999

Had a couple of ring recovery details come through last night - always nice to see. Neither that exciting, but one I found quite interesting.

The first is sad, as it concerns a cat kill on a female Blackbird I ringed on 14th July 2011 in Mum and Dad's garden. This bird was already at least two years old when I ringed it, so when it was taken by a cat on 13th July 2014 it was at least five years old. It hadn't gone far mind, in fact it was found less than 10m from where I ringed it!  Unlike my second...

A Blue Tit (a species that rarely give good recoveries as they often don't move much) I ringed in Mum and Dad's garden on 24th August 2011 as a bird of at least one year old, was re-caught at a nest box at Bucehayes, Stockland, Devon on 19th May 2014 by an A W G John. This is a gap of 999 days, and a distance of 15km. Not far in the grand schemes of things but really interesting that is was breeding here and not closer to Seaton which is what I would presume.  A good age too as if it's still going today it's at least four years old.

This year as you will have seen on this blog I have ringed a lot of long distance migrant birds, and I really hope I get some recoveries from these. Over the coming years I intend to ring a lot more migrant birds too, and want to add to the overall and ever changing picture of bird migration.

Willow Warbler  Beer Head 1st April 2014 - the first of 134 that I've ringed at Beer Head this year