This Sanderling was found by Rob Jones on the 27/4/13 on Jersey Marine beach. It was first caught in May 2008 in western Iceland at a favoured staging point for the species. There are no summertime records on breeding grounds but this bird is likely to be a Greenland bird as Barry Stewart suggested in an earlier post. It has been recorded every May since 2008 in Iceland and will hopefully make it there again later this month. It has also been recorded in north-western France in every non-breeding season since May 2008. However, the dates on which it has been recorded in France suggest that it may go further south again? Indeed, observations of "the first sanderling ringed in Ghana have been reported in France today (28/4/13)" as we enter into the main migratory period for theses Arctic waders, reports Jeroen Reneerkens - Sanderling Project, International Wader Study Group.
The only records of this bird away from the observation hotspots are St Mary's Island, Whitley Bay, Northumberland on 9/4/13. This was 23 days after it was last reported in France and it turned up in Iceland 40 days after the St Mary's Island sighting. Prior to Rob's find this bird was last reported in France 26 days earlier.
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| G4YWWW |
There are lots of unknowns still at play here, and the general movement will be of no great surprise to many. However, I find it fascinating to think of other birders watching these same birds, sometimes thousands of miles apart and over many years. The results are returned quickly too, with this project, so it's well worth the effort spending time to get the colour codes.
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| weighted distribution of Sanderling in Glamorgan |
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