Tuesday 7 February 2023

North Norfolk Turnstone coastal towns project, Sheringham - 7th February 2023

After several visits that produced nothing, namely birds too wary of the walk-in trap, too much footfall along the seafront (including a helpful lady that emptied an entire loaf in front of the trap entrance) and of course absolutely no birds in sight, we finally managed to capture and flag some birds.

We arrived just after 7am on a rather chilly morning. The birds were loafing on the rocks adjacent to our chosen area and soon joined us on the promenade. It took awhile for them to become accustomed to the trap, but eventually a few birds entered.

Our birds are ringed on the right tibia and have a red flag with white characters on the left tibia and a black, project marker, plain ring on the right tarsus. The first bird out was already ringed and carried an extremely worn ring with some digits completely missing. However, it was a bird reported at Sheringham several times since 2017 when the whole number was readable. Turnstone 137246802 was ringed under the USA Washington scheme on 31/05/2017 and is known to have been ringed at  Alert, Nunavut, NW Territories, Canada. First seen at Sheringham in September 2017. 

The ring had been fitted to the tarsus and suffered severe wear
across parts of the ring.

Due to the condition of the ring a new ring was fitted along with a much more readable flag, JAA. We intend to liaise with the ringers to ensure they continue to receive any re-sightings.

Adult female JAA, the bird ringed in Canada.

Three other birds were also captured and we look forward to receiving observations of them for years to come.



Total: 3 (1) Flagged

Turnstone - 3 (1 control)