male. Five years later when I re-trapped him on 17 April 2013, he was holding a territory in an area known as Brook House, which is about 300 metres away. He was subsequently retrapped there in 2014 and 2015.

On the early date of 4 April 2016, I heard a bird singing in the territory he held in 2015; I set up a net the following day and caught the bird, but instead of it being T677063, it was an unringed, age 5 male. Although I was disappointed, with it being so early in the season, I felt he still might return. A while later I was told by a bird-watching friend that he had seen a Nightingale with a ring singing in a different area about 400 metres away. On 4 May, I set up a net and managed to catch the bird and on reading the ring number much to my delight it was indeed T677063. He was then re-trapped there on 20 July and it was this capture that made it to the Online Ringing Report longevity pages, breaking the previous British and Irish longevity record for this species.

Ed - Submission of the recapture data for this bird has been delayed and it broke the longevity record for this species in 2016. It wasn't beaten in 2017 so this bird is the current record holder.

"Roll up, roll up". Bird ringing at the fair.

All over the country, qualified bird ringers run demonstrations for individuals, groups or anyone coming to a particular site, such as a nature reserve or a farm. These can be fantastic events for engaging non-ringers, highlighting the scientific importance of ringing and explaining what we can learn from monitoring birds.

One of the biggest ringing demonstrations in the country is at Birdfair (17-19 August). Every year, thousands of people stop by to see how ringing works and to view birds close-up, without the need for binoculars.

Guy Anderson showing the crowd

The Birdfair ringing demonstration runs for the duration of the fair (weather permitting) and, if previous years are anything to go by, should provide visitors with views of some great species. Last year, a Sparrowhawk was caught and really drew in the crowds. The more commonly-caught species include Blackcap, Reed and Sedge Warbler and a whole host of tits and finches.

Anyone want to see a Sparrowhawk?

This site, and locations nearby, are usually ringed by the Rutland Water Ringing Group, and this demo helps to increase the effort on the site and adds to the data already collected from their other projects, including their CES.

And if we don't have any birds to ring, we are usually able to 'ring' people with specially-designed rings... If you are going to the fair this year, do come along and find out what it's all about!

A big jump in Hawfinch Longevity

With the influx of Hawfinch into southern Britain this winter, Jerry Lewis started one of his feeding sites much earlier than usual (in mid January) hoping to try and catch some of the visitors. Despite a decent sized flock of 40+ birds visiting the feeding site, they were mainly coming down to Hornbeam seed, rather than sunflower seeds. After two months, catching had been very slow (just 16 birds caught, at a rate of one every three hours), but after mid March it started to pick up. The largest catches began from mid-April onwards (as happens most years), averaging a 'finger numbing' two birds per hour. 

Despite problems at two of the feeding sites - sunflower seeds being taken by squirrels/wild boar (leaving few for the birds) and a road closure preventing access to a third site, it was Jerry's most successful year to date. By the time his 'catching season' was over he had caught 202 birds, which included 43 that had been ringed in previous years (plus a small number of same-season recaptures). It is unlikely that many (any) would have been continental birds, as migrants had generally left by early April in previous years.

Photo by Vaughan Thomas  Hawfinch NW31779, ringed 1 May 2008 and re-caught 5 May 2018 (10 years, 4 days later)

Five of his recaptures had originally been ringed in 2010, making them comparable with his current British & Irish longevity record of 8 years 1 month 22 days. One female, caught on 5 May 2018, topped these however, having been ringed on 1 May 2008, 10 years and 4 days earlier; a big increase in longevity. This bird was ringed in the northeast of the Forest of Dean - nr Cinderford, was caught twice in April 2010 - near Tintern in the Wye Valley (20 km SSW), before now moving to near Chepstow (7 km further SSW).

What seems to be surprising is how rarely the 2010-ringed birds had been re-caught (three had been caught once since ringing, the other two hadn't been re-caught at all). Jerry's next challenge is to try and understand why these long-lived birds are not re-caught more often.

How long do Red-throated Divers live for?

