Nettlecreeper doing more than creeping

Mike Marsh writes:

On 4 July we controlled a German-ringed Whitethroat at Orfordness, Suffolk. The ringing information showed that this bird had been ringed earlier in the spring on the island of Helgoland, Germany and when I checked against the Online Ringing Reports I was surprised to find that this was only the second ringing movement of a Whitethroat between Germany and the UK, the other being in 1952.

Although it is hard to work out why a Whitethroat should be moving from Germany to the UK at this time of year it is interesting to note how similar the movement of the bird was to the one 63 years earlier. Both birds had been ringed off the NW German coast in late April/early May and then controlled in East Anglia in late June/early July, and the movements were 483km/WSW/54 days compared with 468km/W/59 days.

German ringed Whitethroat by Dave Crawshaw and several photos of the ring that have been merged to see full ring number

Ring number - 90212927
11-05-2015   ringed: Helgoland, Helgoland, GERMANY  54 10’N  07 55’E
04-07-2015   controlled: Orfordness, Suffolk  52 05’N  01 34’E
                         483 km WSW  -  54 days

Ring number - 9435010
29-04-1952   ringed: Wangerooge-Ost, East Friesland Islands, GERMANY  53 47’N  07 58’E
27-06-1952   controlled: Cley-next-the-Sea, Norfolk  52 57’N  01 03’E
                         468km W  -  59 days

Eds - Nettlecreeper is a local name of the Whitethroat. 'Controlled' is when a ringer catches a previously ringed bird, usually that he/she hasn't put on originally.

Bumper Little Stint year

With a latin name meaning a small grey waterside bird, the Little Stint is a gem among waders, especially in its breeding plumage.

We have had very few recoveries of this species in the history of the ringing scheme but things are now picking up. Up to 2011 we have had only had 16 reports of Little Stint ringed abroad and found in the UK and Ireland. Of these the majority (11 birds) were ringed in Norway, these were reported in the 1940s (1), 1960s (1), 1970s (2), 1980s (4), 1990's (2), 2000s (1).

Little Stint feeding - Dave Crawshaw

Due to a new colour ringing project in Norway, we have had a grand total of 7 sightings this year! Mike Marsh has let us know that he saw a group of 5 Little Stint at Orfordness, Suffolk. One of these was colour ringed and stayed around for a couple of days.This bird had only been ringed a mere 14 days previously and covered a distance of 1188km.

Little Stint winter in Africa, around the Indian Ocean and as far south as South Africa. There are also variable numbers in the Mediterranean and Persian Gulf, so it had a little further to go.


View Little Stint in a larger map

Thanks to Mike Marsh for letting us know.