Pete Redshank returns

11 Thursday Jan 2024

Tags

birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, colour rings on Redshank, Peter Redshank, Redshank

Every year I worry just a little about our local ringed Redshank, affectionately named Peter for the fact that s/he was ringed at Peterstone Great Wharf, just along the coast from Cardiff (see Tracking Mr Redshank, March 2017). This handsome bird is at least eight years old, possibly older, as it was ringed as an adult in February 2016. And each year our local Redshanks brave the perilous north Atlantic twice, to fly to Iceland to breed and then return to our shores to over-winter. Fortunately, our Pete has made it safely back; s/he was seen by another local birder late last year, and I finally caught up with our local celebrity last Sunday.

240111 pete redshank

Tracking Mr Redshank

16 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by sconzani in birds, nature

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

bird-ringing, birding, birdwatching, British birds, BTO, colour rings on Redshank, European Colour-ring birding, Redshank

I first spotted this ringed Redshank on 27 January, near Penarth Marina in Cardiff Bay, and I saw it again, in almost the exact same location, on 11 March. I reported my initial sighting through the European Colour-ring Birding website – it’s really easy to do this and excellent for long-term research into bird behaviour so please do report any ringed birds you see. As the website is totally run by volunteers, it’s taken a little while to get information back on my bird but, today I got this email report from Emily at BTO (British Trust for Ornithology):

170316 Redshank

This bird was ringed (DK10753) as an adult on 22/2/2016 at Peterstone Great Wharf, and has been re-sighted a number of times at/around Cardiff Bay (on 3/3/16, 3/1/17 and 22/1/17). It was also seen at St Thomas Head on 11/3/16. It was ringed as part of a study examining the winter movements of Redshank, Curlew, Dunlin, Wigeon, Teal and Shelduck in relation to the proposed tidal lagoon (see HERE for more details).

170316 Redshank map

So, my Redshank has spent his winter months – all the sightings were between January and March – in locations not very far from that initial ringing spot but I wonder where he goes in the summer to breed? Previous BTO research has shown that British-ringed Redshanks breed in Iceland and along the coastline of north-western Europe, so this little bird may soon be heading off on rather a long flight.