Those members of the Group who went on the coach trip to Minsmere may have noticed Kittiwake on the Scrape. One of the birds had colour-rings, and as you may also be aware I like to report sightings of colour ringed birds to the relevant project.
I have just had the result of the bird we saw, from the project leader, Colin Carter, as follows:
“Since 2010 Kittiwakes in the urban colony at Lowestoft have been ringed with BTO metal ring on left leg and Orange colour-ring with black codes on right leg. They nest in the harbour on a specially-designed wall, and on tyre-fenders in the dock, also on a disused pier nearby.
The colour-rings allow us to study site fidelity and have also brought us interesting sightings away from the site. At Minsmere this summer there have been several reports of Kitttiwakes on the Scrape, sometimes collecting nesting material and they even featured on Springwatch. Six reports of our colour-rings there point towards birds nesting on the outfall rigs at Sizewell, probably an overflow group from Lowestoft. Orange SB was ringed as a chick on the Lowestoft wall on 27th June 2011 and has not been since then so your record is an interesting one”
Colour-ringed Kittiwake, Orange SB
It’s great to know that all that peering down a telescope debating on the colours and letters is adding to scientific data.
Sue