Fieldwork February 2023

Friday 24 February

Recces

Cathy recced on Friday morning. Snettisham and Heacham beaches were being ‘recharged’ (moving sand onto the beach, before the start of the tourist season) and there were also reports of Peregrine and Gyr Falcon at Snettisham Pits. These events may have affected birds’ movements, but Oystercatchers were seen on all the beaches recced, with the birds on Heacham North North being the most reliable. A few Turnstone were also seen, the majority at Heacham South beach, where a flock of ca. 200 Bar-tailed Godwits were also observed.

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The Norwegian Connection: a tale of two journeys

One of the most visible birds on The Wash beaches must be the Oystercatcher. With its distinctive black and white plumage, orange bill and strident ‘kleep’ call, it’s certainly hard to miss! But where do ‘our’ Oystercatchers go when they leave The Wash? The map summarises the international movements of ‘our’ Oystercatchers – the red triangles are birds ringed abroad and found on The Wash, the blue dots are birds we ringed that were found abroad. It is clear that there is a really strong connection between The Wash and Norway – which is where most of the Oystercatchers wintering on The Wash go to breed. Most of these reports are of metal-ringed birds but, in recent years, we and other groups have used colour marks and tags to track movements in greater detail, and these sometimes produce very rapid feedback.

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Foreign visitors

Over the last two or three years WWRG has increased its efforts on the resighting of colour-marked birds, recognising that this provides valuable data in terms of the number of recoveries and the information gained on the movements and survival of birds that have been ringed. Previous blogs have outlined the fieldwork undertaken by WWRG in the last quarter of 2017, including colour-ring resighting, particularly the ‘Colour-mark resighting bonanza’ weekend of 6–8 October when 146 sightings of 88 birds were made over three tides.

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Latest recoveries

One of the most interesting aspects of ringing with WWRG is the information that we receive on birds that we have ringed which turn up in different places both in the UK and elsewhere. These may be re-sighted from colour marks on the legs of a bird or from the bird being re-caught, either through mist netting or cannon netting, by another ringing group. Increasingly we are also receiving reports from individual birders who have read the metal ring of a wader in the field, an indication of the quality of modern optical equipment and the interest of birders in the finding of ringed birds.

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Recent recoveries

We recently received some reports that birds ringed by WWRG had been seen or found elsewhere.

Waders

Sanderling (NT88726) ringed as an adult at Heacham, Norfolk on 10 September 2010 was identified by its colour rings in:

  • Setúbal, Portugal (1,739 km away) on 8 November 2012.
  • Setúbal, Portugal (1,739 km away) on 15 February 2013.
  • Santarém, Portugal, 1,732 km away, on 23 February 2013.
  • Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla, Iceland, 1,764 km away, on 30 May 2014.

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