Site Faithfulness Across the Flyway...

I've just been working on the latest overall Summary which I send out to observers of marked birds, and, despite it being relatively early in the winter, already the re-sighting pattern is following that of other winters since 2007, when the Group first ringed birds on the breeding grounds in High Arctic Canada. Detailed study by our colleagues at University of Exeter, and particularly Xav Harrison, has shown that groups of birds and families tend to use the same specific sites throughout the flyway path i.e. breeding, through migration to their wintering sites.

Hence, I thought it might be worth sharing that, already, about 10% of the birds which we ringed this summer up on Axel Heiberg Island (look it up on Google Earth!!) have been recorded from one small estuary in Ireland, at Rogerstown, just north of Dublin. The recent photographs below are courtesy of Christer Persson, of birds located at the entrance channel - the second one is looking out towards Lambay Island, which the brent from Rogerstown (proven by records of ringed birds) also use on occasions.