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BIRD MOVEMENTS THROUGH CAITHNESS AND NORTH EAST
SUTHERLAND
G. Crittenden
Bird ringing studies made under the British Trust for Ornithology
ringing scheme, have revealed interesting and often unexpected bird
movements through Caithness and N.E. Sutherland. The following selection
of movements are the result of ringing some 1500 birds over the past 3
years. Most of these birds were ringed in their first year, this merely
reflects the high proportion of juveniles in the Autumn population. The
high mortality rate in these migrating birds provide us with the bulk of
our recoveries.
|
Species |
Ringing Place and Date |
Recovery Place and Date |
|
| Starling |
Aberlour, Banff 1.6.75 |
Melvich 19.12.76 |
Trapped & Released |
| Starling |
Fair Isle 31.10.77 |
Melvich 15. 2.78 |
Trapped & Released |
| These two 'controls'
indicate the cosmopolitan nature of our winter Starling flocks, the
Fair Isle bird was probably of Scandinavian origin whilst the Banff
bird was born in N.E. Scotland. |
| Blackbird |
Flanders, Belgium 3.10.74 |
Wick 26.10.76 |
Trapped & Released |
| Blackbird |
Melvich 31.10.76 |
Zeeland, Holland 6.11.78 |
Found Dead |
| Robin |
Melvich 24.10.76 |
Brussels, Belgium 2.12.77 |
Found Dead |
| These birds of continental
origin; as opposed to our local Robins and Blackbirds, resulted from
the exceptional Autumn migration of 1976. |
| Pied Wagtail |
Melvich 24.10.76 |
Cockenzie, East Lothian 27.2.78 |
Found Dead |
| This recovery helps to
explain where our local Pied Wagtails move to in Winter. |
| Blackcap |
Dungeness, Kent 25.9.77 |
Melvich 9.10.77 |
Trapped & Released |
| This is a remarkable and at
first sight puzzling movement - 900Km NNW, coast to coast in 2 weeks.
We normally think of Warblers such as Blackcaps as moving South in the
Autumn, however it is known that some Blackcaps summering in Europe
move into Southern England during Autumn. This individual obviously
'overshot'! |
| Willow Warbler |
Melvich 20.5.76 |
Melvich 30.4.77 |
Trapped & Released |
| This bird was known to have
spent the Summer of 1976 in Melvich and obviously found it attractive
enough to return to after a Winter sojourn in Iberia or N. Africa.
|
All these movements reflect the itinerant nature of some bird
populations but there are many species with local populations that are
born and will die without having left the confines of the county. Their
local seasonal movements would, I'm sure, be equally intriguing and I'd be
grateful for any reports of Blackbirds with Wick accents heard singing in
Thurso. |