Redpolls and records

 We have had lots of Siskin on our feeders as have many people around the country. Although nowhere near as many, we have also had quite a few Redpoll also. These two species often wander together--but Redpoll ae much less obvious--often simply looking like " little brown jobs" from a distance without binoculars.

However, they are very attractive birds. They all have the characteristic, red patch on the head ( or poll a it was called in olden times) just like this female....

Males, especially at this time of year are quite unmistakeable, with a bright pinky/red breast. This is a particularly bright example...

Thanks to Paul for these pics from BPF this morning.

This morning the BTO journal Ringing and Migration dropped through the letterbox. It's research papers are a bit 'heavy', and it will be some time before I fight my way through them all. But at the rear of the journal once per year is the collection of data from ringers around the country. Having one of your birds in there is always a bit of a thrill--and this time we had a recovery of a bird which I had forgotten about. 

You can just about make out that it was a Chiffchaff ringed at Belvide at the end of August 2019. It was found ( unfortunately killed by a cat!!) in Switzerland mid March 2021--only the second ever British ringed Chiffchaff to be found in Switzerland!!

That in itself is cause for celebration--but I wonder what the back-story is here. I'm pretty sure it was probably bred near Belvide and caught before it set off on it's way south typically late September. So why did it turn up in Switzerland in March a couple of years later? Several possibilities..... was it slightly off course and on it's way back to the UK?; had it paired up with a Swiss mate and was settling down to breed there?; had it wintered in Switzerland for some reason.? The reality is we don't know--but it's fun thinking about the possibilities!!