Reed warbler link

Nick Carter, Wetland Project Officer

Reed Warbler, by Chris Thornton

Kartong Bird Observatory, at the southern end of the Gambian coast, was established in 2010 and so far 12,000 birds, including 256 reed warblers, have been ringed there. Ringing takes place in the reedbeds that have developed in an old sand mine and also in the surrounding Acacia scrub. L930934 was ringed there on 18 January 2014 and I have just been informed by the BTO (which licences bird ringing in the UK) it was re-trapped on the Hilgay Wetland Creation site, a joint venture with Environment Agency, on 11 August 2015, a distance of 4,647km and a gap of 1 year and 205 days. She is a female and had an active brood patch when trapped which means she was breeding onsite. Of the reed warblers ringed at Kartong, six have been re-trapped in Europe but the Hilgay bird represents the furthest north of any of these recoveries.

Numbers of reed warblers are increasing on the Hilgay site as the areas of reeds enlarge with three pairs present in 2014 and up to eight pairs this year. Most of them are concentrated on the reed-filled ditch on the northern boundary of the site although some birds were singing in the southwest corner of the site this year. It will take several years for the reedbeds to develop fully and obviously reed warbler is one of those species that will benefit enormously. Ringing on the site will not only enable us to monitor this population increase but also important breeding parameters as breeding success by comparing numbers of young and adults ringed each year.

Hilgay redshank moves to the coast

Nick Carter, Conservation officer (Fens)

Redshank, photo by Bob Carpenter

Redshank, although regular visitors to the Hilgay WetlandCreation site over the last few years, bred for the first time this year. The three young raised were ringed by Graham Austin, of the BTO, and his team on 26 July. 

One of the young has now turned up, alive, near Admiralty Point, on the Wash, where it was trapped by the Wash Wader Ringing Group on 16 August. That is only 29km, as the redshank flies, but it does give us some information about where Hilgay redshanks go to overwinter and shows that at least one of the young was still alive almost a month after it was ringed.   

This local movement fits the story for British redshanks which mostly stay local for the winter when they are joined by continental birds and many of the larger Icelandic redshanks.

Have you heard of Ken?

 Eilish Rothney, Trinity Broads Warden

Ken the cuckoo, photo BTO

Ken the famous Trinity Broads cuckoo that is. He is named after Ken Saul, a long standing volunteer who has been active on Burgh Common for 30 years where “Ken” was caught last summer and had a tracking tag fitted.

Why? I can hear you asking. The 'Red Listed' cuckoo is one of the UK's fastest declining migrants and, until recently, was one of which we knew least about once it left the UK. Would a British Spring be complete without the cuckoos’ distinctive call that we take so much for granted? It is worrying to know we have lost over half of our breeding cuckoos during the last twenty-five years. Clearly we need to understand all aspects of the cuckoo’s annual cycle before we can begin to suggest what might be driving the decline.
 

Cuckoo on River Ant at Ludham, photo by Liz Dack

Whilst the cuckoo has been well studied during the breeding season here in the UK, once they head off on migration very little was known about the routes they take or where in Africa they spent the winter months. There has only been one recovery of a young bird that was found in mid-winter in Cameroon and that was 82 years ago. If we can pinpoint areas of importance then we can look at whether there are pressures there which could explain the losses of the British cuckoo.

Since 2011 the British Trust for Ornithology has been attaching satellite-tracking devices to cuckoos from Norfolk to find out more about their important stop-over sites and wintering destinations on the way to and from Africa. The tags are new technology and are solar-powered, transmitting for 10 hours and then going into 'sleep' mode for 48 hours, to allow the solar panel to recharge the battery. Transmissions are 'blogged' on the BTO website, follow the link below. And you can follow Ken's journey from Burgh Common to East Gabon for Christmas and now we are tracking him back to Norfolk – as of 19 March he had reached the Ivory Coast already covering nearly 1,000 miles.

If you are interested in sponsoring Ken – please see the BTO website.