Tuftie CH1 and a turnstone on the spit

Today was a day of the expected and unexpected at Pennington Flash. The expected was a smart turnstone in full breeding plumage. Over the past 39 years I have nine records of turnstone at Pennington Flash and all but one have been in the period 9th - 21st May. 

The unexpected came while I was watching the turnstone, I suddenly noticed a female tufted duck with a blue nasal saddle. I managed to read the code which was CH1. This bird has been seen at the flash over the past several years after originally being ringed in France. So perhaps not too unexpected you might think, yet this was my first ever sighting of the bird, and with most of the other tufties now departed for the summer and this bird originating from France, I was surprised to see it still here. I mean I know that some stay to breed, but perhaps you'd expect this bird to move on?

Turnstone.

I'm not sure that I'm keen on these nasal saddles, but fortunately I don't see them very often. In fact this may be only be the second I've ever seen. I remember seeing one on a lesser scaup in Yorkshire a few years ago, which originated from Portugal I think.

This bird was ringed as an adult at Sainte-Suzanne-et-Chammes in France on 18/07/2017 and was first seen at the flash on 06/09/2017. It was then seen back at Sainte-Suzanne-et-Chammes on several dates in March and April 2019 before being reported again at the flash on 25/09/2020 and 28/02/2021 prior to the current run of sightings. 

Obviously there will be many other sightings which haven't been reported to the ringer but the pattern of returns would seem to indicate a bird which winters at the flash and returns to France to breed.