The Lincolnshire Bird Club

in spring a few littoralis Rock Pipits are identified in Lincs but the general feeling is that most of the birds that we get on autumn passage and in winter probably originate in Scandinavia; as partial proof of this assumption I picked up a colour ringed Rock Pipit Barton sailing pit yesterday afternoon and was able to read the 3 letter inscription on the yellow ring HJL -- in August we had a colour ringed Curlew Sandpiper with a yellow flag with an inscription and this immediately brought me to the web site of the pipit ringers; as usual the response to my report was very rapid and full details are below; The Migration atlas has a lot of interesting information on this species but there appear to be relatively few actual recoveries of Norwegian ringed Rock Pipits in Britain

No Lincolnshire recoveries are recorded in Lorand and Atkin and the text suggests that birds of the British race are frequently recorded but it is not clear where this evidence comes from?

To the bird in question:

Thank you very much for taking the time to report to us details of the sighting of a colour ringed Rock Pipit (Anthus petrosus) . Information about the bird and its movement is given below:

Ring no : Stavanger 8E28831
Yellow colour ring HJL( Left tarsus : metal ring. Right tarsus: yellow colour ring engraved with three black letters HJL).
Age/sex/biometric: 1K / 1cy (hatched 2013). Wing:89 mm. Weight:24,8 g.
Ringing date: 18.08.2013, 11 hrs.
Ringing place:Makkevika (62.30N-06.02E) (Giske Ornithological Station), Giske, Møre & Romsdal, Norway.
Remarks: Caught in walk-in-trap at our wader station.
Ringers: Sveinung Remøy and Eldar Arne Giske.



Finding date: 17.10 .2013 .
Observed : Barton-on-Humber (53.41.48N-00.25.01W) North Lincolnshire, England
Distance : 1050 km SSW. Direction: 204 deg. Time: 0-1-29 (1 month-29 days).
Remarks: Photodocumented, but letters on the ring not readable at photo. Seen well with the 50x scope. Present with another unringed bird.
Observer: Graham Catley.

Thank you very much for the information!

An excellent recovery. Re the status of races of Rock Pipit in the county. This is a very complex subspecific problem, with no constant characters by which littoralis or petrosus can be identified during the winter. Williamson in 1965 stated that autumn petrosus had a purer olive mantle, and a brighter, pale yellow belly than littoralis, and whereas years ago, I thought that I could discern these features when comparing some birds, I now realise just how subjective this can be and doubt the validity of the separation of the races when not in breeding plumage.

In earlier years, it was often assumed that winter visitors to the east coast were largely British birds as there was a paucity of good littoralis birds identified. Witherby in the Handbook thought that littoralis probably constituted at least some of the birds which passed along the east coast, but he could quote only five definite records between Northumberland and Kent. We now know from ringing records that British birds are fairly resident, and with modern knowledge, it seems that most, if not all, of our Lincolnshire birds are littoralis.