Llanelli Naturalists Newsletter - March 1984
Dilwyn Roberts
The first known recovery of a ringed wild bird in this county was of a Heron, shot on the river Cothi, below Llansawel, in 1635. The bird had been caught in Norfolk, whilst hawking, and carried a ring inscribed "Major Wilson, 66 Didlington, Norfolk 1830".
The modern technique of ringing birds with numbered bands begun in Denmark n 1899 was first used in England and Scotland in 1909. Two Black-headed Gulls, ringed as fledglings as early as June 1912 at Ravenglass, Cumberland, were both recovered at Ferryside; one had lived for only two months, the other lasted for 4.5 years. The earliest b record of a bird ringed in Carmarthenshire, I have come across, is of a drake Shoveler, ringed at Middleton Hall, Llanarthne, on 10th January 1915, which as shot at Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales on 29th January 1917, but who ringed this bird is unknown. Locally, T.J.F. Thomas of Laugharne is regarded as a pioneer ringer in this county. A fledgling Swallow, ringed by him at Broadway Farm, Laugharne; on 18th August 1922, was recovered at a farm named Reitfontein 327, Springs, Johannesburg, South Africa, on 14th January 1923, and proved to be the first Welsh Swallow recovered in South Africa and only the seventh recovery of this species ringed in Britain. Between 1929-1940 other Laugharne-ringed Swallows were recovered in South Africa and whilst on migration in France and Spain. In reverse, there is only one instance of a Swallow ringed in the Transvaal in January 1968 which was vectored at Pendine on 21st May 1968.
Unfortunately, despite this early start there have been only a few sporadic efforts by ringers in this county, so that of the circa 240 Carmarthenshire ringing records I have (complete up to 1970), the vast majority refer to birds recovered rather than ringed here.
The three species which head the list are Cormorant (40), Teal (38), and Starling (30). Many Cormorants were shot for the bounty, at one time offered by the South West Wales River Authority, Teal more obviously by wildfowlers and the Starlings by reason of the huge numbers of European birds which annually winter here. Most of the Cormorants were ringed as fledglings on St. Margaret's Island, Tenby, a few in Anglesey, with a sprinkling from Ireland, Scotland and the Farne Islands, Northumberland. Many of the earlier Teal had been ringed at Orielton, Pembrokeshire, from 1955 onwards at Abberton, Essex, probably whilst on migration to and from Northern Europe, as were those ringed at stations in Holland, Belgium and Denmark. None had been ringed at Slimbridge, where 50% of the Mallard recovered had been ringed. The Eastern European source of the Starling flocks is revealed by the recovery of four ringed in Latvia, with one from Smâland, U.S.S.R., two from Sweden and others from Germany, Holland, Belgium and Norway.
Two White-fronted Geese, and a relatively few specimens of Wigeon and Pintail recovered, had been ringed in Holland, probably whilst on migration. The list includes only two birds of prey, a Kestrel ringed in Dumfriesshire (1961) found dead at Llandybie (1961), whilst a Peregrine ringed at a nest on Bardsey Island (1982) found injured near Carmarthen, was nursed back to health and later released in
April 1983. Long distance travelling wader species recovered include Lapwing (France), Golden Plover (Iceland), Common Snipe (Holland), Dunlin (Denmark), Oystercatcher (Holland) an East German Curlew and a Common Sandpiper ringed as a fledgling in Lüineburg, Germany, found dead four months later in September 1963 at Burry Port.
Most of the gulls recovered originated from the Pembrokeshire islands, but all three Common Gull found came from Denmark. Many of the Black-headed Gull were ringed in Scandinavia but included one from Czechoslovakia. The single Fulmar Petrel recovered found dead at Cefn Sidan on 1 August 1981, also proved to have a high survival rate as it had been ringed as a fledgling on Ramsay, in the Orkney Islands, eighteen years previously. The senior "old timer" however appears to be an Oystercatcher, ringed as a fledgling on Skokholm Island 7 June 1953, found dead at Ginst Point on 22 October 1973. In its span of twenty years, it had been caught and its rings replaced on two other occasions!
Very few small ringed birds have been recovered, the numerous warbler species being represented by only two Willow Warblers, one ringed on Bardsey and the other on Skokholm, as was a Blue Tit found dead at Bynea. Predictably the only Redwing recovered originated from Finland, a Blackbird came from Sweden, while two Song Thrushes were ringed as full grown adults on migration, one at Grantham, Lincolnshire, and the other in Peterborough, Northamptonshire, Pied Wagtails ringed at their roost at Trostre have given several local recoveries but also one during summer in Scotland, whilst a Chaffinch, ringed on migration in Belgium on 12 October 1956 was vectored at Llandovery, 13 days later. Lastly, from the ranks of the smaller birds a Whinchat and Pied Flycatcher, both ringed in Carmarthenshire, were recovered respectively in Portugal and Spain.
A White Stork, ringed as a fledgling in Oldebourg, Lower Saxony, West Germany on 17 July 1975, was found injured (shot) near Pendine on 24th September 1975. This was the first and only record for this species in the county, an event tragically repeated with regard to the Crane found killed at Cydweli recently.
P.S. Recent reported recoveries include a Song Thrush ringed in Chester and the amazing find at a spot on the steep cliff below Carreg Cennen Castle of 43 pigeon rings dating from 1923-1983!! - the work of a Peregrine perhaps?