Just received recovery details of a Firecrest that was ringed at Heysham on 14th September and found dead in the grill of a car at Elgin (Moray) 401 km N 115 days after ringing! The car had been driven that day between Wick and Elgin but the finder remembers striking a small bird as he approached Elgin. He has supplied us with a photo of the dead bird and it certainly looks fresh. So what an amazing recovery. Just a pity that it had to die.
Five other Firecrests have been ringed at Heysham since 1998. Three of these were in spring , of the three caught in autumn this preset bird is the earliest by a month so had plenty of time to drift north before choosing to winter in Moray. An interesting example of a bird making an unexpected journey and shows the value of ringing.
Looking at the online ringing reports this is the 4th longest movement of a Firecrest in Britain. Interestingly the one making the longest movement from Norfolk to Wick did so in a similar time frame to the present bird.
John
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