Birds in Lincolnshire

A Brief Analysis of some Natonal Ringing Recoveries 1997

A brief analysis of some national ringing recoveries 1997 by Alexander Lees

Pouring over the 1997 ringing report situated within the May 1999 issue of Ringing and Migration provides a fascinating insight into the world of avian migration, dispersal and vagrancy. The migratory power of birds is highly species specific. A Manx Shearwater moving 11,910 km to Argentina from Wales is a lot less unusual than a Nuthatch moving 246km across England! I will deal with a number of recoveries of particular interest; these include one of the re-introduced Scottish Red Kites that moved 1,017km to Iceland in its first winter. This is a classic example of juvenile dispersal, individuals taking part in such random dispersal events may be genetically more prone to undertake such apparently suicidal journeys, this being a mechanism by which new populations are founded. A Moorhen ringed in Thetford in December 1996 was recovered in the following March in Shetland. Crakes and rails are notorious for their powers of dispersal; the record of a Corncrake (a strictly Palearctic species) found in Australia pays testament to this. Almost as amazing is the Russian ringed Wren travelling 1,524km to Sussex, evidently the theory of reverse migration can't be attributed to all aspects of vagrancy. However, two good records appear in the report both concerning acrocephalus warblers, that support this theory: a Lithuanian ringed Paddyfield Warbler was retrapped on Fair Isle in the same September and a Latvian ringed Reed Warbler was found on a North Sea oil platform. Both followed a classic WNW route from their natal areas. The record of a Shetland ringed Red-breasted Flycatcher recovered in Norway 13 days later in September is perhaps better attributed to drift vagrancy, evidently the bird was able to compensate and returned back to its normal migration course. Ringing is a useful way of revealing changes in birds distribution, in recent years small numbers of Penduline Tits have been found wintering in southern England. A bird from the Swedish population was recovered at that mecca for British ringers, Ickelsham in Sussex. Although such birds are seen as vagrants it is likely that we are seeing a genuine shift in wintering habits with birds exploiting the large areas of suitable English habitats: Dungeness Pits, the Broads etc. There is still much to learn about avian migratory habits and the continued effort by European ringers should do much to further this.

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