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Remember the two Oystercatcher “controls” (birds that are previously ringed as part of another project) that we caught last February at Merrion Gates? Well, we colour-ringed them and they became F H and H D. The numbers of their metal rings were sent to the BTO to find out about their origins and we’ve just heard that they are both Scottish.

On the 19^th June 2004, F H was ringed in the nest in Berneray, North Uist in the Western Isles (blue marker) and   H D was ringed, also as a nestling, on the 5^th June 2010 in Wester Fodderletter, Highland (red marker).

Blue: North Uist, where FH was ringed. Red: Wester Fodderletter,
where HD was ringed. Green: Sandymount
Strand - wintering grounds for both birds.

The colour-rings have allowed us to keep a close eye on them on their wintering grounds in Dublin, and these conspicuous rings will also mean that their subsequent movements can be tracked by birders in Ireland and further afield.

F H was re-sighted by our team of ring-readers on Sandymount Strand in September, October and December last year, but has yet to be recorded this year. H D had its ring read twice before it left Dublin last spring, and was picked up again from the 18^th July onwards, after returning from its breeding grounds.