All you need to know...
Hi Richard...
Living in such close proximity to Llangwm Pill I've been monitoring the birds around here for 30+ years (I currently do the WeBS count for Llangwm). As a matter of interest, the spotted redshank that Mervyn reported in the recent posting has been over-wintering with us in the Pill for the last 5 years. It was first 'spotted' one December day in 2005 by ex-Skomer warden Juan Brown when he himself was over-wintering in the village. I see it most days on my early morning walk around the shore. It turned up later this year in early October and, if true to form from previous years, will leave again at the end of March. There are two distinct parts of the Pill which it seems to favour for feeding and at high tide can always be picked out clearly as it joins the congregation of its common cousins either under the trees at Ferry Bay or on the rocks on the Rectory Point. Can I presume that it is the very same individual that returns year after year...or is it just a coincidence?
Seasons Greetings!
Graham Brace
The oldest known British ringed Spotted Redshank was 7 yrs 5 mths old -- shot in Morocco, originally ringed in Norfolk.(BTO)
The Finnish scheme does have the oldest recorded European bird at 8yrs 7 mths.
(EURING)
