Marked BTG.

It's been a disappointing winter for me with regards to finding marked birds, I've had few chances to get close enough to the huge herd of Whooper Swans spending the entire winter at Cockersand, and getting close to any Pink-footed Geese hasn't happened. But it was excellent that just a half dozen of the 1,750 Black-tailed Godwit seen on Tuesday on the Lune Estuary at Glasson, had come to feed close in from my viewpoint at the bowling green the following day for me to find one of the birds was marked.

The photograph of the Black-tailed Godwit below is courtesy of my man in Iceland who had sent me this copy last year when there was some confusion about a bird I'd found, the picture resulted in the confusion being resolved. Now I've seen this bird again on Tuesday, it was my fifth sighting of OR-GYflag which will be 5 years old come July this year.

OR-GYflag in Iceland. Böðvar Þórisson. 

Quite amazing that I've seen this bird on the Lune Estuary for five consecutive years from 2013 since it was ringed at Ytri Lambadalur, Dyrafjordur, NW Iceland in 2012, and was able to read the combination on every occasion.

OR-GY = Orange ring over Red ring left leg Green ring over Yellow flag right leg

OR-GYflag 07.07.12 Ytri Lambadalur, Dyrafjordur, NW Iceland

OR-GYflag 28.02.13 Sunderland Point, Morecambe Bay, Lanc's, NW England

OR-GYflag 14.04.13 Cockersand, Lune Estuary, Lanc's, NW England. Pete Woodruff

OR-GYflag 17.04.14 Conder Pool, Conder Green, Lanc's, NW England. Pete Woodruff

OR-GYflag 25.04.14 Holt, Önundarfjörður, NW Iceland

OR-GYflag 27.04.14 Holt, Önundarfjörður, NW Iceland

OR-GYflag 09.08.14 Leighton Moss, Lancashire, NW England 

OR-GYflag 09.09.14 Allen Pools, Leighton Moss, Lanc's, NW England

OR-GYflag 22.10.14 Leighton Moss, Lancashire, NW England 

OR-GYflag 10.04.15 Cockersand, Lune Estuary, Lanc's, NW England. Pete Woodruff

OR-GYflag 27.04.15 Grafarvogur, Reykjavík, SW Iceland

OR-GYflag 25.02.16 Cockersand, Lune Estuary, Lanc's, NW England. Pete Woodruff
OR-GYflag 23.01.17 Sunderland Point, Lune Estuary, Lanc's, NW England

OR-GYflag 14.03.17 Glasson, Lune Estuary, Lanc's, NW England. Pete Woodruff

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Garden Birds.

A Dunnock was in full song in our garden yesterday, five minutes later I saw some display between two birds.

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Foulshaw Moss Nature Reserve.

If you're planning a visit to Foulshaw Moss you should note that it will be closed from Monday 20 March for two weeks for refurbishment to the entrance from the A590 and replacement of the viewing platform.

Thanks to Brian Rafferty for the header image. Not every day you get the opportunity to see let alone achieve an excellent photograph of a Bittern.