An Islandic black-tailed godwit tracked!

The importance of bird-ringing, we have known for a long time that many of our black-tailed godwits in the Greater Thames Estuary originate from Iceland. One such bird was seen in the creek, here at Wat Tyler on March 1st this year. The bird was rung 'RW-GO' and from that ring the following information was found:

RW-GO was ringed as a breeding female in N Iceland.

RW-GO 20.06.11 Langhús, Fljót, Skagafirði, N Iceland

RW-GO 03.08.11 Thames Estuary, Kent, SE England

RW-GO 07.12.11 Vange Marsh, Essex, E England

RW-GO 26.12.11 Pitsea, Vange Creek , Essex, E England

RW-GO 15.01.12 Marshside RSPB Reserve, Southport, Merseyside, Lancashire, NW England

RW-GO 12.02.12 Pitsea, Vange Creek , Essex, E England

RW-GO 01.03.12 Wat Tyler CP, Pitsea, Vange Creek , Essex, E England

You can see the bird has been pretty much faithful to The Thames Estuary outside of the breeding season, although it did make a brief trip to Lancashire mid January but soon returned. The godwits have been arriving back in Iceland over the last few days, with the first sighting back in Iceland on March 29.

If you are lucky enough to be able to read a ring, you can find more information here

And here is a black-tailed godwit, not the black-tailed godwit and I'm not sure if it's female, it was taken by Chris Gomersall