Whimbrel A2 an Old Friend
Reports
In late April, Dave Smallwood and Joan Thomson from Kildonan can be seen watching the shores, Dave with his telescope and Joan with her camera. When asked what they are doing, they say that they are waiting for an old friend coming over from Africa. On Wednesday 24 April this year that old friend, A2 the Whimbrel, duly arrived after a journey of two and half thousand miles from its wintering grounds in West Africa. This Whimbrel A2 has been consistently arriving on the same shore at the same time of year every year since it was fitted with its A2 flag in 2017. It refuels here before heading north to breeding grounds in the subarctic north.
Whimbrel is one of the most widespread of the curlews. With four subspecies, it breeds across much of the sub arctic, including North America, Asia, and Europe as far south as Scotland. In Scotland the breeding strongholds are on Shetland, Orkney and the Outer Hebrides with smaller populations on the mainland at Sutherland and Caithness. In other parts of Scotland, it is a widespread passage migrant mainly in the west in spring and east in autumn.
Whimbrel winter on coasts in Africa, South America, south Asia into Australasia and southern North America. On Arran, it is during the migration from the west coast of Africa to the sub arctic in the spring that it is most likely to be seen. Most of the records on Arran occur between mid-April and the end of May.
To try to find out more about the Whimbrel moving through Arran, members of the Clyde Ringing Group, under license, caught and fitted Whimbrel with coloured rings and little leg flags. On 30 April 2017 on a shore on the south of Arran, a Whimbrel was fitted with the leg flag A2 and released to head onto its breeding ground further north and then winter in Africa. The following spring A2 was back on the same shore and every spring since. It has been seen on Arran in the same area in virtually the same week for the last seven years. This is a remarkable story. Until 2022 there had never been a report of A2 from its breeding ground nor its wintering area but on 24 November 2022 it was reported wintering on the coast at Bank a’ Arguin, Mauritania in West Africa.
I wonder if this year there will be a report of a sighting from its breeding ground or a further report from its wintering area. Its return to Arran in the spring of next year will again be eagerly anticipated.
