Recent recoveries, and the Woodcock season ahead.

We have received details from the BTO of three recoveries on Skokholm of Storm Petrels ringed at our Mwnt site this summer.

2674671 was ringed on the 20th June and retrapped on Skokholm on the 25th July, 35 days later.
2721405 was ringed on the 22nd July and retrapped on Skokholm on the 25th July, 3 days later.
2721410 was ringed on the 26th July and retrapped on Skokholm on the 5th August, 10 days later.

Mwnt to Skokholm 65 km

This raises some questions. Are the birds we capture at Mwnt from the Skokholm population though we don't see obvious signs of breeding, or non-breeders roaming the Irish Sea whose origins may be from further afield ?
Some questions might soon be answered as interesting research is going on at Cork University in Ireland with trackers on Storm Petrels. This has shown that they forage considerable distances up to 330km from their breeding colony. A map which illustrates this by Dr Adam Kane was on Twitter from a recent Irish Ornithological Research Conference...
Storm Petrel foraging

Other news this week from the BTO was the original ringing details of a Reed Warbler with a Jersey ring that we caught on the Teifi Marsh on the 30th July this year.
Not ringed on Jersey but....

It had been ringed at Longis reserve on Alderney on 18th September 2016.

Some other control news:-
Sedge Warbler 7505874 ringed at Tour aux Moutons, Loire-Atlantique, France on 8th August 2015 caught Teifi Marsh 22nd July 2017  560km, 714 days later.
Sedge Warbler 12257597 ringed at Jonkershove, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium 15th August 2011 caught Teifi Marsh 28th April 2016 538km, 1718 days later.

The French ringed bird, a typical movement. The Belgian ringed bird is probably our oldest Sedge Warbler, though no doubt a passage bird.

Reed Warbler S191815  ringed by Pembs RG at Rhoscrowther 17th July 2017
caught Teifi Marsh 11th August 2017 25 days, 53km later.

The Reed Warbler, an inter county movement between the two main county acro ringing sites.

Our Preseli Woodcock study season is here.....

Since 2009....382 captures, including 30 recaptures and 7 recoveries -  2 to Russia, 1 to Denmark, 1 to Norway, 1 to France and 2 to Cornwall.

The map above shows our latest recapture.
EY81422 was recaptured two nights ago on the 24th November, ringed on the 15th January 2015.
The two capture sites being 150m apart, showing the usual wintering site fidelity.

We are in the first few days of the new season. We hope to achieve our 400th capture during the next moon phase and we will be targeting our three main sites Crymych, Frenni and Boncath. The current Woodcock capture totals for each site are 113, 89 and 89 respectively. The three sites have also produced other species captured totalling 188 birds, a combination of mainly Golden Plovers, Snipe, Fieldfare, Redwing, Skylark, Meadow Pipits and the nicest.. a Stock Dove...