Dave Okill of Shetland Ringing Group writes:

On  26 April 2018, Mick Mellor was doing a routine Beached Bird Survey for SOTEAG (Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group), when on Urafith beach, North Mainland, Shetland he found a freshly dead Red-throated Diver (RTD) that had a ring on it. He carefully noted the number and emailed me when he got home. 

Not remembering the number, I started to look back through old, almost fading, files and I found that I had ringed it as a large chick on a small remote lochan not far from Nibon, North Mainland, on 27 July 1985. At well over 32 years old, this individual was an old bird. Looking at the BTO longevity records, the oldest-known RTD was a bird ringed in Hoy, Orkney in July 1986 and last caught at the same location in April 2015, 28 years, 9 months and 7 days later; our bird clearly beats that by some margin! Searching through North American and other longevity lists, it seems that our bird is probably the oldest RTD yet recorded anywhere.

Ringed Dead Red-throated Diver, Urafirth Beach, Shetland. Photo by Mick Mellor.

As well as demonstrating essential information on migrations, movements and dispersal, ringing also gives us the ages of different species; both the average age and the maximum age of the oldest individuals. Longevity records usually creep up slowly, so an increase in the maximum age of RTDs by four years is a notable leap. I suspect that divers are long-lived birds and this record will be well beaten in time.

The ringing site and the finding place are only a few kilometers apart and it is likely that this bird was a male returning in spring to nest in its natal area. Male divers return to breed close to the area where they fledged; females disperse widely before they breed and Mainland-ringed females have been found many kilometers from their fledging loch, up to the North Isles and as far as Orkney. Orkney females have also been found breeding in Shetland.

Red-throated Diver. Photo by Manuel Schultz/BTO.

Over the years our bird will have traveled widely but we only know two points in this bird's life. To help us understand divers better, JNCC are promoting a project to discover what divers are doing, especially on their wintering grounds, now especially important with the proliferation of vast off-shore wind farms which displace wintering and moulting birds from their traditional areas. Birds from Orkney, Shetland, Finland and Iceland will be investigated.  

Editor's note: all recoveries of ringed birds help to further our knowledge, so if you find a bird ring, please report the details at www.ring.ac. 

Birds of a feather, fly together

It's pleasing to have a flock of Siskins arrive in your garden, and thanks to ringing, we might know where they come from or go to, but can ringing tell us anything about the link between these individuals in the flock? A note in Bird Study by Juan Senar and Jeff and Allison Kew in 2015 revealed that the individuals in Siskin flocks have stable social bonds and move in stable social units.

Two more recent examples of Siskins apparently travelling together between Britain and both Finland and Sweden provide even more evidence to reinforce the existence of social bonding between migrating Siskins.

Hugh Insley writes:

The moment you take a ringed bird out of a net and realise that the number on the ring is not one of your own, is always pleasing. When the ring has a foreign inscription the pleasure rises to excitement.

Swedish ring being examined. Photo by Sandy Davidson

Following several spells of easterly winds this March, I wasn’t entirely surprised to find that one of the Siskins visiting my garden feeders (green pin on map below) was carrying a Swedish ring and had been ringed as a 5,M (last years fledgling, male) on 25 April 2017 at Overboda, Västerbotten (63 deg 51 min N 19 deg 55 min E) 1,490 km ENE of Inverness (red pin on map below).

Swedish Siskin recoveries are not as frequent as might be expected from such a close neighbour. Up to 2016 there had been 38 Swedish-ringed Siskins reported here, with 110 BTO-ringed individuals recovered there. This compares with 105 from, and 172 to, Norway. So, even though another bout of easterlies had followed, I was quite surprised to catch another Swedish ringed Siskin, on 4 April and even more so to get a third the following day. What was really interesting was that the third bird’s ring, was only seven numbers different from the bird caught the previous day so that it was nearly certain that these two birds had been ringed at the same location and were travelling together. Both birds had been ringed on 23 July 2017 at Handol, Jamtland (63 deg 16 min N 12 deg 26 min E) 1,119 km ENE of Inverness (blue pin on map below).



