A warm welcome to Marden for Adrienne, who is now uniquely identified as EM21975 and recorded on the international database of Turtle Doves.
She has also been fitted with a GPS tag, which you can just see on her back – it will drop off when she moults at the end of the breeding season.
She is the first of this year’s arrivals to be GPS tagged, and we’ll be tracking her around the local area, and possibly beyond, to learn more about her behaviour and use of farmland, ponds, woods and gardens.
We have also seen no fewer than eight of the twenty-three doves that have colour rings on their legs. Two of them were among the first five ringed here in 2022 and have now managed the Marden-Mali-Marden migration return flight at least five times! As the chances of an adult turtle dove surviving migration are only fifty per cent, ours seem to be doing well. With another two full months before some of them start returning to Africa, there is still plenty of time for us to capture more of them on camera. Every record we have adds to our knowledge and helps Marden hang on to these beautiful birds.
