Stithians Chaffinch in Norway and even more Welsh Stormies!

Our last blog post highlighted a few interesting recoveries received from the BTO, and with only a very slight alteration to the theme (this time "Autumn migrants going the right way and more Welsh Stormies"), this post highlights more recoveries received today. Normally the crown would be taken by the reports of three more Lizard-ringed Storm Petrels recaught in south Wales, but instead of the usual reports from Skokholm Island, these came from nearby Skomer Island. Two of these birds were ringed on The Lizard in 2013, recaught on 28th and 29th July 2014, but 2683255 was more interesting. It was ringed on The Lizard on 30th June 2014, before being recaught on Skomer Island at 23:25 on 25th July. Not satisfied with this, it was then recaught an hour and a half later (01:00 on 26th July) on Skokholm Island, 3-4km from Skomer. The chances of this must be rather slim, but it'll be fascinating to see if this bird is caught again in future years.

But this time round, the most interesting recovery was of a lowly Stithians Chaffinch, ringed as an adult way back in December 2011. We've often wondered how far these birds came to winter at Stithians and presume that they'd be local SW birds relocating, so this report from southern Norway was amazing! Y397543 was recaught near Høvåg on 25th March 2014, presumably on return migration to somewhere else in Scandinavia.

This is just the second Cornish-ringed Chaffinch to be found in Norway (following one in 1977), but four have made it to Sweden.

Last up was another northward-bound migrant, but this time a Sparrowhawk ringed in a Lizard garden on 6th September and sadly found dead on the road in Falmouth a month later.