We have three Sand Martin recoveries in one week. This unprecedented glut of news began on Monday after a visit to the Sand Martin colony out Cockerham way. We knew that roughly 100-130 Sand Martins have been seen at the colony following our three recent visits, two visits to count followed by one for catching purposes.
Monday looked to be the best morning of zero wind and minimal sun, the lack of bright sunshine ideal for making mist nets mostly invisible.
It’s early season when Sand Martins are around in numbers but not necessarily glued to their nest holes, males or females.
Many are on their way further north than Lancashire, into Cumbria and as far as the north of Scotland. Our 10% or thereabouts catch of 15 was pretty good with the preponderance of females (10) also pointing to the possibility that females were more intent on gaining access to last year's nest holes than wayward dilly dallying males.
Sand Martins' Colony
The fifteen included a recapture from July 2022 and also a “control” a ring number not ours but from elsewhere, AAX9650. On Thursday came the news that AAX9650 had been ringed on 14 April 2023 at Woolston Eyes, Warrington, Cheshire almost directly 180 degrees south of Cockerham.
Sand Martin
And then came the second piece of news that another Sand Martin, ALJ4781 a "3J", code for a very young bird, born at Cockerham in 2021 and ringed on 5 June 2021 was recaptured on the way back to North West England. This second one was recaptured on 6 April 2023, also at Woolston Eyes, Warrington. There is no record as to where this bird was during 2022 but safe to assume it was somewhere in North West England where it evaded capture by bird ringers.
The hat trick of Sand Martin news emerged with ALP8530 another 3J ringed at Cockerham on 30 June 2022 and recaptured at Woolston Eyes on 13 April 2023. During the first two weeks of April counts of Sand Martins at Woolston had reached over 350 using the area to feed and to roost before continuing their northward migration.
The Merseyside Ringing Group of Woolston Eyes took good advantage of the high counts of Sand Martins during those first two weeks of April. I'm pretty sure their catches included many new ones and probably ones ringed elsewhere in the UK and probably ones with French rings.
Cockerham and Woolston Eyes x 3
Stay tuned for more bird news, views and pictures very soon.
Linking this weekend to Eileen's Saturday Blog and Anni in Texas.
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14 comments:
This is so interesting! I've never seen one. Thanks for sharing it.
Hello Phil :=)
Seeing the Sand Martin's nesting cavities is all new to me. I never imagined that they made their nests inside soil as do the Bee-eaters. They are beautiful birds, and thanks for finishing with the Gull fun. It really made me laugh!:=)
All the best.
Hello, Phil,
The Sand Martin's colony is an interesting sight. The are cute birds, love the closeup of the Sand Martin. It is always cool to see high numbers of any species of bird. Thank you for linking up and sharing your post.
Take care, have a great day and happy weekend!
The cartoon is very cute! And I love seeing where the Sand Martins live! Awesome photos!
This was most informative. There is so much I have learned. The photos are grand! Thank you. Cathy
The Sand Martin's colony is such a fascinating sight.
Love the closeup and cartoon.
Cool photos, Phil!
That's great news, to hear of 3 of your birds elsewhere, and the whole purpose of ringing in the first place I guess. Fantastic! Woolston Eyes is a great place and lots of ringing goes on there. I'm sure you'll capture some of theres and they more of yours.
Kudos again for your contributions to the data base!
I'm amazed at the thought of capturing what seems to me a very erratic flier. Interesting on prior captures and potential flight routes.
It would be fascinating to know how many will remain there to actually breed.
We are actually getting a bit of rain this week. It has been quite dry so we're happy to see the stuff.
Gini has a large pot of spaghetti sauce on to simmer for awhile and I need to shop for salad ingredients. Smells good in the house!
All the best.
What a beautiful bird! Wow!
Thank you for sharing at http://image-in-ing.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-last-of-quilts.html
Hi Phil! Nice to see the Sand Martin! I love the funny! ☺
Good news about the Sand Martin and a great photograph of one.
Love the cartoon :)
All the best Jan
What an interesting post, I knew nothing about Sand Martins before reading this, thanks for educating me. I just love your header, stunning bird.
Have a good weekend and take care, cheers Diane
Beautiful blog
Beautiful blog
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