An email exchange with Malcolm Calvert of the South Manchester Ringing Group, with whom I swap quite a number of Siskins, revealed that he had had a similar experience over the weekend of 22/23 February 2016 when one of six Siskins caught in his North Cheshire garden was an adult and was carrying a Finnish ring; the bird had been ringed at Pori, Satakunta, Turku and Pori (purple pin on map below) on 15 May 2015. The following day Malcolm caught another six, and was delighted to learn that one of these had been recaptured two months later on 29 April 2016 at Niinivisi, Kupio  Finland (yellow pin on map below), albeit some distance from the ringing location of the Finnish ringed bird caught in his garden (brown pin on map below). Finnish recoveries are even scarcer than those from Sweden with only four Finnish-ringed birds reported here and 28 BTO-ringed ones reported in Finland up to 2016.

Two male Siskins squabbling over seed. Photo by Desmond Dugan

Any foreign recovery is interesting, but to find two different examples of pairs and probably groups, of Siskins apparently moving together is remarkable. It seems likely that Malcolm’s two Finnish recoveries involving his Cheshire garden would have involved birds that had been wintering in Britain. The Swedish birds in my Inverness garden could also have been birds that had wintered in Britain, returning north with all the other Siskins which seem to move up into the Highlands in March and April. Many of these travel via the Manchester area, as evidenced by all the exchanges with the South Manchester Ringing Group, or perhaps they might have been the result of drift migration following all those easterly winds?


Siskins at a feeder. Photo by Desmond Dugan

Siskin was the sixth most-ringed bird in 2017 with in excess of 35,000 individuals ringed. Even so, or perhaps because of this effort, every year is bringing new knowledge to our understanding of these charismatic little garden visitors.

Retail ringing

After undertaking years of training, bird ringers are in a privileged position to be able to catch birds. The information gathered through ringing is used to help answer some of the big questions in ornithology, such as why populations are changing and what routes birds take on their migrations.

Ringing often brings ringers into contact with people who know nothing about bird ringing, and commonly have little contact with birds, other than those in their garden. This is a great opportunity to educate and enthuse the public about the lives of birds, ringing and the BTO. Most of the time, bird ringing is encountered through television programmes like Springwatch, a ringing demonstration at a local nature reserve or even the ringing demonstration at the Birdfair, but occasionally it can be seen in the most unexpected places.


Rutland Birdfair ringing demonstreration. Photo by Sam Franks.

With the permission of the landowners, ringing sessions are held up and down Britain and Ireland; in supermarket car parks (for Pied Wagtails), city streets (Waxwing), waterways (swans and geese) or on the sea front (gulls and waders). Colour rings or flags are frequently used to identify birds that are ringed without the need for ringers to catch them again. This has the added bonus that anyone (not just ringers) can report colour-marked birds (see here for instructions on how to report a sighting of a colour-marked bird), as long as the species is known and the combination is read correctly.


Waxwings enjoying the berry bushes. Photo by Jeff Baker

Occasionally, perfectly healthy birds do get into trouble and end up in places they don't want to be. If they are lucky, the bird identifies the exit and promptly flies out, but sometimes this doesn't happen due to the nature of the building (a large warehouse or a shop with automatic doors for instance). This can lead to store alarms having to be left unset, which has implications for their insurance and can be stressful for the owner. This is where a ringer's ability to catch birds safely can be invaluable.

Ringers across the country regularly step in to help catch the Blackbird in the warehouse, the Blue Tit in the shopping centre or the Robin at the wedding venue (as we have posted previously). Here at BTO HQ, we do not get that many phone calls about birds trapped in Thetford, Norfolk (where we are based), but today was the exception. The caller informed us that: "There is a Robin trapped in Poundland and it can't get out!!!! We've tried everything, including herding it towards the door, but it keeps flying back into the store!".

