Firstly – thanks once again to Gordon Allison for providing the following information on the colour-ringed Red Knot seen by the group on Saturday:
The bird was originally ringed on 22nd September 2009 on mudflats north east of Texel in the Netherlands. This is about 70 miles north of Amsterdam. This appears to be the first reported sighting of that bird since then.
This is part of a long-term study on the ecology of Red Knots. The project started in August 1998 and by May 2010, 4619 Red Knots were colour-ringed in the Dutch part of the Wadden Sea, 1777 on the Banc d’Arguin in Mauritania, 407 along the Atlantic coast of France and 134 in the German (Schleswig-Holstein) part of the Wadden Sea. Up to now the study have received 14,456 individual observations of 3,771 different marked Red Knots from 328 different observers out of 15 countries.
Just goes to show that it is always worth taking time to gather the information.
Now the hares! Sally had only mentioned two minutes previously how great it would be to see hares in the fields on the approach to Elmley reserve and there were two in the field by the side of the track. Not satisfied with that we saw a further three further into the reserve. Great to see and I cannot believe that I missed it from the original report. Must do better!