The project has for some years been colour ringing Twite in
the Snowdonia breeding grounds and at the wintering grounds on the Dee estuary
and various other localities along the North Wales coast.
The results are beginning to indicate that our small relic
breeding population migrate eastwards during the autumn and winter on the Dee. Larger numbers of birds join them, from the
Pennine breeding population and further afield. Some of the Pennine birds
continue east and winter on the Norfolk coast. In the second year of the project
it was suspected that a Nant Ffrancon bird has been seen in the company of some
Pennines birds at Titchwell, however the ring combination seen was not
sufficient for a 100% identification. This last winter a bird ringed in Nant Ffrancon
in April was seen in a Twite flock on the Norfolk coast.
In 2010 a small flock of Twite were present on Pensarn beach
one of which had a BTO metal ring. This flock was caught and the ringed bird
was found to be from near Lochinver in north-western Scotland. In December 2014
another one of this flock was recaught at Askham, Cumbria. The small flock which appeared at Cemlyn last
autumn also contained a ringed bird. When she was eventually caught she was
found to be from the 15 miles south of the original Pensarn Scottish bird.
For the past two winters we have been very lucky to have
Richard Beckett join the Twite team, and Richard has spent many hours recording
ring combinations and the comings and goings of the Deeside birds. This winter a reasonable number of Twite have
been feeding regularly at Deeside Naturalist Society reserve, and with their continued
permission a further 68 have been colour ringed. Also caught have been a number
of birds originally ringed at the Mull of Kintyre. The Mull of Kintyre have a
small breeding population but also has a marked passage of autumn birds passing
south and reasonable numbers have been ringed there.
Photo Richard Beckett
We are initially proposing that the coastal wintering birds
here in North Wales may well be birds from the north west of Scotland, with our
Welsh birds from Snowdonia venturing eastwards and mixing with Pennine birds on
the Dee, some of which will continue eastwards with their new mates.
Due to Richards’s diligence last year we knew when the
Deeside birds began their spring dispersal and a few weeks later the first of
the Nant Ffrancon birds were back in the Ogwen valley. From Richards’s recent observations
the flock at Deeside has now begun to disperse. Over the next few weeks the
critically low Welsh breeding population will be making their way along the
North Wales coast back to Ogwen. Can I ask all North Wales Birders to be aware
of this and keep an eye and an ear open for them on passage? We have about two
and a half weeks and it would be very interesting if we could plot some of
their traditional staging points along the coast.
Thanks and happy hunting.
The North Wales Twite Project is a collaborative project
between, Kelvin Jones, Ian Spence, Richard Beckett, RSPB Cymru,BTO Cymru,
National Trust, Snowdonia National Park, Deeside Naturalists Society, North Wales Wildlife Trust, and
Flintshire Council
.JPG)
