As to be expected at this time of year, Oystercatchers are starting to leave the Exe Estuary and return to their breeding sites. One of the advantages of having a colour-marked population is that we can track the timing of this migration. In the past week five different birds have been reported from the north of England.
On 16 February, M7 and WASP thin-thick-thick were back at Carsington Water in Derbyshire, where we believe they are paired and breed. On the following day A0 was seen at Dunsop Bridge in Lancashire. On 19 February, 2H was in the Lower Derwent Valley in North Yorkshire and two days later V5 was on another nature reserve, Nosterfield LNR, near Ripon also in North Yorkshire.