Recent Recoveries
The details can sometimes take a while to come through to us, but here are some Recoveries that have been notified to the Group over the past two years.
A Tufted Duck ringed as a duckling in 2003 was shot in Russia in the autumn of 2006, and another duckling ringed in 2005 was shot there in autumn 2007 - presumably these birds had fallen in with wintering Russian Tufted Ducks and simply gone back with them.
Similarly, another Tufted Duck ringed as a duckling in 2005 was shot this time in Iceland in the autumn of 2008. Our ducks can go in any direction...
Also interesting was a Gadwall ringed as a duckling here in 2003 which was shot the following autumn in Italy, possibly the most easterly British Gadwall so far, but following the south easterly trend of such recoveries.
Another Gadwall ringed as a duckling here in 2004 was shot in January 2008 in Maine-et-Loire in France, also a southerly winter recovery.
An adult male Gadwall ringed in January 2008 was hunted in France in December the same year.
Another Gadwall was shot locally in 2007 ten years after we ringed it.
A Shoveler was shot in Calvados, France in Autumn 2007, a year after ringing as a young bird.
And another Tufted Duck, ringed as a late duckling in August 2007, this time was shot in Cavan in Ireland in November. It makes you wonder if ducks ever die of old age?
Thanks to the quality of scopes now in widespread use, we get recoveries like this Black-headed Gull, ringed as a first year bird in late 2001; the ring was read in the field in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in Spring 2008.
A Sand Martin was ringed as a juvenile in July 2008 and controlled in Spain 1,123km south in only 28 days.
A much longer Sand Martin record was one ringed in September 2005, already an adult bird, and controlled in April 2008 in Malaga, Spain. This bird had therefore been to Africa and back at least four times and still going strong.
A Reed Warbler ringed as a juvenile in Summer 2006, and presumably fledged locally, was controlled in the Netherlands in June 2007, so presumably breeding there.
The next Reed Warbler hasn't gone anywhere, other than to Africa and back ten times! Ringed as a juvenile in the summer of 1999, it was retrapped at Rye Meads again in the summer of 2009 - a good age for a Reed Warbler!
A Garden Warbler ringed as a juvenile in Summer 2006 was controlled in Belgium in Spring 2007.
A Lesser Whitethroat ringed as an adult in the autumn of 2002 was controlled in Italy in Spring 2004.
And now an interesting series of rapid movers, all of birds ringed as juveniles in the summer of 2007. Firstly a Reed Warbler, which was controlled just 26 days after ringing and over 500 km to the south in Donges, Loire-Atlantique, France.
The place is given in full as it seems to have an attraction for Rye Meads birds: next is a Sedge Warbler controlled at the same site the day after the above bird and just 19 days after ringing.
Another Sedge Warbler followed just four weeks later, this time 14 days after ringing.
And then six more French tourists: firstly another Sedge Warbler made it to Lot-et-Garonne, another 300km further south, in just 10 days.
A juvenile Sedge Warbler ringed in August 2008 crossed the channel to the Somme 200km to the south-east in only 3 days.
Two Sedge Warblers, one ringed in 2006 and one in 2008, were both controlled in Finisterre in France a month later.
And a Reed Warbler, ringed as a nestling in 2008, was controlled two months later in Charente-Maritime, France.
Finally, a Whitethroat, which went to Charente-Maritime some 650km south of Rye Meads, in only four days - faster than a Tour de France rider! Pretty good going for a bird probably no more than three months old.