Our celebrity Redshank

19 Thursday Feb 2026

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Peter Redshank, Redshank

If you’ve been here a while, you’ll know about this beautiful bird from my previous posts but, if you’re new, meet local celebrity Peter Redshank! Celebrity because it’s the only ringed Redshank in the area, Peter because it was ringed as an adult on 22 February 2016 at Peterstone Great Wharf, on the coast of the Bristol Channel just north of Cardiff. Peter has been re-sighted many times each year since 2016 and is now well known to those of us who bird the local area, but it’s always a joy to see him/her (we don’t actually know what gender the bird is) in and around Cardiff Bay. I caught up with Peter and took this portrait one day last week.

Pete Redshank returns

11 Thursday Jan 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds, winter

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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

Peter the Redshank

07 Tuesday Feb 2023

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ 3 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay birding, Peter Redshank, Redshank, ringed Redshank

I try not to anthropomorphise wild creatures but this handsome Redshank is one exception, and that is mostly because by naming him Peter, I can more easily remember that he was ringed at Peterstone, just along the coast from Cardiff. I hadn’t seen Peter since last January and was a bit concerned that something had happened to him, so I was relieved and delighted when another local birder spotted him on 30 January, and extremely happy when I finally saw him on 2 February.

230207 peter the redshank