Two Immagrants from France

Avocets are an increasing breeding species at Leighton Moss RSPB Reserve. A colour ringed male has been successfully breeding there for the last three seasons.It was first ringed, presumably as a chick on 20th June 2008 near Nantes in North West France. It was sighted 45 times in this area in  all seasons and was last seen there in 2012 on 25th February. It then appeared at Leighton Moss on 26th March 2012. It was back in France in late September and was sighted eight times over the winter until it returned to Leighton Moss in late March 2013. It again wintered in North West France before returning to Leighton in late March and is now incubating a clutch.

Another colour ringed bird originally ringed on  5 August 2010 has been sighted recently on the Lune estuary.  It was also ringed in the same area  of France as the other bird, It was sighted in this area 29 times over the next three years until the last sighting on March 16 2014. On 14th April it was sighted in North Holland and six days later it was in the Lune  estuary. It is probably to late for it to breed this year. but the similarities with the first bird in timings is striking. these sightings shed some light on the age at which Avocets first  breed and reveals the origin of some of the colonists.
John