6 August 2009

Paul Stubbs, DBWPS Treasurer and Membership Secretary, has just learned that a bird he ringed in his garden in 2005 has been found in France, though as usual with ringing recoveries the news has taken time to filter through.

An adult female Blackbird ringed in Paul's Princetown garden on 28 October 2005 was found, freshly dead, on 21 May 2006 in Veulettes-sur-Mer, Seine-Maritime, north-west France – 205 days and 335 kilometres away from Paul's garden.

This recovery adds credence to the fact that many of the birds we see in our gardens over the autumn and winter are of continental origin. This particular bird was caught in Princetown in the autumn, then found dead in France during the following spring, where it was probably breeding.