Ringing – October 16

Two catches were made on Thursday 20^th October in the Wetlands and today Monday 24^th October in the NE Corner.

As usual a very good species list and today it was nice to capture two Redwing, the first for several years.

From appearances, weight and wing length we think some of the Blackbirds are migrants from the continent coming in with the Thrushes.

The Song Thrush we captured with the Redwings was also probably a migrant. The other Song Thrush was a recapture from 2014 and it is interesting to speculate that this too is from the continent.

The tiny Goldcrest is another species that comes across the North Sea at this time of the year and those we have captured in both sessions could also be new arrivals.

We captured a whole family of Long-tailed Tits and this is the third such group this autumn. This is a sedentary species so it seems they have had a successful breeding season.

The Great Tit re-captures are interesting with at least three of them over three years old.

Ringing birds provides a fascinating insight into the movements and habitat preferences of birds. Added to the significant ringing database from the UK, our records contribute to the nationwide data set the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) collects to provide sound scientific evidence for bird conservation at local, national and international levels. 

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