Jon Carter found that 2 of the c.1400 Pink-footed Geese on the drumlin SE of Freeman’s Wood this afternoon had neck collars. The birds seemed to be behaving as a pair and I was able to read the codes from the footpath by Freeman’s Wood. One had a pale grey collar with a black code VCN. The other appeared to have a small box with a solar panel on the front of the neck (satellite tag?) attached to a collar with a white 6 or 9, depending which way up the digit was supposed to be read. The code looked slightly odd as there was space on the collar for at least one more digit.

A quick check through my notes when I got home revealed that on 19/2/19 I had seen what was presumably the same pair on the salt marsh at Aldcliffe. On that occasion the grey neck collar was too distant to read, but it was closely associated with a bird a neck collar attached to a small box with the code 56 in white (if reading up the neck) or 95 (if reading down the neck!) Presumably one of the two digits had faded or worn away over time.

Hopefully Jon Carter will be able to post more details of these birds once they are traced.

Pete C