Some news from France

Had some details back today of a French ringed Willow Warbler I caught last spring. It took a while but I’ve come to expect that from the French...

This is Pierre (we named it when we caught it...) the Willow Warbler.

It was ringed at Reserve Naturelle du Marais d'Yves, Yves, Charente-Maritime, France which is 526km away from Clouds Hill which was were I caught it. The interesting thing about this bird is the amount of time between sightings. The bird was originally ringed on the 27^th August 2007 and I retrapped the bird on the 12^th April 2012 making it 1692 days between sightings! Not bad for a little bird which would have weighed less than 10grammes! It also means that the bird has made five trips to and from Africa! This stuff never ceases to amaze me.

I’m sure it won’t be long before the first Willow Warbler will be reaching our shores though I’d imagine it will be after this bout of winter weather!