The flock of 8 chough on Locks Common on 9th November contained 3 separate ringed birds. (Seen and photographed by Mike Pugh) The Anglesey chough 9U, together with 2 local birds that are/were regular in the Ogmore/Southerndown area but they are 12 years old and the rings are falling off. I copy below details from Adrienne Stratford’s Email

The two colour-ringed birds in the group of four in the top photo, and also in slightly different shot of same group that you attached to yesterday’s email, are both familiar to me (although I’ve never seen them myself). These are a pair of siblings ringed by Bob Haycock near Pennard on the Gower in 2004 (originally ringed: Rt: Red/BTO Lt: Lime/Brown + Rt: Red/BTO Lt: Lime/Brown), then became resident breeding adults in the Ogmore/Southerndown area. Both were still around there until spring 2015, but with only one of them recorded in spring 2016. Both had lost their red rings some years ago – the plastic rings are not as durable as we’d like, but they’re usually reliable for 5 or more years by which time birds have generally stopped travelling far and have settled down as nesting adults – where we’re able to keep track of their gradual loss of rings… It’s clear that one of these birds (the one in the back of the photo) has also lost the lime ring since it was last recorded and is now Rt: BTO only Lt: White only. One the other bird (Rt: BTO only Lt: Lime/Brown – back right in both photos), the lime ring appears to have become unglued and un-spiralled, and has now has slipped down and is below the brown (clearer on the previously-attached photo) – this lime ring will almost certainly not stay on much longer. Not surprising really as they’re both now 12 year-olds. The first of these siblings (ex Lime/White) was also recorded at Lock’s Common back in March 2007, just before turning up at Western Supermare with some other Gower birds, where it had also been recorded alone the previous year.

The flock of 8 were present again today as per Mike