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):

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).

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.