Recoveries & Oystercatcher...

Three Sandwich Tern Recoveries

Tony Murray has replied, concerning my sightings of two County Wexford colour-ringed Sandwich Terns recorded at the Bann Estuary on Tuesday last week (29th August), with both birds proving interesting due to the long gap in their sightings.  Both terns belonged to a long running study at Lady's Island Lake.

(White) KSK, was ringed as a chick, on the 23rd June 2015, and my sighting was a first for this bird, coming 8 years, 2 months and 6 days after being ringed.

(White) K7B, was ringed as a chick, on the 17th June 2016.  After fledging, the young tern was spotted on four occasions in September 2016, on the coast of County Wexford.  In May 2017, it was spotted at the Mile 4 Saltworks in Namibia.  The final sighting until recently, was made way back in August 2017, when it was recorded on Ainsdale Beach in Merseyside, England.  The duration for this bird, is now 7 years, 2 months and 12 days.

The distance from Lady's Island Lake to the Bann Estuary, is 330 kms / 205 miles (N).  My thanks goes to Tony Murray for the details for both birds.

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On Monday this week, the ringing details of Sandwich Tern -  C50  were emailed to me by Bart Donato, with this bird also being recorded on the Bann Estuary last Tuesday (29th August).   C50 , was ringed as a chick, on the 21st June 2021, at the RSPB's Hodbarrow Nature Reserve in Cumbria, England.  The distance to the Bann Estuary is, 250 kms / 155 miles (WNW), and the duration since being ringed, is now 2 years, 2 months and 8 days.

Although I do have this birds full re-sighting history, there are data restrictions in place.  All I will say on this, is that the tern has been seen in Merseyside in England, Wales and Namibia.  My thanks goes to Bart for supplying the ringing details.

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From John Clarke

My former Ringing Trainer - John Clarke contacted me concerning an Oystercatcher that I recorded in the past.  The bird is rung - Grey (UY), on the right leg, with black over yellow on the left leg.  On the BTO's DemOn Ringing Database, the letter S is used for Grey/Silver, while N for Niger, represents black. - therefore this bird is NY-S(UY).  On waders, the colour-rings on the left leg precede those on the right leg.

NU-S(UY), was ringed as a chick, on the 25th July 2019, at Víðir (football stadium) at Garður in south-west Iceland.  The first two re-sightings were made at Portballintrae on the north coast of County Antrim, on the 31st December 2019, and on the 12th February 2020, by Paul Tout and Donna Rainey.  My only sighting, which was third for this bird, was made on the 15th August 2020, having spotted it on the Bann Estuary, near Castlerock, Co. Londonderry.

By the 6th November 2020, the bird had made it's way east along the Northern Ireland coast, where John had his first sighting at Portrush in County Antrim.  The Oystercatcher was not seen again until June 2022, when spotted at Bergvötn in south-west Iceland, this being the only sighting so far back on native soil.

On the 13th January 2023, John recorded the bird back in Portrush, and now it has returned for another winter.  The distance from Garður to Portrush, is 1,328 kms / 825 miles (SE), and the duration since being ringed, is now 4 years, 1 month and 10 days.

My thanks goes to John for the sighting and photos.

Oystercatcher  -  NY-S(UY)  -  Portrush, Co. Antrim  (04 Sep 2023)

(Ringed as a Chick, on the 25th July 2019, at Víðir (football stadium), Garður, SW Iceland)

(Photo Courtesy of John Clarke)

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