On Wednesday 5th September, Gordon Duffus and I were at New Workings, Moor Green Lakes, when a flock of eight Cormorants flew in from the west and landed on one of the sand islands, made up from sand extraction from the gravel pits. A scan of the birds through the scope revealed that one was wearing a small metal ring on its left leg, which at the distance it was away from us, was unreadable. However on its right leg was a larger plastic ring, green in colour, bearing the letters 'KRP' in white upon it. A couple of digiscoped photos were taken by Gordon for record purposes and a check on the internet found that this colour ring was issued in Belgium, so an e-mail was sent to the project leader of the relevant ringing scheme for confirmation of the bird. A few days later a reply to my e-mail was received, which confirmed that the Cormorant had been rung on the 3rd of May this year, in Mol, a small place in the northeast of Belgium. The bird was the youngest of three in the nest and this was the first sighting of it since it was rung. Moor Green Lakes is approximately 420 km from Mol. The information was passed onto Tim Ball, the bird ringer responsible for the Moor Green Lakes area who in turn asked for the metal ring number of the bird from the Belgian ringer, so that a report could be forwarded to the BTO, which he did. Apparently according to BTO records this Cormorant is only the second bird ever to be reported in the UK from Belgium. My thanks for a successful and interesting ending to this sighting go to Gordon Duffus for the digiscoped photos of the leg ring, Koen Devos, from the Institute of Nature and Forest Research, Belgium and Tim Ball, Basingstoke and Reading area bird ringer.
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