An exceptional Twite

The above male was at Swales Moor, between Queensbury and Halifax from at least 28th November 2010 until 2nd March 2011, associating loosely with a Linnet flock. It was ringed on Heysham north harbour wall sometime between 15th October 2010 and 22nd November 2010. This is the first definite evidence of a Heysham-ringed bird spending the winter at a Pennine or near-Pennine site. What would be really valuable would be to narrow it down to an individual which is then seen on the breeding grounds, which might be 'Pennine' (caught at Heysham on "reverse dispersal", perhaps early in the autumn ringing period), might be the far north-west of Scotland......or somewhere between the two. At the moment, we havn't a clue where it came from or why it chose to separate itself from the north Lancs coastal population! Thanks to Dave Sutcliffe for the observation and (I think) the photo, taken from the excellent Calderdale Birds blogsite http://calderbirds.blogspot.com

Pete Marsh