NW Twite Project  December 2002 to March 2005

by David Sowter

Colour-ringed Twite gather at a feeding station. (Photo by Rob Adderley)

The project was initiated in the autumn of 2002, when it was proposed to colour ring Twite at sites that had been fed for several years in the South Pennines.  There were two initial catching sites at Cant Clough near Burnley, and Light Hazzles near Littleborough.  When it became clear that the N Lancs Ringing Group were also catching Twite at heysham they were invited to join the project.  At about the same time Andre Raine was also starting a PhD at UEA, in part replicating but also extending the work done by Andy Brown et al in the early 1990s.  So his work colour ringing nestlings in the south Pennines also became incorporated.

More recently addition sites have been used in South Cumbria on the Duddon Estuary and Walney Island; at Donna Nook on the Lincolnshire coast to monitor Twite in their winter quarters and in 2005 a site at Banks on the Ribble Estuary has also been set up.

The chart A shows the number of adult Twite ringed at each site.

In addition Andre Raine was responsible for ringing 149 nestlings in the South Pennines in 2003 and 171 in 2004.  This means that the project has ringed a total of 2,251 Twite.

The chart B shows the number of retraps/controls at each sight.

(Photo by Les Steele)

Recent sightings and their significance.

Besides the ringing of Twite at the fed sites in the Central Pennine Catchment area at Cant Clough and Light Hazzles reservoirs, there are now five other sites involved.  These are:

·        N Lancashire - ringing at fed site on north wall of Heysham harbour.
This site has now had birds they ringed during the winter controlled on several of the islands in western Scotland, including Sanda, Oronsay, Staffa, Eigg and South Uist in the breeding season.  Firmly establishing the movement of some of the supposedly 'mainly static' winter population referred to in the Migration Atlas.

·        S Walney Bird Observatory - a new site with wintering Twite - feeding has started at this site and there is evidence of birds ringed at Heysham feeding at the site.

·        S Cumbria.  As well as the site near Millom used in previous years a new site at Askham on the south shore of the Duddon has been established.
Both sites have had Heysham and Scottish birds though they first appear in January, suggesting that this estuary in bypassed as birds migrate south in October but is used as birds start to return to their Scottish breeding grounds.

·        Ribble Marsh NNR.  At the beginning of February a small flock were seen and permission was arranged to establish a feeding site on the shore at English Nature's Old Hollows Farm, Banks Marsh.  After two weeks of feeding 37 birds have been caught and colour ringed.  More significantly three birds ringed at Light Hazzles reservoir have been recaptured.  This is the first evidence of birds ringed in the Pennines being on the west coast.  One of these birds ringed at the end of April 2003 was almost certainly one of the birds breeding in the Pennines that year, while the other two ringed in October 2003 and 2004 respectively, may merely have been birds on passage in the Pennines.

·        Donna Nook, Lincolnshire.  A feeding station was set up here in December 2004 and ringing has been hampered buy adverse weather and disturbance of the site by people visiting the nearly seal pupping area.  However, two birds have been caught, including one from Cant Clough and others identified by the colour codes.  One colour combination seen here and in E. Anglia, is not part of a UK scheme.  I am currently liaising with a German researcher, and the Heligoland Ringing Scheme, with the expectation that this may prove to be a Scandinavian bird ringed while wintering in the Wadden Sea, off the coast of NW Germany.
There have also been sightings of birds ringed at Heysham.  This opens the possibility that birds from the Western Isles may be moving through the Pennines to reach the east coast.  These last two sightings open up the possible existence of a meta-population of Twite that has not previously been suggested.

Other sightings this winter have generally confirmed the movement of Pennine bird to the east coast, although one bird was seen much further north at Flamborough Head than any in previous years. Then on 12^th February there was the sighting at Flint Castle, North Wales, of a nestling ringed on Rishworth Moor on 30^th May 2003.  This is the first positive proof of a Pennine bred Twite on the west coast.  The observer said the flock totalled 115 birds but he was not able to see any other colour rings.  Maybe need to liaise with a ringer in N Wales to assess the possibility of catching at this site.  Again this could link to the breeding population of Twite in NW Wales and reinforce the concept of the meta-population of Twite.

David Sowter, 30th March 2005.