19/04/12 - The power of plastic strikes (again!)

Kane Brides from the WWT has been in touch again this week with details of another Whooper Swan recovery. 'K3K' has been sighted in Ross-shire, Scotland, it was originally ringed (as an adult) in the LDV at North Duffield Carrs during the 2008 cannon net catch. This is the second Whooper re-sighting that we've had of late - a few weeks ago data came back on 'K3H' - a bird ringed during the same catch in 2008, had been sighted in Norway - see Norway...? No way! for details.

2008 Whooper catch - North Duffield Carrs

 

'K3K' was present in the valley during the winter of 08/09 and then returned the following year and wintered in the valley during January 2010. It was next heard of on 24^th February 2010 when it was caught at the WWT centre at Caerlaverock, Dumfries, Scotland, presumably when it was returning northwards on its return migration to Iceland. It wasn’t seen or heard of until the following winter when it returned to the valley, it was first sighted on 26/11/10 and last sighted on 12/03/11. The most recent sightings have been the winter just gone - 2011/2012 - instead of wintering in the valley, 'K3K' returned once again to Scotland and on 22/11/11 it was sighted in Fearn, Drome, Nr Balintore (Ross-shire), followed by Tullich Farm, Nr Balintore (Ross-shire) on 16^th & 18^th March 2012, so clearly a change in wintering area.

History of Whooper Swan ‘K3K’:

Year		Method		Date		Location
2008		Caught		30/11/2008		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		03/01/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		06/01/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		08/01/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		09/01/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		19/02/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		26/02/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		07/03/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2009		Sighting		16/03/2009		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		02/01/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		18/01/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		19/01/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Re-caught		24/02/2010		Caerlaverock, Dumfries
2010		Sighting		26/11/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		12/12/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		19/12/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		24/12/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2010		Sighting		31/12/2010		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		03/01/2011		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		31/01/2011		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		05/02/2011		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		01/03/2011		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		05/03/2011		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		12/03/2011		LDV, North Yorkshire
2011		Sighting		22/11/2011		Fearn, Drome, Nr Balintore, Ross-shire
2012		Sighting		16/03/2012		Tullich Farm, Nr Balintore, Ross-shire
2012		Sighting		18/03/2012		Tullich Farm, Nr Balintore, Ross-shire

All the sightings from the valley were recorded by Peter & Janet Roworth, so thanks goes to them both for taking the time to get out & about looking for colour-ringed birds, it really is worthwhile especially when it leads to piecing together a birds journey. 

Whooper Swans - North Duffield Carrs

 

 Peter Roworth

The second recovery to come our way this week has been that of a colour-ringed Coot. It’s one from a few years ago which was first reported in 2010 but the sighting and photograph have only just come our way. The bird in question is the one from our latest blog post about colour-ringed birds (Look out look out colour-ringed birds are about!). It was ringed as a young male on 20/10/08 at North Duffield Carrs and was next seen on 29/11/10 at Cleethorpes Country Park, Lincolnshire. It was then seen a few days later on 06/12/10 by Colin Smale who took the superb photograph below. 

LDV colour-ringed Coot - Cleethorpes - 06/12/10

Colin Smale - FOTOLINCS.COM

Colin takes wildlife photographs on a regular basis around the Lincolnshire area, these can be seen on his website - http://www.fotolincs.com/ or you can follow him on twitter at - fotolincs. After tracking down the colour-ringed Coot and several other colour-ringed birds it resulted in an article being published in the Lincolnshire Today Magazine, this can be read here (page 71-72).

Colin has been photographing birds for many years but has recently become interested in colour-ringing after spotting several birds with colours on his 'patch'. He was most intrigued after taking photos of a flock of Knot and realising there were two birds with coloured flags. This is a snippet taken from the magazine article - "As I watched I suddenly noticed among the sea of greenish legs a splash of red - with one bird sporting a red ring with lettering on it. I couldn't quite see the letters so I photographed the bird, and when I enlarged the picture I could clearly see the letters 'ENY'. Within a few minutes there was a second colour-ringed bird. It too had a yellow 'tab' with the letters 'LUC' - which I thought very appropriate!"

Norwegian flagged Knot

 

Colin Smale - FOTOLINCS.COM

Eventually Colin found out that 'LUC' was ringed as an adult in May 2009 at Marnes in Northern Norway - about 1400 miles North East of Cleethorpes. It was seen a few days later in the same area but then it wasn't seen again until it appeared infront of Colin a year later - again in Cleethorpes. It's mate 'ENY' was ringed on the same beach but two years earlier in May 2007. She was seen again two years later at North Brenna in Porsanaga, Norway, and not seen again until she turned up with 'LUC' in Cleethorpes! For more details of Colin's colour-ringed sightings and to read the rest of this article click on the link above. Once again all the information that has been gained wouldn't have been possible without catching and colour-ringing these birds, showing again the importance of colour-ringing.

Colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit

Colin Smale - FOTOLINCS.COM

It's really great (for us as ringers) to know that there's folk out there like Colin who enjoy taking wildlife photographs yet at the same time are contributing to the collection of ringing data and helping us to piece together the lives and journeys of the birds we love to watch!

Colin Smale - FOTOLINCS.COM