Winter fayre

A cycle ride to Amager today produced some quality winter birds. First, a staggering 110 SMEW (a large percentage were stunning drakes) were split into 3 or 4 loose flocks on the narrow sea channel between Amager and Sjaelland. These were accompanied by around 40 GOOSANDER, a handful of RED-BREASTED MERGANSER, a single GREATER SCAUP and a few WIGEON. The only Grebes in evidence were around 50 LITTLE GREBES.

A bit further along the path, I scanned a group of loafing gulls and there was an adult COMMON GULL with a colour-ring on its right leg. I was able to read the letter/number combination so I have reported it to the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) via their very useful website. Hopefully I will receive information about this bird within a few days that will tell me where and when it was ringed. Colour-ringing is an increasingly used method of tracking birds. Rings can vary from a large-ish colour ring with a letter/number combination that can easily be viewed in the field with binoculars or a telescope (most suited to relatively large birds) to a combination of smaller blank rings, often used in specific combinations on one or sometimes both legs. Colour-ringing allows birds to be recorded in the field which results in many more reports of ringed birds than the traditional small metal ring that requires either a re-trapping of the bird, or the find of a corpse, to retrieve any data about a bird's movements. The bird I saw today had a large red ring on its right leg with "M84" written in large white characters. It's probably been ringed fairly locally but, you never know, it could have come from Russia, the UK or even further afield. We shall see!

Finally, the highlight was an adult WHITE-TAILED EAGLE that came in fast and low over a flock of BARNACLE GEESE that I was watching - the geese were spooked and took to the air with an awful stressed honking sound but luckily for them the eagle seemed to be just wanting to sit where the geese had been feeding - it sat on a small rock and preened itself, accompanied by the attentions of the local Hooded Crows.