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Friday 27 March 2009

Some More Colour Rings and Stuff...

Have had precious little time in the field recently....but what time I have been out and about I've seen NOWT! With two Ruff on Colyford Marsh on Tuesday before work being the only exception, not to mention the occasional Iceland Gull still.

Wednesday night I took Kym to the Princess Theatre, Torquay to watch Chicago, it was excellent. Jimmy Osmand did an brilliant job playing the smooth talking Billy Flynn, and all the singers/dancers and musicians were just top quality. Anyway, back to the post title, and colour rings...

I'll start with the most interesting one, it was a colour-ringed
Common Gull that I spied on the estuary on 08/03/09 bearing a white ring which read 'J479'.

He was ringed as an adult (so at least in its 4cy) on
05/05/02 in NORWAY! At Bjerkaker, Tromso, Troms to be exact, which is about here....


View Larger Map

So not only was it ringed 1491 miles away from the Axe, but when I saw him he was at least nine and a half years old. And he hadn't been reported anywhere else since the day he was ringed. Amazing!

Slightly less exciting were the two colour-ringed Herring Gulls I spotted on the estuary on 22/03/09. Both birds had dark blue rings with striking orange writing. Both were ringed at Gloucester Landfill Site by The Severn Estuary Ringing Group.

'BTC' was ringed on 22/12/07 and aged as a three (meaning he was born in that year), and 'BDD' was ringed also in 2007 but on 13/01 and aged as a five (meaning he was born in 2006). Not so amazing but still very interesting.


Finally, I'm publishing my patch yearlist on Surfbirds, to be exact it is HERE. When I first posted here I was top, but due to the recent total lack of migrants I've slipped down a place. Let's see how I get on, and I wish all other local patchers on this list good luck.

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