And yet more interesting reports.....

Every now and then we get a cluster of reports sent to us by the BTO, about birds that have been reported from elsewhere.
This week we had a couple of particularly interesting ones:-

The first was a Blackbird which Pete caught during one of his Redwing catching sessions at Chillington on 14th December 2016. We regularly mention to visitors that it is highly likely that some of the Blackbirds we see in Britain during the Winter months may well have their breeding sites in eastern Europe or even further afield. This bird provides us with some hard evidence.

It was recaptured on the German island of Helgoland in the eastern North Sea --on 24, 25 and 27th of October 2018. We suggest the bird spends it's winters in the UK, then travels back to the north east of Europe or even into Russia to breed. On its journey back to spend the winter of 2018 in the UK it dropped into Helgoland to feed up before it's onward journey. By it's third day on Helgoland it had put on weight-again an indication that it was preparing itself for an onward flight.

In the same batch of reports was one of a Chiffchaff, which Kev caught on 17th October at his Wolverhampton Racecourse site. It's impossible to say where this bird came from--a breeding site somewhere in the UK or northern Europe? However, we DO know where it spent the winter because it was recaptured on the 8th January 2019 at a nature reserve in Dorset!!

Ringing is great fun, stimulating and provides useful data on movements which we have been unable to know by any other methods.