Colour ring sightings and ringing recoveries June - September 2023

[Hawkeye]

A colour ringed Great Skua seen on Mingulay in July had been originally ring on Canna, Inner Hebrides on 25th July 2017. Great to see that it has survived the recent avian flu outbreaks.


Bonxie (C) Chris Chachia-Zammit

 

[MisterT]

Nights spent ringing Storm Petrels have been less frequent this year and when out, numbers caught have been greatly reduced. One theory is that the unusual high Atlantic water temperatures have seen suitable feeding areas move much further north rather than avian influenza being the problem.

We have however had our first recovery of the year, that of a bird ringed here at Askernish on 31-July being controlled (caught and released) on Lunday, Devon on 23-August, a distance of 693km and a duration of 23days and represents our most southerly recovery to date.

 

[MisterT]

A colour ring, BTH, found in a White-tailed Eagle pellet on Benbecula late August has been tracked down and found to belong to a Hen Harrier. The ring was fitted to the youngest (male) of a brood of three on Benbecula, Outer Hebrides on the 30-June and had a camera on the nest which recorded until the 12-July. BTH was only present until the late afternoon of the 04-July after which only the two older chicks used the nest. The second oldest chick in the brood (female) was fitted with a satellite tag at the same time which fledged and is now on Skye. The ring was found only 2km away from the nest.

Many thanks to Fiona and John Moir who found the pellet and to Robin Reid for providing the information and image of the chick