BTO Cymru

Croeso i blog BTO Cymru. Welcome to BTO Cymru's blog

Monday 11 July 2016

30 Not Out

Not cricket, but Ospreys.


May 2004 was memorable, for that was when Ospreys were found to be nesting in the Glaslyn valley, in Snowdonia. As I was the local police wildlife crime officer, and the coordinator of the local raptor workers, there followed for me an initial period of elation, followed by exhaustion, and ultimately depression, when the nest collapsed following an unseasonably heavy hour of rain. At this point, we found that there had been two chicks in the nest, but 10 day old birds could not survive an 80 foot fall through a pine tree.

The male “Ochre 11/98” was a part of the Rutland reintroduction programme; the female was un-ringed, but quite distinctively marked, and has since been christened “Mrs G” .

In 2005, both birds came back and three eggs were laid. Two of these hatched and were subsequently ringed before fledging. So began a dynasty. 



The un-ringed female has returned every year since. To date, 28 chicks have fledged from this nest, the latest being ringed on July 3rd. When they fledge they will bring the total up to 30.


Currently two of her siblings – “YA” and “37” - are nesting in the Kielder Forest, with “Black 80” nesting at Threave in south west Scotland.. At the time of writing, these offspring have produced 41 fledged young, with 11 of this year’s chicks waiting to fledge.

“Black 80” is currently rearing four chicks - a very unusual occurrence.

None of this information would have been available were it not for the efforts of the ringers, and all the dedicated Osprey followers and supporters who have spent so much time watching, and reading the colour rings on these wonderful birds.

Modern technology has told us so much about bird migration, but, for population dynamics like this, colour ringing is still producing the goods, allowing a legion of people to be involved and to contribute to this project. As I say to all our volunteers, you may not think your little bit of data is important, but when we pool it all together we can make meaningful science out of it.

Thanks to Heather Corfield for diligently recording all the ring sightings across Wales and those of the siblings of the original Welsh birds.

For more information about the Glaslyn Ospreys, see http://www.glaslynwildlife.co.uk/

Kelvin
BTO Cymru

Thursday 7 July 2016

Something to Look Out For!


NEWSFLASH

One of our birds has been seen at Jacobs Island in Cork Harbour, on the 17th of July.
 Potentially the first Welsh breeding
Curlew seen in Ireland. Now where are the rest?







BTO Cymru in partnership with RSPB Cymru fitted temporary GPS-VHF tags to a small number of breeding Curlew on the north Wales moors. The data provided by the tags has opened a window into how these birds use the whole landscape during the breeding season, and after this success we hope to follow-up with some more research in the future. The tags have now stopped working and have probably already fallen off: and the birds are now leaving the Moors and should be moving down to our coasts to form post-breeding flocks.

You can help us link together summer breeding populations with post-breeding movements and even wintering areas. Each bird was also fitted with a unique colour ring combination, identifying them as individuals. Please look through Curlew flocks wherever you see them, and let us know if you spot a colour-ringed bird (even if you don’t get the whole combination: others can help!).

Sightings and especially ring combinations can be reported to RSPB or directly to BTO Cymru office.

BTO Cymru: Tel 01248 383285 or email rachel.taylor@bto.org


https://www.bto.org/support-us/appeals/bto-curlew-appeal