Colour-ringed Ospreys galore

It's been a good autumn so far for Ospreys in Cornwall, with sightings being reported from numerous sites across the county. Interestingly, several of these birds have been photographed with colour rings and they tell some interesting stories.

Earlier in the monnth, one of two birds at Devoran was seen to be ringed and with a bit of persistence was read by photographer Andy Wilson as KC7, aka 'Tywi'. This male was ringed as a chick in Wales earlier this year at the Dyfi Osprey Project and was last seen there on 25th August.

Blue KC7 at Devoran (Andy Wilson)

Remarkably, a few days later another Osprey was photographed at Devoran but with a different ring! Blue JF1 was ringed as a chick in Scotland in 2017 and even more remarkably had been seen at Devoran that autumn, as detailed on the blog here. With KC7 also still present, it's amazing tho think that two known individuals from different countries were feeding together on the same stretch of river.

Blue JF1 at Devoran in 2020 (John St Ledger)

One other bird we've yet to receive details of is Blue 260, which was on the Gannel estuary, Newquay at the start of September. We presume it's a Scottish bird but will wait and see.

Blue 092 (or 260) on the Gannel estuary (Rhys Ellis-Davies)

This again just goes to show how useful colour-ringing is in tracking birds and the increase in value it gives to bird recording.