Robin doing a bit of light shopping in the afternoon. Photo by Lee Barber

Conveniently coming up to lunch time, Lee Barber had the opportunity to nip out and try and release the bird back into the wild. He recounts: it is a strange feeling putting a mist net up in Poundland, with customers wandering around and a Robin flying over their heads, moving mostly unseen. After a quick assessment of the Robin's behaviour and its preferred area in the store, and whilst managing the customers, I quickly put a short mist net up. Within 15 minutes I'd caught the adult Robin, which was promptly ringed and released outside (after a quick health check).

Robin safely in the hand ready for release. Photo by Lee Barber

As this is something that the BTO doesn't do routinely, we must say a huge thank you to all the ringers that we've contacted who have dropped everything to help a bird in need. Some of the locations have been very challenging due to the height of the building, access, and other obstacles in the way, but there is usually a happy ending; sometimes the bird has even left the building of its own accord before the ringer gets there.

The Joy of Nesting Birds

Hazel Evans writes:

This week (14th – 21st February) is the BTO’s 21st National Nest Box Week.  Each year we encourage anyone who is interested, to put up nest boxes locally. I’d like to delve in to some of the different aspects for why this is such a wonderful thing to do, and how we can make the most of them.

The first and most obvious reason is to give birds a place to raise their young. In areas of human habitation it can be harder for birds to find places to nest, so putting up a nest box is a good way to ensure there is somewhere for the birds to use. There are many external factors which may affect the outcome of a nesting attempt, but we can offer them a good place to start. You may also choose to put out some appropriate nesting material in the nearby trees and bushes, or grow some plants to encourage insects. Non-native plants in gardens have been found to be a potential detriment to our local birds, they do not provide as much food, because non-native plants may not be able to host as many caterpillars as native plants, so this may be something to consider.
 

Robin feeding it's young. Photo by John Harding

The second reason why putting up a nest box can be important is monitoring. One of the BTO’s strongest assets is the data it has collected through organising monitoring schemes, and the Nest Record Scheme (NRS) is no exception. Now running for over 75 years, close to two million records of nesting birds throughout the UK have been sent in for over 200 species. This includes data from open nesting birds and nest boxes, both of which are highly valuable. As long as the NRS Code of Conduct is adhered to, we can safely record the progress of nesting attempts by counting the number of eggs and chicks and recording the outcome of the attempt and submitting data to the NRS.

Blue Tit fledgling. Photo by Christine M Matthews

The third reason I value nest boxes very highly, is the intrigue and excitement they can provide. Anyone can put up a nest box and monitor what’s inside it and in turn benefit from watching the behaviour of the birds. Interactions with the natural world have been shown to help relieve depression, anxiety and stress. We are living in a time where it is easy to lose touch with the natural world and many children aren’t getting experiences with nature; having a nest box in your garden is an inspiring way to learn about the natural world. Monitoring nests is not something that should be taken lightly but with the knowledge that the data is going to a good cause, it's something we can experience great joy from.

Now is the time when garden birds are just starting to prospect nesting sites in preparation for the approaching spring, so the sooner you can get a box up the better, whether you build it yourself or buy it from the garden centre. There are many bird species which use nest boxes, so if you have a bit more space then you may want to put up a larger nest box, for a Kestrel or owls.

Once used, it is a great idea to clean out old nests the following winter to allow for a fresh start in the spring. To comply with legislation, nests should only be cleaned out between 1 August and 31 January.

Brit abroad causing a stir

The species, or subspecies, of the Redpoll complex has long been something that birders and ringers have debated; the use of new advances in technology, like sonograms and DNA studies, have only fueled the discussions. There are currently three recognised species, Lesser, Common (Mealy) and Arctic Redpoll, with subspecies also acknowledged (depending on which criteria you use). Identification of these species can be difficult; however, ringers are in the privilaged position of being able to collect detailed data on size (wing length) and plumage to help inform the decision.

Since 2010, the average number of Lesser Redpoll ringed by the BTO Ringing Scheme is 21,000 birds per year. The number of these that are later relocated is quite high in comparison to similar species. They have become increasingly common in gardens (as recorded through Garden BirdWatch) possibly due to garden bird feeding; this also offers additional opportunities for ringers to catch these birds.



