The latest ringing and nest recording report from the BTO has revealed a number of British and Irish longevity information, together with a 25-year-old Black Guillemot and a 31-year-old Avocet.
The British and Irish Ringing Scheme is organised by the BTO and the annual report on hen ringing is revealed within the BTO journal Ringing & Migration. This 12 months’s version contained the 2022 knowledge – and with it some astounding longevity information.
This included a Black Guillemot that’s not less than 25 years old. In July 1997, a Black Guillemot chick was ringed in Orkney – this hen efficiently fledged from its nest and lived for practically 25 years with out being seen once more. In May 2022, the hen was recaptured, nonetheless in Orkney, making it the oldest identified Black Guillemot in Britain and Ireland.
A brand new British longevity file for Black Guillemot has been set by a 25-year-old hen (Peter Newman).
In Norfolk, an Avocet bearing color rings seen at Titchwell Marsh in March 2022 was recognized as one among two birds ringed as a nestling in July 1990 on the identical website, making it 31 years old – a brand new British file by 4 years. Other notable wader longevity information embrace an 11-year-old Green Sandpiper and 22-year-old Common Redshank.
Some surprisingly long-lived passerines had been additionally documented within the report. These included a Bearded Tit that was a minimal of practically 9 years old – having been ringed as an grownup at Tay Lodge, Scotland, earlier than being re-trapped on the identical website in September 2022 – and a 13-year-old House Sparrow.
There had been additionally new information for White-fronted Goose (19 years old), Little Egret (16 years old), Stock Dove (10 years old), Barn Owl (15 years old) and Chough (23 years old).
Sightings of ringed birds might be submitted to www.ring.ac.
