British & Irish Little Egret study: August 2011

This blog contains news on the colour-ringing of Little Egrets in Britain and Ireland. Since 2002, more than 500 have been marked by a team of bird ringers, mostly at breeding colonies, generating lots of information on movements and survival rates.

Birds are fitted with an engraved colour ring on each tibia, with a single vertical letter or number repeated three times around the ring (see above image by Ian Butler www.ianbutlerphotography.co.uk). If you see a bird like this please record the date and location, along with the ring combination, and send it to me at littleegrets@yahoo.co.uk.

Further information about bird ringing can be found at www.bto.org

Saturday, 20 August 2011

oUy6 still at Gib Point

Orange U yellow 6 is still at Gibraltar Point, Lincolnshire, seen most recently by Malcolm Johnson on 15th August, some three years after being ringed on the other side of the Wash near Terrington.

Thursday, 4 August 2011

Sightings of 2011 youngsters

Sightings of a number of fledged 2011 young have been received in the past couple of weeks, including a bird from Lincolnshire ringed by Martin Sizer that was at Tyninghame Estuary for most of July, seen by Dave Allan, and has now been seen by John Anderson at Guardbridge in Fife.

Northwards dispersal is the norm in this rapidly expanding species, so observers in northern England and southern Scotland probably have the best opportunity of finding marked birds, but July - September is when young birds are dispersing the most and they can turn up almost anywhere in the UK.