LD feb march 20

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MUD SWALLOWS ANDAN ELDERLY EGRETOnly a few centuries ago people believedthat swallows spent the winter hibernating inthe mud at the base of the reeds, to thenemerge the following spring. At the end ofthe summer large flocks of swallows usereedbeds to roost in at night. The birds wereseen gathering in the reeds in the evenings,but no one thought to check early the nextday. If they had, they would have seen thebirds emerge at dawn to fly away andcontinue their migration.We now know that European swallowsmigrate to winter in sub-Saharan Africa.Furthermore we know that British swallowswinter between Nigeria and South Africa, buthow do we know this ? The answers camefrom bird ringing – fitting birds withindividually numbered rings, which also haveprinted upon them an address. Over manyyears swallows with such rings were foundand reported, giving us their winter locations.As a licensed ringer I myself have had aswallow that I ringed in summer on the edgeof Lymington, caught alive and well in winterby ringers in Botswana.We are connected to the rest of the world byour local bird life, as demonstrated byvarious birds that I have ringed here, whichhave flown far and wide. For example, piedwagtails that have gone to summer in Walesand Scotland, woodcock which have migratedto Finland and Russia, and great black-backedgulls which have been seen wintering in theChannel Islands and Portugal. Perhaps themost satisfying was a Sandwich tern chick,which I ringed out on the Lymington Marshesone summer, which turned up the nextwinter in Cape Town, South Africa.Bird ringing does not just tell us aboutmigration routes; we have also learnt a greatdeal about population dynamics, breedingbehaviour and the lifespans of differentspecies. For example, in the summer of 2006I ringed some little egret chicks in nests insouthern Hampshire. As well as fitting themwith the usual coded metal ring, I also addedsome individually identifiable colour-rings,which are easier to read in the field throughbinoculars. When these egrets fledged, onewent to the county of Avon, one headed toBerkshire, and one moved to our localLymington Marshes. The latter bird is stillalive over 13 years after being ringed and itnow holds the longevity record for thespecies in the UK. The previous record holderdied at the age of 9 years and 6 months.Bird ringing in the UK and Ireland isadministrated by the British Trust forOrnithology (BTO) and has been in existencefor a little over 100 years. If you find a deadbird with a metal ring, please report it to theaddress on the ring. If you see a colourringedbird, please report it to the BTO. Andif you are on the sea wall near Lymington, sayhello to the oldest little egret in the UK.Graham GiddensFreelance Ornithologist and local resident18 Photograph To advertise by Graham email: Giddens, info@lymingtondirectory.co.uk, showing the little egret which has lived or on call the 01590 Lymington 643969 coast for / 07801 over 13562358years.
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LD feb march 20

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