Black-tailed Godwits on the move

By the 4^thJuly the Black-tailed Godwit flock at Penclacwydd WWT had increased to 236 with the following four colour-ringed birds noted by Wendell Thomas:

  L: Green/Red, R: Lime/Red

  L: Lime/Red, R: Green/Red flag

  L: White/Orange, R: Orange/Red

  L: Orange/Yellow, R: Orange flag/Yellow

Details of LR-GRf were received yesterday that reveal it was ringed in north-east Iceland on 10^th July 2009. It has spent every subsequent winter at Pontevedra, Galicia in NW Spain, Wendell’s sighting being the first away from this locality. All colour-ringed sightings of Black-tailed Godwits seen at WWT are shown above with LR-GRf shown by the thicker yellow line. Still awaiting details of the other three.

Colour-ringed Brent

Alun John photographed this colour-ringed Pale-bellied Brent at Mumbles today, the details of which I'll post here when we get a response from the scheme organiser. Brent Geese of any race aren't particularly frequent in Swansea Bay, especially so at the Mumbles end, so well done Alun.

(c) A. John

Thanks to Graham McElwaine of The Irish Brent Goose Research Group for getting back so quickly. He informs us that the bird has lost the ring from it's left leg, so is unable to provide the original ringing details [I presume this will have been somewhere in Ireland?]. However, he was able to say that this bird was seen with an unringed mate and 2 juveniles on 24th September 2011 in Iceland and was then noted several times at Havre de Regnéville, on the French coast just east of Jersey during November and December 2011. He also said that this is the first of their birds to be seen in Swansea Bay. 

Gower Bird Hospital rehab case...

One of the many Lesser Black-backed Gulls (typically abandoned chicks) hand-reared and rehabilitated by the Gower Bird Hospital http://www.gowerbirdhospital.org.uk/ and released into Swansea Bay. This bird was seen and photographed on the Spanish side of the border between Spain and Portugal today by Dutch birder Daan Vrauwdeunt. (Photo below taken by Daan)

Sanderling G4RYRY

The Sanderling reported between the 5th and 31st December on Oxwich Beach (see post below) was ringed in Iceland at a headland beach site west of Reykjavik as shown above. It is likely this bird belongs to the East Atlantic flyway population and will have been on its way to breeding grounds in northern Greenland or Canada when it was ringed in Iceland. As it has been regular at Oxwich throughout Decemeber, it is likley to be a shorter-distance migrant, compared to many Sanderling that winter as far south as South Africa. Interestingly Reneerkens et al. (2009) [Wader Study Group Bull. 116(1): 2–20.] show that although Sanderling eat small beach invertebrates, the also scavange and show a bird easting flesh from washed-up Ensis subtruncata, a species related to Egg-shell Razor (Pharus legumen) that was photographed being eaten at Oxwich.

Beach strandings at Oxwich

Colour-ringed Sanderling G4RYRY
Up to 18 Sanderling and a single Ringed Plover were on Oxwich beach this morning, feeding mostly on moribund Egg-shell Razors (Pharus legumen) and possibly also stranded Starfish (Asterias rubens). One bird was colour-ringed, this having been seen at the same place earlier in the month [5th] by Peter Douglas-Jones. Life history details to follow...

Moribund Starfish & Egg-shell Razors

More Med Gulls in Bracelet Bay...

Despite the stormy conditions good numbers of Med Gulls can still be seen feeding in the race off the lighthouse when the tide is falling.


Front-to-back: 2nd winter, adult winter and 1st winter.

White 3K80 was ringed as a pullus on 02-Jun-06 at Zwijndrecht (Ineos complex), Antwerpen, BELGIUM and has been seen in our area in each subsequent year. A minimum of 42 Mediterranean Gulls have been frequenting Bracelet Bay recently including a few birds whose rings I have not managed to read.

Med Gull [White 35J7] back in Bracelet Bay

Details received of White 35J7, seen back in Bracelet Bay on 19th Ocotber, show it to be another well-travelled individual, having spent last winter in s-w Portugal. Most of the birds we see generally move between the Benelux countries and southern coasts of the British Isles and northern France.

Serbian Mediterranean Gull

I have just received details of the colour-ringed Mediterranean Gull 'Red YHE8' that was present in Bracelet Bay on the 13th October. Apparently this is the first Serbian bird to be seen in Wales. Also present that day were 'White 34H2' and 'White 38J0', both Belgian birds; White 34H2 (ringed as a chick in 2002) is quite well travelled having been seen in France and Germany as well as visiting a number of sites in South Wales. White 38J0 appears to simply commute between Belgium and Swansea.

Med Gull [White C378] returns again!

Just received details of a couple of colour-ringed Mediterranean Gulls seen recently in the Bay. White 3C78 (originally bearing White 46E), was ringed as a chick near Antwerpen, BELGIUM on 4th June 2002 and was seen in Bracelet Bay in its first winter by Harold Grenfell on 03 February 2003. Since then it has returned most winters and has been seen by a number of local observers. It appears not to be a very widely travelled bird when compared with some, other ports of call only being Pas-de-Calais & Somme in FRANCE and Oost-Vlaanderen in BELGIUM, where it possibly breeds. In 2009 Harold saw it again on 8th March, it was then seen in Pas-de-Calais in July before returning to Bracelet Bay where I saw it on 25th September.

White 35E2 was ringed a chick at Oost-Vlaanderen, BELGIUM on 21st May 2005, it was seen again in the colony in May 2008, and appeared in Bray harbour and Dublin IRELAND in Jan-Feb 2009 before I saw it at Blackpill on 21st September.

If you see a colour-ringed bird please report it to the scheme organisers found via the very useful c-r birding website at http://www.cr-birding.be/