Somerset Birding Forum

Great White Egret Annual Report 2025

2026-02-24T20:55:28+00:00

The 2025 annual breeding and ringing report for the Great White Egret on the Avalon Marshes can now be viewed on my website at https://www.alisonmorgan.co.uk/Birds/GWE%20on%20the%20Avalon%20Marshes%20Nesting%20&%20Colour%20Ringing%20Report%202025%20AJM.pdf.

Great White Egret Annual Report 2023

2024-02-14T08:03:43+00:00

I’ve posted the latest annual report, which covers the 2023 breeding season as well as the latest from the colour ringing project, on my website:

https://www.alisonmorgan.co.uk/Birds/GWE%20on%20the%20Avalon%20Marshes%20Nesting%20&%20Colour%20Ringing%20Report%202023%20AJM.pdf

The 2023 Avalon Marshes New Colonists report is here:

https://www.alisonmorgan.co.uk/Birds/AMNC%20Report%202023.pdf

There’s also a blog update on the SWT website :

https://www.somersetwildlife.org/blog/alison-morgan/tale-two-egrets

Great White Egret - July Update

2022-07-28T16:30:01+00:00

The RSPB has released the latest update on Great White Egrets on the Avalon Marshes. See here.

Great White Egrets Update

2022-05-19T15:45:20+00:00

Dr. Alison Morgan, Avalon Marshes New Colonists Coordinator, has provided the following update on ringed birds:

“Thanks again to everyone who has sent in sightings of the Somerset colour ringed egrets this year. We thought you might like an update!

Dispersal: The 13 Somerset birds ringed between 2016 and 2021 have now been reported from 31 sites in 14 counties of England and Wales, stretching East-West across the country from Wales to Suffolk, and North-South from the Tees Valley to Dungeness.

Distance: The most travelled bird is AAU, who spent the winter touring the north of England and then reappeared on Easter Monday at Ham Wall here on the Avalon Marshes – only to be photographed by Ian Forrest at the beginning of May 400km to the north, at RSPB Saltholme in the Tees Valley (right). AAU has travelled more than 1840 km (as the egret flies) since fledging ten months ago. For a blog post which tells AAU’s story visit https://community.rspb.org.uk/placestovisit/hamwall/b/hamwall-blog/posts/guest-blog-update-on-the-great-white-egrets-of-the-avalon-marshes

Equally remarkable was that AAT was seen alongside AAU at Saltholme. AAT fledged from the same nest, but was last reported from RSPB Conwy in Wales.

Find out more - for a more detailed analysis of the expansion of the Great White Egret across the country see our paper in the May issue of British Birds - https://britishbirds.co.uk/content/great-white-egrets-england

Looking ahead

The 2022 breeding season is now well under way. The colonies are continuing to grow in size and number, with some 43 nests identified here on the Avalon Marshes so far, and 14 new chicks colour ringed – so please do keep sending in your sightings. We are particularly keen to see whether the dispersed birds will return here to breed, or whether they will found new colonies elsewhere (and if so where!) – so every sighting whether in Somerset or elsewhere is helpful.”

Great White Egret from Belarus

2020-11-30T23:07:33+00:00

From Twitter:

On Friday 27 November a ringed Great White Egret was observed in Somerset.

Records show that it was ringed in May this year as a ‘Pullus’ (young bird) in Belarus

See here https://twitter.com/jcurtisart/status/1332989158021877760?s=20

Taunton Peregrine

2019-11-06T15:52:14+00:00

A juvenile male Peregrine Blue RY ringed at St. Mary Magdalene Church in Taunton this year has been found dead in Tiznit, Morocco,dispering 2435km! A probable first for a British bird to Morocco.

not local sighting but possible info required please

2019-08-04T12:50:35+00:00

my sister in Chester has a short video of what i think could be a Red Throated Pipit alongside a leusistic ? partner any one who who would like to have a butchers at this for a possible confirmation via watsap? the bird is ringed [nat marking bird] but she could not make the details out

Urgent Appeal for sightings of Colour Ringed Whinchats

2018-05-15T14:53:33+00:00

Colour ringed Whinchat’s
Please report your sightings!
The Whinchat is a declining upland bird, with the UK breeding population having declined by about 50% since the 1990s. An ongoing RSPB Centre for Conservation Science research project is investigating the causes of this decline. In particular, to learn about migration behaviour and to find out where in Africa they spend our winter, in 2017 we fitted tracking devises to adult Whinchat’s breeding on Exmoor. We also colour ringed nestlings and non-tagged adults, with 140 colour ringed in total. Colour rings enable us to identify those individuals that have been fitted with tracking devices, which need recapturing to retrieve the tags and download the data.

During spring and summer 2018 the RSPB team will again be working on Exmoor locating colour ringed Whinchat’s and monitoring nests. To help us, we would greatly appreciate any sightings of colour ringed Whinchat’s. These Whinchat’s are ringed with a colour ring above a standard BTO numbered metal ring on the bird’s left leg, and two colour rings on the bird’s right leg. If you see one of these birds, please contact us with details of what you saw, when and where. In return we should be able to give you some history of the bird concerned.

Please report sightings to:
malcolm dot burgess at rspb dot org dot uk or mobile: 07816584083

Long-tailed Tits

2017-11-03T12:19:54+00:00

These tits are considered to be fairly sedentary in nature. The results of my ringing Long-tailed Tits in October came as a bit of a surprise.
On 19th October a ringed one was caught and this bird had been ringed at Bristol on 25th August, a distance of 63 km away to the east.
A total of 28 Long-tailed Tits were ringed in the garden during October. On 10th October a party of 16 were netted. It was 16 days later
that 8 of these birds were trapped 58 km to the west, at Braunton, Devon.
Has anyone else observed an apparent movement of these Tits through the County during this period ?

Blackcaps returning home.

2017-04-11T19:14:24+00:00

Since the beginning of April a total of 25 blackcaps have turned up in my West Somerset garden. There were 18 new birds ringed and the remainder were all retraps. Four were ringed in the garden two years ago and two were ringed here last year. The other bird spent the winter with us and was retrapped today.It weighed in at 26 grams, a very heavy weight and so was ready for its return migration to central Europe. The latest wintering blackcap that was previously retrapped here was on 12th April.