A rather special Purple Sandpiper
Dean Nicholson found a colour ringed, flagged Purple Sandpiper at Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire on January 21st 2024
After close scrutiny Dean saw that it also had an orange colour ring and a green flag with 9LA inscribed though it was often hidden by the flank feathers;
Enquiries revealed that it had been ringed as a chick on August 30th 2021 at Longyearbyen, Svalbard, Spitsbergen 78:13N 015:40E and 2831kms from Mablethorpe
According to the BTO Migration Atlas published in 2002 there was at that time only one recovery of a British ringed bird in Svalbard, there may have been others since. Norwegian ringed birds have been found in Britain on several occasions but this would appear to be the first record of a Svalbard ringed bird being seen wintering in Britain. There is no doubt that it has been much closer to a Polar Bear than I will probably ever be hence the reason I went to see it - odd I know but a tenuous connection to the extreme North
The Mablethorpe Purple Sandpiper Calidris maritima complete with its Green leg Flag sporting the code 9LA revealing its natal location near Longyearbyen Svalbard - enjoying the acorn barnacles and other juicy morsels on the concrete outfall markers
