Aquatic Warbler recaught in France!

Back in August 2012, we were lucky enough to catch a juvenile Aquatic Warbler on our CES at Gunwalloe, not at the more expected Marazion Marsh where we specifically play 'tape-lures' for them on autumn migration. This was a complete surprise on CES, but not as surprising as today's news...

Y752695 at Gunwalloe in August 2012

We heard just this morning that Y752695 was recaught by French ringers in August 2013 (yes, a year ago...) at Reserve de Briere Sud in western France. This is amazing news and a great link between the migration sites in the western UK and western France. Interestingly, this isn't our first exchange with this reserve, as a Reed Warbler ringed there in August 2010 was recaught by us as a breeding bird at Gunwalloe in  July 2011.

The global population of Aquatic Warblers is just 15,000 pairs, concentrated in eastern Europe (and further east), wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. So although we can put dots on the map linking Cornwall and France, we can also put a big smudge where this bird will have bred in summer 2013...

The BTO's online ringing report has details of just two previous foreign movements of Aquatic Warblers from the UK. These were birds ringed within a day of each other in August 2006, both recaught shortly after in France (one recaught 234km away the next day and another recaught 394km away nine days later!). In fact, 2006 was the last year double-figures of Aquatic Warblers were ringed in the UK (11 birds), with the most since then being 2012 (seven birds), including two in Cornwall.

So the movement of our bird is a really nice addition to the migration picture for this globally endangered bird.