Shooting Times & Country – 21 August 2019

Expert tips and advice

Oystercatchersthat

spendthewinter

aroundtheshores

ofBritainandIreland

area mixofbothbirds

thatbreedwithin

theseislandsand

migrants,mainly

fromScandinaviaand

Iceland. Ringing and

colour-ringingenables

ustoplotmovements

ofindividualsoverthe

courseofupto 40 years

ofa bird’slifeand

revealssomequirky

stories.TheWash

WaderRingingGroup

(WWRG)receiveda

report that two of its

ringedoystercatchers

werenestingtogether

inNorway.Thisis just

a coincidence;pairsof

wadersdonotmigrate

together.Forinstance,

workonIcelandic

black-tailedgodwits

hasshownthat

membersofthesame

pairrarelywinterinthe

samecountry,letalone

inthesameflock.

OneoftheWWRG

oystercatcherswas

ringedonthe

Lincolnshiresideofthe

Washandtheotheron

theNorfolkside,two

yearsapart,andthey

probablydonotsee

eachotherbetween

July and March.

Bird of the week by Graham Appleton OYSTERCATCHER

A mix of British birds and migrants are seen around our shores

Redleg origin in Britain

GAMEBIRDS

Whenwasthered-legged

partridgeintroduced to the

BritishIsles?

Itmaytechnicallybepossible

toarguethatthered-legged

partridgearrivedintheBritishIsles

asa naturalmigrant,becausethey

wererecordedonJerseyandGuernsey

asearlyasthe1670s,havingapparently

arrivedtherefromFrance without

humanassistance.

AccordingtothebookRuralSports

byWilliamBarkerDaniel,a number

ofpairsofredlegswerereleased

at Windsorduringthereignof

CharlesII (1660-1685)andthese

birds— ortheirdescendants

— were seen there for some

yearsafterwards,buttheydid not

surviveinthelong-term.

Around1770,stockfromFrancewas

releasedbytheEarlofHertfordand

LordRendleshamat Sudbourne.Lord

Rendleshamalsoreleasedredlegsin

Suffolk.Thelight,sandysoilsobviously

suitedthebirdsandtheyappearto

havebeenthefirsttobecome properly

establishedinEngland.

Largequantitiesofeggswere

importedfromFrancein 1823 to

establisha newpopulationaround

BurySt Edmunds,Suffolk,andover

thenext 20 yearsthespeciesspread

intoNorfolkandLincolnshire.

Thereafter,redlegsspread

countrywideandwererecorded

inYorkshirein1835,inDevonin

1844,Nottinghamshirein1851 and

Herefordshire in 1881.GD

Water in

the tank

GAMEKEEPING

Istherea secrettokeeping
releasepenheadertanks
clean?Oursalwaysseemtoturn
a ratherunhealthy-looking
green/brown colour.

Theimportanceofkeeping
headertankscleanandwater
freshcannotbeoveremphasised.
Waterstoredinblacktankssited
intheshaderarelydiscolours.
Thewaterinwhiteintermediate
bulkcontainer(IBC)tankssituated
indirectsunlightcan discolour in
a matterofdays.
A firststepwouldbetopressure-
washtheheadertanksthendisinfect
them.Theyshouldbere-sitedinthe
shadeif possibleandonlyfilledwith
waterthathashada sterilisingagent
added.If thetankscan’tbesitedin
theshadeforanyreason,a roofof
somesorttodeflectthesunlight,
andpaintingthetank,willhelp to
preventdiscolouration.
It won’t,ofcourse,doanything
tokeepthewatertemperature
down,somethingthatis arguably
even more important.LB

SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE • 51

Itis importanttoalwayskeepwatertanks—
and their contents — scrupulously clean

Red-leggedpartridges

wererecordedinthe

ChannelIslandsas

early as the 1670s