VV feb march 20 24th dec

MUD SWALLOWS AND
AN ELDERLY EGRET
Only a few centuries ago people believed
that swallows spent the winter hibernating in
the mud at the base of the reeds, to then
emerge the following spring. At the end of
the summer large flocks of swallows use
reedbeds to roost in at night. The birds were
seen gathering in the reeds in the evenings,
but no one thought to check early the next
day. If they had, they would have seen the
birds emerge at dawn to fly away and
continue their migration.
We now know that European swallows
migrate to winter in sub-Saharan Africa.
Furthermore we know that British swallows
winter between Nigeria and South Africa, but
how do we know this ? The answers came
from bird ringing – fitting birds with
individually numbered rings, which also have
printed upon them an address. Over many
years swallows with such rings were found
and reported, giving us their winter locations.
As a licensed ringer I myself have had a
swallow that I ringed in summer on the edge
of Lymington, caught alive and well in winter
by ringers in Botswana.
We are connected to the rest of the world by
our local bird life, as demonstrated by
various birds that I have ringed here, which
have flown far and wide. For example, pied
wagtails that have gone to summer in Wales
and Scotland, woodcock which have migrated
to Finland and Russia, and great black-backed
gulls which have been seen wintering in the
Channel Islands and Portugal. Perhaps the
most satisfying was a Sandwich tern chick,
which I ringed out on the Lymington Marshes
one summer, which turned up the next
winter in Cape Town, South Africa.
Bird ringing does not just tell us about
migration routes; we have also learnt a great
deal about population dynamics, breeding
behaviour and the lifespans of different
species. For example, in the summer of 2006
I ringed some little egret chicks in nests in
southern Hampshire. As well as fitting them
with the usual coded metal ring, I also added
some individually identifiable colour-rings,
which are easier to read in the field through
binoculars. When these egrets fledged, one
went to the county of Avon, one headed to
Berkshire, and one moved to our local
Lymington Marshes. The latter bird is still
alive over 13 years after being ringed and it
now holds the longevity record for the
species in the UK. The previous record holder
died at the age of 9 years and 6 months.
Bird ringing in the UK and Ireland is
administrated by the British Trust for
Ornithology (BTO) and has been in existence
for a little over 100 years. If you find a dead
bird with a metal ring, please report it to the
address on the ring. If you see a colourringed
bird, please report it to the BTO. And
if you are on the sea wall near Lymington, say
hello to the oldest little egret in the UK.
Graham Giddens
Freelance Ornithologist and local resident
Please mention The Village Voice when responding to adverts
Photograph by Graham Giddens, showing the little egret which has lived on the Lymington coast for over 13 years.
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