Curlew Yellow flag L5 © R JutsumThree male Curlew from the small Severn and Avon Vales breeding population have been recorded on the Taw-Torridge estuary in the past two weeks. It is likely that they will stay for the winter as Curlew are very faithful to both breeding and wintering sites. All are marked with yellow leg flags bearing a two-character inscription. Two of these (AL and AP) have been located on the estuary via GPS trackers fitted on their breeding grounds and a third (L5) was re-sighted by a local birder. We would welcome further reports of these birds by email to the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by completing the form on the EURING website.
Maps of the movements of these birds can be found on this website at these links (AL, AP, L5) and these will be updated as further sightings or GPS tracker fixes are reported.
It will be interesting to see how these birds make use of the estuary and the surrounding farmland as most of the Curlew ringed by DCWRG on this estuary have been females and the two sexes are known, from other studies, to segregate in winter avoiding competition for food.
Thanks to Kane Brides and Dan Gornell at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust for providing this information from the Flourishing Floodplains project. More information about the project can be found here.