Some Results From Bird Ringing  in N E Caithness
Hugh Clark

EMERGING PATTERNS

Only a few of the most common species have been considered in this short article although those have been many more recoveries of "Caithness" birds involving dozens of different species.

However, for several species, there have only been one or two recoveries each; such as one Lapwing recovered out of 595 ringed. The fact that this recovery was of a bird shot at Cortinan, Coruna, Spain, obviously does not mean that all Caithness bred Lapwings spend the winter in Spain. Many more Lapwing recoveries are required before a pattern can be seen emerging, and to achieve this many more Lapwings need to be ringed. This is true also for dozens of species that spend part of their year in Caithness.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My three trainees who helped considerably with the ringing effort over the last six years were Keith W. Banks, Stuart S. G. MacKay and Iain R. K. Mackay. The first two mentioned are now fully qualified ringers and the third is continuing with his training.

REFERENCES