Tue 14 Mar – First Lundy colour-ringed Wheatear seen elsewhere...

A Lundy colour-ringed Wheatear was seen on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands, yesterday, 13 March (note it was not the bird in the photo below). Photos can be found on the Lundy Wheatear Study Facebook page and on the Twitter feed of the observer on Guernsey. This is the first time that one of the birds from the Lundy study, coordinated by Tony Taylor & Richard Taylor, has been reported away from the island since the project began in 2013. The bird involved was ringed as a breeding male near the Earthquake, on the West Side, on 3 June 2015. Since Wheatears show high breeding-site fidelity, there is every chance that the bird seen on Guernsey will be back on Lundy, around the Earthquake, in the next day or two – if it's not already there today!

This exciting news makes it timely to renew the request for all visiting birdwatchers to submit details of any colour-ringed Wheatears they may see during 2017. Colour-marked birds are most likely to be encountered in the main study area, which runs from the Castle, around South West Point, to the Battery and on to Halfway Wall, including adjoining areas of the plateau, but could be encountered elsewhere.

Lundy colour-ringed Wheatear © Elisabeth Price

Each bird has a standard BTO metal ring plus a striped ring (which signifies the Lundy project) on one leg, and two colour rings on the other leg. Please take care to note which rings are on which leg and make sure you specify the order of rings on each leg. The bird in the photo above, for example, would be recorded as: "Left leg, striped over metal; Right leg, yellow over green". Please record sightings in the Tavern logbook, via the Lundy Wheatear Study Facebook page, or send them to Tony Taylor using the link here. In addition to the ring sequence, date, time and specific location, the bird's sex and any notable activity (e.g. singing, mating, nest-building, feeding young) would also be useful. Photos are particularly welcome.

In 2016, there were resightings (on Lundy) of 29 Wheatears marked during the three previous seasons (2013–2015), whilst 48 new birds were colour-ringed. Many thanks from Tony and Richard to all those who contributed records.