Recent recoveries - passerines

Following on from the last post, here are are few details of some passerine recoveries from between April 2022 and December 2023.

We have a few Lesser Redpoll recoveries from around the UK, which is typical for this species as Redpoll are known to disperse and move around to wherever there is food.

- One bird ringed by us in January 2022 at Bestwood was recaught three months later 2022, 317km North in Peebles on the Scottish Borders.

- Another ringed at Skylarks in October 2020 was recaught in July 2022 in Ceredigion, Wales.

- One ringed in August 2022 at RSPB Geltsdale in Cumbria was recaught by us in Ramsdale three months later.

- And finally, a bird ringed in May 2021 by Thetford Forest Ringing Group was recaught by us in January 2023 at Bestwood.

A Reed Warbler ringed in July 2022 at Manor Floods was recaught three weeks later at Gironde, France, a distance of 922km. Slightly unusual as we don’t catch many Reed Warblers at Manor Floods.

Gironde was also the source of a controlled Redwing ringed at Ramsdale in 2021, which was recaught in October 2022 in France. Considering we catch around 100 Redwing each Winter, we hardly ever get recoveries of this species.

A Blue Tit ringed by Belvide Ringing Group was recaptured by us at Trowell in January 2023, a distance of 12km. Some studies have shown that only 1.2% of British Blue Tits move more than 20km during Winter, so a movement of 12km is fairly significant for this sedentary species.

A female Cetti’s Warbler ringed by Chew Valley in 2019 was recaught by us at Skylarks in April 2023, a distance of 208km. Cetti’s Warblers are colonising more of the UK as they slowly spread North, and it’s usually the females that move the furthest to establish new territories.

A Chiffchaff ringed on the Isle of May, Fife in May 2023 was recaught by us in Bestwood in October of the same year.

A Blackcap ringed by us at Skylarks in September 2021 was caught by a cat in Chester, December 2022. Presumably we caught this one on its westward migration and it would be interesting to know where it had originated from - possibly further east on continental Europe as seems to be the pattern for many birds wintering in the UK.

A Siskin ringed by us ar Colwick in March 2021 was recaught by Grampian Ringing Group in Aberdeenshire, April 2022. 

Holly

Redpoll