Colour of location: Ringed in Britain and Ireland, Found Here; Ringed Here, Found in Britain and Ireland

The map above shows the ringing and finding locations for all the Lesser Redpolls that have been ringed or reported in Britain and Ireland. This map will have to be redrawn later this year however, as we have now received details of a bird that had its metal ring read in Spain! During 2017, there were only two sightings of Redpoll in the whole of Spain, so 20 January 2018, when a flock of 15-17 birds turned up, was an exciting day; it was made even more exciting by the fact that one of the birds was wearing a ring!

Adult male Lesser Redpoll. Photo by Jesús Mari Lekuona

Unfortuantely, as the rings on Redpoll are very small, it is very difficult to read the ring number in the field; however, Jesús Mari Lekuona managed to read all but the last number. This narrowed the options down to 10 possible birds, and all of them were Lesser Redpolls of various ages (adult or juvenile), ringed on 14 October 2017 near Cinderford, Gloucestershire by Robin Husbands. As you can see from the photo, this bird is an adult male... and this matched a single bird, ringed at 12.30!

This is the most-southerly recovery of a Lesser Redpoll, although there is a report of a 'Redpoll species' recorded in Portugal (before they were split into three species). In countries where certain species rarely occur, finding a bird with a ring can be really helpful, not only to increase our understanding of bird movements, but also to help validate such an unusual movement.

Thanks to Jesús Mari Lekuona, Ricardo Rodríguez, Jorge Nubla, Oscar Guindano and Jose Ardaiz for getting the ring number and Rare Birds In Spain for letting us know.

Ringing and recoveries roundup

From all in the Ringing and Nest Recording Team, we wish you a Happy New Year!

This is a very busy time of year for us. Ringers all over Britain and Ireland are submitting their 2017 ringing data before their ringing permits can be renewed. The graph below shows when the data were submitted for birds ringed in 2017, and the number of birds in each data load.


Number of ringed birds submitted to BTO. Click to enlarge graph.

The deadline for submitting records isn't until the end of Febuary, but even so, it looks unlikely that we will reach a million birds ringed this year. At the moment Blue Tit is the most-ringed bird with 102,716 ringed, followed by Goldfinch (53,993), Great Tit (53,395), Blackcap (51,806), Chiffchaff (49,801) and then Siskin (33,812).

One of the many male Great Tits ringed. Photo by lee Barber

As the data come in, we also receive the details of BTO-ringed birds which have been reported away from the place of ringing. Here are some interesting recoveries that have turned up so far this year.

A Chiffchaff ringed at Snettisham, Norfolk on 24 September 2016 was recaptured at Gwennap, Cornwall on 6 January 2018 (489 km). A Goldcrest got a bit too close to a cat on 9 January at South Elmsall, Pontefract after being ringed at Heysham Harbour, Lancashire on 19 September 2017 (118 km). An unfortunate Lesser Redpoll was found after falling prey to an unknown predator at Oudon, Nantes, France. It had been ringed near Darlington, Stockton-on-Tees (805 km); strangely, the ringing and finding dates are exactly the same as those of the Goldcrest. On a lighter note, an Oystercatcher was seen at Dawlish Warren, Devon on 4 January; this individual was ringed at Holbeach St Matthew on 31 August 1999 (353 km).

Male Goldcrest. Photo by Lee Barber

Last week we received a report of a ring being 'found in a drawer' in Tennessee, US on 7 January 2018. A BTO ring being found in America is always a special event, but while processing the details, we realised we already had a report of this bird on the system. It actually died in 2005 (4.5 months after ringing). This ring was put on a female Canada Goose at Llangorse Lake, Powys... and was shot at St Johns, Worcester, 77 km away, and reported by someone who lived near Llanelli, Camarthenshire. It is amazing to see how far a ring can travel without the bird.

Thanks to all our ringers and nest recorders for doing such great work; without them this information would be impossible.